ORIGIN OF WASHINGTON GEOGRAPHIC NAMES

(Continued from Volume IX., page 295)

On May 7,

GRAYS HARBOR, on the western shore of the state. 1792, Captain Robert Gray, the American explorer, discovered the harbor and named it Bulfinch Harbor in honor of one of the Boston owners of his ship Columbia. In October of the same year, Vancouver, the English explorer, sent his Lieutenant Joseph Whidbey to survey the new harbor. They called it Gray's Harbor, and as their charts were published, while the American's charts were not, the name prevailed. The Spaniards of that same year Galiano and Valdez helped to establish that name by charting it "Puerto de Gray." John Work, of the Hudson's Bay Company, called in "Chihalis Bay" in 1824. (T. C. Elliott, in the Washington Historical Quarterly, July, 1912, page 204.) David Douglas called it "Whitbey Harbor" in 1825. (Journal of David Douglas, 1823-1827, page 60. Even American maps sometimes showed the name as "Whidbey Harbor." (Pacific Railroad Reports, Volume XII, Part II, page 264.)

GRAYS HARBOR COUNTY, created as Chehalis County by an act of the Territorial Legislature approved on April 14, 1854. See Chehalis City and River for discussion of that name. In February, 1907, an act of the State Legislature was approved dividing Chehalis County and Creating Grays Harbor County. The State Supreme Court later declared the act "entirely indefinite and uncertain." On March 15, 1915, there was approved a very brief act of the Legislature which simply changed the county's name from Chehalis to Grays Harbor.

GRAYS POINT, on the north bank of the lower Columbia River, in Pacific County. Sir Edward Belcher, in 1889, named it "Cape Broughton" in honor of Vancouver's associate, Lieutenant W. R. Broughton, of the 1792 expedition. Captain George Davidson says the Wilkes Expedition, 1841, called it Grays Point. Also that the earliest United States Coast Survey charts showed it as Cape Broughton, while on later ones it is designated Grays Point. (Pacific Coast Pilot, page 463.) One item is a little confused, since Chart 2 in the atlas accompanying the Wilkes Volume, Hydrography, shows the feature as "Burnie Point," evidently an honor intended for James Birnie, representing the Hudson's Bay Company at Astoria. The name that has prevailed is another honor for the American Captain Robert Gray and naturally arose from the name given the adjacent bay and river.

GRAYS RIVER, flowing into the lower Columbia River at Grays Bay, Wahkiakum County. The name is for Captain Robert Gray. On the Wilkes Expedition, 1841, chart it has the Indian name Ebokwol, and in 1853 it was given another Indian name, Moolhool. Railroad Reports, Volume XI, Part II, Chart 3.)

(Pacific

GREAT BEND (of the Columbia River), mentioned by Richard Arnold in 1853. (Pacific Railroad Reports, Volume I, page 284.) The common name for this feature and the region about it is Big Bend. GREAT FALLS OF THE COLUMBIA, a name frequently used in early records for The Dalles. They are referred to as such by Lewis and Clark, 1805, by Gabriel Franchere and Alexander Ross, 1811, and by David Douglas, 1825.

GREAT PENINSULA, see Indian or Great Peninsula.

GREAT PLAINS OF THE COLUMBIA, a name which appears in early records for portions of Eastern Washington and Oregon bordering on the Columbia River.

GREAT PLATEAU OF SPOKANE. The country bounded by the Columbia, Spokane and Snake Rivers received that name on James Tilton's Map of a Part of Washington Territory, September, 1859. (In United States Public Documents, Serial No. 1026.)

GREAT SOUTH SEA, see Pacific Ocean.

GREENBANK, a postoffice on the eastern shore of Whidbey Island at the entrance to Holmes Harbor, Island County. The name was given in 1906 by Calvin Philips in honor of his boyhood home, Green Bank, Delaware. (Calvin Philips, Seattle, in Names MSS., Letter 23.)

GREEN LAKE, in the northern portion of Seattle, King County. The name appears as "Lake Green" on the map by the Surveyor-General of Washington Territory, 1857. (In United States Public Documents, Serial No. 877.) There are several other small bodies of water in the State bearing the same name.

GREEN POINT, on the Strait of Juan de Fuca east of Port Angeles, Clallam County. This name was given by the United States Coast Survey. (See Report for 1854, in United States Public Documents, Serial No. 784.)

GREEN POINT, at the eastern entrance to Carr Inlet, in the northwestern part of Pierce County. It was named by the Wilkes Expedition, 1841, in honor of Daniel Green, gunner's mate in one of the crews.

GREEN POINT, at the eastern cape of Spieden Island in San Juan County, and another of the same name on the northwestern shore of Fidalgo Island, Skagit County. Both these names first appear on the British Admiralty Chart 2689, Richards, 1858-1859. The names were undoubtedly descriptive when given.

GREEN RIVER, flowing westward from the Cascade Mountains and emptying into White River at Auburn, King County. This river is the source of Tacoma's water supply. The name was descriptive when used by the early writers and map-makers. James G. Swan says the Indian name was Nooscope. (Northwest Coast, page 426.) Lieutenant A. W. Tinkham gives the Indian name as Nook-han-noo. (Pacific Railroad Reports, Volume XI, Part II, Chart 3.) The upper waters were apparently confused by Theodore Winthrop, 1858, with those of the Greenwater River, a mountain tributary of White River.

GREENS SPUR, Whatcom County, see Standard.

