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About Washington State -- Frequently Asked Questions and Their Answers

This essay offers a brief introduction to the state of Washington, its jurisdictional development and government, and its official symbols.
File 5315: Full Text >

Beaver, SS, First Steamship in Pacific Northwest

The first steamship to operate in the eastern Pacific Ocean was the HMS Beaver, a stout little craft commissioned by the Hudson's Bay Company. She saw continuous service from 1835 until July 26, 1888, when she ran aground at the entrance to Vancouver, B.C., harbor.
File 5260: Full Text >

Darrington -- Thumbnail History

The town of Darrington, located in Snohomish County 30 miles east of Arlington, was once known as the Burn or Sauk Portage. Darrington got its name from the flip of a card. With settlement beginning in the early 1890s, it gained its reputation as a jumping off place for mineral exploration and later logging. Never incorporated until 1945, it remained a rough and tumble place well into the 1950s. Today it is the gateway to exceptional outdoor activities such as hiking, mountain climbing and other outdoor recreation. Currently it numbers 1,500 citizens.
File 8798: Full Text >

Denny, Arthur Armstrong (1822-1899)

Arthur A. Denny is considered the leader of the party of immigrants who first landed at Alki (West Seattle) in 1851 and then founded the city of Seattle in 1852. On February 15, 1852, after a period at Alki, Arthur Denny and others staked their Donation Land claims across Elliott Bay on what is today the waterfront of downtown Seattle. Denny served as a delegate to the Monticello convention which separated Washington from Oregon, as King County commissioner and Seattle postmaster, and as a delegate to the Territorial Legislature. This biography includes a list of the Denny Party with birth and death dates for each member.
File 921: Full Text >

Donation Land Law, also known as the Oregon Land Law

The Donation Land Law of 1850, or Oregon Land Law, permitted settlers on unsurveyed lands to select claims of 320 acres per settler (640 acres per married couple) provided they resided there for four consecutive years.
File 400: Full Text >

Jefferson County -- Thumbnail History

Jefferson County, located on the Olympic Peninsula in northwestern Washington, was created by the Oregon Territorial Legislature on December 22, 1852, from a portion of Lewis County. It was named in honor of President Thomas Jefferson who, by commissioning the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804-1806), was instrumental in the exploration of the Pacific Northwest. Jefferson County has an area of 2,184 square miles, 1,814 square miles of land and 369 square miles of water. Approximately 60 percent of the county comprises the Olympic National Park and Olympic National Forest; another 20 percent is under the jurisdiction of other federal and state agencies. The Washington Territorial legislature determined the boundary lines in 1877. The county is bounded on the north by Clallam County and the Strait of Juan de Fuca, on the south by Grays Harbor and Mason Counties; on the east by Hood Canal and Admiralty Inlet; and the on the west by the Pacific Ocean. The county seat is Port Townsend.
File 7472: Full Text >

Latino History of Washington State

Latinos, currently the largest minority in the United States at more than 13 percent of the population, have been instrumental to the development of Washington state since the 1774 Spanish exploration of the Olympic Peninsula. During the past 25 years the state's Hispanic population has increased dramatically from 118,432 in 1980 to 549,774 in 2005. The foundation of the current Hispanic boom is rooted in economic and labor developments of the 1940s. Note: Although the term Latino is used throughout this essay, in actuality the Latino experience in Washington state has been until very recently primarily a Mexican American and Mexican experience.
File 7901: Full Text >

Lewis and Clark in Washington State

In May 1803, the United States purchased Louisiana from France. The doubling of U.S. territory caused President Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) to send Meriwether Lewis (1774-1809) on a Westward expedition to explore the nation's new piece of real estate. The Corps of Discovery was a party of 33 persons, including Sacagawea, a Shohone Indian, and York, an African slave. The Corps, under the leadership of Captain Lewis and Captain William Clark (1770-1838), traveled by foot, horse, and watercraft across North America and back again beginning in Wood River, Illinois, in May 1804, and returning to St. Louis, Missouri, in August 1806. The period the Corps spent along the Columbia and Snake rivers and at the mouth of the Columbia -- from October 1805 to May 1806 -- was principally within what is now the state of Washington.
File 5556: Full Text >

Milestones for Washington State History -- Part 1: Prehistory to 1850

This is a brief chronology of the milestones of Washington state history. Part 1 begins at prehistorical times and goes to 1850. Search the HistoryLink.org database for detailed essays on these events.
File 5366: Full Text >

