The earliest recorded exploration of the area around Tacoma was made by Captain George Vancouver who sailed his ship into Puget Sound in 1792 and named the towering distant peak in honor of Peter Rainier. Local Native Americans, such as the Puyallup Tribe had long called the mountain Tahoma, though English spellings vary – Takhoma, Taquoma, or Tacoma, among others.
Tacoma was founded as city in 1870, though one of the first settlements was an 1852 sawmill established by a Swedish immigrant, Nicholas Delin at the present location of Dock Street and Puyallup Ave. A second mill powered by steam was built in 1868 by Charles Hanson, a Danish sea captain. Yet by July 14, 1873, the town could only boast of 200 inhabitants. However, that was the day residents received news of a telegram that the Northern Pacific Railroad had chosen Tacoma as the western terminus of its transcontinental railroad. The railroad’s branch line from Kalama reached Tacoma in Dec. 1873.
News of the railroad’s decision set off a land rush that resulted in new investments as many new ventures were set in motion. Northern Pacific soon bought Hanson’s mill along with two miles of deep-water frontage and 600 acres of tide flats. William and David Flett, together with their brother-in-law, John Gale opened the first Wilkeson coal mine in 1874. A spur rail line, called the Puyallup branch reached Wilkeson in 1877. The vast forests of Pierce County along with the newly established rail lines resulted in the opening of many sawmills whose lumber was shipped from Tacoma’s wharfs.
The 1880s were a boom decade for Tacoma. Pacific Coast Steamship Co. started regular freight, passenger, and mail service between San Francisco, Puget Sound, and Alaska ports. Entrepreneurs erected five new wharves, 16 lumber and shingle mills, three brickyards, and what was then the largest warehouse in the world. A giant steam dredge dug a channel though the tide flats creating the City Waterway, now called Thea Foss Waterway adjacent to Dock Street. Tacoma’s population grew from 1,098 to 36,006 during the decade.
In 1883, Northern Pacific completed the first installment of this railroad trestle supplying the city with two large offshore coal bunkers on Tacoma’s Commencement Bay. This photo #SJO-044 comes courtesy of the Tacoma Public Library’s Northwest room and was likely taken several years later after additional improvements were added.
