NAME OF KITTITAS COUNTY... Most people know that the reason we call this the Kittitas Valley Kittitas Valley was one of the few places in Washington is because the Kittitas Tribe inhabited here. But why Kittitas? What does this name actually mean The name Kittitas has many interpretations--perhaps shale rock, white chalk, or white clay or other names to the region's soil composition. Another interpretation refers to a bread made from the root kous called kit-tit. Tash is generally accepted to mean place of existence. The where both camas (sweet onion) and kous grew. These were staples that could be dried, made into cakes, and saved for winter consumption. Yakama, Cayous, Nez Perce among other tribes gathered in the Kittitas Valley to gather roots, fish, hold council talks, settle disputes, socialize, and trade. Long before white settlers gathered here to farm and ranch, many Native American Tribes recognized the valley's furtive soil composition and used it to survive the cold winters.

THE FIRST WHITE SETTLERS... The first inhabitants of the Kittitas Valley were the Kittitas band of the Yakama or Upper Yakama Tribes. Although the Kittitas Tribe was distinct from the Yakima Tribe, settlers and the federal government later grouped the Kittitas with the larger Yakama Tribe. One of the earliest non-Indians to describe the Kittitas Valley was fur trader named Alexander Ross. Ross, along with his young clerk, two French Canadian trappers, and their wives, stumbled upon an enormous tribal gathering. Ross described the scene as a grand and imposing sight in the wilderness, covering more than six miles in every direction. Ross said he saw a mammoth camp that could not have contained less than 3000 men, exclusive of women and children, and triple that number of horses. Councils, root gathering, hunting, horse-racing, foot-racing, gambling, singing, dancing, drumming, yelling, and a thousand other things were going on around them.

KITTITAS VALLEY RANCHING... The Kittitas Valley has a long history of cattle ranching. One of the first ranchers, A. J. Splawn, describes the Valley in 1871 as the cattleman's paradise. Streams and bunch grass were abundant so cattle could fatten and calf. There were no flies to disturb the stock, and there was cool, clear water in numerous small streams that wound through the grassy plain. The only labor attached consisted in putting up wild hay and fencing the ranches. Ranchers would then drive cattle over Snoqualmie Pass to Seattle or a longer route over Colockum Pass to the Caribou Trail. Better rail transportation to get herds to market stimulated in the region's cattle industry. By the late 1890's, the beef cattle ranching industry was somewhat eclipsed by farming, especially growing hay and wheat. From the early 1870's to the 1960's many farmers also kept dairy cows and sold their milk to local creameries. Much of the resulting product was shipped to King County.

COUNTY ESTABLISHMENT... In 1867, Frederick Ludi and John Goller, also known as Dutch John, became the first non-Indian settlers to the Kittitas area, building a cabin on the site of what is now Ellensburg. In 1870, A. J. Splawn and Ben Burch established the Robber's Roost trading post in Ludi and Goller's cabin. In 1871, Splawn sold the store to John Shoudy and his wife Mary Ellen Shoudy. The Shoudys became the official founders of Ellensburg. Residents of the Kittitas area then petitioned the Washington Territorial Legislative Assembly demanding that Yakima County either be divided into two counties or that, if the county were not divided, Ellensburg rather than Yakima City be named county seat. Following in 1883, Territorial Governor William Augustus Newell signed the act creating Kittitas County, and Ellensburg was named the new county's county seat.

KITTITAS VALLEY IRRIGATION... For farmers in the Kittitas Valley, the key to transforming cow country to farm land was irrigation. In 1885, the Ellensburg Water Company began surveying canal routes and building simple canals. By the early 1900s the Cascade Canal and Town Ditch on the east and west sides of the Yakima River irrigated more than 26,000 acres in the lower part of the Kittitas Valley. In 1911 the Kittitas Reclamation District began planning what would become the High Line canal, the Kittitas Valley's largest irrigation project. The canal was completed in 1932. The High Line Canal diverts water from the Yakima River just above the town of Easton and carries it out into irrigation canals completely encircling the Kittitas Valley, terminating where Turbine Ditch spills into the Yakima River. Reservoirs were created at Kachess (catch-eess) in 1912, Keechelus in 1917, and Cle Elum in 1933.

KITTITAS VALLEY HAY... A large and profitable export from the Kittitas Valley has been Timothy Hay. Hay from the Kittitas Valley fed Puget Sound workhorses, until the 1920's when the internal combustion engine made workhorses obsolete. In 1933, Washington legalized gambling on horse racing and the subsequent growth of the state's horse breeding industry boosted the Kittitas Valley's hay business again. Beginning in the 1950's, Kittitas-grown timothy hay (high protein grass-hay) was exported to other states, to Japan as horse and dairy feed, and to Europe as feed for thoroughbred racehorses. Timothy hay is still the largest single cash crop in Kittitas County. Hay farmers usually cut the hay twice a year mid-summer, and hay production largely depends on the year's precipitation and irrigation supply. The Kittitas Valley has a long history of hay farmers and has earned the reputation of producing some of the highest quality hay in the world.

INFORMATION OBTAINED FROM HISTORY LINK. FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT historylink.org

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