Index, Washington

How Index is governed

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0 of 14 positions listed. Gray dashed boxes are placeholders waiting for a name.

• Mayor

  Executive

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  The city's chief elected official. Presides over the executive branch, proposes the budget and represents the city.

  • City Manager / Administrator

    Executive

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    The professional administrator who runs day-to-day operations (in some cities appointed by the council instead of the mayor).

    • Police Chief

      Administration & departments

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      Leads the police department.

    • Fire Chief

      Administration & departments

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      Leads the fire and emergency services department.

    • Public Works Director

      Administration & departments

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      Streets, water, sewer, and city buildings.

    • Finance Director

      Administration & departments

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      The budget, taxes, and city accounts.

    • Planning & Zoning Director

      Administration & departments

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      Land use, zoning, building permits.

    • Parks & Recreation Director

      Administration & departments

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      Parks, programs, and public facilities.

• City Council

  Legislative

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  The elected body that passes ordinances, sets the tax rate and approves the budget.

  • City Clerk

    Administration & departments

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    Keeps the official records, runs meeting agendas and, often, local elections.

  • City Attorney

    Administration & departments

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    The city's lawyer; advises officials and prosecutes ordinance violations.

  • Boards & Commissions

    Legislative

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    Citizen advisory bodies, such as planning, zoning appeals and library boards.

• Municipal Court

  Judicial

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  Hears traffic, ordinance and other minor cases.

  • Municipal Judge

    Judicial

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    Presides over the municipal court.

Website

indexwa.org

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Population over time

From 178 in 2010 to 155 in 2020 (−12.9%).

History

Pre-incorporation

Prior to settlement by European Americans, the Skykomish people had many villages along the Skykomish River between Sultan and Index. One large and important village of the bəsx̌əx̌əx̌alč band was at x̌əx̌aʔusalʔtxʷ (derived from sx̌aʔus, meaning "sawbill duck") in modern-day Index. At the village were several longhouses, including a large potlatch house. x̌əx̌aʔusalʔtxʷ was the base camp for people traveling into the Cascades for hunting and gathering. The Skykomish people were signatories of the 1855 Treaty of Point Elliott and many were moved to the Tulalip Indian Reservation, where they later amalgamated with the Snohomish and Snoqualmie tribes. Some members of the tribe elected to stay in the Skykomish Valley, primarily near Gold Bar and Sultan.

The first non-native settlers in the area were prospectors who placed individual mineral rights for claims in the Cascades, beginning with a gold rush in 1874 along Silver Creek near what later became the community of Galena. Amos Gunn, a Civil War veteran from Illinois, arrived at the fork of the Skykomish River with his wife and six children in 1889 and bought a squatter's claim to establish a homestead. He constructed a home that also served as a hotel for prospectors and railroad workers on the Great Northern Railway. His wife Persis named their site "Index" for nearby Mount Index (later renamed Baring Mountain), itself named for its resemblance to an index finger. Mount Persis and Gunn's Peaks were also named for the family. Mines in the area yielded gold, silver, copper, and galena among other minerals, which spurred further settlement around the North Fork Skykomish River.

Index was assigned a post office in November 1891 and Amos Gunn was appointed its first postmaster. He initially delivered mail and parcels by horseback from Wallace (now Startup) on a 12-mile (19 km) overland trail. The Gunns' hotel was expanded two years later to accommodate an increasing number of prospectors who arrived on the Great Northern and traveled onward towards Galena and Mineral City. The railroad across Stevens Pass had been completed in January 1893, and was followed within a few years by a stagecoach road from Index to Galena. The town plat for Index was filed by Amos Gunn on April 25, 1893, shortly after a controlling interest in the settlement was acquired by the Everett Terminal Land and Milling Company. The plat reserved 100 feet (30 m) for the main street, which had been surfaced with gravel due to frequent flooding from the Skykomish River and was sought for use for a branch railroad to Galena. A fire destroyed the Gunns' hotel, general store, and several residences in the town on July 22 of that year, but had not damaged the Great Northern depot. The town's buildings were rebuilt as mining activity had temporarily subsided due to the Panic of 1893 and was eclipsed by logging and farming as the main local industry. The Copper Bell and Sunset mines were opened in 1898 and brought the town to its peak population of 1,000 in 1900. The Sunset Mine was the largest in the area and produced 1,500 ounces (43 kg) of gold, 156,000 ounces (4,400 kg) of silver, and 12.9 million pounds (5.9 million kg) of copper during its lifetime.

Early 20th century

Amos Gunn sold his properties in Index in 1899 shortly after the death of his wife Persis. The town continued to grow with the arrival of social clubs, a schoolhouse, and its first newspaper, the Index Miner (later the Index News), in 1899. In November 1902, a second major fire destroyed several buildings in the town, including the assay office, and killed one person. A granite quarry also opened east of Index in 1904 and later provided materials for the Washington State Capitol building in Olympia. It became one of the main employers in the area, along with logging to supply a new sawmill that was later acquired by the Index-Galena Lumber Company. Plans to build a hydroelectric dam and a pulp mill at sites along both forks of the Skykomish River were proposed but never began construction. Index was also promoted as a tourist destination for sport fishing and mountaineering; by 1905, it had five hotels and drew hundreds of visitors by train during the summer season.

Index was incorporated as a fourth-class city on October 11, 1907, with several hundred residents. A volunteer fire department was established and moved into a permanent fire station in 1913; its old facility was converted into a town hall with a jail. An unpaved county road was completed from Gold Bar to Index in 1911, which brought regular automobiles to the area and scheduled bus service. The road included a bridge over the Skykomish River that was destroyed by one of two major floods in 1917 and later rebuilt. The Stevens Pass Highway (now part of U.S. Route 2) opened on July 11, 1925, and opened the area to skiing with the development of a new ski area a few years later. The Great Northern's local trains, nicknamed the "Dinkies", made daily stops in every Skykomish Valley settlement and provided Index with passenger and postal service until they were discontinued in 1925 after the highway opened. The Stevens Pass Highway was rebuilt by the state government in 1933 and bypassed Index, which reduced tourist traffic to the town and caused several businesses to close.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

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