Oregon Territory, Establishment of

European exploration of the Pacific Northwest from the late 1500s through the 1700s led to multiple and overlapping territorial claims by Spain, Russia, France, Britain, and last but not least, the new American republic. At issue was the vast "Oregon Country" extending along the Pacific Coast from the northern edge of Spanish California on the 42nd parallel to the southern edge of "Russian America" (now Alaska) at 54 degrees 40 minutes north.
File 5446: Full Text >

Pacific Northwest Explorations Before the American Presence

In A. D. 458, a Chinese adventurer named Hwui Shan crossed the Pacific to Mexico, and then followed the Japan current north to Alaska. Centuries later, in September 1513, Vasco Nunez de Balboa "discovered" the Pacific after struggling across the swampy Isthmus of Panama. Following that momentous event, Spain dispatched a number of legendary captains to the West Coast of North America, including Hernando Cortez, Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, and Bartolome Ferrelo. In 1579, Britain's pirate Francis Drake sailed off the Oregon coast; during the early 1740s, Vitus Bering opened the North Pacific to Imperial Russia; during the late 1700s, English captains James Cook and George Vancouver charted the Pacific including the bays and inlets of Puget Sound (Vancouver); and in 1786, Comte de La Perouse, representing France, sailed to the Queen Charlotte islands.
File 5449: Full Text >

Seattle and King County's First White Settlers

In the vicinity of the Duwamish River and Elliott Bay where in 1851 the first U. S. settlers began building log cabins, the Duwamish tribe occupied at least 17 villages. The first whites to settle the area were farmers who selected their claims on the Duwamish River on September 16, 1851, and brought household goods and family members to the claims on September 27, 1851. These original King County settlers were Luther Collins (1813-1860) and his family (Diana Collins and children Lucinda and Stephen), Henry Van Asselt (1817-1902), Jacob Mapel (or Maple) (1798-1884) and his son Samuel Mapel (or Maple) (1827-1880). Following shortly behind were the members of the Denny party: brothers Charles and Lee Terry, brothers Arthur and David Denny, the Low family, William Bell, Carson Boren and his two sisters Louisa Boren and Mary Boren Denny (married to Arthur). This file gives a detailed chronology of the arrivals and settlements of the Collins party, the Denny party, and various other claimants to first settler such as John Holgate (1830-1868). It sifts various debates and assertions about who came when and what this meant.
File 1660: Full Text >

Sequim and the Sequim-Dungeness Valley -- Thumbnail History

The thriving town of Sequim, the nearly deserted village of Dungeness, and the valley between them, located in Clallam County, are linked historically, culturally and economically. Sequim's present (2008) population is 5,330, or some 15,000 counting the surrounding valley. Before Sequim became a town, there was Dungeness, about five miles to the north, on the Strait of Juan de Fuca. One of the earliest Puget Sound ports, it made possible the development of inland Sequim. Long before either town existed, however, this narrow stretch of forest and prairie between the Olympic Mountains and the Strait of Juan de Fuca was the domain of the Klallam (S'Klallam) Tribe. Klallam is said to mean "strong people" (Carter, 34). The name Sequim (pronounced Skwim) is from either an Indian word meaning "quiet waters" (referring to the capital of the Klallam territory at Washington Harbor) or the name of a local wild onion that supplemented the Klallam diet of clams, crabs and salmon. All that remains of the busy little shipping port of Dungeness (originally named New Dungeness) are a few buildings and a line of pilings from its long pier. Most of the dairy farms of the Sequim-Dungeness Valley have given way to the new homes of a massive influx of retirees drawn by the climate and scenery. Local agriculture has reinvented itself as the lavender capital of North America.
File 8555: Full Text >

Skykomish -- Thumbnail History

The City of Skykomish, located in the northeast corner of King County, began in 1893 as a rail town for the Great Northern railroad. Nestled in mountain forests, and supported over the years by rail, timber, mining, and tourism industries, Skykomish has prospered through the twentieth century and into the twenty-first century, while many nearby mountain communities have faded back into the green.
File 1623: Full Text >

Spanish Exploration: Juan Perez Expedition of 1774 -- First European Discovery and Exploration of Washington State Coast and Nueva Galicia (the Pacific Northwest)

