"GRASSY PLACE" Kennewick by austinmax

In 1883, the Northern Pacific Railroad track was being constructed from Spokane on its way to Seattle via the Yakima River and had reached a point near the Columbia River. Mr. H.S. Huson, a civil engineer with the railroad was sent to find a suitable location for a bridge across the Columbia River. They landed on a small island covered with grass and wild shrubbery known today as Clover Island. Indians called it Kin-i-wak, which meant “grassy place”. The construction crews began to arrive and set up camps along the proposed route. Huson recommended that the bridge be built at Cottonwood Landing, a short distance downriver from Kin-i-wak, but during the time of locating foundations for the bridge, he found himself calling the place Kenewick in his records and correspondence.

From her book, “Kin-I-wak, Kenewick, Tehe, Kennewick
Martha Berry Parker