White River Valley Museum The White River Valley Museum - photo courtesy of Barbara Mattoon Auburn, Kent, Algona, and Pacific Those of us who live in South King County are fortunate to have many local museums and historical societies that hold records and artifacts relating to this area. One of these repositories is the outstanding White River Valley Museum in downtown Auburn. Its collection covers the communities of Auburn, Kent, Algona, and Pacific. Exhibits The interactive exhibits include a room from The Tourist Hotel which was located just down the street from the Auburn Depot; The Northern Clay Company, later known as Gladding McBean which used clay from the Green River Valley, artisans from Vienna, and laborers from Auburn to produce the architectural terra cotta that still adorns high-rise buildings in Tacoma and Seattle; a Muckleshoot Indian canoe, and a tour through a replica of Auburn downtown in the 1920s. You can learn about the immigrant experience by visiting a Japanese-...

  Tucked away on the second floor of this unimposing building at 730 S 225 th Street in downtown Des Moines, WA,   is a treasure trove of South King County History. Historical Background It is believed that the Duwamish and Muckleshoot Native American peoples came to the present location of Des Moines to dig clams and spear salmon for their winter food supply, but that they did not have permanent camps at this location.  Captain George Vancouver passed by on May 26, 1792.  The next recorded discovery was made by explorers for the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1824. [1]  The Wilkes Expedition charted the coastline in the vicinity of the present site of Des Moines May 18, 1841. [2] The First Settlers John Moore probably arrived in the present location of Des Moines late in 1863, however, he failed to file for his Homestead Patent five years later. By mid-1872, he had filed and received his Patent.  It is thought that he was born about 1831 in Ireland and...