The Fire Of 1918
Cle Elum's greatest disaster occurred on June 25, 1918 when a huge fire wiped out over seventy acres of the city (29 city blocks) at a cost of over $500,000 in damages. The cause was later determined to most likely to be a discarded cigarette butt thrown into a pile of garbage behind a theater. Thirty businesses and 205 houses were destroyed, leaving more than 1,800 people homeless. Following the incident, aid from across the state began pouring in. The Red Cross brought tents from Camp Lewis to house misplaced citizens while soldiers were sent from Ellensburg to guard businesses. Yakima and Portland, Oregon also sent aid to the city. Fortunately no lives were lost in the incident.
The 20th Century
Cle Elum was officially incorporated on February 12, 1902.
Tragedy struck the area when on July 16, 1908 two carloads of blasting powder being unloaded by the Northwest Improvement Company inexplicably exploded, killing at least nine people including miners, NIC store employees and a family with children living in a tent near the building. The explosion, located about three-quarters of a mile from Cle Elum's downtown, scattered debris and human remains and shattered windows across town. Accounts from residents equated the explosion to an earthquake.
Tragedy struck the area when on July 16, 1908 two carloads of blasting powder being unloaded by the Northwest Improvement Company inexplicably exploded, killing at least nine people including miners, NIC store employees and a family with children living in a tent near the building. The explosion, located about three-quarters of a mile from Cle Elum's downtown, scattered debris and human remains and shattered windows across town. Accounts from residents equated the explosion to an earthquake.
1910-1913
In 1913, steps were taken to improve automobile access across the Cascade Mountains via Snoqualmie Pass. A $1,500,000 levy was approved in 1913 to improve and expand the state's highways. The majority of the levy ($590,743) went to construction of the Sunset Highway between Spokane and Seattle. This major cross-state highway would pass directly through Cle Elum's business district, and as it was one of the first towns reached after traveling east across the pass, would greatly benefit from its construction. That same year, reflecting on the prosperity of the coal mines, the city's second bank was chartered. By 1914, Cle Elum's population had risen to 3,000 from about 100 at the turn of the 20th century
In December 1910, loggers working for the Cascade Lumber Company near Cle Elum went on strike after the company reduced pay and began charging $5 per week for board.
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