Yesler Way

Yesler Way is marked by the sharp, steep slope that drops toward the Elliott Bay waterfront. Named for Henry Yesler, who arrived in eighteen fifty-two, this street once served as the primary transit route for the city’s first industry. Yesler built a steam-powered sawmill at the bottom of the grade, and settlers and Duwamish workers hauled freshly cut logs down this incline to the mill.