The Rufus Stearns Road

The first civilian wagon road to the top of the falls was County Road #7, built in 1862 although it was not completed until 1867. They just widened the existing Indian Trail that ran on the south side of the river and over Snoqualmie Ridge.

By 1875, more settlers were living in the area around the falls and the people at the top and the people at the bottom began to communicate with each other. During November of 1875, all of those residents signed a petition for a new road on the north side of the Snoqualmie River between Fall City and the new settlement at Rangers Prairie that would eventually become the City of Snoqualmie.

This is part of the petition for the road on the Snoqualmie River, November of 1875;

“That communication is becoming frequent between the settlers near Falls City Landing and those residing on the prairie, and there is at present, no road on the north side of the river; (their emphasis) we therefore pray that the Commissioners of King County in November of 1875 appoint viewers to lay out and locate a road from opposite the river near the schoolhouse in Fall City to opposite the Borst house on the other side of the Snoqualmie river.”

In December of 1875, the county designated this road as County Road #61, or the Rufus Stearns Road, although it would not be completed until 1880. Apparently the commissioners did not want to spend money to build it at the time and only a survey of the route was made. So as any good determined citizens would do, file another petition using a different approach.

 This new petition dated May 16, 1879, said that if the county does not build County Road #61, the petitioners will pay for and build the road using the county’s survey. Finally on August 1, 1879, construction began. The construction crew consisted of James Friedman, Philo Rutherford and Rufus Stearns, supervisors and Ax men were Dave and Howe Rutherford, and the chainmen were Al Friesland and George Sherman.

The road was completed in 1879, but required a ferry over the river at the top. Jeremiah Borst operated the ferry that was near his home. The ferry lasted until 1913, when the L. M. Nye Road was completed for the new Sunset Highway. This included a new bridge over the Snoqualmie River. This original bridge was located on the north side of the current 1931 bridge.