The Grand Rendezvous
The city was established in 1885 and incorporated in 1891, but was an important area of human habitation for almost 10,000 years. Many tribes fished and wintered in the flats along the Columbia at the mouth of the Snake. The Lewis & Clark Expedition camped at the site in 1805 and 1806, and reported that Indians gathered there in great numbers. Pasco residents couldn't possibly know they were on the brink of a massive wartime boom. Japan bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 and almost immediately, Pasco was jammed with bulldozers, cranes, and men in uniform. In February 1942, the Navy approved the relocation of Seattle's Sand Point Naval Air Station to Pasco. Pasco was chosen for its good flying climate and for its abundance of arid, unused land.