CULTURAL HISTORY OF ISLANDWOOD
Blakely Cemetery
Established in 1880, the Blakely Cemetery provides an interesting glimpse into the recent
past. Cultural history is included in environmental education because you have to understand
the history of the people who inhabited a place if you are to completely understand a place.
“Sense of Place” curriculum allows students to understand what was happening here before
we arrived on the scene.
There is a large stand of old Douglas fir trees encircling the cemetery. Logging was avoided
in the area immediately surrounding the cemetery. Inside the cemetery tall, beautiful cedar
trees populate areas between graves. To the west (as you drive in the entrance), there is a
small wetland that supports the growth of these cedars, which thrive near moist soil.
Notice that the graves are segregated by race. As you enter the cemetery, Caucasians
(Scandinavian, English, and other Europeans) are buried in the center of the cemetery.
Jewish people are buried along the south or left side, and the Japanese graves, although
somewhat scattered, are mainly over on the far right, or north side of the cemetery. Native
Americans were not allowed to be buried in the cemetery at all. Recently, an archaeological
study determined that unmarked Native American gravesites were on the perimeter of the
property, and the Suquamish tribe has confirmed that they do know of many burials, which
occurred outside the perimeter as an attempt to be close to this spiritual place.
Note that many headstones represent a tree or log as an artistic representation of their
profession. You will also see the words, “Here lies the world’s greatest woodsman” found on
several of the graves. This was a fraternal symbol of the professional loggers association
back in the 1800s. Compare detailing on some of the gravestones. A dove, a wood hatchet,
and ivy seem to be found on each fraternal symbol located on the tombstone. Another
phrase you will see on the headstones is, “Dum Tacit, clamat,” which means, “While he is
silent, he shouts.”
The Dix Disaster happened in 1906, where 42 people were killed when a passenger freighter
named “Dix” collided with another ship just off Blakely Rock.. Most of these people had
worked or had husbands who worked at the mill. As a result, the mill shut down for two
days out of respect for those who died.
Mac’s Pond
The dam was constructed to provide fresh water for the mill workers who worked down in
the harbor for the Port Blakely Mill. It was built in the late 1880s – with old timbers and clay
soil from the property – and worked until the 1920s. Through the years, leakage had resulted
from the timbers that had rotted and the dam was not stable. Restoration work was
completed in the fall of 2000. The pond was completely drained and the dam replaced.
Cultural History
Page 1 of 15
Updated 3/10/2015
Mac’s Dam is named after Malcolm McDonald, who managed the Bainbridge Hotel, and
later the Pleasant Beach Hotel. Later on, people started to call the pond that was formed
from the dam installation “Mac’s Pond” after him, as well.
Blakely Harbor and Estuary
Captain George Vancouver landed in 1792 at Beans Bight just south of Blakely Harbor, on
the end of Bainbridge Island.
In 1863, Captain Renton, when evaluating this harbor for the future site of his mill, used a
rock and a piece of clothesline to measure the channel. This allowed him to make sure that
ships could enter the harbor to pick up lumber without running aground.
In 1864, the Port Blakely Lumber Mill opened on this site. The Port Blakely Mill had a huge
impact on the development of the Puget Sound region. As the largest logging operation in
the world throughout the 1880s, it provided jobs for over 3,000 people; it had electricity and
telegraph service before Seattle, and thus attracted settlers to the island. As you can see from
looking around at the old creosote timbers in the water, all that remains now of the mill is
the concrete and fireproof steam engine room, which was added after the second fire in
1907. (The first fire occurred in 1888.) This building housed the 800 horsepower steam
engine, which powered much of the mill machinery.
Port Blakely Mill burned to the ground in 1888, 1907, and was finally dismantled in 1924.
If you look out into the harbor, on your left you will see what looks like some large rocks
and boulders on the beach and partially in the water. These are not rocks, but are actually a
pile of old metal filings. This is where the saw blades from the mill were sharpened and the
filings accumulated at this spot over the years.
Straight out past the harbor, you will see Blakely Rock. This is where all ships, which used to
come into the harbor to fill their hulls with timber, would dump their ballast rock before
coming into the harbor. At low tide, you can see all of this excess rock surrounding Blakely
Rock.
In their time, some of the largest ships in the world were built here, because it is a very deep
harbor. The Hall’s Brothers Shipbuilding Company built three-, four-, and five-masted
schooners here when boats were still constructed with wooden hulls. Of course, now all
large ships are constructed with steel hulls.
