Yakama Scenic Byway
Toppenish, Yakima County, Washington. Scenic byway.
Details
- Where
- Toppenish, Yakima County, WA. No street address stated. Directions
- Getting there
- Runs south from Union Gap to Toppenish on US-97 through Goldendale then connects with SR-14 at the Columbia River near Maryhill Museum.
- Website
- scenicwa.com
The byway begins at a point where arid desert hills drop into productive plains—the Yakima Valley is one of the world’s leading agricultural regions. Then the byway leaves farmland behind and begins a slow climb into the desolate beauty of the hills leading into the Simcoe Mountains and across Satus Pass.
Notable Events
- 1855Articles of agreement and convention were concluded at the treaty-ground, Camp Stevens, Walla Walla Valley, between Isaac I. Stevens for the United States and the head chiefs and delegates of the confederated tribes and bands. yakama.com
- 1884The Northern Pacific Railway built a depot, telegraph office, and water tank at a station it named Toppenish, the genesis of the town. historylink.org
- 1887Josephine Bowzer Lillie, a member of the Yakama Tribe, established a little store about a mile east of the depot and a post office at her store. historylink.org
- 1989The railroad closed the 1911 Toppenish depot in 1981, and after the Yakima Valley Rail and Steam Museum Association formed, the depot has been reopened as the Northern Pacific Railway Museum. scenicwa.com
- 1989The Mural Society was formed and has completed 78 murals since the first, with current efforts to restore and seal the artwork. toppenish.gov
People
- Chief Kamiakin, Key Yakama leader whose main camp was north of present-day Toppenish on Ahtanum Creek (ca. 1800-1877).
- Josephine Bowzer Lillie, Member of the Yakama Tribe who kept the first store and post office in what is now Toppenish (1865-1932).
- Sam Hill, Founder of Maryhill Museum of Art, near the byway's end at the Columbia River.
- Isaac I. Stevens, Governor and superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Territory of Washington who concluded the treaty on the part of the United States.