 The portage, named or , was also used as a transiting point for travelers from Eastern Washington on their way to and from the Puget Sound coast.The area was known as Burn or Sauk Portage to early surveyors and visitors from towns along the Puget Sound coastline.A group of railroad surveyors for the Northern Pacific Railway arrived in modern-day Darrington in 1870 while plotting the potential route for a railroad crossing the Cascades to Lake Chelan, but ultimately chose Stampede Pass to the south.