Lester, Washington
| Lester, Washington | |
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| Ghost "Paper" Town | |
Guard house, Gas and oil shack, and Warehouse in Lester Washington
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 Lester, Washington
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| Coordinates: 47°12.55′N 121°29.64′W / 47.20917°N 121.49400°WCoordinates: 47°12.55′N 121°29.64′W / 47.20917°N 121.49400°W | |
| Elevation | 1,634 ft (498 m) |
| Population (1984) | |
| • Total | 0 |
Lester was a small town near Stampede Pass, just south of Snoqualmie Pass in King County, founded in 1892 by the Northern Pacific Railway (now the BNSF Railway). Lester is located along what is currently National Forest Development Road 54.
It is one of the few ghost towns in the U.S. state of Washington.
Lester was founded in 1891 as the logging camp of "Deans", named after the owner of Dean's Lumber Company. In 1886, the Northern Pacific Railway constructed a large depot, roundhouse, coal dock and other steam locomotive support facilities for the Stampede Pass railway; Lester was at the foot of the railroad's maximum grade. The town was also renamed "Lester" in honor of Northern Pacific telegraph operator Lester Hansaker.
While a series of forest fires in 1902 devastated the local logging industry, Lester continued to thrive as a company town 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 city of Tacoma began purchasing property in Lester in 1963, seeking to protect the Green River 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 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.
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Wikipedia