Cle Elum (/kli ˈɛləm/ klee EL-əm) is a city in Kittitas County, Washington, United States.

[3] About 84 miles (135 km) by car from Seattle, Cle Elum is a popular area for camping and outdoor activities.

consider either the town of Easton, anywhere east of Keechelus Lake, or the wildlife crossing bridge over I-90 to be the starting point.

[5] The Salmon la Sac trails in the northern area of the region were created by the Kittitas people and were used as layovers for journeys into the higher altitudes of the Cascade Range.

[6] In 1855, after the arrival of Catholic missionaries, and the passing through of settlers and coal miners on their way to the Puget Sound, a treaty resulted in the Yakamas ceding most of their land for a reservation in the lower Yakima Valley and guaranteed access to fish,[7][8] including what would later be incorporated as Cle Elum.

[4] In the spring of 1886, Northern Pacific Railway surveyors Virgil Bogue and Herbert Huson were making their way through the region with the intent of establishing a station.

Walter Reed entered into a partnership with Thomas Johnson of Ellensburg and laid out sixty-five acres (26 ha) as a town site which was legally dedicated on July 26, 1886.

Johnson had owned a sawmill on Wilson Creek, in Grant County and he moved the mill to the new location in the vicinity of the new town.

The partners Reed and Johnson established what was undoubtedly the largest mill up to that time in central or Eastern Washington, cutting 40,000 feet (12,000 m) of board lumber per day.

At the same time, Frederick Leonhard, who, with his brother-in-law, Gerrit d'Ablaing, had been carrying on a mill on Cooke Creek and later on the Naneum, moved to the vicinity of Cle Elum.

Tragedy struck the area when on July 16, 1908, two carloads of blasting powder being unloaded by the Northwest Improvement Company exploded, killing at least nine people including miners, NIC store employees and a family with children living in a tent near the building.

The explosion, located about three-quarters of a mile from Cle Elum's downtown, scattered debris and human remains and shattered windows across town.

The Red Cross brought tents from Camp Lewis to house displaced citizens while soldiers were sent from Ellensburg to guard businesses.

[18] High insurance rates on Cle Elum's many wooden structures inhibited many people from purchasing them.

[20] A 20-year payment plan with 6% monthly interest was proposed to cover the debt, which the city government could not pay with its existing revenue sources.

Cle Elum, lying on the less extreme part of the Cascade Range rain shadow, also sees more precipitation than more arid regions to the east but also less than the areas to the west.

[23] Since the 1980s, the Cle Elum area has become a satellite bedroom community for "super commuters" who work 85 miles (137 km) away in Seattle and other cities in the Puget Sound region.

Cle Elum is classified as a Code city and has a non-partisan mayor–council form of government, with the mayor and seven council members elected at-large for staggered four-year terms.