Port Gamble is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

on the northwestern shore of the

Kitsap Peninsula The Kitsap Peninsula () lies west of Seattle across Puget Sound, in Washington state in the Pacific Northwest. Hood Canal separates the peninsula from the Olympic Peninsula on its west side. The peninsula, a.k.a. "Kitsap", encompasses all of Kits ...

Kitsap County, Washington Kitsap County is a county in the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2020 census, its population was 275,611. Its county seat is Port Orchard; its largest city is Bremerton. The county, formed out of King County and Jefferson County on Ja ...

, United States. It is also a small, eponymous

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...

, along which the community lies, near the entrance to

Hood Canal Hood Canal is a fjord-like body of water that lies south of Admiralty Inlet in Washington State that some consider to be the western lobe and one of the five main basins of Puget Sound.Little Boston, part of

Kitsap County Kitsap County is a County (United States), county in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 275,611. Its county seat is Port Orchard, Washington, Port Orchard; its ...

, lie on the west and the east side, respectively, of the mouth of this bay. The Port Gamble Historic District, a U.S.

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...

, covers one of the nation's best-preserved western lumber towns. The community of Port Gamble has a wide range of shops from antiques to a

tea shop A teahouse or tearoom (also tea room) is an establishment which primarily serves tea and other light refreshments. A tea room may be a room set aside in a hotel, especially for serving afternoon tea, or may be an establishment that only serve ...

to an old-fashioned

general store A general merchant store (also known as general merchandise store, general dealer, village shop, or country store) is a rural or small-town store that carries a general line of merchandise. It carries a broad selection of merchandise, someti ...

. It is a popular tourist destination, due to its location near

Bremerton Bremerton is a city in Kitsap County, Washington, United States. The population was 43,505 at the 2020 census and an estimated 44,122 in 2021, making it the largest city on the Kitsap Peninsula. Bremerton is home to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard ...

Port Townsend Port Townsend is a city on the Quimper Peninsula in Jefferson County, Washington, United States. The population was 10,148 at the 2020 United States Census. It is the county seat and only incorporated city of Jefferson County. In addition ...

, Bainbridge Island, and

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

. Port Gamble is home to the grave of Gustave Englebrecht, the first

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest displacement, at 4.5 million tons in 2021. It has the world's largest aircraft ...

sailor to die in the Pacific.

History

Gamble Bay was named by the

Wilkes Expedition The United States Exploring Expedition of 1838–1842 was an exploring and surveying expedition of the Pacific Ocean and surrounding lands conducted by the United States. The original appointed commanding officer was Commodore Thomas ap Catesby ...

in 1841. The source of the name is unclear. Wilkes often named places after historical figures, and speculation centers on Lt. Col. John M. Gamble, an illustrious figure in the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

; or U.S. Navy Lt. Robert Gamble, an officer aboard the frigate wounded in an exchange with . But the name may have had a more prosaic origin. Wilkes's published account of the expedition omits mention of either Gamble but does say that a lieutenant's survey party " entering ood'scanal t what would become Gamble Baycamped near some

Suquamish The Suquamish () are a Lushootseed-speaking Native American people, located in present-day Washington in the United States. They are a southern Coast Salish people. Today, most Suquamish people are enrolled in the federally recognized Su ...

Indians who had received as visitors a party of fifty Clalams, by appointment to gamble for blankets: they continued their games throughout the night." The community, originally known as "Teekalet" and later renamed "Port Gamble" for the bay which gave it access to ocean commerce, was founded as a

company town A company town is a place where all or most of the stores and housing in the town are owned by the same company that is also the main employer. Company towns are often planned with a suite of amenities such as stores, houses of worship, schoo ...

by Josiah Keller, William Talbot, and Andrew Pope's Puget Mill Company in 1853. In 1856, was sent from Seattle to Port Gamble on the

Puget Sound Puget Sound ( ; ) is a complex estuary, estuarine system of interconnected Marine habitat, marine waterways and basins located on the northwest coast of the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. As a part of the Salish Sea, the sound ...

, where indigenous raiding parties from British and Russian territories had been enslaving local Native Americans. When the warriors refused to hand over those among them who had attacked the Puget Sound Native American communities, ''Massachusetts'' landed a shore party and a battle ensued in which 26 natives and 1 sailor were killed. In the aftermath of this, Colonel Isaac Ebey, the first white settler on

Whidbey Island Whidbey Island (historical spellings Whidby, Whitbey, or Whitby) is the largest of the islands composing Island County, Washington, Island County, Washington (state), Washington, in the United States, and the largest island in Washington stat ...

