Cle Elum’s Celtic Connections: News, views, and Trivia for Those of Irish, Scotch-Irish Decent, or the Irish at Heart!

Introduction to Cle Elum’s Celtic Connections:

How Many Irish in Kittitas County:

By: Caoimhe Dunn

(Be sure to read to the end to find out how to receive a free gift)

Recently, I was behind the counter at Mail Boxes Unlimited, where I share space for my shop, ‘Celtic Connections…for every situation!’ when this fella walked in, looked about, and said, “Isn’t St. Patrick’s Day over?”

Now I suppose if you were not aware of the fact that you had just walked into the local Celtic Shop you would find this to be a bit of a shock. However, as I told the fella, it seems quite normal as far as I am concerned. The puzzled look on his face told me that he was not sure I hadn’t lost my mind, opening an Irish Shop in Cle Elum.

He informed me that there are no Irish in Cle Elum, to which I responded, oh my dear friend, you are mistaken there are lots of us Irish or Scotch-Irish in Kittitas county, and specifically in the Cle Elum and Roslyn areas.

Of course he just looked at me like I was nuts and listed off the nationalities that he knew were here for sure; German, Croatian, Slavic, and Italian.

This conversation started me thinking about something my publisher has asked me for repeatedly, an article called “Cle Elum’s Celtic Connections”, so I thought I would start the first with a few statistics, just in case there are those of you who are of the opinion had by the gentleman who came into my shop this past week.

The following information is the percent of Irish or Scotch Irish claimed for three specific locations within Kittitas County, according to the 2000 U.S. census:

Cle Elum – 8.5% of all residents

Ellensburg – 11.6% of all residents

Roslyn – 16% of all residents (second only to German at 17.5%)

In addition to the census information, one has only to peruse the local phone directories in order to get a feel for the amount of Irish and Scotch-Irish folk there are around. The following are just a few:

Arnold, Bailey, Ballard, Collins, Conner, Connors, Connally, Cunningham, Deneen, Donovan,

Dunn, Dwyer, Egan, Henderson, Johnston, Kennedy, Kelleher, Kelly, and then there are all the Mc’s and the O’s… too numerous to list here.

Some of you might be wondering how so many Irish got here, well mining is something that is not new to the Irish, in fact both of my granddaddy’s were miners all their lives, so when Irishmen were given opportunity to work and immigrate to this country they jumped for it with all their might.

There is a plethora of information about the history of those miners at the Roslyn museum. If you have not already done so, I highly recommend you visit there at your earliest possible convenience.

This column will include my own personal writings and information, articles, trivia, and any other titbits, which I feel would be of value and interest too many of you, especially those Irish and Scotch-Irish, in Kittitas County.

I would love to hear from those of you who are Irish or Scotch-Irish…or maybe just Irish at heart!!

Please leave a comment and come in and see me at my shop (if you mention you saw this on MyAroundTown.com you will get a FREE GIFT as a token of our appreciation for your loyalty as a reader).