Editing Monroe, Washington (section)

===Origins and establishment of Park Place===

The confluence of the [[Skykomish River|Skykomish]] and [[Snoqualmie River|Snoqualmie]] rivers had originally belonged to the indigenous [[Skykomish people|Skykomish]] tribe, who predominantly occupied the area between modern-day Monroe and [[Index, Washington|Index]].<ref name="Hollenbeck">{{cite book|last1=Hollenbeck |first1=Jan L. |last2=Moss |first2=Madonna |year=1987 |title=A Cultural Resource Overview: Prehistory, Ethnography and History: Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest |publisher=[[United States Forest Service]] |pages=161–163 |oclc=892024380 |url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/005998596 |via=[[HathiTrust]] |access-date=March 6, 2019}}</ref> The confluence itself was known as Tualco ([[Lushootseed]]: {{lang|lut|squa'lxo}}), and a nearby Skykomish village named {{lang|lut|S'dodohobc}} acted as a trade post between several [[Coast Salish]] groups.<ref name="Hollenbeck"/><ref name="HistoryLink">{{cite news |last=Robertson |first=Nellie E. |date=November 23, 2007 |title=Monroe — Thumbnail History |url=https://historylink.org/File/8325 |work=[[HistoryLink]] |access-date=March 6, 2019}}</ref> A separate settlement near modern-day Monroe was used by the S'dodohobc band of the [[Snohomish people]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Cameron |first1=David A. |last2=LeWarne |first2=Charles P. |last3=May |first3=M. Allan |last4=O'Donnell |first4=Jack C. |last5=O'Donnell |first5=Lawrence E. |year=2005 |title=Snohomish County: An Illustrated History |page=23 |publisher=Kelcema Books LLC |location=Index, Washington |isbn=978-0-9766700-0-1 |oclc=62728798}}</ref> The land around the confluence was cleared into a prairie and used to cultivate berries, [[hazelnut]]s, and other plants.<ref name="Taylor">{{cite book |last1=Taylor |first1=Dexter |author2=Monroe Historical Society |year=2013 |title=Early Monroe |pages=7–8 |series=Images of America |publisher=[[Arcadia Publishing]] |location=Charleston, South Carolina |isbn=978-0-7385-9972-4 |oclc=826896466 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kEqvE7OQmZEC |via=Google Books |access-date=March 6, 2019}}</ref> The Skykomish were among the tribes to sign the [[Treaty of Point Elliott]] in 1855, effectively ceding their traditional territories, including the Tualco and confluence areas.<ref name="HistoryLink"/>

The area around modern-day Monroe was surveyed by [[George B. McClellan]] and the [[U.S. Army Corps of Engineers]] during their expedition to find a suitable pass for a railroad across the Cascade Mountains.<ref name="Taylor"/> The Treaty of Point Elliott was not fully ratified until 1859, but the first American settlers had already arrived and claimed [[Adverse possession|squatters rights]] to homestead in the Skykomish Valley. Robert Smallman, an English immigrant, arrived in 1855 and was the first to homestead on the land around modern-day Monroe.<ref name="Taylor"/> He was followed by Henry McClurg, an appointed [[county commissioner]], who settled in the area with his wife Martha in 1860. McClurg later founded the settlement of Park Place in 1864, on a site {{convert|1|mi|km|spell=in}} west of modern-day downtown Monroe.<ref name="HistoryLink"/><ref name="EarlyParkPlace">{{cite book |last=Wojciechowski |first=Bill |year=2015 |title=Early Park Place (1860–1935) |pages=3–10 |publisher=Monroe Historical Society |oclc=947693655}}</ref> Two other settlers arrived in 1860: Salem Woods, who claimed a small prairie to the northeast of Tualco and was later elected county sheriff; and Charles Harriman, a territorial legislator who settled in Park Place.<ref>{{cite book |last=Robertson |first=Nellie E. |year=2004 |title=Monroe: The First Fifty Years, 1860–1910 |page=5 |edition=3rd |publisher=Monroe Historical Society |oclc=70236243}}</ref>

Park Place and Tualco, located on opposite sides of the Skykomish River, grew with the arrival of more settlers in the 1860s and 1870s.<ref name="EarlyParkPlace"/> A local [[school district]], the second in the county, was established in 1869 by McClurg, and Park Place gained a [[post office]] in 1877 with Woods as [[postmaster]].<ref name="Timeline">{{cite web |date=December 27, 2017 |title=Historic Timeline |url=https://www.monroehistoricalsociety.org/stories/historic-timeline/ |publisher=Monroe Historical Society |access-date=March 6, 2019}}</ref> A [[ferry]] crossing the Skykomish River was established in 1882, several years prior to the start of regular [[steamship]] service on the river as far east as [[Sultan, Washington|Sultan]]. The first roads in the area were surveyed in 1882, including an {{convert|11|mi|km|adj=mid}} [[wagon road]] connecting Park Place to [[Snohomish, Washington|Snohomish]] in the west.{{sfnp|Robertson|2004|pages=10–15}} During the 1880s, settlers in Park Place and Tualco received their first shipment of [[dairy cattle]] and also began planting [[hops]], which would briefly become a [[cash crop]] until the arrival of the [[Phorodon humuli|hop aphid]] and economic panic of the 1890s ruined the harvest.{{sfnp|Robertson|2004|pages=10–15}}