Palmer, Washington

Kanaskat, Washington is an unincorporated community in King County, Washington, United States. Kanaskat was a small facility on the Northern Pacific Railway, today's BNSF Railway, created by the opening of a cut-off between Palmer, Washington and Auburn, Washington, built 1899-1900 by the Northern Pacific's contractors Horace C. Henry and his partner Nelson Bennett. Kanaskat served as a water-stop for steam-powered trains out of Auburn, as well as a small yard and scale for the NP's Green River Branch northward to Kangley, Washington, Selleck, Washington, and Kerriston, Washington, as well as the large mills located just to the south in Enumclaw, Washington and Buckley, Washington. In 1900 the NP built a 2,850-foot passing track, a 1,200-foot house track, a wye connection with the Green River Branch to Kangley, Selleck, Barneston and Kerriston, a fourth class combination station, a second class section house, a 24-man bunkhouse, a double tool house, and a box water tank and standpipe. The ornate Victorian station at this site was burned to the ground in 1944 when a wood stove pipe through the roof overheated and caught fire. It was replaced by an innovative temporary station -– a round-roof box car. After World War Two the Northern Pacific replaced the box car with a solid brick station. This lasted until 1959, when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers were forced to build the Northern Pacific yet another station directly northwest of its postwar structure (due to the line change caused by the Corps of Engineer's Howard A. Hanson Dam at Eagle Gorge). Thus, Kanaskat had the dubious honor of being home to four stations in 90 years. The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad also crossed through the area, moving north-south from its main line station at Cedar Falls, Washington, south to the large mill at Enumclaw, Washington. Track connections between the two roads were made to the north and south of town.It was named after Kanasket (alternately spelled Kanaskat), a chief of the Klickitat people, who was killed by the U.S. Army ca. 1855-56. Kanaskat-Palmer State Park is just south of the settlement.

Kanaskat-Palmer State Park is a 320-acre (130 ha) Washington state park on the Green River in King County. The park has 2 miles (3.2 km) of river shoreline and offers picnicking, camping, 3 miles (4.8 km) of trails for hiking and biking, expert-level rafting and kayaking in the Green River Gorge, fishing, swimming, birdwatching, wildlife viewing, and horseshoes.

Cumberland is an unincorporated community in King County, Washington. Originally a mining camp, Cumberland was named by F.X. Schriner in 1893 after the Cumberland coal region of the Appalachian Mountains. Cumberland gained a post office on October 13, 1894. The Enumclaw post office now serves this area. Although many other mining camps in the area have disappeared, Cumberland can still be found in the Cascade foothills between Nolte State Park and Kanaskat-Palmer State Park. It is accessible via Southeast King County backroads. Several smaller mines dotted the area, including the "Navy" mine, and the Hyde mine, located at the outskirts of town. Cumberland is within the KCFD #28 Fire Department service area, also known as the Enumclaw Fire Department. It is a King County registered voting precinct. In 1989, the county-wide transit and sewage waste municipality known as "Metro" (short for Metropolitan King County), planned a 25-year sewage sludge waste spraying on the 400 acres (1.6 km2) of woods northwest of the town. Following a grassroots community protest, (which was led by Valerie Cunningham), objections from the Muckleshoot Native American tribe (who are downriver on the nearby Green River), and other environmental groups, the municipality agreed to create an Environmental impact statement (EIS). The EIS showed a number of toxins and heavy metals present in the sewage sludge, and the project was officially cancelled by Metropolitan King County in 1992.

