Lester is a ghost town near

Stampede Pass Stampede Pass (elevation ) is a mountain pass in the northwest United States, through the Cascade Range in Washington. Southeast of Seattle and east of Tacoma, its importance to transportation lies almost entirely with railroading, as no paved r ...

, just south of

Snoqualmie Pass Snoqualmie Pass is a mountain pass that carries Interstate 90 (I-90) through the Cascade Range in the U.S. state of Washington. The pass summit is at an elevation of , on the county line between Kittitas County and King County. Snoqualmie Pass ...

King County King County is located in the U.S. state of Washington. The population was 2,269,675 in the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Washington, and the 13th-most populous in the United States. The county seat is Seattle, also the st ...

, founded in 1892 by the

Northern Pacific Railway The Northern Pacific Railway was a transcontinental railroad that operated across the northern tier of the western United States, from Minnesota to the Pacific Northwest. It was approved by Congress in 1864 and given nearly of land grants, whic ...

(now the

BNSF Railway BNSF Railway is one of the largest freight railroads in North America. One of seven North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 35,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and nearly 8,000 locomotives. It has three transcontinental routes that ...

). Lester is located along what is currently National Forest Development Road 54, on land owned by Tacoma Water, a division of

Tacoma Public Utilities Tacoma Public Utilities is the public utility service for the city of Tacoma, Washington. It was formed in 1893 when the citizens of Tacoma voted to buy the privately owned Tacoma Light & Water Company. It is the largest department in Tacoma City ...

. Although most remaining freestanding buildings were demolished in 2017, numerous foundations from the settlement remain.

History

Lester was founded in 1891 as the logging camp of "Deans", named after the owner of Dean's Lumber Company. In 1886, the

constructed a large depot, roundhouse, coal dock and other

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

support facilities for the

railway; Lester was at the foot of the railroad's maximum

grade Grade most commonly refers to: * Grade (education), a measurement of a student's performance * Grade, the number of the year a student has reached in a given educational stage * Grade (slope), the steepness of a slope Grade or grading may also ref ...

. The town was also renamed "Lester" in honor of Northern Pacific

telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas p ...

operator Lester Hansaker. While a series of forest fires in 1902 devastated the local logging industry, Lester continued to thrive as a

company town A company town is a place where practically all stores and housing are owned by the one company that is also the main employer. Company towns are often planned with a suite of amenities such as stores, houses of worship, schools, markets and re ...

for Northern Pacific. In the 1920s, the town's population peaked at approximately 1,000, and most of the modern structures in Lester were built during the decade. During the 1940s and 1950s, the town transitioned away from railroading and towards logging, with new camps established at Lester by Soundview Pulp Company, later acquired by

Scott Paper Company The Scott Paper Company was the world's largest manufacturer and marketer of sanitary tissue products with operations in 22 countries. Its products were sold under a variety of well-known brand names, including ''Scott Tissue'', ''Cottonelle'', ...

. The city of Tacoma began purchasing property in Lester in 1963, seeking to protect the

Green River Green River may refer to: Rivers Canada * Green River (British Columbia), a tributary of the Lillooet River *Green River, a tributary of the Saint John River, also known by its French name of Rivière Verte *Green River (Ontario), a tributary of ...

watershed where the city sources its drinking water. Tacoma attempted to block access to the town, leading to protests and the destruction of gates on the only all-weather road leading to Lester, in an incident known as the "Battle of the Lester Gate". King County sued the city of Tacoma over blocking access to Lester, arguing that the road was owned by the county. The

King County Superior Court The Superior Court of Washington for King County (more commonly, the King County Superior Court) is the largest trial court in Washington state. It is based at the King County Courthouse, 516 Third Avenue, in downtown Seattle, Washington. It als ...

ruled in Tacoma's favor in July 1962 to temporarily keep locks on its Lester gates. The court later determined in 1965 that the county's failure to include other landowners in the suit hampered the court's abilities to adjudicate the case. The Scott camp at Lester was one of the last in King County, and closed in April 1978, and the population of the town dropped to 22 by the following March. The mothballing of the Stampede Pass rail line by

Burlington Northern The Burlington Northern Railroad was a United States-based railroad company formed from a merger of four major U.S. railroads. Burlington Northern operated between 1970 and 1996. Its historical lineage begins in the earliest days of railroadin ...

in 1984 led to further abandonment of Lester, with the city of Tacoma and

United States Forest Service The United States Forest Service (USFS) is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands. The Forest Service manages of land. Major divisions of the agency inc ...

restricting access to residents and their guests. Lester residents and railroad buffs attempted to designate the town's railroad depot as a historic landmark in 1983, when it was threatened with possible demolition, and was nearly moved to North Bend to preserve it. The depot was eventually destroyed in an

arson Arson is the crime of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, wat ...

fire. In 1985, the

Washington State Legislature The Washington State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a bicameral body, composed of the lower Washington House of Representatives, composed of 98 Representatives, and the upper Washington State Senat ...

passed a law that dissolved

school district A school district is a special-purpose district that operates local public primary and secondary schools in various nations. North America United States In the U.S, most K–12 public schools function as units of local school districts, wh ...

s with fewer than five students, leading to the disbandment of the Lester school district. A mock funeral was held for the town by residents in response to the closure of the school. The town's "last resident", Gertrude Murphy, died in September 2002 at the age of 99. Telephone numbers in the town were 657-2xxx. The switch that served the town, a North Electric CX-100, is preserved at the Museum of Communications in Seattle. A small switching building, with (now defunct)

U S West US West, Inc. (stylized as US WEST) was one of seven Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs, also referred to as "Baby Bells"), created in 1983 under the Modification of Final Judgement (''United States v. Western Electric Co., Inc.'' 552 ...

painted on its door still exists in Lester. For public safety and watershed security, the remaining large group of buildings in Lester (consisting of the guard house, gas and oil shack, and warehouse) were demolished by Tacoma Water in 2017. Other smaller relics of the settlement still exist.

Geography

Lester is located, east of

Enumclaw Enumclaw ( ) is a city in King County, Washington, United States. The population was 12,543 at the 2020 census. The Enumclaw Plateau, on which the city resides, was formed by a volcanic mudflow (lahar) from Mount Rainier approximately 5,700 ye ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

along the

and

line. Its elevation is 1,634 feet (498 m) above sea level.

Gallery

File:Lester GuardStationLookingSW.jpg, Lester, WA: c. 1984 File:LesterGasandOil.jpg, File:LesterGuardHouse.jpg, File:LesterBackHouse1.jpg, File:LesterBackHouseWindow.jpg File:LesterWarehouseRoof.jpg File:LesterTracks.jpg

References

External links

N.P. Ry. A Short History of Lester and Stampede Pass
Article on the history of Lester and the area around

, and the relationship with the

and

.
N.P. Ry. Spelled in Reverse: E.G. Morgan and a Town called Nagrom
Article on the history of Nagrom,

and other areas around

including Lester.
N.P. Ry. Stampede Pass: A Virtual Tour, Auburn to Ellensburg
Milepost listing of the

line which goes through Lester and

. * Lester, Washington is at coordinates .
White River Valley Museum Journal: Lester - In the Shadow of Stampede Pass
An excellent article on the history of Lester and

. {{King County, Washington Ghost towns in King County, Washington Railway towns in Washington (state)