Thousands of voices from the past crackle to life in the history of the mountains and valleys of the North Cascades; they still speak to us today. The Native American voice has been heard in this area for at least eight thousand years. Early European and American fur traders and explorers wandered through these mountains looking for pelts or paths in the early nineteenth century. By the early twentieth century, homesteaders and miners claimed these mountains hoping to make a living here.

For Stories about North Cascades as a National Park look in the administrative history called Contested Terrain.