How Washington Place Names Came To Be

How Washington Place Names Came To Be: From The Untamed Olympics, by Ruby El Hult, 1954   (GV= George Vancouver)

Strait of Juan de Fuca – 1592, Portuguese captain/sailor first to sail into the Sound

Heceta Head – 1862, Bruno Heceta, Capt. of Spanish ship/exploration

Destruction Island – 1775, Spanish men went ashore for wood/water were killed

Mt. Olympus – for Greek god, Capt. John Meares, 1788

Port Discovery – Capt. George Vancouver, 1790

Dungeness Spit – Capt. GV, 1792, rem’d him of Dungeness on English Channel

Port Angeles – “Puerto de Neuestra Senorade Los Angeles” 1791 by Francisco de Eliza…. Officially changed 1862

Port Townsend – Capt. GV, 1792, "in honor of noble marquis of that name”

Mt Rainier – Capt. GV, for his old friend Capt. Peter Rainier

Hood Canal – Capt. GV, “Right Honorable Lord Hood” ---- GV, thinking of his homeland, “named many places for friends and English noblemen of his acquaintance.”

Puget Sound – Lt. Peter Puget, with GV, 1792 by Capt. GV

Gray’s Harbor – Capt. Robert Gray, first to sail into Columbia River, 1792

Port Gamble – Wilkes Expedition, 1841, unsure if John or Robert Gamble, 1868 after founding of Pope/Talbot mill 1853

Renton – Capt. Wm Renton, pioneer of Seattle area, 1875

Camano Island –1847, in honor of Francisco de Eliza, 1790

O’Leary Creek, flows into Gray’s Harbor—1850, Irishman Wm O’Leary

Lake Crescent – 1890, crescent-shape

Crescent Beach – 1892, town laid out as deep water lumber shipping port; razed 1920s as part of coast defense system

Lake Sutherland – John Sutherland, 1865, Canadian fur trapper

Ebey – Col. Isaac N. Ebey, first permanent resident Whidbey Island, 1851

Seattle – Chief Sealth

Kingston – 1853, originally Apple Tree Cove

Mt Baker – 1792, Joseph Baker sailed with Capt. GV

Winthrop – Theodore Winthrop, 1853, traveling journalist

Denney – Arthur Denney, representative for WA Terr

Lauridsen – G.M. Lauridsen. Danish world traveler, bought lots in Port Angeles

Elliott Bay – Prof D B. Elliott, 1898, from Chicago Field Museum to study

Everett – John Everett, came with fur trappers, 1890

LaPush – French, la bouche, the mouth so said but WRONG

Fidalgo – Salvador Fidalgo early sailor 1790s

Forks – 1912, laid out by early homesteaders

McCleary – Henry McCleary, 1898

I gleaned these bits/answers from Ruth's book; I did not fact-check them with Google. Begs a good point:  do we swallow so-called facts without checking their veracity???

 

Would you guess that Washington has 70 Native American-origin place names?

Would you ever have guessed that there are over 70 town names in Washington that come from Native American words??  

Recently I enjoyed a browse through The Atlas of the North American Indian, by Carl Waldman, first published in 1985 and updated in 2009. I found the pages explaining the Northwest Indians and their culture to be so interesting.

One unexpected thing I gleaned from this book was a list of place names in Washington that are of native origins. Could you have come up with this list of 73 places?? (The list does include two names of French derivation.)

“TN” denotes a tribal-origin name. Places were tribal names, chief’s names, or of Indian derivation. For some names, the tribe was designated and for others it was not. Sometimes the meaning was given and sometimes not.

Anatone – TN

Asotin – Nez Perce “elk creek”

Cathlamet – TN

Chehalis – TN “sand”

Chewelah – TN

Chimacum – TN

Chinook – TN

Clallam – TN “big brave nation”

Conconully – TN “cloudy”

Copalis – TN

Cowlitz – TN “power”

Ilwaco – Chief El-Wah-ko-Jim

Entiat – TN “rapid water”

Kalotus – TN “hole in the ground”

Kittitas – TN “shoal people”

Klickitat – TN “beyond”

Latah – Nez Perce “place of pines”

Methow – TN

Moclips – Quinault “place where girls were sent during puberty rites”

Napavine – TN “small prairie”

Naselle – TN

Nespelem – TN

Nisqually – TN

Okanogan – TN “meeting place”

Omak – TN

Palouse – TN “grassy expanse”

Pend Oreille – French; “ear pendants”

Potlach – TN “give”

Puyallup – TN “generous people”

Queets – TN

Quilcene – TN

Quillayute – TN

Quinault – TN

Sanpoil – TN

Seattle – Chief Sealth

Selah – TN “still water”

Sequim – TN “quiet water”

Simcoe – TN “waist spine”

Similk – TN

Skagit – TN

Skamania – TN “swift water”

Skamokawa – Chief name

Skykomish – TN “inland people”

Snohomish – TN

Snoqualmie – TN “moon”

Spokane – TN “people of the sun”

Stehekin – TN “pass”

Steilacoom – Chief name

Sultan – Chief name

Suquamish – TN

Tacoma – TN “mountain god”

Tenino – TN

Tieton – TN “roaring water”

Toppenish – TN

Touchet – French; “fire cured salmon”

Toutle – TN

Tucannon – TN “bread root”

Tukwila – TN “land of hazelnuts”

Tulalip – TN “by with small mouth”

Tumwater – TN “heart”

Twisp – TN

Wahkiakum – Chief name

Walla Walla – TN “little river”

Washtucna – Chief name

Waukon – Chief name

Wauna – TN “spout creature”

Wenatchee – TN “river from canyon”

Whatcom – Chief name

Willapa – TN

Yacolt – TN “haunted place”

Yakima – TN “growing families"