Northern Pacific Railway, Tacoma
Division
Moxee Branch, Subdivision 23
Moxee Branch consisted of Yakima,
Terrace Heights,
Birchfield and Moxee City. There were a number of spurs on t=
his
line to serves the agriculture industry.&=
nbsp;
Even though the line has not been used for many years, abandoned on
January 9, 1984, Washing=
ton
State has designat=
ed the
line for a rehabilitation loan.
Yakima
Yakima started in 1861 at the north entr=
ance to
Union Gap. On December 1, 18=
83, the
town was incorporated as Yakima
City. When the Northern Pacific Railroad
Company failed to secure concessions from the town in 1884, they establish=
ed a
station four miles west. The=
Territory of Washington sued the Northern Paci=
fic
because of this and the railroad lost.&nb=
sp;
They either had to relocate their line, or move the town. They moved over 100 buildings fro=
m Yakima City
to the new town site, free to charge.&nbs=
p;
The new town was called North Yakima. On January 1, 1918, the State
Legislature changed the name of North Yakima to Yaki=
ma,
and the name of Yakima
City to Union Gap.=
Yakima is
known as the Eastern Gateway to Mount
Rainier National Park
and as the Fruit Bowl of the Nation.
The Yakima=
post office operated from May 2, 1870 to April 30, 1915 and reestablished =
on
January 24, 1918. The North Yakima post office operated from February 25=
, 1885
to January 24, 1918. The Uni=
on Gap
post office operated from June 16, 1918.&=
nbsp;
Yakima<=
span
class=3DGramE> (T13N,
R18E) =
Tacoma
Moxee Branch 23 WA Yakim=
a
0.0 and Tacoma Main 1 WA Yakima 0.0
Terrace Heights
Terrace Height=
s
is between Yakima<=
/st1:place>
and Birchfield and is named from the counter o=
f the
land here. The North
Yakima and Valley Railway Company station was established in
1910. The post office was
established on June 1, 1962. Yakima (T13N, R19E) Tacoma Moxee Branch 23 WA Yakima
3.0
Birchfield
Birchfield is between Terrace
Heights and Moxee City. The town was named in 1910 by the=
North Yakima and Valley Railway Company in honor o=
f W A Burchfield, a local landowner. The town is located three miles
southeast of Yakima. The misspelling occurred as a res=
ult of
poor penmanship. They never =
had a
post office. Northern
Pacific Railroad Company Right - of - Way Records. Yakima (S27, =
T13N,
R19E) =
Tacoma
Moxee Branch 23 WA Yakima
Moxee
City
Moxee City
was settled by Fielding Mortimer Thorp (1822 - 1895) and a number of
French-Canadian farmers in 1867 who specialized in hop growing, when the f=
irst
white people came into the Ahtanum Valley
to stay. In 1869, there was =
said to
have been as many as a dozen families at Moxee=
. The valley here is shown as Moxee
Valley on a map da=
ted
1882. In 1921, the town was
incorporated. The Indian nam=
e,
which was Mooxee, translates to “smoke o=
n the
water” and refers to a spring on the Thorpe ranch that emitted vapor,
even in the coldest weather, which never froze. The North =
Yakima
and Valley Railway Company was built here in 1910 and serves as the end of=
the Moxee Branch.
The Moxie post office operated from March 8, 1887 until February 29,
1888. The Moxee
post office opened on January 11, 1911.&n=
bsp;
Yakima<=
span
class=3DGramE> (S1, T=
12N,
R19E) =
Tacoma
Moxee Branch 23 WA Yakima 8.6
Resources:
1.=
=
;
Yakima
2.=
=
;
Edmond
Stephan Meany, 1923
3.=
=
;
Washington State Historical Society, 1985, I=
SBN
0-917048-57-1
4.=
=
;
Tacoma Public Library<=
/p>
5.=
=
;
Washington Post Offices, Tim Boardman and Ri=
chard W
Helbock, La Posta
Publications, 1986, Raven Press
6.=
=
;
Washington State Archi=
ves, Olympia, Records=
of State
Government
Copy=
right
© 2006
Please send corrects, additions and suggestions to: Paul D <=
span
class=3DSpellE>Curtiss at PAUCURTISS@AOL.COM