Between 1879 and 1893 the first cash crop in the valley was hops. Hops were used in beer and as a tonic. Western Washington became one of the major hop producers in the world. The hops were shipped to Seattle and on to England. Native Americans provided much of the labor to pick the hops. Hop picking also brought the Davis brothers to Tolt as well as other families.
In 1889 the first hops aphid appeared and by 1891 there was a complete crop failure.
James Entwistle was a prosperous hop farmer along the Snoqualmie River. When the bottom dropped out of the hops market, his mortgaged buildings were lost. The price of hops went from $1.25 a pound to 6 cents a pound.
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