Nearly 300 Japanese immigrants settled into Port Blakely during the 1880s and created Yama
village where they lived while working at the mill. Masajiro Furaya, a member of that
community, built a native garden at Furaya House on Crystal Springs that contained plants
shipped from Japan.
Cultural History
Page 2 of 15
Updated 3/10/2015
Honoring an Elder, Vi Hilbert: IslandWood’s House Post Dedication
by Michelle Alten
In a forest on Bainbridge Island, a crane
lifts a twenty-foot red cedar house post
into place. Carved into the massive trunk
is the image of a woman. Her face is
strong and her black eyes stare confidently
at the forest of cedar, hemlock, and
Douglas fir that surrounds her. A cape
and skirt, woven from red cedar bark,
drape over her massive body. A group of
school children excitedly look on. The
figure is in the image of Vi Hilbert (Taq s blu), an admired elder of the Lushootseed people
(Lushootseed refers to the common language that was once spoken throughout the Puget
Sound region). Her spirit, along with that of the tree, will welcome children into the Great
Hall at IslandWood. Here young people will learn about the natural and cultural history of
Puget Sound with the integration of ecology, technology, and the arts. The Great Hall, filled
with native Coastal Salish art from the Puget Sound region, will serve as an indoor gathering
place for the children and educators.
As the house post, created by artists Roger Fernandes, Bruce Cook, and a team of carvers is
put into place, a dedication ceremony with 170 people commemorates the event. The
celebration corresponds to the Coastal Salish tradition of honoring and blessing the house
post, and the ancestral figure that it represents.
“Our culture is 10,000 years old, but it became like a small ember in a fire that had nearly
gone out,” announces Bruce Miller, the master of ceremonies, and a traditional longhouse
spiritual leader. “But enough ember has remained to blow on it and bring it alive again.
Peggy Deam, a Suquamish weaver, shuffles barefooted about the carving. She sprinkles soil
at the feet of the female figure. “We feel all living things are created from the red earth,”
Miller says, explaining the symbolism of the soil. Deam’s cedar skirt flutters as she moves,
her long and broad beaded Haikwa, a Suquamish necklace that almost reaches her ankles,
rattles softly.
“Bless this spirit house post,” says Miller. “Bless the spirit of this precious person in Coast
Salish Culture - Taq s blu.”
Vi Hilbert, today an 83 year-old Upper Skagit elder, watches, surrounded by friends, family,
IslandWood staff, and local children. Hilbert, a linguist, educator, and storyteller, is
recognized throughout the world for her efforts to preserve the oral literature and culture of
the native Puget Sound Lushootseed people. In 1972 she cofounded the Lushootseed
language and culture program at the University of Washington. Her family’s heritage as
Cultural History
Page 3 of 15
Updated 3/10/2015
medicine people felt they had a cultural responsibility and thus has inspired Hilbert to devote
over thirty years of her life gathering and recording stories of her people. She has now
translated and published many of the stories and legends in books like Haboo, Stories from
Puget Sound. Today she is one of five elders remaining who still speak Lushootseed. In an
effort to preserve her peoples’ native tongue, Hilbert has also published a lexicon and
dictionary of the Lushootseed language. (Vi passed away in 2009)
Two years ago, as planning was underway for the educational facility, Debbi Brainerd,
Founder and IslandWood Board Chair, spent months consulting with experts on Coastal
Salish heritage. Her vision was to create an environmental learning center that could
integrate the cultural history of the Puget Sound, along with the science curriculum that
would support natural history programs. Feeling that Native Americans should contribute to
that vision, she consulted a local artist and educator of the Salish art and culture, Roger
Fernandes. Fernandes pointed out that while many museums around the Pacific Northwest
highlight the work of the Haida, Tlingit, and other northern Coastal Salish peoples, the art of
the Puget Salish has received little attention. Local Coastal Salish people shared with
Brainerd that totem poles were not art native to this area, but that house posts were what
typically would be found. When Brainerd finally had the opportunity to meet Hilbert, she
told the elder about what they had learned. Hilbert suggested that a house post should be
carved in the image of a grandmother with open arms, welcoming the children into the
space, explains Brainerd. It didn’t take long before Fernandes had the idea that they should
ask Hilbert to be their grandmother.
Equally significant is the carving’s representation of Hilbert as a grandmother.