, was shot and beheaded on August 11, 1857, by a Haida raiding party in revenge for the killing of a native chief during similar raids the year before. British authorities demurred on pursuing or attacking the northern tribes as they passed northward through British waters off Victoria, and Ebey's killers were never caught. The first school in the county went up in 1859, and the community took its present name in 1868. In 1966, the town of Port Gamble was designated a

National Historic Landmark District A National Historic Landmark District (NHLD) is a geographical area that has received recognition from the United States Government that the buildings, landscapes, cultural features and archaeological resources within it are of the highest signific ...

. In 1985, Pope & Talbot, the successor company to Puget Mill, split into Pope & Talbot and Pope Resources, the latter of which took over the site and the

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...

. In 1995, the mill shut down after 142 years, ending the longest span of operation of any sawmill in the country. PG Walker-Ames House

Founding

In 1849, William Talbot and Andrew Pope arrived in San Francisco from

East Machias, Maine East Machias is a town in Washington County, Maine, United States on the East Machias River. At the 2020 census, the town population was 1,326. It is the home of Washington Academy, a private school founded in 1792. Geography According to th ...

, in hope of taking part in its shipping and lumber industry, for the shipping of lumber to the rapidly growing Western United States was becoming a very lucrative business. Pope and Talbot quickly realized that the lumber shipments from

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

were not enough to meet the growing demand for building materials in the West. After hearing about the dense forests in the

Oregon Territory The Territory of Oregon was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from August 14, 1848, until February 14, 1859, when the southwestern portion of the territory was admitted to the United States, Union as the Oreg ...

, Talbot and Pope, along with partners Josiah Keller and Charles Foster, formed the Puget Mill Company to harvest the much-needed lumber for the expanding West.David Wilma, "Port Gamble", HistoryLink.org- the Free Online Encyclopedia of Washington. August 7, 2003. http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=5505, (accessed November 21, 2010). In the summer of 1853, Talbot, after searching the Puget Sound area for the best possible site for a mill, spotted a sand spit at the mouth of Gamble Bay as an excellent location, for it provided a location near the abundant trees of the Oregon Territory and a port for shipping the cut lumber to California. Soon after arriving, Keller sailed up the coast to join him with the boiler, engine, and muley saw for the mill. By September, the new mill was cutting logs into lumber. Although they had a ready and working mill, Pope, Keller, and Talbot had difficulty finding enough workers to run the mill. During the 1850s, the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (PNW; ) is a geographic region in Western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though no official boundary exists, the most common ...

was frontier territory with little population. With the help of their partner in

Maine Maine ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the Contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Provinces and ...

, Charles Foster, the mill was able to recruit experienced mill workers from East Machias to come west to Gamble Bay. In their new and labor-intensive environment, workers quickly became homesick for the lifestyle they had left behind in Maine. As houses were constructed for workers' and company executives' families, the design reflected their desire to feel at home, as the architecture looked like that which could be found in a New England city. This new little town that grew up by the mill was named "Port Gamble" after its location on Gamble Bay, which had been named by the American explorer Commodore Wilkes in 1842.''The Port Gamble Story, 1853-1953'', Port Gamble, WA: Pope & Talbot, retrieved from Washington State University Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections. The founders of the mill of Port Gamble, however, were not the first to occupy Gamble Bay. The

S'Klallam The Klallam (; also known as the S'Klallam or Clallam) are a Coast Salish people Indigenous to the northern Olympic Peninsula. The language of the Klallam is the Klallam language (), a language closely related to the North Straits Salish lan ...

s, or Nux Sklai Yem, had been living in the Puget Sound region since 2400 B.C.Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe, Governor's Office of Indian Affairs, http://www.goia.wa.gov/Tribal-Information/Tribes/portgambleskallam.htm (accessed November 21, 2010). Legally, land was not available for non-Native settlement until March 8, 1859, when Congress ratified the Treaty of Point No Point, which was signed January 26, 1855, by representatives of the United States and the Chemakum, S'Klallam and Skokomish nations. But by that time, the

Port Gamble Band of S'Klallam Indians The Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe, formerly known as the Port Gamble Indian Community of the Port Gamble Reservation or the Port Gamble Band of S'Klallam Indians is a federally recognized tribe of S'Klallam people, located on the Kitsap Peninsula ...

had moved across the bay to Point Julia. As part of an agreement between them and the mill company, the S'Klallams were given jobs at the mill and lumber to build their new homes, community facilities, and a new school. The new little town across Gamble Bay became known as Little Boston.

