Topic: Islands
Rebecca Smith, a 9th Grader at Canyon Park Junior High School, won First Prize in the 2006 Washington State History Day competition for Senior Historical Papers with this discussion of the San Juan Is...
Island County, the eighth oldest county in Washington, was created on January 6, 1853, by the Oregon Territorial Legislature from a portion of Thurston County and was named for the myriad of islands i...
A few Japanese immigrants arrived in the San Juan Islands late in the nineteenth century to work in fish canneries; seasonal employment was arranged by Seattle labor contractors and not until 1917 did...
Jetty Island is a man-made island located in Everett Harbor (Snohomish County) approximately one-quarter mile from the mainland. First built in the mid-1890s, the island was originally a jetty that ex...
John Luther Murray (1859-1949), a longtime resident of Friday Harbor on San Juan Island in Northwest Washington, served as auditor and treasurer of San Juan County, as a state legislator, and as mayor...
June (1893-1969) and Farrar (1888-1974) Burn, newly married in 1919 and searching for adventure and the best place to start their lives together, consulted an atlas and decided that the San Juan Islan...
Arvel and Helga Settles, with their five children, spent seven years (1935-1942) as keepers at the Lime Kiln Lighthouse on San Juan Island, in the Salish Sea between the Northwest Washington mainland ...
Langley -- often referred to as the "Village by the Sea" -- is a South Whidbey Island town situated on a bluff overlooking Saratoga Passage and the Cascade Mountains. Located in Island County, it is ...
There are two lighthouses located on San Juan Island, the second-largest island in the San Juan archipelago. The Lime Kiln Light Station, built in 1919, is located in Lime Kiln State Park, on the west...
For more than 60 years -- from 1860 until the 1920s -- San Juan County was the principal lime-producing area in the state of Washington. The San Juan Islands were ideal for the manufacture and transpo...
Lopez Island, surrounded by the cold waters of the Salish Sea, is at 29.5 square miles the third-largest island in San Juan County. It is the first scheduled stop on the Washington State Ferry route f...
Charles McKay was among the earliest and most colorful of the U.S. settlers on San Juan Island, located in far northwest Washington between the mainland and Vancouver Island, Canada. After years of ad...
McNeil Island, located in southern Puget Sound, was named in 1841 by Lt. Charles Wilkes of the United States Exploring Expedition in honor of William Henry McNeill. McNeill (the name, but not the isla...
The McNeil Island Corrections Center, located in southern Puget Sound, 2.8 miles from Steilacoom, Washington, was the oldest prison facility in the Northwest. Built in 1875, it began as the first fede...
PeaceHealth Peace Island Medical Center, established to serve residents and visitors on San Juan Island in the far northwest corner of Washington, opened its doors to patients on November 26, 2012. Am...
The traditional life of Native Americans on San Juan Island was permanently disrupted in the second half of the nineteenth century by an influx of homesteaders, many of whom, however, chose Native Ame...
The Olga Strawberry Barreling Plant, constructed in 1938, stands as a reminder of the once-flourishing strawberry industry on the east side of Orcas Island in San Juan County. Built in a cooperative e...
Orcas Island lies in the San Juan archipelago of the Salish Sea in Northwest Washington. Mountainous and heavily forested, the island is nearly divided by the long inlet of East Sound, with two smalle...
Patos Island in San Juan County is the northernmost of the San Juan Islands and is known for its remoteness and beauty. A small light station became operational there in 1893, and a 38-foot tower was ...
Robinson Point Light Station (also known as Point Robinson) is situated on the easternmost point of Maury Island, a 36.7 square mile extension of Vashon Island, in southwest King County. It marks the ...
Limestone quarrying and lime processing began at Roche Harbor, located on the north end of San Juan Island in San Juan County, in the early 1880s. Under the leadership of John S. McMillin (1855-1936),...
The Salmon Bank is a submerged shelf located off the southern shore of San Juan Island along the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Created by the advance and retreat of the continental ice sheet, the shelf's sh...
Accessible only by water or air, San Juan County is an archipelago of hundreds of islands, reefs, and rocks between mainland Washington and Vancouver Island. Around 20 islands are inhabited. The large...
Conceived as a showcase for the Pacific Northwest and northern Pacific Rim countries, the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific (A-Y-P) Exposition in Seattle became one of the most celebrated regional events of t...