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Granite Falls is a city in Snohomish County, Washington, United States. The population was 3,364 at the 2010 census. ==History== Before the arrival of European settlers, the area that is now Granite Falls was used by Natives to portage their canoes between fishing grounds.〔History of Snohomish County, Washington Vols. I and 2, ed. by William Whitfield (Chicago: Pioneer Historical Publishing Company, 1926), p. 525-525〕 The first permanent European settler was Joseph Sous Enas, who staked a homestead claim on land south of the present city.〔Granite Falls - Thumbnail History, HistoryLink.org Essay #8532, accessed Nov, 11, 2010 at http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=8532〕 It then became a railroad station on the route between Monte Cristo (now a ghost town) and Everett. The city was officially incorporated on December 21, 1903.〔 He was quickly followed by other homesteaders, benefiting from "the Big Burn", a forest fire that cleared the heavily forested land and made it easier for settlers to stake claims. By 1896, there were enough residents to petition the state of a school district (Granite Falls District #1)〔School District Boundary Record, Record of Eighth Grade Graduation 1898-1903, and Snohomish County Register of Teachers (p. 83), Educational Service District (ESD) 189, Snohomish County Public Schools, Multiple Series Box 1, Washington State Archives, Northwest Regional Branch; David Cameron, email to Janet Oakley, March 3, 2008, in possession of Janet Oakley;〕 The finding of gold and other minerals in 1889 in the Cascade Mountains East of Granite Falls was a boon to Granite Falls. Mines needed a railroad and the settlers of Granite Falls stepped up to provide railroad ties cut from the nearby forests, supplies for fortune seeking miners, a doctor, and other necessities. In 1890, a post office was opened and the first commercial establishments opened on what is now South Granite Ave and Pioneer.〔 The Everett and Monte Cristo Railroad came to town in 1892 from its start in Hartford, Washington (near today's Lake Stevens) and through to its terminus at Monte Cristo. Partially funded by John D. Rockefeller and others, the train carried supplies, passengers, and ore up and down the Stilly Valley.〔The Everett & Monte Cristo Railway; Philip R. Woodhouse, Daryl Jacobson, and Bill Petersen; Oso Publishing, September 2000.〕 The Granite Falls townsite was platted in 1891 from portions of the Wright and Anderson homesteads and in 1903, Granite Falls was incorporated as a city.〔History of Snohomish County, Washington Vols. I and 2, ed. by William Whitfield (Chicago: Pioneer Historical Publishing Company, 1926)〕 Electricity, sewers, sidewalks, telephones, cars, and all the amenities of modern life soon followed. By World War 1, the once bustling mining towns of Monte Cristo and Silverton were no longer shipping out ore. The railroad, now owned by Northern Pacific, stopped running and the tracks were torn out in the early 1930s to make way for the Mt. Loop Highway. Granite Falls between the world wars was a lumber town; logging companies felled trees, sawmills created lumber and shingle mills created shingles. The Great Depression, however, took its toll. By 1935, the population of Granite Falls was half what it was in 1925. Mills closed and people left to find work elsewhere. At the end of World War II, things looked bleak. The opening of Miller Shingle in 1946 (now the country's largest specialty lumber mill) meant jobs both in the woods and at the mill. Construction booms through Snohomish and King counties also meant jobs at the gravel pits dotted around Granite Falls. Hard times would come again. In 1986, the United States Forest Service severely limits logging in old-growth forests under its protection in an effort to save the Northern Spotted Owl from extinction.〔U.S. Forest Service protects the northern spotted owl by limiting timber sales on August 7, 1986. HistoryLink.org Essay 5319; accessed Nov. 11, 2010 at http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=5319〕 In June, 1990, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department declared the spotted owl an endangered species, and in 1991, a federal court judge ruled the Forest Service's logging plan to save the owl was inadequate. Over one-fourth of old-growth forest on both public and private land was now off-limits to logging.〔"The Northern Spotted Owl", Forest History Society Website (www.lib.duke.edu/ forest/usfscoll/policy /northern_spotted_owl /index.html).〕 In the 21st Century, Granite Falls is focused on attracting more visitors to the stupendous beauty and recreational opportunities along the Mt. Loop Highway. Expanded housing development has brought an increased population of families who commute to Everett, Seattle, and the Eastside to work. In 2001, the Tsubaki Grand Shrine of America was given a 17 acre plot of land next to Kannagara Jinja (built by the Reverend of the shrine) in Granite Falls, which was built upon, combining the two places.〔Tsubaki Grand Shrine of America website (http://www.tsubakishrine.com/history/index.html).〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Granite Falls, Washington」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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