On January 23, 1863, the Washington Territorial Legislature establishes the county of Ferguson, more or less in the location of present-day Yakima and Kittitas counties. Ferguson County has few settle...
On April 3, 1863, Amos Bradley (1837-1894) receives the Medal of Honor. The future resident of Spokane is a "landsman" (a recruit seaman) in the Union Navy. He is awarded the medal for his valor on Ap...
In 1863, Michael H. Sullivan (1840?-1912) and Samuel Calhoun build the first dike in Skagit County. They prove that the treeless flats between the Sullivan and Swinomish sloughs, once thought useless ...
On July 9, 1863, M. D. Woodin homesteads a 160-acre area that includes the future Hillman City neighborhood of Seattle. In 1868, he receives his patent and gains ownership of the land.
On August 6, 1863, on San Juan Island, a man named William Gibson does one of the most villainous deeds known to man. He stabs a man named Thomas Wheeler in the side, causing him to die slowly over t...
In the fall of 1863, surveyors discover coal on the north bank of Coal Creek in the Newcastle area. The surveyors are Philip H. Lewis and Edwin Richardson.
In September 1863, lumberman Eugene D. Smith and his partner Otis Wilson arrive on the Snohomish River to set up the first logging operation on the river. Experienced at logging with oxen, Smith settl...
On December 10, 1863, Seattle's first newspaper, The Seattle Gazette, appears. The publisher is J. R. Watson. With its publication, Seattle becomes the fourth town in Washington Territory to have its ...
In about 1864, William Hedges (d. 1871) arrives Seattle. He later becomes the African American who owns the most property during the territorial years.
In 1864, Mathias Monet, an African American pioneer and native of Oregon, arrives in Seattle and opens Monet's Seattle Restaurant and Coffee Saloon opposite the Yesler, Denny and Company's Store.
On February 18, 1864, at the request of John Baptist Abraham Brouillet (1813-1884), who has oversight of Roman Catholic St. Patrick's Church in Walla Walla, three Sisters of Providence arrive to estab...
Sometime in the 1860s, Harvey L. Pike (ca. 1842-1897) begins work on cutting a channel between Union Bay on Lake Washington and Portage Bay on Lake Union. Pike does not progress very far and soon aban...