Jefferson County

By Jefferson County Historical Society

Founded by optimistic speculators with dreams of commercial empires that never materialized, Jefferson County is located on Washington s Olympic Peninsula. It stretches from spectacular Pacific Ocean beaches on the west and the Strait of Juan de Fuca on the north to the forested banks of the Hood Canal on the east. Created by the Oregon territorial legislature in 1852 and redefined by the Washington Territorial Legislature in 1877, it was named for Pres. Thomas Jefferson. Scenic Olympic National Park and Olympic National Forest occupy 60 percent of the county, and important industries in the region have included logging, pulp and paper, fishing, dairy farming, boatbuilding, and other marine-related businesses. Today the county has been discovered by artists, writers, poets, retirees, and tourists drawn to its unmatched scenery, mild weather, outstanding recreational opportunities, and the absence of urban stress.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
• Release date: Aug 30, 2006
• ISBN: 9781439618417

Jefferson County Historical Society

The Jefferson County Historical Society was founded in 1879 and incorporated in 1951 with a mission �to actively discover, collect, preserve, and promote the heritage of Jefferson County in the State of Washington.� The images selected for this volume come from the society�s collection of over 20,000 historic photographs.

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www.jchsmuseum.org.

INTRODUCTION

Traditionally the Chimacum, Hoh, S’Klallam, Quinault, Snohomish, and Twana tribes occupied what would eventually become Jefferson County. By the late 1700s, their people had been devastated by contact with European diseases, and in 1855, the Point No Point Treaty and the Quinault River Treaty ceded their lands and water to the United States. Today only the Hoh occupy a reservation in Jefferson County, on a spectacular stretch of Pacific Ocean coast.

European and American immigrants began to settle Jefferson County in the mid-19th century, situating in villages at easily accessible, deepwater bays. While a few adventurous families chose property inland for homesteading and farming, most activity was concentrated along the coastline, where seafood was abundant and boats of all sizes transported people and goods. Incredible forests attracted the earliest settlers. Timber quickly became the major product, mostly exported, and provided a seemingly inexhaustible resource on which to base the local economy.

The abundance of timber gave birth to many waterside pioneer settlements that began as logging sites and mill towns. Some mill towns attracted sizable populations and provided all amenities, while others became centers of shipbuilding. Port Ludlow became a mill town because the trees—which grew right to the water’s edge—were easy to cut and float to the mill. Port Hadlock was a mill town born in 1870. Its docks accommodated seven ships at a time. The Puget Sound Iron Company in Irondale began producing pig iron in 1879 and was the only iron smelter in the state at the time. Farms in the Chimacum Valley, the most productive agricultural land in the county, provisioned ships resupplying at the docks in Port Townsend. The town of Quilcene, at the mouth of the Quilcene River, had hopes of becoming a rail and mining center, but its economy has remained one of logging and farming. Brinnon was settled in 1859 and has been logging centered, but many are now drawn to its scenic location on the Hood Canal to retire. Nordland was founded in 1892 by Peter Nordby and remains the only town on Marrowstone Island.

Status came quickly to the rapidly growing village of Port Townsend, located at the tip of the Quimper Peninsula at the entrance to Puget Sound. When Jefferson County was established in 1852, Port Townsend was named the county seat. In 1854, Port Townsend was chosen as the official port of entry for the Washington Territory and site of the federal custom house. Every vessel entering Puget Sound from any foreign port had to make its first stop for inspection and payment of duty on imported goods in Port Townsend. Trade ships arrived daily from all over the world. They unloaded and reloaded passengers and goods and were in the market for new crews, refitting, resupplying, and recreation. By 1890, little Port Townsend sported dozens of saloons, hotels, and rooming houses with various levels of repute.

Investors and speculators promoted a railroad with Port Townsend as its northern terminus. Much building was based on expectations that Port Townsend would become the Key City of Puget Sound. However a nationwide depression hit in 1893, and fortunes were lost when over a quarter of the national railroads went bankrupt. The anticipated railroad terminus was sited at Tacoma, not Port Townsend. Concurrently increasingly dominant steamships could cruise right past Port Townsend into the calmer waters of Puget Sound and the vital port of entry status was eventually lost to Seattle. Without the railroad to spur economic growth, the town shrank and investors looked elsewhere to make a good return. Many people left the area and some of the small towns