Squak, Gilman, Issaquah

The place took its names in stages [1]. In the 1860s settlers used Squak, their attempt at the Indian name Is-qu-ah, a word spoken by the roughly 200 Native people of that area [1]. Then in 1889 the residents changed the name to Gilman [1]. They meant to honor Daniel Hunt Gilman, a promoter of the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern Railroad, the line that carried coal from the nearby Gilman Mines [1]. The post office took a different view of the name, calling the town Olney, because Gilman sat too close to Gilmer in Klickitat County and the mail might otherwise be misdirected [1]. The town council petitioned the legislature, and on February 2, 1899, an act changed Gilman to Issaquah [1]. That spelling sits close to the older Is-qu-ah, whose meaning is snake [1].