The history of Bellingham, Washington , as it is now known, begins with the settling of Whatcom County in the mid-to-late 19th century.
83-580: The name of Bellingham is derived from the bay on which the city is situated. George Vancouver , who visited the area in June 1792, named the bay for Sir William Bellingham , the controller of the storekeeper's account of the Royal Navy . Before the first wave of European settlers reached the area about 1853, the coastal areas around Bellingham Bay and the surrounding islands had been inhabited for thousands of years by Coast Salish peoples . The land on which Bellingham
166-466: A $ 1.55 postage stamp to commemorate the 250th anniversary of Vancouver's birth, on 22 June 2007. The stamp has an embossed image of Vancouver seen from behind as he gazes forward towards a mountainous coastline. This may be the first Canadian stamp not to show the subject's face. The City of Vancouver in Canada organised a celebration to commemorate the 250th anniversary of Vancouver's birth, in June 2007 at
249-541: A London street corner. The terms of their subsequent legal dispute required both parties to keep the peace, but nothing stopped Vancouver's civilian brother Charles from interposing and giving Pitt blow after blow until onlookers restrained the attacker. Charges and counter-charges flew in the press, with the wealthy Camelford faction having the greater firepower until Vancouver, ailing from his long naval service, died. Vancouver, at one time amongst Britain's greatest explorers and navigators, died in obscurity on 10 May 1798 at
332-481: A Pacific Northwest metropolis never came to fruition, the BBIC made an immense contribution to the economic development of the area. The BBIC had the franchise for providing electricity to the cities on the bay, which at that time primarily went to street lighting and electric streetcars. However, by 1903 the small generator powering the urban area was proving to be inadequate for the growing population. The BBIC began developing
415-501: A compromise name, since they bordered Bellingham Bay, and neither community wished to be lose its identity to the other. The City of Bellingham was incorporated following a special vote October 27, 1903 which won 2,163 to 596. The consolidation was approved on November 4, 1903. A new mayor and City Council were elected and installed on December 28, 1903. Newspapers placed the exact time of the birth of Bellingham on that day at 10:11 p.m. The foothills around Bellingham were clearcut after
498-558: A hydroelectric plant on the north fork of the Nooksack River, below Nooksack Falls . However, all the difficulties of maintaining a generator and trying to construct the Nooksack site took its toll on BBIC. In 1905 the board of directors announced the sale of its utility holdings to Stone & Webster. BBIC was not the only outside firm with an interest in the utilities of these communities. The General Electric Company of New York purchased
581-667: A librarian at the University of Waikato , conducted his own research into George Vancouver's ancestry, which he published in an article in the British Columbia History journal. Robson theorises that Vancouver's forebears may have been Flemish rather than Dutch; he believes that Vancouver is descended from the Vangover family of Ipswich in Suffolk and Colchester in Essex. Those towns had
664-465: A major city. They promoted the land rich in natural resources, good weather, and endless possibilities, causing the population to grow from around 150 in 1889 to 8000 at the end of 1890. Part of that increase was due to the purchase by the Fairhaven Land Company of a tiny settlement called Bellingham, tucked between Sehome and Fairhaven, which had a post office starting in 1883. In August 1856,
747-659: A memorial plaque in the church in 1841. His grave in Portland stone , renovated in the 1960s, is now Grade II listed in view of its historical associations. Vancouver determined that the Northwest Passage did not exist at the latitudes that had long been suggested. His charts of the North American northwest coast were so extremely accurate that they served as the key reference for coastal navigation for generations. Robin Fisher,
830-680: A more thorough survey. In October 1792, he sent Lieutenant William Robert Broughton with several boats up the Columbia River . Broughton got as far as the Columbia River Gorge , sighting and naming Mount Hood . Vancouver sailed south along the coast of Spanish Alta California , entered San Francisco Bay , later visiting Monterey ; in both places, he was warmly received by the Spanish. Later he visited Chumash villages at Point Conception and near Mission San Buenaventura . Vancouver spent
