Northbend
The shake and lumber mills that defined this Upper Snoqualmie River town have gone. But people - almost 2,200 just since 1990 - have come to take their place.
Time has turned North Bend from a sometimes-raucous timber town into a bedroom community with rising expectations.
The median price of homes in North Bend by late 2002 had reached $270,000 and the median family income hit $61,534 a year.
In 1889 the Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railroad opened the way into North Bend, setting the stage for the logging operations that would follow. Interstate 90 and its predecessor, the cross-state highway U.S. 10, brought truckers and the motoring public.
Located in the shadow of Mount Si about 25 miles east of Seattle, North Bend remains the last stop for gas on the way to Snoqualmie Pass.