It was 9 P.M. before we reached our camp on Vashon’s Island12. The Narrows were quite alive with Indians fishing for small fish and salmon. They trolled for the salmon and caught the small fish with a species of rake, composed of sharp nails set like teeth into a paddle. This instrument served at once to direct the canoe, and in cutting into the water to pass through shoals of small fish, transfixing them to the nails. It was then brought against the side of the boat behind the fisherman with a jar, so as to loosen the catch and prepare for another load. We purchased fish and clams from the Indians for our table.
A day or two after my arrival I went down to the mouth of the creek which gives its name to the post and the locality, and had my first sight of the Sound. Two gentlemen from the post were with me, and I could not control my admiration at the beauty of the scene. The tide was flood and the limpid waters reproduced the fir-clad shores. The snow-clad Olympics were in full view, and clear air enabled us to see far into the Narrows. I found out afterward that only on exceptional days in winter could this effect be seen.
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.
In 1792, George Vancouver gave the name “Puget’s Sound” to the waters south of the Tacoma Narrows, in honor of Peter Puget, a Huguenot lieutenant accompanying him on the Vancouver Expedition. This name later came to be used for the waters north of Tacoma Narrows as well.
