- Will Taylor
Will Taylor, (1853-1941) was a land speculator and the founder of
North Bend, Washington in February 1889.William H. Taylor was born in
Iowa on February 12, 1853 to a large family. In 1872 his family moved to theSnoqualmie Valley . William Taylor took a job peeling potatoes and washing dishes in the cookhouse at the Newcastle coal mines, near Issaquah. After that, he went toFall City to help clear land. Later he worked as logger near the mouth of theSkykomish River .He returned to the upper Snoqualmie Valley to work for
Lucinda Fares . Later, he worked for her uncle, and father of the Snoqualmie Valley,Jeremiah Borst . He built several cabins and worked odd jobs, including a short stint as a miner in California.In 1876, he moved to California to work in a mine. He married
Molly Beard and he and his new wife traveled north to work on Borst's farm for six years. Later, they built their own home, a boarding house and a trading post for traveling coming over the Snoqualmie Pass. They raised six children. In the 1890s, the Taylors separated. Will Taylor re-married to Ella Hyman who was a widow with one daughter.From 1888 to 1891, Taylor served as a county commissioner.
When the Seattle, Lakeshore & Eastern Railroad arrived in 1889, the railroad needed a town near Snoqualmie Pass. He platted his town as 'Snoqualmie' and another nearby town was platted 'Snoqualmie Falls' while Taylor was out of town. To avoid confusion, railroad officials had rules against nearby towns sharing similar names. They forced what is now North Bend to change its name and made Snoqualmie Falls drop Falls from the town's name to become Snoqualmie. [cite web
url=http://yarra.calit2.uci.edu/oai/uwash/getdoc.php?did=43948
title=University of Washington topic browser] Taylors plat was named Mountain View, but the Post Office Department objected to the name Mountain View and the town was named 'North Bend' after the Northward turn of the South Fork of the Snoqualmie River.He served on the school board, opened a general store, cleared a lot of land and built many homes. He was an early conservationist who planted trees for those he felled.
In 1931, at the age of 76, he helped build a trail up Mount Si. Taylor died on January 9, 1941, and was buried at the foot of his wonderful mountain. [cite web
url=http://www.historylink.org/essays/output.cfm?file_id=305
title=Taylor, William (1853-1941)]Will R.J. Taylor
William Rhodes Jardine Taylor was born in the slums of East London in 1987. In 2005 he began breakdancing and is still going to this day.
References
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