Editing Cle Elum, Washington (section)

=== Early years and industries ===
In the spring of 1886, [[Northern Pacific Railway]] surveyors [[Virgil Bogue]] and Herbert Huson were making their way through the region with the intent of establishing a station. At the site of the future city, a depot was named Clealum after the [[Sahaptin language|Kittitas]] name Tle-el-Lum (tlielləm), meaning "swift water", referring to the [[Cle Elum River]]. Maps of the United States Postal Guide used two words while other early maps show it as one word: ''Clealum''.<ref name="meany">{{cite book|last=Meany |first=Edmond S. |author-link=Edmond S. Meany |date=1923 |title=Origin of Washington Geographic Names|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ct4BAAAAMAAJ |publisher=University of Washington Press|page=50 |isbn=9780598974808}}</ref> In 1908, Clealum was altered to Cle Elum.<ref>{{cite web|title=Cle Elum |work=Washington Place Names database |publisher=Tacoma Public Library |url=http://search.tpl.lib.wa.us/wanames/ |access-date=2009-03-05 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090309023858/http://search.tpl.lib.wa.us/wanames/ |archive-date=2009-03-09}}</ref> The name was given to the river, the city, and [[Cle Elum Lake]].

Walter Reed entered into a partnership with Thomas Johnson of [[Ellensburg, Washington|Ellensburg]] and laid out {{convert|65|acre|spell=in}} as a town site which was legally dedicated on July 26, 1886. Johnson had owned a [[sawmill]] on [[Wilson Creek, Washington|Wilson Creek]], in [[Grant County, Washington|Grant County]] and he moved the mill to the new location in the vicinity of the new town. The partners Reed and Johnson established what was undoubtedly the largest mill up to that time in central or [[Eastern Washington]], cutting {{convert|40,000|ft}} of board lumber per day. At the same time, Frederick Leonhard, who, with his brother-in-law, Gerrit d'Ablaing, had been carrying on a mill on Cooke Creek and later on the Naneum, moved to the vicinity of Cle Elum. They cut a large part of the lumber for the [[Stampede Tunnel]].