The Snoqualmie Valley was settled in the late 19th century and its communities were originally connected by a series of unpaved country roads, among the earliest to be built in King County. The initial road was built on the west side of the valley in the 1870s and a new road on the east side followed in the late 1880s, connecting Fall City, Tolt (now Carnation), and Cherry Valley to Monroe. The road originally crossed the Skykomish River via a short ferry route when the waters were too high for fording by wagons and horses; this crossing was replaced by the first fixed, wooden bridge at the site in August 1894. A branch of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad was built along the east bank of the river in 1911, necessitating the relocation of the road and the entire town of Cherry Valley (now Duvall).