Hood Canal: Washington's Natural "Canal"

 

"The Hood Canal waters journey from China, from San Francisco and from Alaska, past Victoria and down the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Leaving Puget Sound with a hard right, as if the water had a mind of its own, it cannels below the snow-capped Olympic Mountains for 45 miles until it eddies into Annas Bay..... when it elbows east it seems to hook into a separate ecosystem, not only of geography but also of mind; it becomes a source for creamers, drifters and vagabonds. It creates a vacationland of warm days and inspiring scenery and its shores attracted four of America's great fortunes: California gold, Alaska gold, Washington timber and Seattle's Microsoft..."

So begins the Images of America book on Hood Canal. This delightful read has fully four pages of the history of Hood Canal. I quote from this book.................

Named after the Right Honorable Lord Samuel Hood, member of the British Board of Admiralty, by Capt. George Vancouver in 1792 who called it the "mouth of the loveliest river." The first building on Hood Canal was a blockhouse at Union (which has an interesting history itself). In 1851, loggers arrived; Pope and Talbot built a mill at Port Gamble. The treaty of Point No Point in 1855 scattered the local tribes. By the 1860s, tug boats were hauling logs up the Canal to Port Gamble. Lake Cushman sprouted a new dream for the area: tourism, which continues to this day. In the late 1930s, the CCC corps constructed many improvements around the Canal.

"The Hood Canal is a jewel of mountain scenery and beautiful water and it has been loved....first by native peoples, then by loggers, then artists and the wealthy and now by all the rest of us."

Fun Facts About Spokane

 

Spokane is barely thirty miles from the Idaho border and nearly 400 miles to the Pacific Ocean. How many Washingtonians have never been west to Seattle or Forks, or east to Spokane? Maybe these bits will entice you to come east to visit.

* The Spokane River flows directly through the heart of the city. Not many places can claim that.

* Spokane boasts the largest urban waterfall in America; Spokane Falls surges thousands of gallons of water annually through basaltic cliffs.

* There are more than 75 lakes within a short, easy drive from Spokane.

* The Centennial Trail connects Spokane to Coeur d'Alene with paved miles inviting walkers, runners and cyclers (no motorized vehicles). 

* Spokane boasts 87 parks within the city limits!

* The Inland Northwest Wine Scene continues to grow; some 20 wineries invite tasting.

* From Spokane, if you drive 20 minutes or 20 miles, you can be in a vastly different geography: Go west, scablands; go east, mountains; go south, wheat; go north, rivers. 

* Did you know Bing Crosby, John Stockton and Craig T. Nelson all claim Spokane heritage? 

* And Spokane is home to the Garbage Goat! (Google it if you don't know.) 

Funnies Time!

 

 Ready for some fun? Whoever "did" this photo must be a really fun parent, right??

* Is there a 4th of July in England?  Yeah, right after the 3rd of July.

* What happens to cows that get too much sun?  They produce evaporated milk.

* What do you call a snowman in summer?  A puddle.

* Why don't seashells take baths? Because they wash up on the beach.

* Who keeps the ocean clean?  Mermaids.

* What do ghosts like to eat in summer?  I-scream!

* Why don't oysters share their pearls? Because they're shellfish. :-) 

* Why did the sun not go to college? Because it already has a million degrees.

* Who's Irish and stays outside all summer?  Patty O'Furniture.

* How do you prevent a summer cold? Catch it in winter.

* Where does seaweed look for a job? In the kelp-wanted section.

* What' s the difference between a piano and a fish? You can tune a piano but you can't tuna fish.

* What did the ocean say to the beach? Nothing. It just waved.

Elwha Tribal Center

Would you guess that there are 29 federally recognized Native American tribes in Washington State? Well, tiz so. Suz Bennett is the tribal historian for the Klallam Tribe in Port Angeles. She explained to me that there are three "parts" to the Klallam Tribe: Port Gamble, Jamestown and Klallam. All have health clinics, housing and casinos and all speak the same language but they are "separate but equal." 

The Elwha Tribal Center in Port Angeles (in the old Carnegie Library) is where to start learning about the Klallam peoples. When I visited there in May 2026, Suz was a deee-lightful tour guide. She showed me a 1000 pages dictionary of Klallam words...... for instance, the word for "sheep" is lemetu, pronounced "leMEtu." She explained that the site of their ancestral village is now a weedy fenced lot at the entrance to Ediz Hook but they have future plans for an interpretive center. She gave me a colored map of Clallam and Jefferson counties with dots showing the 26 sites of S'Klallam Villages of yesterday. 

The Center is open 8:00-4:30, Monday through Friday, and would welcome your visit. 

The Center has artifacts and exhibits which taught me more about these native peoples. Thank you, Suz, and may the Elwha Tribal Center thrive!

Mesa and Parker: Little WA Towns

 

Originally called Bluff Wells, then Judson and now Mesa, this little town in Franklin County was a stop on the Ainsworth (now Pasco) to Spokane branch of the Northern Pacific Railroad. The station house was established in 1883. Mesa is situated in Esquatzel Coulee which means it sits in a depression relative to the surrounding terrain. Apparently, Mesa does not have its own cemetery; the nearest one is City View Cemetery in Pasco.

Parker is a census-designated place in Yakima County, located on the Yakama Indian Reservation between Union Gap and Wapato. The first plat for the town was filed in 1909; it was originally settled by William Parker in 1864 and was named for him by the Northern Pacific Railway in 1890. The only cemetery I found for Parker was the Parker Dam Cemetery (on FindAGrave).

This cemetery is located on a hill behind a Yakama Nation fruit orchard; the cemetery contains a stone monument inscribed with the names of some of the Yakama Nation's notable Chiefs. There was once a thriving Yakama Indian community at Parker Dam which is the basis for the community that uses the Wapato Longhouse. 

Is there really a Parker Dam? YES! According to Google:

• Parker Reservoir Dam: This is a small 24-foot-high earth-fill dam located in Yakima County. It is in Dakota Draw, about 11 miles west of Yakima, Washington. 
  
• Parker Dam (Yakima River): A historical, low-head diversion dam located on the Yakama Indian Reservation along US Route 97 between Union Gap and Wapato. It was historically tied to a thriving Yakama Nation community. 

Roots, Records and Relatives

 Do hope you are planning to attend our EWGS Fall workshop on Saturday, October 3rd. 

I crafted this blurb months ago and so encourage you to click to our website, www.EWGSI.org, for the latest details. 

Consider this a teaser if you've not yet planned to come and have registered. (You do want lunch, do you not?)

More Lewis & Clark Plants

 Lewis & Clark documented many other plants besides Lewisia and Clarkia. 

In their journals, they noted Balsam Root, Prickly Pear Cactus, Glacier Lilies, Silky Lupine, Snowberry bushes and Bear Grass. How many have YOU seen????