Barneston, Washington facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Barneston, Washington
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Stockyards and sawmill at Barneston, 1911
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 Barneston, Washington
Location in Washington (state)
Barneston, Washington
Location in the United States
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| Country | United States |
| State | Washington |
| County | King |
| Established | 1901 |
| Time zone | UTC-8 (Pacific (PST)) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-7 (PDT) |
Barneston was a small town in King County, Washington. It is now a ghost town, meaning it no longer has people living there. The town was once a busy place, especially known for its lumber mill.
How Barneston Started
Barneston began because of a lumber mill. A lumber mill is a factory that cuts down trees and turns them into wood for building. This mill was built near the Cedar River. Homes were built for the people who worked at the mill.
The town officially started on June 12, 1901, when a post office opened. It was named after John G. Barnes. He was an important person at the Kent Lumber Company, which owned the land where the town was built.
People of Barneston
Barneston was special because many of its workers were Japanese immigrants. Immigrants are people who move from one country to live in another. About 35 out of every 100 workers in Barneston were from Japan.
These Japanese families lived in a special camp north of the town. However, the Japanese children went to school with all the other children in Barneston. One worker even ran a traditional Japanese bathhouse for the Japanese community.
Why Barneston Disappeared
Barneston's post office stayed open for many years. But in 1924, the city of Seattle made an important decision. Seattle needed to keep the water in the Cedar River watershed very clean. A watershed is an area of land where all the water drains into a specific river or lake.
To protect the water, Seattle asked everyone living in the Cedar River watershed to move out. Because of this, Barneston became empty and is now a ghost town.
