By Moira Stockton, Research Assistant

In Federation Forest State Park in Enumclaw, Washington, a special grove of trees is dedicated to Ella Higginson. The Ella Higginson Grove is on land donated in 1952 by Higginson’s closest friend, Catherine Montgomery.

Two photos of the grove were sent to Dr. Laura Laffrado, Director of the Ella Higginson Recovery Project, after her op-ed about Higginson’s thoughts on the overdevelopment of the Pacific Northwest appeared in the Seattle Times. To read Dr. Laffrado’s op-ed, click this link: https://virtualmocassins.com/ellahigginson/2019/02/24/laments-over-unbridled-growth-in-our-beloved-northwest-are-nothing-new-dr-laura-laffrado-for-the-seattle-times/

An unidentified newspaper reports in January 1952 on the grove’s establishment, “This transaction has been completed recently by the way of a gift from Miss Catherine Montgomery, a retired faculty member of the Western Washington College of Education. One of the factors of a close friendship between these two distinguished women was their shared love of the Northwest’s beautiful outdoors.”

The article continues, “The newly acquired Ella Higginson Grove adjoins the Federation Forest on the east side, and has some frontage on the transcontinental highway, with close proximity to the White river which borders the south side of the whole park. This grove will prove a valuable and important addition to the park, not only in its beauty, but from an historic standpoint, as the old Naches Trail, a favorite of early pioneers, enters the park at the Higginson Grove boundary.”

Catherine Montgomery was born on Prince Edward Island in 1867. She moved to Bellingham, Washington in 1899 to accept a position as one of the founding faculty members of what would become Western Washington University. Higginson and Montgomery were close friends until Higginson’s death in 1940. When Montgomery died in 1957, she left her entire estate to the Federation Forest Park. Her estate was eventually used to construct the Catherine Montgomery Interpretive Center.

Montgomery is remembered for proposing the idea of the Pacific Crest Trail in 1926. To read more about her involvement in the Pacific Crest Trail’s beginnings, see “Meet the mother of the Pacific Crest Trail”: https://www.pcta.org/2017/mother-pacific-crest-trail-catherine-montgomery-48060/

Federation Forest State Park exists today because of the admirable efforts of members of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs of Washington, formerly known as the Washington State Federation of Women’s Clubs. Jeanne Caithness Greenlees, former president of the Snohomish district of the Federation, was a timber conservationist who proposed the idea of the park to Esther Maltby, the sixteenth state president of the Federation. Maltby and Helen Sutton, who also served as a state president, worked together on the park’s dedication, which took place in 1949. To learn more about the history of Federation Forest State Park, watch this video produced by the Federation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YG5z__oU5Yc

To more about the General Federation of Women’s Clubs of Washington State and how to get involved, visit their site at: https://www.gfwcws.org/