In 1855, the outbreak of the Puget Sound Indian War and Yakima Indian War preoccupied settlers and left use of the wagon road to the Indians and army. In addition, in early 1855, Lieutenant Abiel Tinkham had already reported on the superiority of Snoqualmie Pass as a cross-mountain route.: Following the Indian wars, the Naches Pass route was used almost exclusively by stockmen who drove their herds both ways over the pass on a regular basis until the turn of the century.