Ellensburg began as a small trading post in the picturesque Kittitas Valley in the early 1870s. Northwest Native Americans praised the area for its centrality in the region, which Seattleite John A. Shoudy quickly realized. When Shoudy sought to secure a wagon road from Seattle to Eastern Washington, over the Cascade Mountains, the trail led him to the Kittitas Valley. Shoudy purchased a small trading post from A. J. Splawn and began the town that...