Non-Native explorers made their first appearance on the Gig Harbor Peninsula in 1792. Lieutenant Peter Puget (1765-1822) of the British Vancouver Expedition led a charting expedition that sailed past the hard-to-spot entrance to Gig Harbor and instead of the little harbor they entered the larger Wollochet Bay on the western shore of the peninsula.
The as yet undiscoverd by non-native little harbor was known by several different names, including Twa-Wal-Kut, used by the native peoples living here. Modern researchers have now concluded Twa-Wal-Kut had been occupied for centuries before.
With the Hudson Bay Company setting up a presence in what is now the Dupont area in 1832, the Twa-Wal-Kut natives began trading at Hudson Bay's fortified trading post (Fort Nisqually) which was only 15 miles by canoe across the sound from Twa-Wal-Kut. Thus the initial business relationship was established between the Twa-Wal-Kut and non-native peoples.
The first known non-natives to actually enter Gig Harbor (nee Twa-Wal-Kut) were members of the United States' 1841 Wilkes Expedition.
In May 1841, Wilkes sent one of his ships, the Porpoise, to probe deep into the southern reaches of Puget Sound on a surveying expedition. On May 15, 1841, Lt. George Sinclair, the Porpoise sailing master, dispatched a longboat with Midshipman Joseph Sandford (sometimes spelled Sanford) to check out the shoreline north of the now Tacoma Narrows. Sandford discovered Gig Harbor bay (Twa-Wal-Kut ). He noted in his records "a pretty little bay that is concealed from the Sound" and went on to say "the passage is about 10 or 15 yards wide and it gradually widenings (sic) until it forms a circular basin" and continued "saw no natives today."
Lieutenant Sinclair heard about Sandford's discovery and he set out in the captain's gig [a light rowboat often used as a fast launch for the captain; the gig was designed for speed, and not used as a working boat] to see for himself if the bay was as pretty as Sandford had described it. His description upon seeing it was "an excellent little bay" adding that "a number of canoes came off (sic) from which we procured an abundance of salmon." He also said that he found some of the "Indians" cooking salmon on the beach by "sticking sticks into it and letting it hang over the fire". Sinclair named the little bay Gig Harbor after the boat he had rowed. The name also had the practical purpose of indicating the size of boat best suited for entering such a small channel.
Thus on the same day in 1841, the harbor both earned it's first English name and its first commercial transaction!
When discovered by Sandford/Sinclair, the natives of Twa-Wal-Kut/Gig Harbor had a longhouse and permanent camp at the head of the harbor near the site of the current Gig Harbor Museum. As hunter-gatherers and except for the apparent trading of salmon, these people most likely paid little further attention to the white men's short presence in the area. But more momentous change was coming a mere quarter century later...
The natives of Twa-Wal-Kut/Gig Harbor were left mostly alone over the next two decades. Nevertheless, catastrophe struck during that time. European diseases swept through all the tribes on the Sound, decimating their populations. Then, in 1854, the Puyallups and other tribes signed a treaty requiring them to move to reservations. Some of the peoples of Twa-Wal-Kut moved to the Puyallup Reservation but others remained on their little bay, still untouched by outside settlers. But not for long.
In 1867, a rowboat containing three fishermen -- Samuel Jerisich (d. 1905), Peter Goldsmith and John Farrague (1825-1895) -- came gliding past the sand spit into the bay. The three men had rowed from Vancouver Island. According to some accounts, they slipped into the bay to spend the night. By other accounts, they were blown in by a storm. In any case, they liked it so much they decided to stay. Those three fishermen were the white founders of what would become the City of Gig Harbor.
Jerisich and Goldsmith were Croatian, the first of many Croatians to call Gig Harbor home. Goldsmith and the Spanish-born Farrague remained at their primitive camp on Gig Harbor while Jerisich, 34, rowed back to Vancouver Island to fetch his Indian wife, Anna Willets, and their daughter Caroline. He built a cabin for his family near the sand spit entrance to the bay, but he soon discovered that this was government-owned land. Large chunks of land surrounding the Tacoma Narrows had been set aside as military reservations under the recommendation of Wilkes, in case Puget Sound had to be fortified against invaders.
