East of Seattle

To the east of Seattle there are several towns which featured heavily in TV productions, they are Roslyn (Northern Exposure) and Snoqualmie and North Bend (Twin Peaks).

Before heading north I paid a brief visit to both of these towns.


	Northern Exposure dealt with a New York physician, Dr. Joel Fleischman, who is sent to work in the town of Cicely, Alaska. To avoid the logistical problems of filming in Alaska they converted the town of Roslyn into Cicely. This sometimes required creative explanations of why the town of Cicely had large signs with a different name on it, more information can be found here.

Coal deposits were first found in the Roslyn area in the 1880s and commercial coal mining operations were begun to support operations by the Northern Pacific Railway. A section of the railway is in a tunnel under Stampede Pass, and Roslyn, which lies on the route to Stampede Pass, provided the coal for both the railway construction work as well as the ongoing railroad operations. Roslyn's peak coal mine production was in 1910 and as coal was replaced by diesel the mines began to shut down and the last mine closed in 1963.


	There is a small museum with an outside display covering this part of the towns history.


	Three pictures of the trains that took the miners in and the coal out.


	This mural is prominently on display as you enter the town hence the need to come up with an explanation in the TV show.


	Reminders of the TV show can still be found, in the show this was Dr. Joel Fleischman’s office (the name is in white on the left window).


	Featured in the show was “The Brick Tavern” which is a real place built in 1889 and, I can confirm, still in business


	About half way back to Seattle are the towns of Snoqualmie and North Bend which were used as the locations for Twin Peaks. Twin Peaks follows an investigation headed by FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) into the murder of homecoming queen Laura Palmer. Information on the locations used can be found here.


	An important location in the show was the Mar-T Cafe which was used as the Double R Diner. It is still open (as Tweede’s Cafe) but, after a major fire, the interior no longer resembles that seen in the show. I visited it before the fire and it was a strange experience to be sitting “inside” a TV Show.


	Also seen in the show was this 400 year old Douglas Fir log that rests atop a huge iron base (used originally to move the logs into the lumber mill). In the show the log was seen without the pavilion.


	Another major location in the show was the Great Northern Hotel. Actually it’s the Salish Lodge and Spa and only the exterior was used for the show. The most striking part of visiting this site is experiencing the Snoqualmie Falls in action. The falls’ roaring thunder and clouds of mist are unforgettable.


	On a more gruesome note this is the bridge that (in the show) the second girl, Ronette Pulaski uses to cross the state line by walking along the railroad tracks. The bridge no longer carries trains and is now part of the King County trail system.


	A final Twin Peaks location was the railroad cars like these that were the site of various crimes. Actually part of the railroad museum I assume they were moved to a point in the trees for filming (there are plenty of trees).


	The museum mentioned above is the Northwest Railway Museum.


	Their main base is the Snoqualmie Depot which has been restored to its turn of the century grandeur and is presented as an operating train station.

There is a large collection of rolling stock (both restored and unrestored).

The upper photograph shows a snow plough / blower, very important in North West winters.

The lower photograph shows one of the restored engines.


	The museum runs trains between the Snoqualmie Depot and the one at North Bend (equally well restored).

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