Contemplating the house post she explains, “This carving reveals the important role of
grandmothers in our community. Grandmothers for my people are responsible to all
children. We grandmother other people’s children as well as our own. This house post will
symbolize the love and nurturing of all our young people.” When the carving is completed,
the attached arms of the grandmother will welcome the children into the hall. They will
represent an open heart and mind, and a desire to learn.
Today the house post celebrates Hilbert’s life and work. “She is the preeminent elder
dedicated to preserving the language and beliefs of her people,” explains Fernandes who
designed the house post carving. For Brainerd it has become a way to honor all that Hilbert
has done for the Puget Salish people.
Since her retirement from the University of Washington in 1988, Hilbert has continued her
crusade to pass on the language and stories of her people. As a storyteller at 83, her energy
continues to engage others. “It is legends and stories that keep cultures alive,” she explains.
“Our stories reveal the philosophy, humor, geography, and history of the Lushootseed
people.”
While many Coastal Salish poles to the north were freestanding and placed outside of the
home, the house post of the Puget Salish stood inside, and bore the figure of an ancestor. It
served to honor a person who was still alive, or deceased. “Every leader had a house post,”
explains Hilbert. “The house post was the most significant part of the building. It served as a
reminder to the community that our spiritual leaders get their strength from the spirit.”
Cultural History
Page 4 of 15
Updated 3/10/2015
Among the timbers of The Great Hall, the house post will help educators teach about the
many traditions and ways of life of the Puget Sound Coastal Salish people. “The house post,
along with other art from this area, will enable us to teach children about the culture of
indigenous people” explains Debbi Brainerd. “The art will allow history to be shared about
who occupied this land before the while European settlers arrived in the 1800’s. This will
help to provide children with a sense of place.”
The IslandWood Great Hall will feature artifacts, weavings, baskets made from bark and
grasses, cattail mats, and carvings only from this area. Its efforts will create a unique
opportunity as this Puget Sound art is seldom exhibited elsewhere.
As Fernandes designed IslandWood house post he made sure it was in keeping with the
traditional Puget Salish Style. “These types of carvings are far more naturalistic than those
created to the north in Canada and Alaska,” Fernandes points out. “They use less modeling,
and work with a flatter plane, yet they are straight forward and fairly realistic. There is also a
primal quality, that gives them a spiritual immediacy.”
Bruce Cook, a well-known Northwest Coast Haida artist, served as the lead carver for the
project. Cook had worked with artists like Steve Brown of Seattle, a renowned carver and
authority on Northwest Coast art, and Greg Colfax, a highly regarded carver from Neah Bay.
While Cook was born in Alaska and raised in Wyoming, he looked forward to the challenge
of carving a piece in the Puget Salish style. “I wanted to create a work that would inspire
young carvers and artists at the learning center,” he explains. He carefully studied Puget
Salish art before beginning work on the house post. Then Cook invited Suquamish weavers,
Peg Deam and Barbara Lawrence, to create the cedar skirt and cape. Since the Suquamish
tribe originally inhabited the land of Bainbridge Island, Cook’s idea added further
authenticity to the piece.
Carvers Terry Peele, Shaun Peterson, Roger Fernandes, and his son Anthony Fernandes,
joined Cook as supporting carvers. For two months, the group of artists banded together to
work on the carving of Taq s blu. Each time they met, the occasion was sacred. “We always
wanted to acknowledge the living tree,” explains Peele. “So when we worked on her we
always treated her as a living thing. We said a prayer in the morning and burned sage. The
smoke of the sage carried our prayers. We let her know that we wouldn’t hurt her, and that
we respected her. The spirit of the tree and Vi Hilbert are one and we always were careful to
acknowledge these spirits.”
Today the house post figure remains somewhere between the world of creation and true
existence. Her hands are not yet in place. Her eyes, though colored a rich black, remain
uncarved. “My grandmother always told me to wait and carve the eyes last, because that
would bring the figure to life. We want her to come alive at the same time the construction
of the Great Hall is completed,” explains Cook.
Vi Hilbert speaks to the group in Lushootseed. Her elegant words sound like poetry. The
visitors are silent. They listen. “I’m thanking the cedar tree for allowing me to live within it,
to share its space,” she explains. Then as she thanks the group who has gathered for
enduring the cold, for their strength and responsibility, her voice grows confident. “At last
Cultural History
Page 5 of 15
Updated 3/10/2015
the Lushootseed people will be known. Because you have made it your goal to make them
known.”
