Biohazard and Pathogen Disinfection in Cle Elum, WA

Cle Elum is a city in Kittitas County in the Cascade foothills of central Washington, and its name comes from the Kittitas word Tle-el-Lum, meaning 'swift water,' a reference to the Cle Elum River.

In the spring of 1886, Northern Pacific Railroad surveyors Virgil Bogue and Herbert Huson laid out a station site they named 'Clealum,' and that July Walter J. Reed and Thomas Johnson dedicated the 65-acre townsite built around their sawmill, then the largest in central and eastern Washington.

Cle Elum was incorporated on February 12, 1902, and the town's spelling was officially changed from 'Clealum' to 'Cle Elum' in 1908.

Coal mining and lumber drove a boom that lifted Cle Elum's population from roughly 100 people in 1900 to about 3,000 by 1914.

On June 25, 1918, a great fire swept through Cle Elum, destroying more than 70 acres across 29 blocks, including 30 businesses and 205 houses, and leaving over 1,800 people homeless, though no one was killed; the 1906 Cle Elum State Bank Building survived the fire and still stands.

The 2020 census counted 2,157 people in Cle Elum, up from 1,872 people in 857 households at the 2010 census.

Cle Elum's official motto is 'Heart of The Cascades,' the city sits at an elevation of about 1,909 feet, and weather records average roughly 75 inches of snow a year.

Cle Elum is the birthplace of astronaut Dick Scobee, born there on May 19, 1939, who commanded the Space Shuttle Challenger on its final mission.

The Coal Mines Trail, a rail trail following the old coal-hauling line, runs from Cle Elum through neighboring Roslyn to the former mining town of Ronald.

Local students attend the Cle Elum-Roslyn School District, whose Cle Elum-Roslyn High School — home of the Warriors — stands on State Route 903.