After passing chicken houses, long and barrack-like, the highway reaches Connell Prairie Block House, on the brow of a small terrace-like bench overlooking Connell Prairie. The old blockhouse is made of cedar logs, split so that the inner wall is comparatively flat, and chinked with moss. Such nails as were used in its construction are of the old square cut type. Rocks piled around the base of the structure when it was built have been scattered. In the upper part are apertures for rifles.

A monument with inscriptions telling of the death of several army officers and men in two Indian ambushes in 1855. The monument also notes that the old Fort Steilacoom military road ran 50 feet away from this spot. The Battle of Connell’s Prairie, considered to have been the decisive confrontation during the Puget Sound Indian Wars, was fought between Washington Volunteers and Indians led by Chief Leschi on March 10, 1856.