The Fort Steilacoom to Fort Bellingham Military Road was a network of roads running through the Puget Sound area to promote the migration of settlers to Washington Territory and to secure U. S. interests in the region from those of Native Americans. Today’s I-5 roughly follows the route north from Fort Vancouver, built in 1924 by the Hudson's Bay Company as a fur trading post on the Columbia River, to Fort Steilacoom (1849-1868) at the south end of Puget Sound. Construction by the U. S. Army of the Military Road(s) from Fort Steilacoom to Seattle was finished in October 1860. Near the present site of the Georgetown neighborhood in Seattle, Military Road crossed the Duwamish River Valley (today's Boeing Field) to Beacon Hill at what became Columbian Way, then followed the tide flats into Seattle before continuing north to Bellingham.
In this image Military Road is visible in the Beacon Hill neighborhood, southeast of downtown Seattle, as it passes through an old cemetery. In 1851 White settlers began scattered developments on the ridge, but the area remained largely undeveloped for the next 40 years. A portion of the road still exists on Beacon Hill, just east of I-5, accessible from I-5 via Exit 151/Military Road.
Caption information source: http://www.federalwayhistory.org/pdf/Military-Road-Brochure.pdf Caption information source: "Seattle Neighborhoods: Beacon Hill: Thumbnail History," by David Wilma, HistoryLink.org Essay 3004
ID Number: SHS2354
Date: Circa 1900
Physical Description: 1 photographic print mounted on cardboard: b&w ; 7.5 x 7.5 in.
Additional Information: Digital copy of this item available thanks to funding from a 2016 Institute for Museum and Library Services grant. Metadata updated as part of a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services administered by the Library Services and Technology Act, through the Washington State Library, a division of the Office of the Secretary of State.