Tree farms

As the Port Gamble mill continued to expand and increase its production of lumber, their need for suitable logging areas increased. The Puget Mill Company continued purchasing viable timberland, and by 1892 had ownership of .Pope & Talbot Inc. Funding Universe. The Gale Group, n.d. Web. http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/Pope-amp;-Talbot-Inc-Company-History.html (accessed November 24, 2010). With the depletion of forestland in other states, more and more companies turned to Washington to supply the growing need for timber. By 1906 there were over 900 lumber mills of various sizes in Washington alone. As Washington's

old-growth forest An old-growth forest or primary forest is a forest that has developed over a long period of time without disturbance. Due to this, old-growth forests exhibit unique ecological features. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Natio ...

s were dwindling, the need for new sources of lumber became readily apparent. On June 12, 1941, the

Weyerhaeuser The Weyerhaeuser Company ( ) is an American timberland company which owns nearly of timberlands in the U.S., and manages an additional of timberlands under long-term licenses in Canada. The company has manufactured wood products for over a c ...

Timber Company designated the first certified

tree farm In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated Plant stem, stem, or trunk (botany), trunk, usually supporting Branch, branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, e.g., including only Bark (botan ...

, the Clemons Tree Farm in Washington state. The Puget Mill Company, now known as Pope & Talbot, Inc., soon followed suit, forming the Hood Canal Tree Farm in 1946 and having in it by 1953.

Economic boom of Port Gamble

During the mid-1800s, California experienced an expansive economic boom and an increase in population from the

California Gold Rush The California gold rush (1848–1855) began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California from the rest of the U ...

. The gold rush opened the door to a vast unknown of resources and fortune. The constant flow of settlers into the frontier and expanding economic influence demanded a high level of resources to maintain stability and growth. California then looked to tap into the high abundance of timber and mining in the Oregon Territory. This called for three explorers to set sail up along the Pacific Coast to explore the unknown territory. When William Talbot, Andrew Pope, and Josiah Keller washed up on the sandy shores of the Hood Canal they discovered the fortune of timber along the

Olympic Peninsula The Olympic Peninsula is a large peninsula in Western Washington that lies across Puget Sound from Seattle, and contains Olympic National Park. It is bounded on the west by the Pacific Ocean, the north by the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and the ...

. Talbot, a lumber merchant from the San Francisco area, partnered with Pope who was an experienced sea captain. The characteristics of the two men drove them through the ups and downs of global economic woes and stiff competition, especially their eventual counterparts in the Oregon Territory. After the founding of Port Gamble, these three men established the longest-working lumber mill on the North American continent. Port Gamble established itself as an industrial power house globally. The Puget Mill Company became a source of lumber all around the world from

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

, South Africa. Trees coming straight from the Olympic Peninsula were shipped to 37 other ports around the world. By 1862, the Puget Mill Company owned a fleet of ten vessels and was shipping almost 19 million board feet of lumber to foreign outlets.Douglas Davis. "Port Gamble: Unique Historical Restoration Project." ''Journal of Forest History'' 19 (1975):137-139. During the turn of the century, the Puget Mill Company and the Pope and Talbot Lumber Company shipped their lumber from Port Gamble across the Atlantic Ocean to be used in the British, French and Russian navies for their

sparring Sparring is a form of training common to many combat sports. It can encompass a range of activities and techniques such as punching, kicking, grappling, throwing, wrestling or submission work dependent on style. Although the precise form varies, ...

around the world. Captain Keller took hold of the shipment plans for the Pope and Talbot Lumber Company and created routes along the Pacific Coast to help supply the large demands of the California Gold Rush. This transportation of lumber opened the door for shipments to China and Southeast Asia. Because Talbot and Pope hailed from the state of Maine, their connections to the East Coast and constant travels back to their hometown, many of the ports along South America and the West Indies experienced contact from the Port Gamble shipments.

Sale of Puget Mill Company

In July 1925, the board of directors for the Puget Mill Company, including William H. Talbot, George A. Pope Sr., Talbot C. Walker, John Deahl and A.G. Harms, met to discuss the sale of the company.Edwin T. Coman and Helen M. Gibbs, Time, Tide, and Timber (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1949), 255. A little over a year earlier in May 1924, William Talbot had already reached his own decision regarding the future of the Port Gamble mill. In a letter to Northwest Operations Manager, E.G. Ames, Talbot mentioned that it was "suicidal to continue operating the Port Gamble Mill." He also informed Ames that production of lumber at the mill must cease once all remaining orders had been filled. When the board of directors met over a year later it took only a few minutes for them to decide that selling the company was the only option. After the meeting had concluded, Talbot met with Charles McCormick of the Charles McCormick Lumber Company, who agreed to purchase the Puget Mill Company for $15 million. This was a significant period in the history of Port Gamble and the Puget Mill Company. For almost a hundred years the Puget Mill Company had been owned and operated by the descendants of the Pope and Talbot families, but this sale meant that the mill would no longer be operated by the descendants of the men that had helped establish Port Gamble. William H. Talbot was reluctant to sell the company, but the early 1900s were a trying time for the lumber industry. The troubles for the company began in 1907, when the state of Washington instituted a tax increase on timber acreage held by mill companies. This, combined with inefficient operations, outdated equipment, and increasingly dilapidated facilities, became too much of a burden for William Talbot. Despite the sale of the company, Talbot devised a way to ensure that the Port Gamble Mill would remain operational. In the agreement with McCormick, Talbot specified that McCormick must build a brand new mill at Port Gamble.

