Abandoned Record
About Lester
Lester is a ghost town near Stampede Pass, just south of Snoqualmie Pass in King County, founded in 1892 by the Northern Pacific Railway (now the BNSF Railway). Lester is located along what is currently National Forest Development Road 54, on land now owned by Tacoma Water, a division of Tacoma Public Utilities.
This is a site record: what public sources say about Lester, gathered in one place. We haven't written a full guide yet, so history, current access and photos are still to come. Treat the status as unknown until a guide confirms it.
Map
Where Lester is
Historic maps
6 historic USGS maps cover Lester
Topographic sheets from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection (public domain), oldest first. Older sheets often show the camp, mines and roads while the place was alive. The downloads are large map scans; USGS topoView shows them in the browser.
- 1901 Snoqualmie Pass sheet, 1:125,000 · GeoTIFF download
- 1903 Snoqualmie sheet, 1:125,000 · GeoTIFF download
- 1957 Wenatchee sheet, 1:250,000 · GeoTIFF download
- 1962 Lester sheet, 1:62,500 · GeoTIFF download
- 1975 Snoqualmie Pass sheet, 1:100,000 · GeoTIFF download
- 1989 Lester sheet, 1:24,000 · GeoTIFF download
Directions
Getting there
Before you go
- Many ghost town sites are on private land, active mining claims or tribal land. Check land status and ask permission.
- Roads to old townsites are often unmaintained dirt. Map apps may route over closed or impassable tracks.
- Removing artifacts from public land is illegal under federal and most state laws.
Nearby
Other sites near Lester
Straight-line distance to other mapped sites in our Washington index.
Sources
Sources
- ghosttowns.com, "Lester": county, roads, climate, best time to visit, remains.
- Wikipedia, "Lester, Washington": coordinates and summary.
- Wikidata Q6531781.
- USGS GNIS 1522035.
- USGS 3D Elevation Program, elevation at the coordinates.
- USGS The National Map and Historical Topographic Map Collection (public domain).