913-600: A narrative of his voyage which he started to write in early 1796 in Petersham . At the time of his death the manuscript covered the period up to mid-1795. The work, A Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean, and Round the World , was completed by his brother John and published in three volumes in the autumn of 1798. A second edition was published in 1801 in six volumes. A modern annotated edition (1984) by W. Kaye Lamb
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#1732858883544996-450: A shipboard emergency; sailing master Joseph Whidbey had a competing claim for pay as expedition astronomer ; and Thomas Pitt, 2nd Baron Camelford , whom Vancouver had disciplined for numerous infractions and eventually sent home in disgrace, proceeded to harass him publicly and privately. Pitt's allies, including his cousin, Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger , attacked Vancouver in
1079-475: A significant Flemish population in the 16th and 17th centuries. George Vancouver named the south point of what is now Couverden Island , Alaska, Point Couverden during his exploration of the North American Pacific coast, in honour of his family's hometown of Coevorden. It is located at the western point of entry to Lynn Canal in southeastern Alaska. The Admiralty instructed Vancouver to publish
1162-587: A small northwest mill town to a bustling seaport, the basetown for the Whatcom Trail , which led to the Fraser Canyon goldfields, used in open defiance of colonial Governor James Douglas 's edict that all entry to the gold colony be made via Victoria, British Columbia . The first brick building in Washington was built this same year, the T. G. Richards and Company Store . The building, which still stands today and
1245-660: A square box covered with mats. Vancouver states: This we naturally conjectured contained the remains of some person of consequence, and it much excited the curiosity of some of our party; but as further examination could not possibly have served any useful purpose, and might have given umbrage and pain to the friends of the deceased, should it be their custom to visit the repositories of their dead, I did not think it right that it should be disturbed. Vancouver also displayed contempt in his journals towards unscrupulous western traders who provided guns to natives, writing: I am extremely concerned to be compelled to state here, that many of
1328-569: A town in Maine that may or may not have been his birthplace). He platted the town in 1883, and started selling lots. As his fortune improved so did his appears and reputation, allowing him to marry in 1885. In 1888, he sold most of his property in Fairhaven to Nelson Bennett and left for California. Nelson Bennett, along with Charles Larrabee , who arrived in 1890, formed the Fairhaven Land Company, mostly financed by Larrabee, determined to grow Fairhaven into
1411-680: A year later, the Captain's son, James Tilton Pickett, was born in the house. After Captain Pickett left Bellingham in 1861 to serve in the Civil War, the house changed hands several times before Hattie Strothers left the house to the Washington State Historical Society upon her death in 1936. In 1941, the home became a museum and, later, home to the Daughters of Pioneers ; both the museum and
1494-598: Is 93,896 (2022) George Vancouver Captain George Vancouver ( / v æ n ˈ k uː v ər / ; 22 June 1757 – 10 May 1798) was a British Royal Navy officer best known for his 1791–1795 expedition , which explored and charted North America's northwestern Pacific Coast regions, including the coasts of what are now the Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. states of Alaska , Washington , Oregon , and California . The expedition also explored
1577-515: Is being restored, later became the territorial courthouse until 1884. The first newspaper in Whatcom County, the Northern Light, was published by William Bausman during the boom. Just as soon as it started, the boom went bust with the miners being forced to stop at Victoria, B.C. for a permit before heading to the mining fields. Whatcom's population dropped almost as quickly as it had grown, and
1660-458: Is located was ceded to European Americans by the local Native American tribes, including the Lummi (or Lhaq'temish) people, in the controversial Treaty of Point Elliott (1855). The Lummi people continue to live in the area, many of them on Lummi Peninsula across the bay from the present-day City of Bellingham. Local history and legend credit one "Blanket" Bill Jarman as the first white man to reside in
1743-461: Is the present day main harbour area of the City of Vancouver beyond Stanley Park . He surveyed Howe Sound and Jervis Inlet over the next nine days. Then, on his 35th birthday on 22 June 1792, he returned to Point Grey , the present-day location of the University of British Columbia . Here he unexpectedly met a Spanish expedition led by Dionisio Alcalá Galiano and Cayetano Valdés y Flores . Vancouver
