- Peter Smith in after years took up a donation claim on this spot, and as the garden was never reserved, he fell heir to it when the post was broken up. I started a small garden myself on the border of the little lake half a mile south of the post, and when I needed exercise I obtained it there. I rode over the sparsely settled plains in search of grouse and ducks and other game and went fishing in the Sound or in Steilacoom creek with the officers, but most frequently alone.
- May 23, 1853. The morning was devoted to putting our supplies and baggage on board and waiting in the mouth of Steilacoom creek for the tide. The captain (Floyd-Jones) came down to see us off. He crossed the creek on horseback, and was showing the doctor [John Miller Haden] an excellent method of keeping his feet from getting wet by putting them on the animal’s back, when he very suddenly found himself immersed completely. We laughed heartily at his discomfiture. It was slow work pulling through the Narrows, as the tide was against us. We lunched at Day Island11, a beautiful piece of land covered by an impenetrable pyramidal forest.
- A fair breeze springing up, we decided to take advantage of it, and after a delightful sail we reached New York [Alki] at midnight and pitched camp. The following day we passed to the east of Vashon island, but wind and tide being against us, we did not reach the mouth of Steilacoom creek until 1 that night.
- Star Tales - Scorpius (ianridpath.com)
‘There is a certain place where the scorpion with his tail and curving claws sprawls across two signs of the zodiac’, wrote Ovid in his Metamorphoses. He was referring to the ancient Greek version of Scorpius, which was much larger than the constellation we know today. The Greek scorpion was in two halves: one half, called Σκορπίος (Skorpios), contained its body and sting, while the front half comprised the claws. The Greeks called this front half Χηλαί (Chelae), which means ‘claws’. In the first century BC the Romans made the claws into a separate constellation, Libra, the balance.