Visiting Silverdale

Silverdale - Then and Now

Silverdale Then....

In April 1792, George Vancouver entered the Strait of Juan de Fuca and commenced his exploration of Puget Sound. He named every island, mountain, waterway, and point of land in sight, including previously recorded Spanish landmarks. In May, Lieutenant Peter Puget, under Vancouver's orders, explored more remote western channels, while Vancouver surveyed south of Bainbridge Island's Restoration Point. 

After dropping anchor in 210 feet of water in mid-channel between Blake Island and Bainbridge Island on May 19, 1792, Vancouver began giving names to every prominence and waterway within view: "Mt. Baker", the 10,778-foot volcanic peak east of Bellingham, was named after his third lieutenant, Joseph Baker;
"Mt. Rainier", at 14,110 feet, honored his friend Rear Admiral Peter Rainier;
"Port Townsend" took its name from the Marquis of Townshend, and "Hood's Canal" was named for the Right Honorable Lord Hood.

Vancouver called the southern portion - everything south of today's Tacoma - Puget's Sound in honor of his valued lieutenant, Peter Puget. In Vancouver's words: "To commemorate Mr. Puget's exertions, the south extremity of it I named Puget's Sound." Over time, despite the name Admiralty Inlet on government charts, the entire inland sea is generally but incorrectly called Puget Sound.

In 1838, Lieutenant Charles Wilkes of the U.S. Navy proudly received his assignment as commander of the first United States Exploring Expedition to the wide Pacific Ocean.  He accepted the job of exploring and surveying routes in the Pacific and took command of a small fleet of six vessels carrying up-to-date scientific instruments and experts in the fields of botany, philology (the comparative science of language), horticulture, conchology (the scientific study of shells), and mineralogy. The Wilkes Expedition surveyed Antarctica, visited Hawaii, and encountered the wild entrance to the Columbia River, in Wilkes' words, "one of the most fearful sights that can possibly meet the eye of the sailor." Unable to cross the bar, he decided to first chart Puget Sound, then return to the River of the West (Columbia). 

John Dyes, taxidermist on the Vincennes wrote, "The forrist trees, of the largest size grow to the Very Warter's Edge where you may cut a mast or stick for a Line of Battle Ship. I never saw Sutch large forrist trees in any part of the world before." And the great ramified inlet on which they sailed in from the sea elicited similar rhapsody. "Nothing," wrote Wilkes, "can be more striking than the beauty of these waters without a shoal or rock or any danger for the whole length of this Internal Navigation, the finest in the world." Dyes was the individual for which the Inlet lapping the Silverdale shore is named.

It was loggers who began to settle in Silverdale in 1854.  They expanded their operations into the valleys, building roads as they went.  By the 1880s Scandinavian immigrants were moving into the area seeking work in the timber industry.  As the timber production took the prime trees attention turned to farming. 

Farming conditions were excellent and the family farms thrived.  The Farmer's Cooperative was formed in 1887.  Dairy, chicken and hog farms abounded even through the middle 20th century.

The town was named in 1878.  Settler William Littlewood wanted to name the town Goldendale, but it turned out that another town bore that name. Instead of trying to find an entirely new name, he changed the "gold" to "silver" and named it Silverdale.

In the mid 1880's steamer boats began making regular trips to Seattle from the Kitsap area and by 1900 the sloop "Telka" departed Silverdale for Seattle once a week.  While the Silverdale Dock was the center of entertainment and commercial trade well into the 1900s, the community remained a fairly quiet, family-oriented town.  Remnants of its beginnings as an agricultural and timber center can be found at places such as the Old Mill Site on Bucklin Hill Rd.

The announcement by the Navy that it would develop its West Coast Trident Submarine Base at Bangor, caused a rush of change in the community as more people moved in to the area and businesses moved into the region to support the growing population. Several attempts towards city-hood have been defeated, leaving the community an unincorporated part of the county overseen by a Commissioner, elected to a Board of three serving from the county seat in Port Orchard.

Silverdale managed to enter the 21st century with some undeveloped land -- pastures, roaming deer and old-time barns. You can also still find a solitary, tree-lined avenue or a quiet park. In fact, relaxing spots can be found in the Silverdale waterfront park, on the Clear Creek Trail and Island Lake County park.