Cultural History
Page 6 of 15
Updated 3/10/2015
The Lushootseed of Puget Sound
A summary of a paper written by Coll-Peter Thrush, in the University of Washington Digital Libraries
collection: http://content.lib.washington.edu/aipnw/thrush/thrush.html, with supplemental sources listed at
the end of the piece.
The Puget Sound region has a history rich in Native American culture. Native peoples have
inhabited the woodlands, hills, and mountains of the Pacific Northwest for more than ten
thousand years, according to archeologists. The Coast Salish Nation, or Lushootseed, which
refers to refers to the common language made up of many local dialects that was spoken
throughout the region, occupied the land and waterways of what is now southwestern British
Columbia and the northwestern United States. Lushootseed comes from two words, one
meaning "salt water" and the other meaning "language."
Prior to the coming of European-Americans in the late eighteenth century, there were
thriving Lushootseed communities on both sides of what we now call Elliott Bay. Theirs
was, and still is, a very spiritual life where objects, animals, places, and forces of nature are
considered living beings with their own spirits, just like people. All Lushootseed learn
through personal sacrifice to identify their own spirit power. These spirits provide special
skills and knowledge that help the individual who claims them, and their communities, to
live well and prosper.
For most of the year, the Lushootseed people traveled throughout the region to collect food
and other resources for their communities. In spring men felled trees to carve canoes for the
summer and hunted deer and elk. During the summer, steelhead, silver, and king salmon
filled the rivers and were caught by the thousands. In the fall aerial nets were stretched
between tall poles to snare ducks. The resources of the land were plentiful, but the
Lushootseed were mindful of their responsibility to care for it.
Unlike other Native American groups, the Lushootseed people did not live in tribes. They
organized themselves into self-governing towns that formed relationships with other
communities in the region through trade and marriage. Families marked important occasions
and competed for social status through public displays of generosity known as potlatch. No
one was neglected or excluded—everyone felt a responsibility to care for everyone else.
Cedar longhouses, some reaching five hundred feet in length housed several families, each
with their own fire pit and hole in the roof to release smoke. These houses provided shelter,
but were symbolic of something even greater. People saw their house as a body on its hands
and knees and called the front of the house its face. The center ridge of the roof symbolized
the spine of the body or the spine of the universe, the Milky Way. The power spirits of the
leading family were intricately painted and carved onto houseposts that held up the roof.
These posts were the arms and legs of the body, as well as columns holding up the sky.
Chief Seattle and the Arrival of the Europeans
The Lushootseed leader whose name was given to Puget Sound's largest city was born on
the Kitsap peninsula some time in the 1780s. His native name was Si'alh, which has been
translated with fair accuracy into English as Seattle.
As a boy, Si'alh was among the first Native Americans to greet British explorer George
Cultural History
Page 7 of 15
Updated 3/10/2015
Vancouver in 1792. Vancouver’s arrival paved the way for European fur traders and settlers
over the next several decades. The newcomers traded numerous goods that soon became
staples in Lushootseed life. They also brought diseases like smallpox and measles that
decimated nearly half the native population.
As Si'alh matured, the Lushootseed communities surrounding Puget Sound increasingly
recognized his intelligence, courage, and ability to lead. Si'alh saw that even though whites
were encroaching on his people’s way of life, they had to work together. He became known
among both groups as a great diplomat and orator. Si'alh commanded so much attention
when he spoke, it was believed that one of his spirit powers was thunder.
By 1854-55 the white settlers had devised treaties forcing the Lushootseed to relinquish
much of their land. In exchange, the treaties set aside tracts of land (reservations) to remain
in Native American ownership. The U.S. government promised to provide benefits such as
schools, health care, money, and other services. Realizing there was no alternative, Si'alh —
along with other tribal leaders in the region—placed his mark on a document which
transferred ownership of most of the Puget Sound basin.
Because the Lushootseed were not organized by tribe, with a formal leader representing each
distinct community, some Lushootseed towns were left out of the treaty negotiations. Those
that were recognized soon found that expected exchanges were ignored. Though Si'alh
denounced it, some Lushootseed people reacted violently towards the settlers, thus
beginning the "Treaty War" of 1856. Settlers, in turn, burned many Lushootseed towns and
forced their residents to move to reservations. On these reservations, individual Lushootseed
towns eventually formed tribes with collective rights based on the treaties.
Seattle soon attracted more settlers, and few paid attention to Si'alh or his people. Si'alh
spent his final days on a reservation near Port Madison helping his people adjust to the new
way of life that had been imposed on them.
