Index, WA

Index is a 155-person town tucked along the North Fork Skykomish River in the Cascades, where US 2 threads through a steep mountain corridor. Amos Gunn and his family established the settlement in 1889 after buying a claim for a home and hotel. The name came from Mount Index, now called Baring Mountain, whose profile was said to resemble an index finger. Great Northern Railway service arrived in 1893, and the town incorporated in 1907. Mining, timber, and granite quarrying shaped the early economy; local granite went into the Washington State Capitol and the base of Seattle's Smith Tower.

Index has since turned its mountain setting into a recreation economy. Climbers use the cliffs of Index Town Wall, rafters follow the Skykomish, and Forks of the Sky State Park protects part of the former quarry and climbing landscape. The Index-Pickett Historical Museum, opened in 1986, keeps the local past close at hand. The Index School District runs one combined elementary-middle school, with roughly 23 students and three full-time teachers in 2023. A 1980 flood remains part of town memory too: floodwaters reached 24 feet and washed away seven homes, part of Avenue A, and the water main.