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#17328588835441826-478: The 1906 San Francisco earthquake to help provide the lumber for the rebuilding of San Francisco. In time, lumber and shingle mills sprang up all over the county to accommodate the byproduct of their work. The Bellingham Riots occurred on September 5, 1907. A group of 400-500 white men with intentions to exclude East Indian immigrants from the local work force mobbed waterfront barracks. The white men beat and hospitalized 6 Indians while 410 Indians were jailed. By
1909-574: The Civil War , the house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971. After Captain Pickett arrived in Bellingham to oversee construction of Fort Bellingham , he chose a spot on what was then called Peabody Hill in the town of Whatcom to be cleared for his home. The two-story residence was built of lumber milled by the nearby Roeder-Peabody lumber mill on Whatcom Creek . About
1992-699: The Hawaiian Islands and the southwest coast of Australia . Vancouver Island , the city of Vancouver in British Columbia, Vancouver River on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia, Vancouver, Washington in the United States, Mount Vancouver on the Canadian–US border between Yukon and Alaska, and New Zealand's fourth-highest mountain , also Mount Vancouver , are all named after him. Vancouver
2075-564: The Hawaiian Islands . Upon his return to Britain in October 1780, Vancouver was commissioned as a lieutenant and posted aboard the sloop HMS Martin , initially on escort and patrol duty in the English Channel and North Sea. He accompanied the ship when it left Plymouth on 11 February 1782 for the West Indies. On 7 May 1782 he was appointed fourth lieutenant of the 74-gun ship of
2158-662: The Nootka Crisis developed, and Spain and Britain came close to war over ownership of Nootka Sound on contemporary Vancouver Island , and – of greater importance – over the right to colonise and settle the Pacific Northwest coast . Henry Roberts had recently taken command of the survey ship HMS Discovery (a new vessel named in honour of the ship on Cook's voyage) with the prospect of another round-the-world voyage, and Roberts selected Vancouver as his first lieutenant, but they both were then posted to other warships due to
2241-581: The Olympic pipeline ruptured in Whatcom Falls Park near Whatcom Creek, leaking 237,000 US gallons (897 m³) of gasoline into the creek. The NTSB determined that the probable cause of the accident was the damage done by an IMCO construction crew while conducting modifications to a water treatment plant, but not reported to Olympic or any agency authorities. The 400-mile (640 km) pipeline carries gasoline , diesel and jet fuel from four refineries to
2324-492: The Renton, Washington distribution center and to locations as far south as Portland, Oregon , including all the fuel for Seattle-Tacoma International Airport . The four refineries are the BP 's Cherry Point Refinery and ConocoPhillips ' refinery both at Ferndale, Washington and Shell Oil Company 's refinery and Tesoro 's refinery both at Anacortes, Washington . The vapor layer from
2407-672: The United States Pacific Fleet . Twenty-three workers died in huge explosion on April 8, 1895, Washington's worst industrial accident to date. The Blue Canyon mine closed in 1917, having produced 250,000 tons of coal. That same year, the Bellingham Coal Mines opened near present-day Northwest and Birchwood Avenues. The mine extended to hundreds of miles of tunnels as deep as 1,200 feet (370 m). It ran southwest to Bellingham Bay, on both sides of Squalicum Creek, an area of about one square mile (2.6 km). At its peak in
2490-635: The Vancouver Maritime Museum . The one-hour festivities included the presentation of a massive 63 by 114 centimetre carrot cake , the firing of a gun salute by the Royal Canadian Artillery 's 15th Field Regiment and a performance by the Vancouver Firefighter's Band. Vancouver's then-mayor, Sam Sullivan , officially declared 22 June 2007 to be "George Day". The Musqueam (xʷməθkʷəy̓əm) Elder sɁəyeɬəq ( Larry Grant ) attended
2573-573: The "Coeverden" family of the 13th–15th century. In the 16th century, a number of businessmen from the Coevorden area (and the rest of the Netherlands) moved to England. Some of them were known as Van Coeverden . Others adopted the surname Oxford , as in oxen fording (a river) , which is approximately the English translation of Coevorden . However, it is not the exact name of the noble family mentioned in
History of Bellingham, Washington - Misplaced Pages Continue
