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It doesn鈥檛 have the cachet of Route 66, and it鈥檚 not as scenic as the Pacific Coast Highway 鈥� but US 395 in the Evergreen State has its own underappreciated history and a certain amount of distinctive charm.

And while you also can鈥檛 get your kicks on it, either, the highway known as US 395 through Eastern Washington鈥檚 Big Bend County and Inland Empire is worth the price of gas 鈥� at the moment, anyway 鈥� to take a drive from Pasco to Spokane, or even all the way to the Canadian Border.

I鈥檝e driven the Pasco to Spokane section a few times at different times of the year, but I haven鈥檛 gone all the way north to Laurier on the Canadian border. I want to someday because there鈥檚 an airstrip there that straddles the border 鈥� you can actually touchdown in one country and taxi into another (but that鈥檚 a story for another day).

On the Pasco-to-Spokane section of the drive, you鈥檒l go through or near towns with some of my favorite place names in any part of the state 鈥� including Eltopia, which some people say is a variant of the expression 鈥淗ell to pay鈥� for some difficulties faced by railroad crews in the area 140 years ago. And you鈥檒l pass the town of Lind 鈥� where I read in an old book that the streets are named after the letters in the surname 鈥楴eilson鈥� 鈥� the family who platted the town in the late 19th century. Sure enough, zooming in on Google Maps you can see 鈥楴鈥� Street, 鈥楨鈥� Street, 鈥業鈥� Street, 鈥楲鈥� Street, 鈥楽鈥� Street, and 鈥極鈥� Street.

鈥淏ut wait,鈥� I said to myself earlier this week. 鈥淲here鈥檚 鈥楴鈥� Street? It wasn鈥檛 the 鈥楴eilso鈥� family?!?鈥�

It took me a moment or two, but then I realized that a second 鈥楴鈥� Street just six blocks from the first 鈥楴鈥� Street would be pretty dumb.

Once you reach Ritzville on the northbound drive, US 395 and Interstate 90 share the same roadbed all the way to Spokane. However, drivers can leave the freeway and go at least part of the way to the on old US 10 鈥� just follow the cool retro signs 鈥� between Ritzville and Sprague.

What鈥檚 really cool about the Pasco-to-Spokane leg of US 395 is that before there was any thought of building a highway, that route was part of the original path of the Northern Pacific Railroad (and still part of the BNSF Railway) between Spokane and Tacoma. The tracks between Spokane and Pasco (technically, Ainsworth) were completed around 1881, and the first iteration of the highway didn鈥檛 get built until about 35 years later. Thus, many of the towns along the way began purely as part of the railroad as shipping points for wheat. Accordingly, old Northern Pacific depots remain at Lind, Ritzville, Sprague, and Cheney.

One of the earliest maps where this aspiringly storied road appears was published in 1915 by the Washington State Highway Department. At that point, the route was called the 鈥淐entral Washington Highway,鈥� and its construction was part of a 1913 statewide, state-funded effort to build 鈥渢runk roads鈥� to foster travel and commerce between populated sections of Washington. The Central Washington Highway has the distinction of being the first of the batch to be completed. That happened in late spring or early summer of 1921 when the final 17 miles between Connell (for the record, pronounced 鈥榢aw-NELL鈥�) and Lind were 鈥渋mproved.鈥�

The total distance between Pasco and Spokane for that 1921 route was 155 miles 鈥� and 鈥渋mproved鈥� meant that the highway was graded and then surfaced with gravel and oil. In 2022, the modern route between the same locations on US 395 is listed as 135 miles, because the basic route has remained the same, but bypasses and other realignments mean that portions of the route have been relocated over the decades.

The numerical name 鈥淯S 395鈥� was first applied around 1930 as part of a federal initiative to standardize highway numbers around the country. A Washington State Highway Department map from 1933 shows the northern portion already called that 鈥� at least on paper 鈥� and, on the same map, the Pasco-to-Spokane section is called Highway 11. By 1939, much of the entire route (which actually went from Mexico to Canada through California, Oregon, and Washington) was marked on maps as 鈥淯S 395鈥� and, according to some , also with roadside signage as 鈥淯S 395鈥� 鈥� with the now-classic shield design.

However, based on a search of newspaper archives, it appears that public use of the numerical name didn鈥檛 catch on for a while, perhaps not until as late as the 1960s. And, if there were ever any signs that read 鈥淐entral Washington Highway鈥� during those first years of the road鈥檚 existence, they鈥檇 probably be just as difficult to find nowadays as that second 鈥楴鈥� Street in downtown Lind.

You can hear Feliks every Wednesday and Friday morning on Seattle’s Morning News and read more from him here. If you have a story idea, please email Feliks here.