Reinig Road in Snoqualmie, Wash. Photograph #6 by Darius Kinsey

Decades before Special Agent Dale Cooper drove past the Welcome to Twin Peaks sign in Twin Peaks, Reinig Road in Snoqualmie, Washington was captured by local resident and prolific Pacific Northwest photographer Darius Kinsey. I acquired this large print via an online auction that shows this snow-covered road found in the shadow of Mount Si.

REINIG ROAD IN SNOQUALMIE – PHOTOGRAPH #6 BY DARIUS KINSEY

This 11-inch by 14-inch photograph shows a snow-covered Reinig Road next to the Snoqualmie River while Mount Si looms in the distance. The bottom right corner contains a label written in white – “#6 Kinsey / Photo.” The spot is located around 41433-41699 SE Reinig Road.

This is the view from the Twin Peaks pilot which is a close match to Kinsey’s image taken years earlier.

WHEN WAS THE KINSEY #6 PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN?

I’ve found several dates referencing when this photograph was taken. OldOregonPhotos.com states the image was taken in the 1920s while the Snoqualmie Valley Historical Museum states the photo may have been taken between 1930 to 1945.

The museum used the Kinsey photo in a display about “The Real Twin Peaks” during the Real Twin Peaks event in February 2024. The image accompanied a panel found at the Northwest Railway Museum in Snoqualmie during that year’s celebration of the towns where David Lynch and Mark Frost filmed the show.

The image in this display was dated from 1940 and credited to Darius Kinsey: ©1940s view near location of “Welcome to Twin Peaks” sign. Darius Kinsey Photo. Snoqualmie Valley Museum Collection PO.079.0008

I found a similar Kinsey photo used a postcard (P-1744) from February 1946 with the caption “Winter Wonderland in Washington.”

I captured a similar shot of the area during a visit on February 20, 2025. This panoramic shot is further back from Kinsey’s photo (which I’ll have to recreate when I return to Snoqualmie Valley).

WHO IS DARIUS KINSEY?

Darius Kinsey was born in Marysville, Missouri in 1869 and spent the early years of his life in Missouri and Kansas. In 1889, he moved Snoqualmie at the age of 20.

A year later, he purchased his first camera and, after taking camera lessons in Seattle, he spent the next 50 years documenting the Pacific Northwest. His images of Washington state forests has made his photograph collection one of the most complete records of the logging industry of the time..

Darius’ younger brother Clark was born in 1877 in Missouri and moved the Snoqualmie at the age of 13. According to a bio about Clark on LivingSnoqualmie.com, the Kinsey family bought the first lots sold in Snoqualmie after the area was platted in 1889 by Charles Baker. The family built and ran the first hotel in Snoqualmie, the Hotel Kinsey. They also owned a large livery stable and store on the back side of the hotel.

Clark also became interested in photography from Mr. Rhinehart who was a guest at the family hotel. He arrived in Snoqualmie from Chicago and stayed for a year at Hotel Kinsey before moving to Seattle.

In 1894, he opened a photography studio on 2nd Avenue in Seattle which later became known as Kinsey & Kinsey after Darius joined as a business partner. The brothers created additional studios in Sedro-Woolley and Arlington. In the summertime, they traveled from town to town, setting up tent studios everywhere they went. Eventually, the brothers’ business partnership dissolved.

While Darius is known for his extensive photo documentation, it was his wife Tabitha, a farm girl from Nooksack, whose technique at developing and printing the photographs “assured her husband’s place in the sun.”

Darius retired from the photography business in 1940. Following a short illness, he passed on May 13, 1945 at the age of 76. At the time of his death, survivors included his widow, Tabitha May; a son, Darius Kinsey, Jr; a daughter, Mrs. P. C. Parcheski and three brothers, Alfred, Clarence and Clark Kinsey.

Clark retired from the photography business that same year. He died in 1956 at the age of 79.

Looking at Kinsey’s image, it’s wild to think this spot would take on new meaning for people around the world 50 years after his photo was taken.

Download a high resolution image of Kinsey’s photo – https://www.flickr.com/photos/aloha75/55083042447/

Download a high resolution of the Reinig Road photo from February 20, 2025 – https://www.flickr.com/photos/aloha75/55083937696