2656-686: The 1920s, the mine employed some 250 miners digging over 200,000 tons of coal annually. It was closed in 1955. In 1889, Cornwall and an association of investors formed the Bellingham Bay Improvement Company (BBIC). The company was mostly composed of wealthy California businessmen who were investing heavily into Bellingham with the vision that it would one day become an important urban center for commerce and trade. The BBIC invested in several diverse enterprises such as shipping, coal, mining, railroad construction, real estate sales and utilities. Even though their dream of turning Bellingham into
2739-500: The Bellingham Bay area in 1853 or 1854, and befriended John Thomas, who had filed a land claim along Padden Creek. He helped Thomas start a cabin there, but Thomas died before the cabin was finished. Dan finished the claim on the land and the patented was issued in 1871. He also acquired several surrounding properties and named this area Fairhaven , from the native name see-see-lich-em, meaning safe port or fair haven (possibly also from
2822-633: The Columbia River nor the Fraser River were included on any of Vancouver's charts. Stephen R. Bown noted in Mercator's World magazine's November/December 1999 issue that: How Vancouver could have missed these rivers while accurately charting hundreds of comparatively insignificant inlets, islands, and streams is hard to fathom. What is certain is that his failure to spot the Columbia had great implications for
2905-722: The Fairhaven Line and New Whatcom street rail line in 1897. In 1898 the utility merged into the Northern Railway and Improvement Company which prompted the Electric Corporation of Boston to purchase a large block of shares. Stone & Webster was also involved in Puget Sound area railways including a considerable amount in Seattle, Tacoma and Everett. By 1902, Stone & Webster had acquired the Fairhaven and New Whatcom lines. Over
2988-554: The Pacific Northwest , with the 1791 Francisco de Eliza expedition preceding Vancouver by a year, had also missed the Fraser River although they knew from its muddy plume that there was a major river located nearby. Vancouver generally established a rapport with both Indigenous peoples and European trappers. Historical records show Vancouver enjoyed good relations with native leaders both in Hawaii – with King Kamehameha I as well as
3071-505: The Pacific Northwest and California. Vancouver's journals exhibit a high degree of sensitivity to the indigenous populations he encountered. He wrote of meeting the Chumash people , and of his exploration of a small island on the Californian coast on which an important burial site was marked by a sepulchre of "peculiar character" lined with boards and fragments of military instruments lying near
3154-574: The Pacific region. In its first year the expedition travelled to Cape Town, Australia, New Zealand, Tahiti, and Hawaii (then known as the Sandwich Islands), collecting botanical samples and surveying coastlines along the way. He formally claimed at Possession Point, King George Sound Western Australia, now the town of Albany, Western Australia for the British. Proceeding to North America, Vancouver followed
3237-476: The U.S. Army started construction on Fort Bellingham to prevent attacks on the bayside villages of Fairhaven, Sehome and Whatcom. The fort was built by U.S. Army Captain George E. Pickett and Company D of the 9th U.S. Infantry Regiment sent from Fort Steilacoom . It was constructed on the only open space on the bay that had a spring, a prairie overlooking the bay. A settler, Maria Roberts, had to be evicted to build
3320-578: The Vancouver region. Many places around the world have been named after George Vancouver, including: Many collections were made on the voyage: one was donated by Archibald Menzies to the British Museum 1796; another made by surgeon George Goodman Hewett (1765–1834) was donated by Augustus Wollaston Franks to the British Museum in 1891. An account of these has been published. Canada Post issued
3403-458: The academic vice-president of Mount Royal University in Calgary and author of two books on Vancouver, states: He put the northwest coast on the map...He drew up a map of the north-west coast that was accurate to the 9th degree, to the point it was still being used into the modern day as a navigational aid. That's unusual for a map from that early a time. However, Vancouver failed to discover two of
History of Bellingham, Washington - Misplaced Pages Continue
3486-539: The age of 40, less than three years after completing his voyages and expeditions. No official cause of death was stated, as the medical records pertaining to Vancouver were destroyed; one doctor named John Naish claimed Vancouver died from kidney failure, while others believed it was a hyperthyroid condition. Vancouver's grave is in the churchyard of St Peter's Church, Petersham , in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames , England. The Hudson's Bay Company placed
