Cedar Falls is an
unincorporated community
An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...
in
King County, Washington
King County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. The population was 2,269,675 in the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of counties in Washington, most populo ...
.
History
Located on the Rattlesnake Prairie and the
Cedar River watershed, Cedar Falls began under the name, Moncton, in 1906 under expansion of the
transcontinental
Transcontinental may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* "Transcontinental", a song by the band Pedro the Lion from the album ''Achilles Heel''
* TC Transcontinental, a publishing, media and marketing company based in Canada, a subsidiary ...
line of the
Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad
The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (CMStP&P), better known as the Milwaukee Road , was a Class I railroad that operated in the Midwest and Northwest of the United States from 1847 until 1986.
The company experienced financi ...
(CMStP&P) through
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 Pas ...
.
The community became a construction camp for the
Seattle Municipal Light and Power Plant and as a joint-
company town
A company town is a place where all or most of the stores and housing in the town are owned by the same company that is also the main employer. Company towns are often planned with a suite of amenities such as stores, houses of worship, schoo ...
of
Seattle City Light
Seattle City Light is the public utility providing electricity to Seattle, Washington, in the United States, and parts of its metropolitan area, including all of Shoreline, nearly all of Lake Forest Park, and parts of unincorporated King County, ...
, the
Seattle Water Department, and the CMStP&P. Each company provided separate housing and amenities for its employees and their families.
Due to its location to
Cedar Lake, the town became known as Cedar Falls and by 1909 was host to a grocery, hotel, and schoolhouse.
Seattle City Light began operations in the community to provide power to Seattle with the build of a dam outside the town in 1912 on the Cedar River. The power company received warnings about the porous glacial geology in the area but continued the construction. After the water retention structure was completed in early 1915, immediate flooding due to seepage began to occur. Almost the entirety of the population left their homes within months due to the rising water levels. Officials denied the dam was the cause of the flooding but after several months, Cedar Falls was condemned and compensation was provided to residents.
References
External links
*
Unincorporated communities in King County, Washington
Unincorporated communities in Washington (state)
{{KingCountyWA-geo-stub