Bonney Lake/Sumner
Although these two once-rural Pierce County towns are now home to increasing numbers of subdivisions and malls, much of the area retains a small-town flavor.
Mount Rainier looms over both, providing breathtaking views whenever the clouds part.
Sumner was settled in 1853 by members of a wagon train that crossed over the Cascade Mountains.
In some places, the mountains were so steep it was necessary to lower the wagons over the cliffs.
Lying in a fertile river valley, Sumner naturally became an agricultural community and is located at the junction of the Puyallup River and the White River. Major crops included daffodils, rhubarb, hops, berries, vegetables, and turf grass.
Agriculture remains important, along with food manufacturing, wood products production, and warehousing and distribution.
The first settlers arrived in the Bonney Lake area in 1850 after traveling across the Naches Trail, following paths made by Native American tribes on their east-west crossing, a route that closely parallels today's Old Sumner-Buckley Highway.
One of the settlers, Sherwood Bonney, traveled here by covered wagon, then stopped in 1853 and built the cabin on the lake named for him.
Bonney Lake is a largely residential community nestled between Mount Rainier and the shores of Lake Tapps.