Snoqualmie Falls

Just west of the town of Snoqualmie is the 268 foot high 100 foot wide Snoqualmie Falls. There is a large county park with viewing areas both on the top and at the bottom of the falls. There is plenty of parking both at the top and bottom and there is a hiking trail that follows the old road up the hill. At the top in the early day 1900's, people would stand and sit near the edge of the falls. Today there is an observation deck for your safety and it is next to the gift shop. The park can get very crowed in the summer months as the views are spectacular.

In 1899 the first hydro electric plant was completed and was built completely underground. The second power plant was completed in 1910 and they continue to produce clean electricity for the homes in King County.

While most of the river is diverted to the power plants, after a heavy rain, the river becomes swollen and the falls become violent and the falling waters creates a thick curtain of spray that makes it look like a fog hanging next to the falls. The rainy season lasts from November to April and is when you can see the torrent of the falls.

Snoqualmie is the English pronunciation of “sah-koh-koh” or “Sdob-dwahibbluh,” a Salish word meaning Moon. The Snoqualmie People who roamed the valley were known as the people of the Moon. The falls have been a spiritual place for the Snoqualmie and there are many legends about the falls. There is one legend of a Klickitat Maiden who lost her lover and her life. Her spirit is said to move musically in the spray of the falls.

 The legend goes on to tell a story of 2 young Klickitat Braves who fought a duel to the death at the top of the falls. During the battle, a fighter was able to throw his adversary over the falls to his death and into the froth and foam of the cascading waters at the bottom, never to be seen again. They were fighting over a beautiful maiden named May Bird. She would smile so impartially at both of the men that neither of them could tell who her favorite suitor was.

 When she had learned of the duel and that her favored suitor was killed in the battle, she became depressed over her loss. As her family and the rest of the tribe was packing up for the trip back home across the mountains, May Bird couldn’t bare the thought of living without her lover. She then threw herself off the falls and fell to her death on a precipice 200 feet below. Since that time the Klickitats who came to Snoqualmie for work in the hop fields would stay far away from the falls.

 There have been engineers and trainmen who rode the line between Seattle and North Bend who have seen her black eyes peering out of the mist and wild love melodies that would mingle with the clatter of the wheels as the train rushes by the cascading water. They say only a portion of the apparition can be seen and only at favorable times. A halo of light would shine around her head and dispel the darkness of the falls below. At first those who seen it just dismissed what they saw. It was just an illusion in the spray of the water. Time and Time again people kept seeing the vision of a slender form floating about in the vapor and the sad, dark eyes and always with the same intense look of searching for something that cannot be found.

Those who have seen May Bird all believe that she is still looking for her lost Klickitat lover in the boiling foam and dark waters of Snoqualmie Falls.