3569-471: The area, possibly held captive by native peoples from 1841-1843. The first substantial settlement was located on the north shore of Whatcom Creek where Whatcom Falls empties into the bay, a place the native peoples called What-coom (spelled Whatcom by the settlers), meaning "noisy water." It was at this location that schooner Capt. Henry Roeder and Russel Peabody set up a lumber mill in Dec 1852, having been told of
3652-517: The coasts of present-day Oregon and Washington northward. In April 1792 he encountered American Captain Robert Gray off the coast of Oregon just prior to Gray's sailing up the Columbia River . Vancouver entered the Strait of Juan de Fuca , between Vancouver Island and the present-day Washington state mainland, on 29 April 1792. His orders included a survey of every inlet and outlet on the west coast of
3735-457: The colonials, it [B.C.] wouldn't have been part of Canada to begin with and Britain would be the poorer for it. There has been some debate about the origins of the Vancouver name. It is now commonly accepted that the name Vancouver derives from the expression van Coevorden , meaning "(originating) from Coevorden ", a city in the northeast of the Netherlands. This city is apparently named after
3818-413: The competition among the cities along the bay. Hence, Fairhaven purchased Bellingham in 1890, Whatcom and Sehome merged into New Whatcom in 1891 (it reverted to Whatcom in 1903 when the state legislature outlawed "New" as part of town names.) The final consolidation between Whatcom and Fairhaven did not succeed until the end of 1903, after a failed attempt in the mid-90s. The name "Bellingham" was proposed as
3901-706: The completion of the main building (now called Old Main) of the New Whatcom Normal School, a teachers college located on Sehome hill. By the 1930s, the school had become the Western Washington College of Education, maintaining its focus on teacher training. In 1961 the school had grown into a broad degree-granting institution and was renamed the Western Washington State College. Today, student enrollment at Western Washington University stands around 14,000 students. On June 10, 1999,
3984-422: The crisis. Vancouver went with Joseph Whidbey to the 74-gun ship of the line HMS Courageux . When the first Nootka Convention ended the crisis in 1790, Vancouver was given command of Discovery to take possession of Nootka Sound and to survey the coasts. Departing England with two ships, HMS Discovery and HMS Chatham , on 1 April 1791, Vancouver commanded an expedition charged with exploring
4067-507: The efforts of the Tsiorvias and King families, whose children died in the tragedy, the U.S. Department of Justice worked to make $ 4 million of the criminal settlement with the pipeline companies available to start the independent Pipeline Safety Trust . The Pipeline Safety Trust is now the only independent non-profit organization working to ensure greater safety of the pipelines that run through communities nationwide. The population of Bellingham
4150-614: The eighteenth century, the estates of the van Couverdens were mostly in the Province of Overijssel , and some of the family were living in Vollenhove , on the Zuider Zee . The English and Dutch branches kept in touch, and in 1798 (the date of Vancouver's death) George Vancouver's brother Charles would marry a kinswoman, Louise Josephine van Couverden, of Vollenhove . Both were great-grandchildren of Reint Wolter van Couverden." In 2006 John Robson,
4233-470: The end of Vancouver's last season – the most serious of which involved a clash with the Tlingit people at Behm Canal in southeast Alaska in 1794 – these were the exceptions to Vancouver's exploration of the US and Canadian Northwest coast. Despite a long history of warfare between Britain and Spain, Vancouver maintained excellent relations with his Spanish counterparts and even fêted a Spanish sea captain aboard his ship Discovery during his 1792 trip to
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#17328588835444316-415: The falls location by Lummi leader Cha-wit-zit while south in Olympia, Washington. The mill operated sporadically until destroyed by a fire in 1873, revived in 1881 by a group of settlers from Kansas, and abandoned in 1885. South of Whatcom Creek, two scouts named Henry Hewitt and William Brown, who were working for Henry Roeder's lumber mill, found coal seams on their property. Roeder, Hewitt, and Brown sold
