page_title: Puget Sound
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Puget Sound / History
caption_attribution_description: English: This is a very uncommon U.S. Coast Survey maritime map or nautical chart of the Puget Sound, Washington Territory, dating to 1867. Covers the Sound from Quimper Peninsula and Whidbey Island south as far as Olympia. The map identifies the various islands as well as safe channels and countless triangulation points throughout. Olympia, Nisqually, Steilacoom, and Seattle are named, though, aside from Olympia, most were undeveloped. Countless depth soundings appear throughout. Notes on soundings light houses, and tides appear in the lower right quadrant. Prepared under the supervision of Benjamin Pierce, Superintendent of the U.S. Coast Survey, for the 1867 Superintendent’s Report to Congress.
context_page_description: Puget Sound is a sound of the Pacific Northwest, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean, and part of the Salish Sea. It is located along the northwestern coast of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected marine waterways and basins, with one major and two minor connections to the open Pacific Ocean via the Strait of Juan de Fuca—Admiralty Inlet being the major connection and Deception Pass and Swinomish Channel being the minor.
  Water flow through Deception Pass is approximately equal to 2% of the total tidal exchange between Puget Sound and the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Puget Sound extends approximately 100 miles from Deception Pass in the north to Olympia in the south. Its average depth is 450 feet and its maximum depth, off Jefferson Point between Indianola and Kingston, is 930 feet. The depth of the main basin, between the southern tip of Whidbey Island and Tacoma, is approximately 600 feet.
  In 2009, the term Salish Sea was established by the United States Board on Geographic Names as the collective waters of Puget Sound, the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and the Strait of Georgia.
context_section_description: George Vancouver explored Puget Sound in 1792, and claimed it for Great Britain on June 4 the same year, and named it for one of his officers, Lieutenant Peter Puget.
  After 1818 Britain and the United States, which both claimed the Oregon Country, agreed to "joint occupancy", deferring resolution of the Oregon boundary dispute until the 1846 Oregon Treaty. Puget Sound was part of the disputed region until 1846, after which it became US territory.
  American maritime fur traders visited Puget Sound in the early 19th century.
  The first European settlement in the Puget Sound area was Fort Nisqually, a fur trade post of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) built in 1833. Fort Nisqually was part of the HBC's Columbia District, headquartered at Fort Vancouver. The Puget Sound Agricultural Company, a subsidiary of the HBC, established farms and ranches near Fort Nisqually. British ships such as the Beaver, exported foodstuffs and provisions from Fort Nisqually.
  The first American settlement on Puget Sound was Tumwater. It was founded in 1845 by Americans who had come via the Oregon Trail. The decision to settle north of the Columbia River was made in part because one of the settlers, George Washington Bush, was considered black and the Provisional Government of Oregon banned the residency of mulattoes but did not actively enforce the restriction north of the river.
  In 1853 Washington Territory was formed from part of Oregon Territory. In 1888 the Northern Pacific railroad line reached Puget Sound, linking the region to eastern states.
caption: U.S. Coast Survey nautical chart of Puget Sound, Washington Territory, 1867
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