Washington Harbor - 600 Years of Activity

This Washington Harbor shoreline at the entrance to Sequim Bay is one of the most culturally significant and extensively researched historical locations in the Sequim-Dungeness area. The few acres of land shown here were home to a S’Klallam Tribal village for at least 600 years, a clam cannery for more than a half-century, and is now utilized for research in marine sciences.  

Then - Bugge Clam Cannery, approx. 1905-1910 
(Courtesy the Burt Kellogg Collection of the North Olympic Library System)  
Now - Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, May 2020

The historical photo is one of many taken of the Bugge Clam Cannery and available for viewing in the Burt Kellogg Collection of the North Olympic Library System. The cannery operated at Washington Harbor as early as the 1880s and a large Victorian home was built in 1889 (at far right). Sequim pioneer Hans J. Bugge is the most notable developer at the site.  Hans, and later his son Anphin, operated the cannery here for more than 60 years. The cannery had 30-40 employees and at its peak, shipping 10,000 cases of clams per year under the names Moon Kist and Tureen.

Bugge Clam Cannery at Washington Harbor,
with Bugge's Georgian-style home
Courtesy of the North Olympic History Center

The site also included a creamery (1905-1917) and the dock served as the primary port for commercial ships of the Mosquito Fleet until the wharfs at Port Williams and Dungeness were built. Children arrived by boat to a small schoolhouse that also sat on the property until it was moved to a nearby hillside due to winter tidal flooding. In 1910, Hans Bugge replaced the previous home on the site with a 6-bedroom Georgian style home which stood well into the time period of the next owners, Battelle.  

In 1966, Battelle Northwest purchased the property and developed it into a marine research laboratory and continues to operate at the site today as Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, operated by Battelle for the Department of Energy.

The S’Klallam village sxʷčkʷíyəŋ occupied this same site for approximately 600 years, until the late 1880s. The town of Sequim takes its name from this village, which translates to “place for going to shoot,” reflecting the abundant opportunities for hunting. There are a handful of cedar posts on the beach today that remain from that era (far left in the pictures but too small to see). They can be easily spotted from a standup paddleboard or kayak as you paddle along the shoreline.

Cover of Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe's history of the village at Washington Harbor

The most comprehensive and easily accessible telling of the Tribe’s history here was prepared by Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe’s Cultural Resources Specialist David Brownell and is available as an ebook pdf from the Tribal library.   

Johnson Creek Auto Camp / Pitship Point (part 2)

Our previous post on Pitship Point introduced you to some history of John Wayne Marina and included a historical picture of a long dump near Johnson Creek, likely dating back to the turn of the 20^th century. We skip ahead a decade or two with a picture taken only a hundred yards or so east of that previous shot. 

Then - Johnson Creek Auto Camp (unknown date) / Now - John Wayne's Waterfront Resort (2020)

This image comes to us from the Museum and Arts Center in Sequim-Dungeness, featuring what was known then as Johnson Creek Auto Camp. Again undated, but with cars that I believe date to the 1920’s, this photo shows the early cabins of a campground that later would be called Silver Sands Resort and is now part of John Wayne’s Waterfront Resort on the western shore of Sequim Bay. The shoreline and primary use of this property hasn't changed much in nearly 100 years. The one exception, Whitefeather Way now separates the larger building on the left from the cabins on the right.  

Newspaper ad from May 1957

I presume the cabins in our Then picture were built in 1910, but I don’t believe any remain (although the county assessor lists 1910 as the “built date” of the current cabins). According to a 2017 Peninsula Daily News “Back When” column, which features a postcard picture of Silver Sands Resort in the 1960s, locals recall the old cabins were replaced by the current structures after World War II. Ads for Silver Sands Resort in the Port Angeles Evening News start mentioning “new cabins”

around 1960. Adjacent to Silver Sands was Hague’s Resort with apartments, camping, boat ramp and saltwater swimming lagoon. Both resorts were sold in the late 1960s to Sequim Bay Marina, Inc. (actor John Wayne), later becoming the RV park, camping and cabins you can visit today. Unfortunately, information or advertisements from the Johnson Creek Auto Camp era have been hard to track down.

Same tree?

For me, the fun of Now and Then photos is spotting landmarks, buildings or items that survived the intervening years and appear in both photos. After turning the brightness up all the way on our old photo, I spotted something that I believe has remained, although now only in part. A unique tree with multiple trunks can be seen in the old photo in nearly the same spot we currently find an enormous stump, just outside the second cabin from the left.

Lucky for us, Silver Sands Resort sold numerous postcard photos of their cabins in the 1960s and we can see the tree in all its glory. I can't be absolutely certain it is the same tree we see in the Johnson Creek Auto Camp photo, but the position and uniqueness of the tree itself make me feel confident that it is the same one.

Postcards from Silver Sands Resort in the 1960s

If you have any additional information about this location before it was Silver Sands Resort, please let us know.

John Wayne Marina / Pitship Point in Sequim Bay

This is part one of two historical photos I’ll be sharing, taken near what is now John Wayne Marina in Sequim Bay. This area can be referred to by several names. The sandspit where the marina was eventually built was named Pitship Point by the Charles Wilkes Expedition in 1841. The marsh on the left is called Pitship Pocket Estuary and underwent a much-needed restoration in 2010 by the North Olympic Salmon Coalition. The project replaced a small culvert with a bridge that reconnected the marsh to the bay, improving habitat for out-migrating salmon as they make their way to the ocean.

The historical photos I’ve found of this area refer to nearby Johnson Creek, which runs adjacent to the marina. The photo below is another from the Bert Kellogg collection at the North Olympic Library System and is titled “Log Dump on Johnson Creek.” The date is unknown, but cabins were built in 1910 (the focus of our upcoming part two) that would have been seen here if the photo had been taken after that time period.

Then - Johnson Creek Log Dump (date unknown - via Bert Kellogg Collection at North Olympic Library System) / Now - Pitship Pocket Estuary and John Wayne Marina (2019)

This was one of several locations on Sequim Bay used to collect and sort logs before they were rafted and towed to a local mill.  But as with all history here, the story begins with the S’Klallam tribe. Carbon dating of artifacts found at Pitship Point date back at least 2000 years.

Newspaper ad March 1970

In the 20^th century and continuing through today, Pitship Point has been used for recreation, with a boat ramp and cabins and camping available just across the road. In the early 1970s, Sequim Bay Marina, Inc. (actor John Wayne) developed Pitship Point, attempting to turn it into a marina. In 1975, Wayne gifted the land to the county so that the current marina could be built. The marina was completed in 1985 and the Wayne family still owns adjacent property, including John Wayne’s Waterfront Resort. Washington’s Department of Ecology Shoreline Photo website shows an aerial view of what Pitship Point looked like in 1977, before work started on the current marina.

The bluff as a landmark on the opposite side of Sequim Bay

I kept the Now picture a little wider so you could see more of the marsh and all of the marina. The marsh to the left is an easy landmark but what caught my eye in the historical photo is the bluff on the far right. The bluff is located on the opposite side of the bay. The marina and trees get in the way of us seeing it in the modern photo above, so I took a second picture from the marina. On the far left is Paradise Cove, and the arrows point to what I believe is the same slide area on the bluff in both photos. If it weren’t for all the vegetation, the arc of the bluff would be a little easier to discern, but you can still make it out.

Look for a part two from this same area in another blog post coming soon.