4399-406: The festivities and acknowledged that some of his people might disapprove of his presence, but also noted: Many people don't feel aboriginal people should be celebrating this occasion...I believe it has helped the world and that's part of who we are. That's the legacy of our people. We're generous to a fault. The legacy is strong and a good one, in the sense that without the first nations working with
4482-495: The fort, but she and her husband were later allowed to build a cabin on the beach. In July 1859, units stationed at the fort were in involved in the Pig War , during and after which parts of the fort were disassembled and transported to the southern tip of San Juan Island, creating "Camp Pickett" later called "Post of San Juan" . The fort officially closed in 1863, and in 1868, the Army returned 320 acres (1.3 km) to Mrs. Roberts, who lived there for many years thereafter and farmed
4565-401: The future political development of the Pacific Northwest.... While it is difficult to comprehend how Vancouver missed the Fraser River, much of this river's delta was subject to flooding and summer freshet which prevented the captain from spotting any of its great channels as he sailed the entire shoreline from Point Roberts, Washington , to Point Grey in 1792. The Spanish expeditions to
4648-583: The head of Lynn Canal , and charted the rest of Kuiu Island and nearly all of Kupreanof Island. He then set sail for Great Britain by way of Cape Horn , returning in September 1795, thus completing a circumnavigation of South America . Impressed by the view from Richmond Hill , Vancouver retired to Petersham , which was then in Surrey and is now in London. Vancouver faced difficulties when he returned home to England. The accomplished and politically well-connected naturalist Archibald Menzies complained that his servant had been pressed into service during
4731-436: The history books that claim Vancouver's noble lineage: that name was Coeverden not Coevorden. In the 1970s, Adrien Mansvelt, a former consul-general of the Netherlands based in Vancouver, published a collation of information in both historical and genealogical journals and in the Vancouver Sun newspaper. Mansvelt's theory was later presented by the city during the Expo 86 World's Fair , as historical fact. The information
4814-411: The interior. Vancouver noted that the region's "only defenses against foreign attack are a few poor cannons". He again spent the winter in the Sandwich Islands. In 1794, he first went to Cook Inlet , the northernmost point of his exploration, and from there followed the coast south. Boat parties charted the east coasts of Chichagof and Baranof Islands , circumnavigated Admiralty Island , explored to
4897-498: The land. The settlement around her property, originally called Lummi, after the local tribe, was later called Marietta. The officer's quarters (that housed Capt. George E. Pickett and his Indian wife) is preserved at 910 Bancroft Street on what was called Peabody Hill, now the Lettered Streets neighborhood of Bellingham, Washington . In 1858, the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush caused thousands of miners, storekeepers, and scalawags to head north from California . Whatcom grew overnight from
4980-455: The large island on which Nootka was now proven to be located as Quadra and Vancouver Island . Years later, as Spanish influence declined, the name was shortened to simply Vancouver Island . While at Nootka Sound Vancouver acquired Robert Gray's chart of the lower Columbia River. Gray had entered the river during the summer before sailing to Nootka Sound for repairs. Vancouver realised the importance of verifying Gray's information and conducting
5063-487: The largest and most important rivers on the Pacific coast , the Fraser River and the Columbia River . He also missed the Skeena River near Prince Rupert in northern British Columbia. Vancouver did eventually learn of the Columbia River before he finished his survey—from Robert Gray , captain of the American merchant ship that conducted the first Euroamerican sailing of the Columbia River on 11 May 1792, after first sighting it on an earlier voyage in 1788. However, neither
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#17328588835445146-402: The latter island, as well as circumnavigating Revillagigedo Island and charting parts of the coasts of Mitkof , Zarembo , Etolin , Wrangell , Kuiu and Kupreanof Islands . With worsening weather, he sailed south to Alta California, hoping to find Bodega y Quadra and fulfil his territorial mission, but the Spaniard was not there. The Spanish governor refused to let a foreign official into
