A Chronological History Oe Seattle from 1850 to 1897
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
A CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY OE SEATTLE FROM 1850 TO 1897 PREPARED IN 1900 AND 1901 BT THOMAS W. PROSCH * * * tlBLS OF COIfJI'tS mm FAOE M*E PASS Prior to 1350 1 1875 225 1850 17 1874 251 1351 22 1875 254 1852 27 1S76 259 1855 58 1877 245 1854 47 1878 251 1SSS 65 1879 256 1356 77 1830 262 1357 87 1831 270 1358 95 1882 278 1859 105 1383 295 1360 112 1884 508 1861 121 1385 520 1862 i52 1886 5S5 1865 153 1887 542 1364 147 1888 551 1365 153 1883 562 1366 168 1390 577 1867 178 1391 595 1368 186 1892 407 1369 192 1805 424 1370 193 1894 441 1871 207 1895 457 1872 214 1896 474 Apostolus Valerianus, a Greek navigator in tho service of the Viceroy of Mexico, is supposed in 1592, to have discov ered and sailed through the Strait of Fuca, Gulf of Georgia, and into the Pacific Ocean north of Vancouver1 s Island. He was known by the name of Juan de Fuca, and the name was subsequently given to a portion of the waters he discovered. As far as known he made no official report of his discoveries, but he told navi gators, and from these men has descended to us the knowledge thereof. Richard Hakluyt, in 1600, gave some account of Fuca and his voyages and discoveries. Michael Locke, in 1625, pub lished the following statement in England. "I met in Venice in 1596 an old Greek mariner called Juan de Fuca, but whose real name was Apostolus Valerianus, who detailed that in 1592 he sailed in a small caravel from Mexico in the service of Spain along the coast of Mexico and California, until he came to the latitude of 47 degrees, and there finding the land trended north and northeast, and also east and south east, with a broad inlet of seas between 47 and 48 degrees of latitude, he entered therein, sailing more than twenty days, and at the entrance of said strait there is on the northwest coast thereto a great headland or island, with an exceeding high pinacle or spiral rock, like a pillar thereon." Fuca also reported find ing various inlets and divers islands; describes the natives as dressed in skins, and as being so hostile that he was glad to get away. Considering that this was a second hand narra tion, twenty years after its making by Fuca, and thirty three years after the voyage, with probably memory alone in the case of both Fuca and Lock, it is not a bad description of these waters. The latitude is a little out of the way, to he sure, but it was common among Spanish navigators on the Pacific Coast to locate places from fifty to a hundred miles too far from the north. The high pinnacle or rock mentioned is supposed £41451 to be the promontory at the northwest end of Galiano Island, Goletas Channel, B.C., which rises twelve hundred feet, and is just such a landmark as would attract attention and remarks from seafaring men. It is known to this day as "the Pillar of Juan de Fuca." The old Greek who had spent forty years in the service of Spain, claimed a reward from the Viceroy. The la/bter delayed him in many ways, and finally sent him to the King for his pay, who gave him nothing for his discoveries. Not only was he thus ungratefully treated, but the authorities entirely repudiated him, saying later that there is no record in either Mexico or Spain of Juan de Fuca, and they had nothing to show that such a person ever lived. Fuca is reported to have died in 1602, aged seventy years. It was nearly two centuries before other explorers found their way to the coast of what is now the State of Washing ton. A Spanish expedition then, under Capt. Bruno Heceta, con sisting of the corvette Santiago and schooner Sonora, sailed up the coast. Lieut. Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra commanded the schooner. On the 14th of July 1775, he sent ashore the only small boat attached to his vessel, at Point Grenville, with seven men. Trouble ensued with the natives, who attacked the Spaniards and killed them all. They then at tacked the schooner in canoes but were driven off with the reported loss of six men. Quadra called the point Punta de Martires - Martyrfs Point - and an island near by Isla de Dolores Isle of Sorrows -in commemoration of his unhappy experience in the neighborhood. Twelve years later Capt. Barclay, .of the ship Imperial Eagle, sailing for the Austrian East India Company, also had trouble with the Indians there., several members of his crew being murdered. He called the island Destruction, hy which name it has since gone. While in these waters (1787) Capt* Barclay discovered Barclay Sound, and made slight examination