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ABOUT THIS SECTION:
Thurston County
marks its sesquicentennial on Jan. 12, 2002. This section was created
to give readers a short course in the early years of the county. It contains
articles on the politics of the county's creation, it explains where some
of the places names come from, and it profiles some of the earliest pioneer
families who settled this area when it was something beyond the Wild West.
Click
here to view newsprint cover.
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Meet some
of the county's first families
Many descendants
of Thurston County pioneers carry the legacy of their heritage in their
daily lives. The impact varies from family to family, with some simply
regarding their pioneer roots as an interesting piece of history and others
being strongly shaped by them. Whether they actively promote their roots,
or take quiet pride in them, the descendants of the area's first families
are inexorably growing and changing.
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So that's how
that place got its name
Streets,
lakes, buildings take their names from settlers' backgrounds and Indian
history
LINDA
TARR, FOR THE OLYMPIAN
Thurston County bears the influence of Washington's earliest settlers.
Look around, and you'll see road signs bearing the names of pioneers like
Mark Evans Hartsuck, Millard Lemon, the Bigelow family and others. Many
other places, from prairies to state parks, also bear the names of settlers,
many of whom homesteaded with donation land claims that allowed them to
establish farms on large tracts of land.
Settlers also named some areas after places they'd migrated from. However,
some places still bear names that derive from the Nisqually, Chehalis
and other tribes, like Tumwater and Skookumchuck.
Several people who have been wondering about local place names sent their
questions to The Olympian in past months. We did our best to answer their
queries with the help of local residents, County Historian Shanna Stevenson,
historic property inventory forms filed with the county, and the book
"Thurston County Place Names: A Heritage Guide," published by the county
historic commission.
Here's what we found. We've grouped the information according to geographic
location, in case you want to create your own tour to see some of the
county's historic areas.
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