Lushootseed in the Modern Age
The Lushootseed people suffered tremendously under the new American laws. During the
late 19th and early 20th centuries more and more of their rights were stripped away. Access
to resources was made difficult or impossible. Many of their rituals and ceremonies were
outlawed, and Lushootseed children were forced to go to boarding schools were they were
trained to forget their culture.
Still, many became part of the region's growing economy, engaging in traditional forms of
work such as fishing, logging, carpentry, agriculture, and basket making to earn a living for
their families.
Today there are eight federally recognized reservations in the Puget Sound region—the
Squaxin, Nisqually, Muckleshoot, Suquamish, Stillaguamish, Tulalip, Swinomish, and Upper
Skagit. Three additional tribes, the Snoqualmie, Samish, and Skykomish, recently received
recognition from the federal government, but do not have reservations. Two more tribes,
the Duwamish and Steilacoom, are still working for the federal recognition that would give
them access to treaty rights.
Cultural History
Page 8 of 15
Updated 3/10/2015
Many of these tribes have benefited from tribe-owned casinos and fish hatcheries—business
ventures that have helped them become more self-sufficient. Efforts are also being made to
awaken an interest in the Lushootseed language and cultural traditions in younger
generations. By reclaiming aspects of the past and integrating them with the day-to-day
activities of modern-day American society, the Lushootseed are rebuilding their culture and
creating new traditions that will hopefully survive for another ten thousand years.
Additional Sources:
Clarence Bagley, History of Seattle (Chicago: S.J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1916) and History of King County,
Washington (Chicago: S.J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1929); David Buerge "Seattle Before Seattle," Seattle
Weekly, December 17, 1980; West Side Story, ed. by Clay Eals, et al. (Seattle: Robinson Newspapers, 1987); J. A.
Eckrom, Remembered Drums: A History of the Puget Sound Indian War (Walla Walla, WA: Pioneer Press Books:
1989); Vi taqSeblu Hilbert, "When Chief Seattle (Si'al) Spoke," A Time of Gathering (Seattle: University of
Washington Press, 1991); Warren Snyder, unpublished field notes from Suquamish elders, 1952; Kenneth G.
Watson, A Change of Worlds exhibit gallery guide, Museum of History and Industry, 1999.
Cultural History: Bainbridge Island & Port Blakely
Bainbridge Island
Captain George Vancouver, an English explorer for King George, anchored off the Island's
south shore at today’s Bean's Bight in 1792. He named the point Restoration Point in honor
of the day King Charles II was restored to the English throne. The Suquamish, led by Chief
Kitsap, were at their nearby summer camp. In 1855, as part of the Treaty of Point Elliott
signed by Chief Sealth (Seattle), the Suquamish ceded Bainbridge Island and their other lands
to the U.S. government.
In 1841, U.S. avy Lieutenant Charles Wilkes visited the Island while surveying the
Northwest. Lt. Wilkes named the Island after Commodore William Bainbridge, commander
of the frigate Constitution in the War of 1812. He also named several other areas of the
Island and these names are still in use today.
An area a little larger than the present State became the Territory of Washington on March
2, 1853. In 1857, a new county was formed and named Kitsap in honor of the Chief. The
first county seat was at Port Madison. Business was conducted from the office of
Commissioner George Meigs, owner of the Port Madison Mill.
By the late 1800s, Port Blakely boasted the world's largest sawmill. Mill workers came from
many nations. Japanese and Hawaiian communities and an Indian village were located
nearby. Many Filipinos immigrated to Bainbridge Island during the 1920s; others came as
shipyard workers during World War II.
Both towns, Port Blakely and Port Madison, had large hotels, schools, foundries, and
substantial shipbuilding enterprises. The Halls Brothers shipyard built 88 vessels, most of
which were large schooners for hauling lumber. The economic depression of 1893 helped
close the Madison Mill. Port Blakely Mill closed in the mid 1920s, 57 years after it began.
In the 1900s, the U.S. Army built Fort Ward at Bean's Point. Four gun batteries and a
minefield in Rich Passage provided coastal defenses for the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard
until it became obsolete in the 1930s.