Kangley is an unincorporated community in King County, Washington, United States. It is located east of Maple Valley, Washington and north of Kanaskat-Palmer State Park. Kangley is located 29 miles southeast of Seattle and was on the Northern Pacific and Milwaukee Railroad line. The end of Kent-Kangley Road, Kangley is located 4 miles east of Ravensdale, WA and 2 miles south of Selleck, WA, running from the intersection of Kent-Kangley Rd. and 346th Ave SE north to SE 263rd Place near Brown's Creek. With its roots in coal, the town formed in the late 1880s and was named for the vice president of the Northern Pacific Coal Co., John Kangley. The Kangley mine, which actually consisted of three different shafts at one time or another, was said to have produced some one of the best coal available, with only about two and a half or three percent ash whereas other mines produced coal with anywhere from 10 to 15 percent. A post office was established at Kangley on June 30, 1890. John Peterson Jr. was the first postmaster. Mail was distributed at the coal mine where Peterson worked. On October 20, 1898, the post office closed for four years. The Post Office reopened on February 28, 1903. When it reopened John Lavender was postmaster. The mail was distributed from Lavender's store. On March 4, 1910, the post office name changed to Selleck. An area near Lavender's store, in between Kangley and Selleck, was called Lavender Town. The Post Office was ultimately closed and its Zip Code 98064 was consolidated into Ravensdale, WA 98051. Coal mining operations began to curtail in 1912–1914, and being the property of the Northern Pacific Coal Co., most of the homes in Kangley were collapsed and shipped via train to Roslyn, WA. where mining operations were beginning to boom. Few original mining houses remain, primarily on SE 268th Place. One staple of later Kangley life was Truman's Country Store which was located at the corner of SE 268th St. and 348th Ave SE. The owner of the combination country store, gas station and tavern, Truman Nelson, came to Kangley in 1965 and could regularly be seen driving his golf cart up and down 346th Ave SE. The closure of Truman's Country Store in the 1980s marked the end of commercial business in Kangley and shortly thereafter the area was no longer referred to as a distinct town.

Nolte State Park is a 117-acre (47 ha) Washington state park located 6 miles (9.7 km) northeast of Enumclaw and just south of Cumberland at the western edge of the Cascade Mountains, with 7,174 feet (2,187 m) of shoreline on Deep Lake near the Green River Gorge. The property was a resort for many years before it was donated to the state by Minnie Nolte in the early 1970s. There are rainbow trout, coastal cutthroat trout, kokanee, crappie, and brown bullhead in the lake. The lake has a public fishing pier, beach area, and a hiking trail around the lake. The boat launch is carry-in only with limited parking. Deep Lake has a surface area of 39 acres (16 ha) and reaches a depth of 76 feet (23 m).

Selleck (founded in 1908) is a former company town in Washington, located at 47°22′33″N 121°52′0″W. As the sole surviving company mill town in King County, it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and as a King County landmark.

Bayne was an unincorporated community in King County, Washington. It was a coal mining town that was abandoned in the years after the mine closed around 1950.

Barneston is an extinct town in King County, in the U.S. state of Washington. The GNIS classifies it as a populated place.Barneston was established following the construction of a lumber mill in the Cedar River watershed, along with homes for its employees. On June 12, 1901, a post office was built, and the town was named after John G. Barnes who was the secretary and treasurer of the Kent Lumber Company that owned the land.Barneston was distinguished from other logging communities by its relatively large Japanese immigrant population, which comprised about 35 percent of the workforce. The main Japanese camp was located north of town, though Japanese children were schooled with the rest of the Barneston schoolchildren. One of the Japanese lumber mill laborers operated a Japanese style bathhouse for the Japanese community's use.The original post office remained in operation until 1924, when the city of Seattle disallowed all human habitation within the Cedar River watershed in order to keep the water pure.

Franklin was a coal mining town located in east King County, Washington, near the current so-called Hanging Gardens on the Green River, about 1 mile (1.6 km) east of Black Diamond.

Veazie is an unincorporated community in King County, in the U.S. state of Washington.

Ravensdale is a census-designated place (CDP) in King County, Washington, United States. The population was 555 at the 2020 census.Based on per capita income, Ravensdale ranks 50th out of 522 areas in the state of Washington.

Boise Ridge is a north–south trending forested ridge located in King County of Washington state. It is part of the Cascade Range and is set at the western edge of the range. Boise Ridge is situated four miles east of Enumclaw, Washington, west of Grass Mountain, south of Enumclaw Mountain, and north of Radio Hill. Precipitation runoff on the east side of the ridge drains into Boise Creek, a tributary of the White River, whereas the west side drains into tributaries of the Green River.