of Fuca Strait in his longboat. Mrs. Barclay, his wife, was the first white woman on the North Pacific Coast. On the 15th day of August 1775, Capt. Heceta dis covered the mouth of the Columbia River. Though he did not enter he was satisfied of the existence of a river at that place, and accordingly he bestowed upon it the name San Roque, and the point of land on the north Cape San Roque. Capt. John Meares, a British navigator, in 1788, attempted to find the San Roque River, but failed, whereupon he called the inlet there Deception Bay and the point Cape Disappointment. Capt. James Cook, the British explorer, gave the name of Flattery to the Cape on the northwest coast of this State. Cook failed to find Fuca Strait, and made positive as sertion that there was no such body of water. His voyage was made in 1778. Capt. Meares made partial examination of the Strait of Fuca in his ship, the Felice, confinning Michael Locke and disputing Capt. Cook. He gave the name of Fuca to it. Meares secured from Chief Tatooch the exclusive right to trade on Fuca. Strait, and purchased from that Indian a piece of ground to which he gave the name of Tatooch. On the 5th of July (1788) Meares discovered Willapa Harbor, which he named Shoalwater Bay, which name it bore for more than a hundred years. He ex amined it closely from the outside, but did not enter. The Spanish established themselves at Nootka, on the west coast of Vancouver's Island. Quadra, who had become the Spanish Commander on the North Pacific Coast, had his headquarters there. He was ambitious, enterprising and zealous. Finding the British and Americans coming to the country, secur ing its trade and endeavoring to effect a permanent foothold, he started various movements in the interests of his own people, and government. Having an overpowering force in 1789 he ousted Capt. John Meares, who claimed to have bought from the Indians grounds and exclusive trading rights the year before for the 4 East India Company - an English concern. The British Government took up the matter, and by vigorous proceedings, a strong showing of force and threats which almost lead to war, compelled the Spaniards to give way and yield to Great Britain. In the meantime, however, Quadra sent his lieutenants on exploring expeditions to the north, south and east. Lieut. Alfarez Man uel Quimper, in 1790, sailed through the Strait of Fuca, into Admiralty Inlet and among the islands. In 1791 Lieutenants Francisco Elisa and Jose Maria Narvaez made further explorations and discoveries, and in 1792 Lieutenants Dionisia Galliano and Cayetano Valdez made further surveys. One result of these Spanish expeditions was the bestowal of Spanish names upon the various harbors, islands and waters, such as Jkngelos, Camano, Lopez, Haro, San Juan, Rosario, Fidalgo, Guemes, Quimper and others on the American side as well as many on the Canadian side of the international line. Other names given by them as Quadra for Port Discovery Bay and Camano for Puget Sound, were afterwards changed by Vancouver and laiter explorers. In March 1792 Lieut.. Salvador Fidalgo entered Neah Bay, which he called Porte Nunez Gaona, and on the 23rd took possession in the name of Spain. He put up buildings and fortifications,' which were soon abandoned. This was the first settlement of white men in what has since "become the State of Washington. In 1787 the Boston firm of Barrell, Bullfinch and Company fitted out two vessels and sent them to the North Pacific Coast for the purpose of trade primarily and of dis covery incidentally. They were the ship Columbia, Capt* John Kendrick, and the sloop Washington, Capt. Robert Gray. In 1788 Capt. Gray attempted to enter the San Roque River of Heceta. His vessel, the Washington, grounded on the bar and they had the additional misfortune of being attacked by Indians, one white man being killed and another wounded. The following 5 year Capt. Gray sailed half way up the Strait of Fuca, and was followed soon after by Capt. Kendrick, who, taking the Washington, went over the route supposed to have been taken by Fuca, and was soon after going up the east coast of Vancouver's Island and out into the ocean at the North. Capt. Gray, who had in the meantime returned to the Atlantic, was again on the Pacific Coast in 1792. On the 7th of May with the ship Colum bia he discovered and sailed into a hay on the west coast of Washington, which he called Bullfinch.after one of the members of the Company employing him, which Vancouver a few months later called Whidbey, but which people generally have long called Grayfs Harbor after the discoverer himself.