Juan Perez (Juan Josef Perez Hernandez), sailing on the frigate Santiago with a crew made up mostly of Mexicans, was the first non-native to sight, examine, name, and record the islands near British Columbia including what is now Vancouver Island and Queen Charlotte Island. Perez sailed from Mexico on behalf of Spain, arriving at the Pacific Northwest during the summer of 1774. He visited Nootka Sound, and was the first to name Mount Olympus in Washington state (its Spanish name was Cerro Nevada de Santa Rosalia). He sighted the Strait of Juan de Fuca and much of the costal territory of Washington state. He was the first European to see and describe Yaquina Head off what we now know as the Oregon coast. He sailed farther along the costal stretch of California, Oregon, Washington, Canada, and Alaska than any sailor had done before him. During this mission he peacefully traded with the Haida, carefully recorded facets of their customs and culture, and mapped and recorded nautical details for others who soon followed his heroic and historic accomplishments.
File 5677: Full Text >

Spanish Exploration: Hezeta (Heceta) and Bodega y Quadra Expedition of 1775 to Formally Claim the Pacific Northwest for Spain

In March 1775, the second Spanish expedition, commanded by Bruno de Hezeta (sometimes spelled Heceta), sailed north from Mexico to Nueva Galicia (the Pacific Northwest). This expedition set forth shortly after Juan Perez (d. 1775) returned from his historic first European journey to explore and map Spain’s farthest frontier on the west coast of the American continent. The mission of the second Spanish expedition was to successfully take formal possession of the land and to further exert Spain’s claim to Nueva Galicia. Having learned from the difficulties of sailing only one vessel during the first voyage, this expedition was carried out with three Mexican-built ships. Naval officers recently transferred to San Blas, Mexico, from the best naval academies in Spain were expressly recruited for the purpose of helping complete this important expedition. This time, Juan Perez was second in command.
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Spanish Exploration: Ignacio Arteaga and Bodega y Quadra's 1779 Expedition

In 1779, Spain launched a third expedition from San Blas, Mexico, to Nueva Galicia (the Pacific Northwest). The third expedition was planned after the triumphant return of Bodega y Quadra and Bruno de Hezeta from the second (1775) expedition, which had reached as far as Alaska and had succeeded in claiming the region for Spain by making a difficult and costly landing on the Olympic Peninsula. After much preparation, in February 1779, two vessels, the Princesa and the Favorita, commanded by Ignacio Arteaga and Bodega y Quadra, set sail. The context was rivalry with England, including Spanish support for the American Revolution. This third expedition reached as far north as present-day Ketchikan, Alaska (southernmost Alaska), landed and named many points, and had extensive contact and trading with Indians. In Alaska the crew suffered severe illness to the point that a hospital was set up on shore; numerous friendly contacts with the Indians continued during this interlude. The two ships returned to San Blas in November 1779. The Spanish had no knowledge of the English Captain James Cook's expedition during 1778-1779 to the Pacific Northwest, and erred in keeping secret their maps and logs. As a virtual tidal wave of traders entered the region, Spain began to lose influence.
File 5689: Full Text >

Stevenson, Frank (1841-1914) and Mary (Fell) (1852-1928)

Frank Stevenson and Mary Fell Stevenson were considered the father and mother of the city of Enumclaw, Washington. The community had its beginning when, in 1885, the Northern Pacific Railroad accepted the Stevensons' offer of cleared, level land for a siding and routed its transcontinental mainline through their homestead. The Stevensons filed plats to found the city of Enumclaw, located midway between Seattle and Mount Rainier.
File 559: Full Text >

Turning Point 16: When Worlds Collide: From Contact to Conquest on Puget Sound

The 16th essay in HistoryLink’s Turning Point series for The Seattle Times focuses on the cultural interactions between Puget Sound’s native peoples and the first European explorers and early settlers. While generally friendly, Indians suffered greatly through exposure to smallpox and other diseases, and later, deliberate efforts to occupy their lands and erase their traditions. Greg Lange conducted the primary research for this article, with special review by scholars Kenneth "Greg" Watson and John Findlay, Ph.D. It was published in two parts on October 11 and 12, 2001.
File 3606: Full Text >

Vancouver's Exploration of the North Pacific, 1791-1795

George Vancouver’s voyage of 1791-1795 was about the exploration of a new world and staking England’s claim there; about cultural encounters and exchanges of knowledge and ideas. But in terms of looking at the bigger picture, his discoveries and explorations were about peeling back the layers of an unknown territory and satiating man’s hungry desire to discover the unknown and expand human understanding. Editorial note: This essay by Emily Miller, age 14, of Coupeville, won top honors in the junior division of the 2004 Washington History Day competition, and earned a $100 supplemental prize from History Ink/HistoryLink for focusing on a subject in Washington state history. We are proud to sponsor History Day and will renew our awards for winning essays in the 2005 state History Day program.
File 5708: Full Text >

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