5229-412: The line HMS Fame , which was at the time part of the British West Indies Fleet and assigned to patrolling the French-held Leeward Islands . Vancouver subsequently saw action at the Battle of the Saintes (April 1782), wherein he distinguished himself. Vancouver returned to England in June 1783. In the late 1780s, the Spanish Empire commissioned an expedition to the Pacific Northwest. In 1789,
5312-483: The mainland, all the way north to Alaska. Most of this work was in small craft propelled by both sail and oar; manoeuvring larger sail-powered vessels in uncharted waters was generally impractical and dangerous. Vancouver named many features for his officers, friends, associates, and his ship Discovery , including: After a Spanish expedition in 1791, Vancouver was the second European to enter Burrard Inlet on 13 June 1792, naming it for his friend Sir Harry Burrard . It
5395-433: The management of Pierre B. Cornwall, the mine operated profitably until its closure in 1878. By this time, Black Diamond had acquired a considerable amount of land around Bellingham Bay, and throughout the next 19 years, Cornwall focused the company's efforts on the sale of its real estate. The Blue Canyon mine, at the south end of Lake Whatcom, opened in 1891 with solid investment, and supplied lower-grade bituminous coal for
5478-409: The name Vancouver suggests, the Vancouvers were of Dutch origin. They were descended from the titled van Coeverden family, one of the oldest in the Netherlands. By the twelfth century, and for many years thereafter, their castle at Coevorden , in the Province of Drenthe , was an important fortress on the eastern frontier. George Vancouver was aware of this. In July 1794, he named the Lynn Canal "after
5561-523: The next day due to extensive burns from proximity to the blast. Although some buildings were destroyed, due to road closures and evacuations around the creek, there were no further fatalities. The explosion resulted in over $ 45 million in property damage. Several years later, the families of the pipeline victims sued Olympic Pipeline Company and settled for around $ 100 million in damages, which they pledged would help support pipeline safety and provide legal representation for pipeline accident victims. Because of
5644-428: The next day, most East Indians had fled town, followed by many residents of Chinese, Japanese, and Filipino descent. No actions were taken against the perpetrators. On the 100th anniversary of the riots, Bellingham Mayor Tim Douglas proclaimed a "day of healing and reconciliation" in recognition of the event. A fictionalized account of the history of early Bellingham is "The Living" by Annie Dillard . The year 1899 saw
5727-399: The next several months Northern Railway and Improvement sold the rest of its holdings which included Fairhaven Electric Light, Power and Motor Company and the Whatcom-Fairhaven Gas Company. Stone & Webster organized these under the umbrella name of the Whatcom County Railway and Light Company. One of the obstacles to further growth and prosperity foreseen by the promoters and investors was
5810-470: The only object of pursuit; and whether this be acquired by fair and honourable means, or otherwise, so long as the advantage is secured, the manner how it is obtained seems to have been, with too many of them, but a very secondary consideration. Robin Fisher notes that Vancouver's "relationships with aboriginal groups were generally peaceful; indeed, his detailed survey would not have been possible if they had been hostile." While there were hostile incidents at
5893-582: The place of my nativity" and Point Couverden (which he spelt incorrectly) "after the seat of my ancestors". Vancouver's great grandfather, Reint Wolter van Couverden, was probably the first of the line to establish an English connection. While serving as a squire at one of the German courts he met Johanna (Jane) Lilingston, an English girl who was one of the ladies in waiting. They were married in 1699. Their son, Lucas Hendrik van Couverden, married Vancouver's grandmother, Sarah. In his later years he probably anglicized his name and spent most of his time in England. By
5976-447: The press. Thomas Pitt took a more direct approach; on 29 August 1796 he sent Vancouver a letter heaping many insults on the head of his former captain, and challenging him to a duel. Vancouver gravely replied that he was unable "in a private capacity to answer for his public conduct in his official duty," and offered instead to submit to formal examination by flag officers . Pitt chose instead to stalk Vancouver, ultimately assaulting him on
6059-574: The property containing coal to a group of San Francisco investors in 1854, which established the Bellingham Bay Coal Company. They opened the Sehome Mine, at the present Laurel Street in Bellingham, in 1855 which operated until 1878. The community called Sehome (named after a member of the nearby Samish tribe) continued until it merged with Whatcom in 1891, becoming New Whatcom. Meanwhile, Daniel Jefferson Harris (aka Dirty Dan) arrived in