Cultural History
Page 9 of 15
Updated 3/10/2015
The Hall Brothers Shipyard, which moved in 1902 from Port Blakely to Eagle Harbor, was
world-famous. The name of the town there changed from Madrone to Winslow in honor of
Winslow Hall. In 1905, across the harbor on Bill Point, the coast's largest wood preservative
facility grew. The community there was named Creosote after the coal tar derivative. Five
hotels and several resorts served visitors to early Island communities. The Port Madison
offered elegant dining from the 1860s; the Bainbridge Hotel served Port Blakely. The 40room Pleasant Beach Hotel with its bowling alleys, swimming pool, billiard room, and
pavilion, which hosted everything from church conferences to world championship prize
fights, was considered the Coney Island of Puget Sound. The Hotel Winslow and other
boarding houses served shipyard workers and visitors. The hotel at the Manitou Park
Chautauqua grounds on Skiff Point held visitors who came to hear William Jennings Bryan
and John Phillips Sousa.
With few interior roads, most early Island travel was by water. Mosquito Fleet steamers
carried freight and passengers between Island landings and Seattle and Kitsap destinations.
Communities grew around some 30 mosquito fleet landings and residents knew their
captain's whistle signature. Car ferry service began by barge from Point White to Retsil.
Regular car service to Seattle began in 1923 from Port Blakely. In 1937, Seattle car ferry
service moved to Eagle Harbor.
Eleven neighborhoods had their own schools until Islanders voted to consolidate in the
1920s. The county's first school was in Port Madison. One of the nation's finest private
schools, the Moran Preparatory School, a forerunner of Seattle's Lakeside School, served
young men from a Manitou Park campus.
Touring theatrical companies and locally produced performances helped keep the arts alive
in the early mill towns. Silent films played at theaters in Fort Ward, Port Blakely, Manitou
Park, and Winslow. In the mid-1930s, the Island's first sound theater was built in Tudor-style
Lynwood Center and continues today.
In 1938, The U.S. Navy took over Fort Ward from the Army, confiscating several
surrounding properties and evicting their owners. Large acreages were put into antenna
fields overnight as a top-secret, international, radio listening station was built. Radio
communication and code schools were established that lasted through the Korean War. The
Fort Ward command also oversaw the construction of the Navy's largest radio transmitter at
Battle Point with a tower 300-feet taller than the Space Needle.
With the attack on Pearl Harbor and the beginning of the World War II in the Pacific, the
Island was hit hard. In March, 1942, Bainbridge Island became one of the first communities
required to respond to Executive Order 9066 which uprooted Japanese ancestry, most of
whom were U.S. citizens, and forced them to move inland. Two hundred and twenty
Japanese-Americans were sent to Manzanar on the edge of Mojave Desert, and then to
Minooka in Idaho. Editors of The Bainbridge Review, the Woodward’s, kept Islanders
informed on the activities of displaced residents during the war and regular columns
appeared from the internment camps. Editorials pointed out violations of the Bill of Rights
inherent in the Executive Order. Many Islanders were appalled at this treatment of their
friends and neighbors. They supported the Japanese- Americans, and welcomed them home
at the end of the war.
Cultural History
Page 10 of 15
Updated 3/10/2015
In honor of the young men who lost their lives in World War II, Island residents raised
funds for a Living Memorial Field at the high school. With only hand tools, the world's
largest public school student-built project, a 1000 seat grandstand, was erected for the
memorial by carpentry trade classes between 1947 and 1951.
Winslow incorporated in 1957, developed water a sewer utilities, and became the Island's
urban center. The Agate Pass Bridge was built in 1950 and with it the Island's first highway.
The Army returned to install a Nike missile base and radar station. The Washington State
Ferries took over the old shipyard and Winslow became a busy connection to the Kitsap and
Olympic peninsulas.
Some Islanders felt they were paying an undue portion of the county's taxes and receiving
indifferent county services. Others were concerned that major decisions affecting the Island
were made with little input from Islanders.
In 1969, a bid for incorporation of the area outside Winslow failed at the polls. Another
effort in the early 80s did not reach the polls, but in 1988, a citizens' Home Rule
organization became active, culminating in the 1990 vote to incorporate. This vote was so
close that a recount was needed. In 1991, residents voted to change the City's name to
Bainbridge Island.
A Brief History of The Port Blakely Companies (formerly The Port Blakely Mill Company)
Captain William Renton arrived in Puget Sound in 1852 with some of the first
settlers. He realized the potential for marketing the products of the vast forests of
the region that grew down to the water's edge. Transportation of this material
was greatly facilitated by the quiet waters of Puget Sound.
