Cle Elum is a city in Kittitas County, Washington, United States. The population was 1,872 at the 2010 census. Only an hour and a half's drive from Seattle, Cle Elum is a popular area for camping and outdoor activities.

The founders of Cle Elum were Thomas L. Gamble (later known as Judge Gamble) and Walter J. Reid. Mr. Gamble took up a Quarter section of land in Section 26, Township 20 North, and Range 15 East, in April, 1883 with the intent of farming the land. Mr. Reed took a claim adjoining Mr. Gamble's on the West. On those two preemptive claims the town was laid out. The date of these filings was three years prior to the discovery of coal. Scattered discoveries of coal ledges had been made in 1883 and 1884, but in 1886 a definite discovery of a large ledge of good coal in paying quantities made it clear that a most important stage had come in the history of the region and populations in the region began to increase. Meanwhile, the Northern Pacific Railway was seeking a route over the Cascade Mountains.

The Rat Pack was a group of actors originally centered on Humphrey Bogart. In the mid-1960s it was the name used by the press and the general public to refer to a later variation of the group, after Bogart's death, that called itself "the summit" or "the clan," featuring Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Peter Lawford, and Joey Bishop, who appeared together on stage and in films in the early-1960s, including the movie Ocean's 11. Sinatra, Martin and Davis were regarded as the group's lead members.

The name "The Rat Pack" was first used to refer to a group of friends in New York. Several explanations have been offered for the famous name over the years. According to one version, the group's original "Den Mother," Lauren Bacall, after seeing her husband (Bogart) and his friends return from a night in Las Vegas, said words to the effect of "You look like a goddamn rat pack." "Rat Pack" may also be a shortened version of "Holmby Hills Rat Pack", a reference to the home of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall which served as a regular hangout.