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A town between two rivers

Orting grew up on a prairie between the Puyallup and Carbon rivers, on ground laid down by ancient mudflows from Mount Rainier. The railroad put it on the map in the 1870s. Hops, dairy farms, daffodil bulbs and Washington's first state veterans home shaped the town that followed. Source

  1. c. 1500

    The Electron lahar

    About 500 years ago, a huge landslide on Mount Rainier's west flank sent a mudflow down the Puyallup River valley. It left deposits up to 20 feet thick and buried an old-growth forest near today's Orting. The flat valley floor the town sits on was formed by that flow. Source

  2. Before 1850

    Puyallup homeland

    The Puyallup Valley is the ancestral home of the Puyallup Tribe. White settlers, drawn by the rich river-bottom soil, began arriving after 1850. Source

  3. 1854

    Treaty and first land claims

    On December 26, 1854, Territorial Governor Isaac Stevens pressured local tribal leaders into signing the Medicine Creek Treaty, which pushed the tribes onto small reservations and opened the valley to settlers. Source

  4. 1865–1891

    Hop boom and bust

    Ezra Meeker planted the Puyallup Valley's first hops in 1865, and by the early 1880s they were the valley's top crop. From 1870 to 1890 the valley was one of the world's leading hop regions, until hop lice destroyed the crop in 1891. Source

  5. c. 1874

    Railroad to the coal fields

    Around 1874, the Northern Pacific began building a rail line from Tacoma to Wilkeson to reach newly found coal in the Cascade foothills. The line ran through the Orting area. Coal mining in Pierce County went on from the late 1870s into the late 1930s. Source

  6. 1877–1878

    Carbon becomes Orting

    The settlement was first known as Gunson's Prairie. A post office opened as 'Carbon' on November 16, 1877, and was renamed Orting on March 13, 1878. Col. S. A. Black, a Northern Pacific superintendent, chose the name, said to be a Native word meaning 'town on the prairie'. Source

  7. 1889

    Incorporation

    Orting became an incorporated town shortly after the Northern Pacific laid its tracks. Hop farming and dairying were its main early industries. Source

    Black and white view over Orting in 1896
    Orting in 1896. Photo: Washington State Library, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
  8. 1891

    Soldiers Home opens

    Orting was picked over Puyallup, Vashon and Whidbey for the new state soldiers home, partly because of its excellent water and its rail line. The Grand Army of the Republic dedicated the home on June 25, 1891, and Civil War veteran William Pencil became its first resident on July 4. Source

  9. 1899

    The Soldiers Home Colony

    Starting in 1899, the home also worked as a colony. Veterans with families could live in the community and still get a stipend and care. Source

  10. 1907–1909

    Cemetery moved to higher ground

    The first Soldiers Home cemetery was on low, flood-prone ground near the Puyallup River. In 1907 the state bought hillside land and moved the burials there, and a memorial monument was dedicated in 1909. Source

  11. 1920s–1934

    Daffodil country

    From the 1920s Orting was known for growing bulbs, especially daffodils, on land that had once grown hops. Valley bulb farmers held the first Daffodil Parade on March 17, 1934. The parade now runs through Tacoma, Puyallup, Sumner and Orting in one day. Source

  12. 1990

    Rails become a trail

    After the railroad was abandoned and its tracks salvaged in the 1980s, the Pierce County Council made the old line a public linear park in October 1990. Trail building started in 1998, and the stretch through Orting was the original 'Model Mile'. Source

  13. 1998

    Lahar warning system goes live

    Several agencies began work in 1995 on an automatic lahar warning system for the Carbon and Puyallup valleys, and it came online in 1998. USGS added 14 new monitoring sites between 2017 and 2021. Source

  14. 2006–2013

    Floods and a new levee

    In 2006, Puyallup River flooding caused what was called the largest urban evacuation in state history: 30,000 people from Orting, Fife, Puyallup and Sumner. By 2013 the city was building a $16 million setback levee with about 100 acres of floodwater storage. Source

  15. 2025

    Bridge for Kids under construction

    Work started in January 2025 on a roughly $9 million pedestrian bridge over SR 162. It is meant to help residents, schoolchildren among them, reach higher ground quickly if a lahar comes. Check the City of Orting for its current status. Source

→ Then & now

The Washington Soldiers Home

Then The Washington Soldiers Home grounds around 1910
About 1910. Photo: Washington State Library, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Now The main gate of the Washington Soldiers Home today
The main gate in 2022. Photo: Chris Light, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Sources

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