His first effort was to build a small sawmill on Alki Point at the same time the
first settlers of Seattle were locating homes there. The exposure to wind and
waves at the point probably caused him to try a more sheltered location at Enetai,
near Bremerton, for his next mill site. This did not solve his problems. Getting the
sailing ships through the tidal currents of Rich Passage was difficult.
In 1864, before the railroads reached Seattle, he
purchased the land around Port Blakely Harbor on
the southeast side of Bainbridge Island. Here sailing
ships could more easily come and go, and the
sheltered waters permitted storage of large log rafts to
supply the mill.
During the next four decades The Port Blakely Mill
Company flourished. It became the world's largest
sawmill under one roof. Its lumber was shipped all
over the world. California was a big market, especially San Francisco. Australia, England,
Germany, France, South America, and the Eastern United States were also served by the
ships from Port Blakely.
Cultural History
Page 11 of 15
Updated 3/10/2015
Lumber vessels loading at Port Blakely
Captain Renton (the coal mining town of Renton was named after him) suffered blindness
from a boiler explosion. His nephews, the Campbell Brothers, took over the operation of
the mill at Port Blakely. In 1902, two young men from Bay City, Michigan, were looking for
sawmill opportunities in the far west. Ned Skinner and Jack Eddy liked what they saw and
purchased all the assets of The Port Blakely Mill Company in 1903.
They worked as a team in many ventures in the northwest before and during World War I,
including the Skinner & Eddy Shipbuilding Company. In 1923, they divided their assets; Ned
Skinner taking the Skinner & Eddy Company, the brothers John W., James G. and Robert B.
Eddy and their relatives, The Port Blakely Mill Company.
The mill at Port Blakely at that time was large, and needed complete modernization. The
decision was made to scrap it and continue in the timber investment business.
About the end of World War II, the risk of forest fires had lessened because of several
factors such as access by truck roads, the development of large bulldozers, radio dispatching,
and public awareness. This meant that the long-term investment in growing timber from
planted seedlings to maturity became feasible. The company began an ongoing program of
acquiring prime forestlands and practicing intensive forest management on a sustainable
yield basis. In 1986, the company completed its conversion from The Port Blakely Mill
Company (Incorporated) to Port Blakely Tree Farms (Limited Partnership).
Cultural History
Page 12 of 15
Updated 3/10/2015
Port Blakely's primary business continues to be the growing, tending and selling of forest
crops, with ownership in the states of Washington and Oregon, and in New Zealand
through Blakely Pacific Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary. First thinnings take place, market
permitting, at approximately 25 years of age with up to six subsequent thinnings (8 - 10 years
apart), leaving for final harvest only the highest quality and largest trees. Final harvest
generally occurs in the 65 to 90 year old range depending on soil capacity, market conditions,
regulatory requirements, etc.
Port Blakely's premium logs are sold into the Pacific Rim through trading companies with
contacts in Japan, Korea, and China. The Company also sells a substantial amount of timber
on the local markets as well from its thinning and final harvest activities.
Over the years, as the population grew around the company's ownership, tracts that were
determined to be better suited for development were traded or sold to others. From 1962 to
1987, the company operated a real estate subsidiary that managed Renton Village Company,
a commercial real estate partnership in conjunction with a real estate subsidiary of Puget
Sound Power & Light Company. Today, the company's real estate activities center around
the conversion of close-in forest lands into platted lots for sale to individuals and builders.
The company continues to manage its lands on a conservative, long-term basis to ensure its
continued growth.
Bainbridge Island Filipino Community
The presence of Filipinos on Bainbridge Island was first documented in the 1883 census of
Port Madison. Escaping the Spanish-American conflict in their homeland, these pioneers
found work at the Port Blakely Mill Company. When the mill closed, many of these newly
unemployed Filipinos were forced to leave Bainbridge in search of work.
A second wave of Filipino immigration came in the late 1920s. The Great Depression hit the
Philippines a decade earlier than the U. S., prompting many young Filipino men to seek a
better life in America. Forty-four of these young men, ages 17 to 32, came to Bainbridge.
The earliest Filipinos to arrive on the island acquired land and began farming berries and
vegetables.
When the Great Depression hit the United States, most Filipinos had difficulty finding work.
Language, educational and cultural barriers prevented most from finding steady work in an
already strained job market. Low-paying jobs were the only work offered to these Filipinos.
In response to the economic hardship they faced, many Filipinos adopted a migratory
lifestyle. They worked on island berry farms in the spring and early summer. In late summer,
they would move north and work in the Alaskan fish canneries. Washington orchard
harvests offered employment in the fall. Then, in the winter months, they would move to
California and southern states seeking agricultural work.