6142-495: The region's most important harbour, on contemporary Vancouver Island. Here he was to receive any British buildings and lands returned by the Spanish from claims by Francisco de Eliza for the Spanish crown . The Spanish commander, Juan Francisco Bodega y Quadra , was very cordial and he and Vancouver exchanged the maps they had made, but no agreement was reached; they decided to await further instructions. At this time, they decided to name
6225-527: The sleepy little town on the bay returned. Coal mining was commonplace near town from the mid-19th to mid-20th centuries. Coal was originally discovered by Henry Roeder's agents off the northeastern shore of Bellingham Bay. In 1854, a group of San Francisco investors established Bellingham Bay Coal Company. By 1866, Darius Ogden Mills purchased and reorganized the company, making it a subsidiary of his Black Diamond Coal Mining Company . The Sehome Coal Mine, just south of Whatcom, employed 100 people in 1860. Under
6308-599: The spill overcame an 18-year-old man, Liam Gordon Wood, who was fishing in the creek; he fell into the creek and subsequently drowned. An explosion was set off by two young boys playing with a fireplace lighter and burned over a mile (1.6 km) of the creek bed and sent a black smoke cloud over 30,000 feet (10 km) into the air. Steven Tsiorvias and Wade King, both age 10, were students at nearby Roosevelt Elementary School. They were discovered by firefighters immediately and rushed to St. Joseph's Hospital. The boys were airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. They died
6391-482: The traders from the civilised world have not only pursued a line of conduct, diametrically opposite to the true principles of justice in their commercial dealings, but have fomented discords, and stirred up contentions, between the different tribes, in order to increase the demand for these destructive engines... They have been likewise eager to instruct the natives in the use of European arms of all descriptions; and have shewn by their own example, that they consider gain as
6474-538: The winter in continuing exploration of the Sandwich Islands , the contemporary name of the islands of Hawaii. The next year, 1793, he returned to British Columbia and proceeded further north, unknowingly missing the overland explorer Alexander Mackenzie by only 48 days. He got to 56°30'N, having explored north from Point Menzies in Burke Channel to the northwest coast of Prince of Wales Island . He sailed around
6557-615: Was "mortified" ( his word ) to learn they already had a crude chart of the Strait of Georgia based on the 1791 exploratory voyage of José María Narváez the year before, under command of Francisco de Eliza . For three weeks they cooperatively explored the Georgia Strait and the Discovery Islands area before sailing separately towards Nootka Sound . After the summer surveying season ended, in August 1792, Vancouver went to Nootka, then
6640-594: Was born on 22 June 1757 in the seaport town of King's Lynn in Norfolk , England, the sixth and youngest child of John Jasper Vancouver, a Dutch -born deputy collector of customs, and Bridget Berners. The surname Vancouver comes from Coevorden , Drenthe province, Netherlands (Koevern in Dutch Low Saxon ). In 1771, at age 13, Vancouver entered the Royal Navy as a "young gentleman", a future candidate for midshipman . He
6723-411: Was nominally an able seaman (AB) but, in reality, sailed as one of the midshipmen aboard HMS Resolution , on James Cook 's second voyage (1772–1775) searching for Terra Australis . He also sailed with Cook's third voyage (1776–1780), this time aboard Resolution ' s companion ship, HMS Discovery (1774) , and was present during the first European sighting and exploration of
6806-612: Was renamed The Voyage of George Vancouver 1791–1795 , and published in four volumes by the Hakluyt Society of London, England. Pickett House (Bellingham, Washington) The Pickett House is the oldest house in the city of Bellingham, Washington , located on 910 Bancroft Street. Built in 1856 by United States Army Captain George Pickett , who later became a prominent general in the Confederate States Army during
6889-482: Was then used by historian W. Kaye Lamb in his book A Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean and Round the World, 1791–1795 (1984). W. Kaye Lamb, in summarising Mansvelt's 1973 research, observes evidence of close family ties between the Vancouver family of Britain and the Van Coeverden family of the Netherlands as well as George Vancouver's own words from his diaries in referring to his Dutch ancestry: As
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