Women Making History – The Two Ruths

In celebration of Women’s History Month (March) let’s talk about two champions of the Issaquah Alps, both named Ruth.

Ruth Kees

The first is Ruth Kees. She was a tireless advocate for the natural environment in and around Issaquah for nearly 50 years. She first came to the area in 1960 and lived on a 20-acre parcel on Tiger Mountain with her husband, Dan, until her death in 2009.

Kees took up the gauntlet on many environmental fronts but was particularly concerned about protecting the water quality in the Issaquah Creek drainage basin. She was visionary in her efforts to protect the Issaquah aquifer, not only for the fish and wildlife but as the source of potable water for the humans that call Issaquah their home. Indeed, this reporter’s conversations with Kees taught me what an aquifer was. “Aquifer” wasn’t in my vocabulary until I met and conversed with her. She was an advocate and an educator.

In 1981 Kees was honored with an environmental excellence award from the Washington State Ecological Association. She was recognized for leadership across multiple organizations, including Friends of Issaquah Creek, the No Dump Committee, the Watershed Committee, and the Tahoma-Raven Heights Study Committee. She got around.

Also of note, the signs seen at stream crossings reminding us that “This Salmon Spawning Stream is in Your Care” were designed by Kees and installed at 49 locations throughout the Issaquah basin area in 1982. These signs remain a legacy of the activism of this environmental stalwart (although the newer versions leave out the “Salmon Spawning” portion of the text).

In 1985 Kees formed the Issaquah Environmental Council to enlist others in local environmental causes. The IATC has partnered with that group from time to time on issues of common interest.

Recognizing her work, the City of Issaquah inducted her into the “Issaquah Hall of Fame” in 1991. Mayor Rowan Hinds cited her for “courageous and steadfast” pursuit of environmental excellence throughout the Issaquah area.

Ruth Kees received the "Issaquah Hall of Fame" award from Mayor Rowan Hinds in 1991.
(Courtesy the Issaquah History Museums – 2013.003.715)

In 2003, the Washington State Department of Ecology awarded Kees the “Environmental Excellence Award.” Ray Hellwig, the northwest regional director for the Department of Ecology, presented the award and said of Kees: “Ruth provides a role model for all citizens of our state on how they can contribute to public awareness and positively affect public policy on environmental issues. Her contribution to water resource and environmental protection is incalculable.”

The award was presented at a celebration in the Pickering Barn, with more to come. The Issaquah City Council voted to name a small creek that flowed through her Tiger Mountain property “Kees Creek.” And, with the blessings of the IATC, one of the most popular trails on the Tiger Mountain Tradition Plateau was renamed the “Ruth Kees Big Tree Trail.”

The legacy of Ruth Kees is remembered on the Tradition Plateau. (Photo by Thomas Anderson)

Further, the City of Issaquah established the Ruth Kees Environmental Award for a Sustainable Community that same year. We are proud that club leaders have often been recipients of this award, including David Kappler (2006), Ken Konigsmark (2007), William Longwell, Jr. (2008), Harvey Manning (2009), and Ted Thomsen (2010).

You can learn more about this remarkable lady here:

https://www.issaquahalps.org/articles/2019/3/8/remembering-ruth-kees-a-local-hero

https://www.issaquahreporter.com/news/searching-for-issaquah-residents-committed-to-ruth-kees-vision/

Ruth Ittner

Next up is Ruth Ittner (rhymes with vintner). She is most noted as the driving force behind the Iron Goat Trail that follows the Great Northern railway route through Stevens Pass. Her connection to the Issaquah Alps dates back to 1972 when she was chair of the Trails Advisory Committee of The Mountaineers. The committee, having enjoyed success in planning and building the Mount Si trail, wanted to make a similar trail on Tiger Mountain. And so the project was launched at a meeting in Ittner’s home on May 10, 1972. The committee appointed Bill Longwell and Phil Hall, the only group members familiar with Tiger Mountain, to start contacting the landowners to get permission to proceed. Years later, Longwell would point to that date as the conceptual birth of the Tiger Mountain Trail.

Contacts were made -- the DNR was willing, but Weyerhaeuser was decidedly not willing. So the project went onto the back burner and simmered for four years while Ittner pursued every angle to win over someone in the Weyerhaeuser company. Finally, she found a sympathetic ear with Howard Millan, Public Affairs Forester with Weyerhaeuser (who happened to be a childhood scouting friend of Harvey Manning). He gave the project the green light.

Work on the trail commenced immediately, taking only six months to complete the first five miles! Ittner and Longwell conducted an inspection hike inviting officials from Weyerhaeuser, the DNR, and The Mountaineers. All went well, and work on the trail continued for the next few years, culminating in the grand opening of the Tiger Mountain Trail on October 17, 1979. (At the debut, the trail was 10.3 miles in length, later to be extended to the present 16-mile length.)

Ittner served not only as a lobbyist and organizer of the project but also got her hands dirty in the nitty-gritty process of building the trail. In the words of Bill Longwell, “She spent a multitude of days laying out and building the TMT.” Because of her critical contributions to the trail, Longwell dubbed a particular spot along the TMT as “Ruth’s Cove.” It is a quiet hidden valley with an unnamed tributary to the High Point creek flowing under a quaint little bridge. An inviting spot to pause for a snack and enjoy the ambiance of the place. Some have described it as the most scenic spot on the TMT.