In mid-April 1938, heavy rains caused flooding throughout western Washington state. Near Kent and Auburn, and throughout the Green River Valley, road crews worked hard to pile sandbags in the worst trouble spots. These road crews included workers from the Works Progress Administration (WPA), a federal relief agency set up to hire the unemployed during the Great Depression.

In this photo, taken during the 1938 Green River flood, workers pile sandbags along the edges of a flooding road in the Green River Valley. The photo was taken looking east on S. 259th, one block east of Highway 167. The Union Pacific trestle shows in the background, and the vehicle is approximately where the interurban right of way was located (now a bike trail)" The Green River is located about 500 feet to the right.

Handwritten on image: Green River flood.
Handwritten on sleeve: Floods - Green River - 1938.
Date photograph was filed at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (date of photograph and file date may differ by a month or more): May 30, 1938.

Additional information on location provided by Dick Novak, longtime resident of Kent and Auburn.