Washington's Stevens Pass, named for John F. Stevens (who explored this area with C.F.B Haskell in the late 1880s in order to plot this rail line), is where the Great Northern Railroad crossed the great Cascade Mountains. In the 1920s, Skykomish boasted a population in the thousands, but in the 2000 census the population was just 214. Once the western terminus for GN's electric operations (1909–56), Skykomish is now mainly a stopping point for recreational access to the surrounding mountains. At an elevation of only 928', the town seems much higher due to the heavy snowfalls that blanket the Cascades each winter. Since this photograph was shot in February 1982, the station has since been temporarily moved away from the tracks and "mothballed" for environmental cleanup and preservation. The depot is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