World War II hit Bainbridge Island hard. When Presidential Executive Order 9066 uprooted
the island’s 278 residents of Japanese ancestry in 1942, their Filipino farmhands stepped up
to save the crops and manage the farms. Many Filipinos found work in shipyards in Winslow
and Bremerton. For many, this meant financial security. For the first time in their lives, they
Cultural History
Page 13 of 15
Updated 3/10/2015
were able to put money in the bank, get married, raise a family, and put down roots in their
new home.
Many Filipinos married during the war or shortly thereafter. The first Filipinos to raise
families on the island married their Native American co-workers. In the 1940s, several
Filipino men returned to the Philippines to claim young brides. Filipino women also
immigrated to the island in search of husbands. Many of these Filipino families still live on
Bainbridge today, serving as invaluable reminders of the island’s rich history.
History of Japanese American Internment & Bainbridge Island
The signing of Executive Order 9066, on February 19th 1942, by President Roosevelt, set the
stage for changing the destiny of the nearly 300 Americans of Japanese descent on
Bainbridge Island.
In early February, the FBI swooped down on the island. Thirty-four people out of the fortyfive families on Bainbridge Island were arrested and detained without due process. Some of
these were taken to Fort Missoula, in Montana where they were held under guard.
With many of the elders detained, it fell to the Nisei, or second generation men, in their early
and mid-twenties, to become the decision makers for the families.
Rumors were flying around that the first generation Issei may be taken away from their
families. On March 24th, 1942, the Federal Government sent troops from New Jersey to
Bainbridge Island to post Exclusion Order No. 1, declaring we were all to be removed from
Bainbridge on March 30, 1942, citizens or not. Bainbridge Island thus became the first
community to be removed en masse by Federal troops from the West Coast. It became the
“practice run” for the eventual removal of all people of Japanese ancestry from the West
Coast. (A letter was in the National Archive advising the army not to use fixed bayonets next
time because it didn’t look very good.)
The farmers on the Island worked to get their strawberry fields in harvesting order, then
hastily made arrangements with their Filipino employees or Caucasian neighbors to look
after their farms. Families who were leasing land lost everything. (You could not own land
unless you were a U.S. citizen and Japanese were not allowed to become U.S. citizens.)
On Monday, March 30th on a cloudy day, at eleven in the morning, the ferry Kehloken
arrived at the Eagledale ferry dock, across the bay from the Winslow ferry dock, to transport
the people to Seattle. The tough New Jersey soldiers, with their funny accent, ended up
carrying suitcases and children for the women. Many had tears in their eyes as they escorted
the Islanders down the long dock. The soldiers led the Islanders in singing on the long train
ride. The Islanders, after getting off the train in California, stopped and turned to thank the
soldiers. Some of the soldiers exchanged addresses with the internees and they corresponded
with each other. The Islanders were bussed to Manzanar, California in the Owen Valley, next
to Death Valley, arriving there on April Fool’s Day, 1942. The first week in Manzanar, the
not so fresh fish and canned food gave almost everyone dysentery, the “Manzanar runs”.
The lines for the latrine were longer than the line for the Mess Hall.
Cultural History
Page 14 of 15
Updated 3/10/2015
In February 1942, most of the Islanders were transferred to Minidoka, Idaho. They
petitioned to be with their friends from Seattle. Some of the Islanders stayed in California
because they had relatives there.
Walt Woodward was 30 years old and had owned the local newspaper, the Bainbridge Review,
for about a year. He was the only newspaper editor in the United States who wrote
continuing editorials on how the internment was unconstitutional and against the Bill of
Rights.
He had Paul Ohtaki and Tony Koura write articles for the Review from the concentration
camp, appointing them as correspondents. He published articles in the Review every week,
stating who got married, who had children, who went off to war. He said, “I know you’ll be
coming home someday and I don’t want people to forget you.”
When Paul volunteered for Military Intelligence Service and Tony for the 442nd, Tony’s sister
Sachiko Nakata took over writing the article.
Walt received the first JACL Edison Uno award and recently was presented the Freedom
Light Award by the Washington State Newspaper Publishers.
Out of the newly returned 300 Bainbridge Islanders of Japanese descent, 60 men and two
women served in the United States armed services during the 2nd world war – the Sakuma
family hand seven sons in the service.
Cultural History
Page 15 of 15
Updated 3/10/2015