Pioneer

I titled this post "Pioneer" since that's what the sign along the railroad calls it - and since Pioneer was the major operator of the huge gravel pits that marked this site for the most of the 20th century. I could have called it Chambers Creek, since it lies just north of the creek and because the whole place is now managed as "Chambers Creek Properties", including its brand new premier golf course. But I'd rather reserve that title for the Creek itself - which I have (Chambers Creek-2008).

The 200' gravel-rich bluffs once reached to the Sound (historical photo), but they were excavated back a kilometer to help build Seattle and Tacoma and all the roads that connect them. Now there is a rolling reclaimed landscape - part treatment plant, part park, and of course, part golf course. The railroad still runs along the shoreline, but there is now a new overpass connecting the park to its two mile long beach. Or at least two miles when the tide isn't too high, since there are places it runs up against the railroad riprap at high tide.