mm 2492.7 You are on Cady Pass. In 1858 gold fever broke out in the north cascades. A speculator named E. C. Ferguson was eager to sell supplies to the miners and in 1859 hired engineer Edison "Ed" T. Cady to search for a rail route from Snohomish over the cascades. This was well before the GNR began searching for a route. That fall Cady and a man named Parsons "discovered" Cady Pass (already a popular route with the natives for foot and horseback travel.)
The following spring he hired a crew to improve the trail from the west to Cady Pass. Cady and Ferguson, with four horses, traveled over the pass to the Columbia River. Shortly after, gold fever had run its course with few prospectors finding a vein. Funding for the project ran out, but Cady Pass remained a top contender for a rail route over the Cascades.
Cady operated the first steam powered boat on the Snohomish River shipping supplies from Port Gamble. The city of Snohomish was originally named Cadyville for its first 12 years, and Cady was its postmaster for two years.
Edison T. Cady
