History
The land that is now Meadowbrook Farm has been a focal point of human activity for at least 13,000 years. In Snoqualmie tribal oral tradition, the origin of both the tribe and the world is tied to this prairie above Snoqualmie Falls, between Mount Si and Rattlesnake Ridge.
During the last Ice Age, around 18,000 years ago, massive glaciers advanced and retreated across the region, carving the grooved volcanic bedrock of the Snoqualmie Valley. When a large foothills lake broke through its glacial dam, the valley was flooded and reshaped—leaving behind a broad, flattened landscape of stones, pebbles, and sand. Soon after, the ancestors of today’s Snoqualmie Tribe were living in the valley.
For generations, the Snoqualmie people lived on this prairie, hunting elk, deer, and small game, and drying and smoking salmon caught below the falls. Cedar was central to daily life—used for longhouses, canoes, tools, clothing, mats, and baskets. The open prairie provided camas, lilies, bracken fern, wild carrot, and seasonal berries.
The prairie itself was carefully stewarded. Every few years, it was intentionally burned to maintain open grasslands for food gathering and hunting. These practices enriched soil nutrients, reduced ecological competition, and supported fire-adapted species such as camas and Garry oak. Over time, this stewardship created a resilient, biodiverse prairie ecosystem.
In the early 1800s, European explorers, fur traders, and settlers began arriving in the Salish Sea region, traveling inland along rivers. Around 1850, Virginian Samuel Hancock, guided by Snoqualmie people, journeyed from Puget Sound to Snoqualmie Falls. After portaging around the falls, they continued upriver to a place described in Chinook as “hyas kloshe illahee”—“here the land is good.” From the riverbank, Hancock recorded the first written description of the vast open prairie, shaped over centuries by Indigenous stewardship and crossed by well-worn travel routes through the mountains.
As settlement increased, treaties were hastily negotiated in 1854–1855. Although few settlers had yet reached the Snoqualmie Valley, Snoqualmie Chief Patkanim sought to maintain peaceful relations with the growing non-Native population. Under the Point Elliott Treaty of 1855, the Snoqualmie people ceded more than 54,000 acres—land encompassing much of present-day King County—in exchange for guaranteed hunting and fishing rights and a reservation homeland.
However, no reservation for the Snoqualmie Tribe was ever established. Government efforts to secure one dissolved during World War II. Some tribal members relocated to nearby reservations such as Muckleshoot (near Auburn) or Tulalip (near Marysville), while others remained in the Snoqualmie Valley despite displacement and disenfranchisement. The traditional Snoqualmie village at Meadowbrook was abandoned by the late 1880s.
During this period of uncertainty, tensions between settlers and Native communities led to fears of conflict. Small log blockhouses were constructed for defense, including Fort Alden on the edge of the prairie above the falls. When no attacks materialized, the forts were abandoned in 1856.
In 1858, drawn by reports of “good land,” Jeremiah Borst traveled into the valley via the Cedar River. Seeing what he believed to be a natural prairie suited for farming, he established a homestead—initially living in the abandoned Fort Alden blockhouse—and later married a Snoqualmie woman. His holdings eventually included much of present-day Meadowbrook Farm. As more settlers arrived, Borst became a central figure in the valley, hosting travelers, supplying goods, and facilitating land claims.
In 1882, Borst sold much of his property to the Hop Growers Association. Capitalizing on global demand, hops became a major crop, and the area grew into what was called the “world’s largest hop farm,” spanning nearly 900 acres. The operation included kilns, worker housing, barns, and a three-story summer hotel. Seasonal labor brought hundreds of workers, including many Native Americans from across the region. However, falling prices and crop disease eventually ended the hop boom, and the land transitioned to hay, potatoes, corn, and beans.
In 1904, Seattle dairy farmer A.W. Pratt purchased Meadowbrook Farm and hired Angus Moffat as manager. Over the next 39 years, Moffat transformed the property into a thriving dairy operation, building barns, a creamery, and extensive fencing using repurposed hop poles. The former Meadowbrook Hotel became worker housing, and the nearby community of Meadowbrook was established at the western edge of the farm.
In 1953, the Indian Termination Act revoked federal recognition for tribes without reservations, including the Snoqualmie Tribe, stripping them of hunting and fishing rights. Tribal members, led by Chief Jerry Kanim, worked for decades to restore recognition, which was finally achieved in 1999.
Meanwhile, in the 1960s, the farm was sold to the Snoqualmie Valley Land Company. Over the next three decades, portions of the land were developed for schools and businesses, while the core farmland remained intact. As development pressures increased, a vision emerged to preserve the remaining prairie as public open space, complementing nearby conservation lands within the Mountains to Sound Greenway.
In 1996, Meadowbrook Farm was purchased into public ownership by the cities of Snoqualmie and North Bend. Today, managed by the Si View Metropolitan Park District, this 460-acre landscape—once shaped by glaciers, stewarded by Indigenous communities, and transformed through waves of settlement—has come full circle. It is, once again, a shared and protected open space.