Page 228 - Curriculum Visions Dynamic Book

Washington
Olympia, the capital city of Washington
Founded Incorporated Elevation Population Metro
1846
1859
95 ft (29 m)
46,478
265,851 (US: 178th)
The site which is now the city of Olympia was home to Lushootseed-speaking peoples for thousands of years. The main reason it was important is that in the Puget Sound there are shellfish that can easily be harvested from the tidal flats, while nearby many salmon-spawning streams enter Puget Sound. Many tribes shared these resources, and they called it “Cheet Woot” or “Schictwoot”, meaning “place of the bear.”
In 1972, Peter Puget from the British Vancouver Expedition charted the site. Then, in 1833, the Hudson’s Bay Company built Fort Nisqually as a trading post nearby. Its intention was to trade in furs with the Native American peoples. Later, in 1841, the U.S. Exploring Expedition under Lt. Charles Wilkes explored the Puget Sound region and named Budd Inlet after expedition member Thomas A. Budd.
American settlers arrived in the 1840s
at built a settlement at the northern end of the overland trail linking the Cowlitz River and Puget Sound. This was before road or rail transport, so such a location was ideal as a center for trade.
In 1846 Edmund Sylvester and Levi Lathrop Smith built a log cabin near the current junction of Capitol Way and Olympia Avenue. Sylvester then laid out the ground hoping to make it into a future townsite and sell off lots to make a profit. In those first days there was
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