By DON CARTER
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Transportation has always been closely linked to Issaquah's development.

Although coal was discovered in 1863, it wasn't mined for a long time because there was no practical way to get it to market. The isolated community consisted mostly of farmers and loggers.

Daniel Gilman became a local hero in the late 1880s when he and Seattle investor Thomas Burke brought their Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway to Issaquah. With it came new prosperity from newly opened coal mines. City fathers promptly renamed their city for Gilman.

But the mines also brought problems, mainly a lot of single men who drank too much and got rowdy. In 1900, Gilman's name was dropped.

No one seems to remember who invented the new name of Issaquah. White settlers originally called the area Squak, derived from the Native American's "Ishquoh." One theory is that the current name derived from someone simply tinkering with the original name to get one that rolled off the tongue a little easier than either Squak or Ishquoh.

Strikes and poor coal prices led to the mines closing in the 1920s, and Issaquah once again languished in isolation. It was a 52-mile trip along the shores of Lakes Sammamish and Washington to get to Seattle by train.

That changed dramatically in 1940, and the cars that started flowing across Lake Washington then just keep coming and coming.