Twenty-Three Stops on Tacoma's Kla-How-Ya Loop
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Description
A hand-sketched map of Commencement Bay anchors the center panel, with a numbered "SCENIC TRAIL" winding through twenty-three Tacoma parks and landmarks — from the ASARCO copper smelter's 562-foot Ruston Way smokestack to Cheney Stadium — under a cover fold greeting visitors with "Kla-How-Ya," the [Chinook Jargon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinook_Jargon) trade-language salutation meaning "How do you do?" Both Camp Six and Never Never Land appear as active stops, placing the printing after 1964 when both opened inside Point Defiance Park.
The route forms a rough loop around Tacoma's west-facing peninsula, and the brochure numbers its stops sequentially. Stop 11 is the ASARCO Tacoma Smelter (American Smelting and Refining Company) on Ruston Way — the copper smelter that began operating in 1889 and whose 562-foot brick smokestack, built in 1917, was then the tallest in the world. The stack's billow was visible from most of Tacoma for nearly a century; the smelter closed in 1985, and the smokestack was imploded in 1993 before a crowd estimated at 100,000. Its placement as a scenic landmark in this guide rather than an eyesore dates the printing squarely within the smelter's working years.
Several stops cluster inside Point Defiance Park, the 760-acre reserve at the peninsula's tip. Among them are Camp Six — a working replica of an early-1900s logging railroad camp, established in 1964, with five hundred tons of actual equipment including locomotives and a working steam donkey — and Never Never Land, an outdoor walk through fairy-tale and nursery-rhyme figurines that also opened in 1964 and ran until Metro Parks shut it down in 2001.
The numbered sequence continues past Annie Wright School (a private Episcopal girls' school above the waterfront), Cheney Stadium (built in just over three months in 1960 to catch the Triple-A Tacoma Giants' opening game), Bates Vocational-Technical (now Bates Technical College), and Tacoma Community College (founded 1965) — which together push the earliest possible print date to 1965. The full-color offset photography and the cheerful promotional tone are consistent with late-1960s or 1970s Pacific Northwest tourism printing.
The three remaining scanned pages are panels from a separate item — Washington State's Olympic Peninsula Directory and Map, 49th Edition — apparently stored inside the Kla-How-Ya brochure. Its contents include an advertisement for Lake Quinault Lodge (with a toll-free 1-800 number), a Washington State Ferries day-trip insert, and a Silver Key Realty page selling Sequim to retirees by comparing its 17 annual inches of rainfall favorably to San Diego. All carry the 206 area code, used for the Tacoma area until 253 split off in 1995.
Researched with claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 on May 25, 2026. AI-assisted — verify before citing.
Details
- Coverage◇ AI
- Tacoma, Washington, USA
- Paper◇ AI
- uncoated bond
- Print medium◇ AI
- offset lithograph
- Color◇ AI
- full-color
FeaturesAI
- tri-fold pamphlet
- numbered self-guided driving-tour map
- color photographs of Tacoma landmarks and waterfront
Condition notesAI
- light wear at fold lines
- colors appear vibrant and largely unfaded
Highlights
- A hand-drawn map of Commencement Bay occupies the center panel, with a numbered loop labeled 'SCENIC TRAIL' tracing the route through the peninsula's parks.p.1
- Stop 11 — the TACOMA SMELTER (American Smelting & Refining Co.) — appears in the left column as a route landmark, described in the same tourist register as the parks surrounding it.p.1
- Color photographs at right show waterfront fishing and a harbor view, framing the route's industrial and recreational attractions as continuous rather than contrasting.p.1
- The Olympic Peninsula Directory cover announces '49th Edition — FOR ALL SEASONS' in bold type over a mountain-and-foliage photograph, with 'Referred by:' printed beneath — a distribution note suggesting placement through hotels or visitor centers.p.2
- A Washington State Ferries insert at the top advertises a ten-hour day loop — 'two lighthouses, three beaches and four ferries' — with a photograph of a ferry underway.p.3
- Silver Key Realty's Sequim advertisement includes a precipitation table comparing seven cities; Sequim's 17 annual inches is placed between Los Angeles (15) and San Francisco (20), the implicit pitch being that retirement weather need not require leaving the Pacific Northwest.p.4
Further reading
The ASARCO Smokestack Demolition, January 17, 1993 — HistoryLink.org
historylink.orgThe 562-foot brick smokestack — once the world's tallest — was imploded before an estimated crowd of 100,000; the copper smelter had operated on the Ruston waterfront since 1889.
Point Defiance Park — Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.orgThe 760-acre reserve at the tip of Tacoma's peninsula includes a zoo, gardens, beaches, and roughly 400 acres of old-growth forest.
Camp 6 Logging Museum — Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.orgEstablished in 1964, Camp 6 replicated a working early-1900s logging railroad camp with over 500 tons of equipment; it operated until 2010 when funding ran out.
Never Never Land (Tacoma) — Roadside America
roadsideamerica.comThe fairytale walk-through at Point Defiance Park opened in 1964 and ran until 2001; several figurines were destroyed by arson before going to auction in 2021.
Cheney Stadium — Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.orgBuilt in just over three months in 1960 to catch the Triple-A Tacoma Giants' opening game; home to Pacific Coast League baseball continuously since April 16, 1960.