GREENVILLE HARBOR, a small indentation on the ocean shore south of Point Grenville, Grays Harbor County, is shown with this name on James Tilton's Map of a Part of Washington Territory, September, 1859. (In United States Public Documents, Serial No. 1026.) Such difference in spelling frequently occurs.

GREENWATER RIVER, a mountain tributary of White River and forming part of the boundary between Pierce and King Counties. Lieutenant Robert E. Johnson of the Wilkes Expedition, 1841, gives the Indian name as Smalocho.

GREENWOOD, a postoffice in Grays Harbor County. It was named in 1914 by John Landers, the oldest settler there, after the Greenwood Timber Company, a large holder of timber in that vicinity. (James W. Finn, in Names MSS., Letter 542.)

GREENWOOD, on the south side of Nooksack River, near Lynden, Whatcom County. The name arose from the schoolhouse being surrounded with evergreen trees. (Mrs. Phoebe N. Judson, Lynden, in

Names MSS., Letter 187.)

GREGOR, a station on the Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railway in Adams County. It was named for a prominent owner of land in that vicinity-McGregor - but was shortened so as to avoid confusion with the name of McAdam, another station on the same division of the railroad. (L. C. Gilman, in Names MSS., Letter 590.)

GRIFFIN BAY, a large bay at the southwest extremity of San Juan Island, San Juan County. The Wilkes Expedition, 1841, charted the bay as "Ontario Roads." The British Admiralty Chart 2689, Richards, 1858-1859, first gave the name Griffin Bay, which has remained on all charts since. The name is an honor for Charles John Griffin, Colonial justice of the Peace, and an official of the Hudson's Bay Company, in charge of their Bellevue Farm on San Juan Island. He maintained the British claims when Isaac N. Ebey, American Collector of Customs, undertook to exercise authority there. The long dispute

which ended in arbitration will be discussed under the name of San Juan.

GRINDSTONE, in Pierce County.

When the trails to the Tahoma Mining District near North Mowich Glacier, Mount Rainier, were being constructed, 1900, a grindstone was placed at a camp in the woods. All the men went there to grind, and the stone being left there the place became known as Grindstone. (Thomas E. Farrell, in Names MSS., Letter 118.)

GROTTO, in the northeastern portion of King County. The place was named from its beauty, many of the deep gorges resembling great caves at a distance. (W. H. Bruchart, in Names MSS., Letter 432.)

GROUSE CREEK, in the southwestern part of Asotin County. "The grouse were very thick in the early days when I came here, and there are quite a lot of them yet." (Henry Hansen, of Hanson's Ferry, in Names MSS., Letter 236.)

GUEMES ISLAND AND CHANNEL, in the northwestern part of Skagit County. The Spanish explorer Eliza, 1791, named it "Isla de Gueme" in honor of the Viceroy of Mexico, under whose orders he had sailed to the Northwest. The Viceroy's full name was Señor Don Juan Vicente de Guemes Pacheco y Padilla Orcasitees y Aguayo, Conde de Revilla Gigedo. (Pacific Railroad Reports, Volume XII, Part I, page 302.) Parts of the long name are in use for geographical names. Vancouver did not attempt to name the island in 1792, but in that year the Spaniards, Galiano and Valdez, repeated Eliza's name as "Isla de Guemes." The Wilkes Expedition, 1841, undertook to change the name to "Lawrence Island" in honor of the famous American naval hero, James Lawrence. To intensify the honor, Wilkes gave the name "Hornet Harbor" to what is now known as Guemes Channel after the vessel Lawrence commanded when he captured the English vessel Penguin in the War of 1812, and to the north of the island he charted "Penguin Harbor," which name has disappeared, being considered a part of the present Bellingham Channel. In 1847, Captain Kellett restored. the name Guemes Island on the British Admiralty Chart 1911. That name has been retained on the United States Government charts, which have also added the names of Guemes Channel and Bellingham Channel. GUERRIERE BAY, see West Sound, San Juan County.

GUETES LAKE, west of Keechelus Lake, Kittitas County. Lieutenant A. W. Tinkham gave it by the Indian name of "Wee-ly-let-sarz Lake" in 1854. (Pacific Railroad Reports, Volume XI, Part II, Chart 3.)

(To be continued)

DOCUMENTS

WASHINGTON'S FIRST CONSTITUTION, 1878

Those who have read the proceedings of the convention at Walla Walla, which framed the constitution, will recall that the questions of prohibition and woman suffrage were submitted as separate articles to be voted upon at the same general election at which the constitution itself was to be adopted or rejected.

At that same election there was rather a bitter contest between Thomas H. Brents (Republican) and N. T. Caton (Democrat) for Delegate to Congress. There was great interest in the question of prospective statehood but in the election itself greatest interest centered in the delegateship.

The election took place on November 4, 1878, and about that time the Daily Intelligencer of Seattle published a table showing the population of Washington Territory by counties as follows:

Looking back through forty years, it seems that the population was rather slender to sustain the ambitions for statehood. The proposed area was great enough. In addition to Washington Territory, the three northern counties, or "panhandle" of Idaho, were to have been included. Those people in Idaho were even more interested than were those of Washington. The Democratic Press of Port Townsend, said on December 26, 1878: "The total vote of Idaho Territory at the recent election was 5,939, against 4,958 in 1876-a gain of 971, the principal portion of which is in the northern counties which are nearly unanimously petitioning to be set off to Washington Territory." The Seattle Intelligencer of November 25, 1878, copied from the Teller of Lewiston, Idaho: "There were a few who seemed wholly indifferent upon the question, but at this time we cannot learn of 25 votes cast against the Constitution in the three counties. Shoshone county