Creation of Pope & Talbot Co.

McCormick had very little success as the president and owner of the Puget Mill Company. The cost of building the new mill in Port Gamble along with the cost of modernizations and improvements being made to other mills quickly added to the company's debt. In 1938, McCormick owed over $7 million to the original owners of Puget Mill, but unable to make payments, McCormick was forced to return all of the company holdings to the principals of the foreclosure suit filed against him. The principals were all descendants of the original founders of the Puget Mill Company. By 1940 the company was running under the guidance of another descendant of the Pope family, George Pope Sr., when it was decided that the business should be renamed Pope & Talbot Mills. The entrance of the U.S. into World War II brought plenty of business to Pope & Talbot Mills. During the entire war the mills operated at full capacity. The company's vessels were involved in transporting supplies necessary for battle to areas of conflict such as

Guadalcanal Guadalcanal (; indigenous name: ''Isatabu'') is the principal island in Guadalcanal Province of Solomon Islands, located in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, northeast of Australia. It is the largest island in the Solomons by area and the second- ...

and

Okinawa most commonly refers to: * Okinawa Prefecture, Japan's southernmost prefecture * Okinawa Island, the largest island of Okinawa Prefecture * Okinawa Islands, an island group including Okinawa itself * Okinawa (city), the second largest city in th ...

Preservation

Many of the buildings are well maintained historical sites. Most of the town is still owned today by the mill. There is an old church that has been restored to its original condition. The St. Paul's Episcopal Church "on Rainier Avenue dates from 1870. Built from the same plans used for the construction of the village church in East Machias, Maine, in 1836." Many of the remnants of the colonial architecture are left behind from the settlers who had come from Maine such as Pope and Talbot. The

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...

has cited Port Gamble as "the finest example of a nineteenth century Pacific Coast logging community." The Port Gamble Historical Museum tells the history of the town and how the Pope and Talbot mill impacted the community. The general store was the "first building

hat A hat is a Headgear, head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorpor ...

was constructed in 1853 on the mill site, a 'rough structure' built of lumber shipped from Maine and shingled with cedar split cut nearby. Employees picked up paychecks at the office. The store sold coffee, pickles, boots, crockery, brooms, windows, toys, gloves, tools and other goods to employees, settlers, sailors, loggers, and the S'kallam tribe."Olympic Property Group. Walking Tour of Historic Port Gamble: A National Historic Landmark since 1966 (Port Gamble: Olympic Property Group 2010). A general store still stands in the town, renovated to its 1916 form and now a tourist attraction. The town has an Old Mills Days festival that keeps alive the spirit of the mill. Port Gamble gives out pamphlets for a walking tour to the historic buildings. The preservation of the town of Port Gamble began in the mid-1960s, when Pope & Talbot rebuilt and restored thirty houses and buildings, located utilities underground, and installed gas street lamps. In 1966, Port Gamble was declared a National Historic Landmark. One of the oldest houses in Port Gamble that is still standing is the Thompson house, built in 1859 and owned by James A. Thompson.

Events

The annual Old Mill Days festival takes place over the course of three days during early July and encompasses the entire downtown area. The event includes craft and food stands, a logging show, fireworks, and various other forms of entertainment.

In popular culture

Port Gamble was the setting of and filming location for the 2010 film '' ZMD: Zombies of Mass Destruction''. Author

Gregg Olsen Gregg Olsen (born March 5, 1959, in Seattle, Washington) is a ''New York Times'', ''USA Today'' and ''The Wall Street Journal'' bestselling author of nonfiction books and novels, most of which are crime-related. The subjects of his true crime bo ...

made Port Gamble the setting for his "Empty Coffin" series of books, which include ''Betrayal'' and ''Envy''.

References

External links

* *
Port Gamble - Kitsap Peninsula Visitor & Convention Bureau
* {{Authority control Bays of Washington (state) Unincorporated communities in Washington (state) Unincorporated communities in Kitsap County, Washington Historic American Engineering Record in Washington (state) National Historic Landmarks in Washington (state) Native American history of Washington (state) Company towns in Washington (state) Bays of Kitsap County, Washington