All three fishermen -- Jerisich. Goldsmith and Farrague -- then filed claims near Donkey Creek close to the ancient village of Twa-Wal-Kut. Jerisich brought milled lumber from Olympia to build a cabin, dock, and smokehouse for salmon. Fishing was their main occupation -- as it had been in Croatia.
They found the bay to be uncommonly fruitful. Anna Jerisich could dip a pail in the water and come up with enough smelt or herring for a meal. Jerisich also bought a machine from an Oregon ironworks for pressing "dogfish oil" from a common kind of Puget Sound salmon (Chum) which was in demand as a sawmill lubricant and lamp oil.
Other Croatian and Slavic settlers -- drawn no doubt by their countrymen -- arrived. Goldsmith acquired a young Croatian wife. Other families arrived and filed claims on the west side of the harbor. Still, as of 1879, the 46 residents of Twa-Wal-Kut probably still outnumbered the white settlers. Relations between the two cultures were "harmonious," and sometimes more than harmonious -- marriages between male settlers and Indian women were common.
Both tribal members and European newcomers made their living by fishing. The Croatians mainly fished with big nets -- they had perfected the art of purse seining. That consisted of laying out a huge net and drawing it closed at the bottom with a huge drawstring, like a coin purse. This method required at least two rowboats and several strong backs to haul the nets into the boat. They fished for salmon in season, of course, but also ling cod, red snapper, flounder, and eel.
Purse seining required plenty of room to dry and store the enormous nets, which is why, for many decades, houses in Gig Harbor were often separated by a vacant lot. In these lots, men and boys mended their large cotton seine nets, then dipped them in tar for waterproofing, and spread them out to dry … In the off season, the nets were stored in netsheds.
The cleared lots next to homes and the netsheds are still features of the Gig Harbor waterfront.
Scandinavian immigrants, along with American settlers from Minnesota, also began to arrive in the 1880s and 1890s. They were often farmers who cleared plots overlooking the north end of the bay and into the Crescent Valley area on the north side of the harbor. They grew berries, fruits, and vegetables and rowed them across to market in Steilacoom and Tacoma. Travel by land was still very difficult and muddy, "you either rowed or stayed home," in the words of one old-timer.
In the modern north Gig Harbor one can see the mapped feature Swede Hill and a few streets with Scandanavian names reflecting this era of development.
With that summary, and keeping the D/T rating in mind, here's what is required for a smiley:
The posted coordinates represent the starting point and from there you will gather information and then proceed to four additional waypoints. Please message me your answers to the 8 questions below and then Log the find. I'll respond in a day or so and if there are problems with your responses, a history lesson reinforcement will follow.
At the fisherman sculpture:
1. Not a Toy! What two signs make this clear? (Total of 5 Words)
2. How many Gig Harbor fishermen have been lost at sea?
3. What is the total number of net "floats" on the sculpture. (Of course none of them would really float)
To arrive at Waypoint 2, take 29 paces up-Harbor from the sculpture.
4. What dock is located here?
Waypoint 3 is 44 paces down-Harbor from the sculpture
5. What park are you in?
Waypoint 4 is 27 paces plus 5 steps down cross-Harbor from the sculpture.
6. Who was Gig Harbor's first Postmaster?
Waypoint 5 is 17 paces up-Harbor from the sculpture at the base of the stairs.
7. Where was Sam Jerisich born?
8. Describe your reasoning/explanation for the fact that a number of current Gig Harbor residents with European surnames are members of the Puyallup Tribe of Indians and eligible for free Dental treatment and other services on the Puyallup Reservation in Tacoma.
Congratulations to Sheppard4, the FTF!
Virtual Rewards 4.0 - 2024-2025
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