Best Western Kennewick

GRASSY PLACE

by austinmax

In 1883, the Northern Pacific Railroad track was being constructed from Spokane on its way to Seattle via the Yakima River and had reached a point near the Columbia River. Mr. H.S. Huson, a civil engineer with the railroad was sent to find a suitable location for a bridge across the Columbia River. They landed on a small island covered with grass and wild shrubbery known today as Clover Island. Indians called it Kin-i-wak, which meant “grassy place”. The construction crews began to arrive and set up camps along the proposed route. Huson recommended that the bridge be built at Cottonwood Landing, a short distance downriver from Kin-i-wak, but during the time of locating foundations for the bridge, he found himself calling the place Kenewick in his records and correspondence.

From her book, “Kin-I-wak, Kenewick, Tehe, Kennewick
Martha Berry Parker