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S.S. Traveler, one of the first American steamships on Puget Sound, sinks on March 2, 1858.

Just before midnight on March 2, 1858, the S.S. Traveler, one of the first American steamships on Puget Sound, sinks near Port Gamble. Five people die.

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First post office in Mason County is established at Oakland on April 24, 1858.

On April 24, 1858, the first post office in Mason (then called Sawamish) County was established at Oakland, the county seat. Weekly mail service between Olympia in the South and Seabeck on Hood Canal ...

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Yakama, Palouse, Spokane, and Coeur d'Alene warriors defeat the U.S. Army under Lieutenant Colonel Edward Steptoe on May 17, 1858.

On May 17, 1858, Yakama, Palouse, Spokane, and Coeur d'Alene Indians attack a column of U.S. Army troops under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Edward Steptoe (1816-1865). The year 1858 is a time of ...

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Thomas G. Richards & Co. begins building the first brick building in Washington Territory in Whatcom on July 5, 1858.

On July 5, 1858, T. G. Richards & Co. purchases a lot "having a front on E and Centre Street" in the town of Whatcom on Bellingham Bay for $600. They start building a brick warehouse that will be ...

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Sarah Yesler arrives in Seattle in July 1858.

In mid-July 1858, Sarah Burgert Yesler (1822-1887) arrives in Seattle to join her husband Henry Yesler (1810-1892), Seattle pioneer and proprietor of the town's first sawmill. Upon her arrival, she be...

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Vessel Ann Parry (often miscalled Ann Perry) arrives in Bellingham Bay with bricks for the T. G. Richards Building on July 16, 1858.

On July 16, 1858, the bark Ann Parry arrives in Bellingham Bay from San Francisco after 24 days at sea. She is carrying 200 hopeful miners as well as bricks for the T.G. Richards building to be erecte...

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U.S. Army defeats Native Americans at Battle of Four Lakes on September 1, 1858.

On September 1, 1858, some 500 U.S. Army troops under Colonel George Wright (1803-1865) defeat somewhat fewer than 500 Native Americans at Four Lakes near what will become Spokane. Wright is engaged i...

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Battle of Spokane Plains occurs on September 5, 1858.

On September 5, 1858, U.S. Army soldiers under Colonel George Wright (1803-1865) defeat Native Americans at the Battle of Spokane Plains. The engagement follows a skirmish four days before with member...

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Artist Gustavus Sohon sketches a panoramic view of the Battle of Spokane Plains on September 5, 1858.

On September 5, 1858, artist Gustavus Sohon (1825-1903) sketches a panoramic view of the Battle of Spokane Plains between the U.S. Army troops of Colonel George Wright (1803-1865) and a force of Spoka...

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U.S. Army Colonel George Wright slaughters 800 Palouse horses on September 8, 1858.

On September 8, 1858, U.S. Army Colonel George Wright (1803-1865) orders his troops to slaughter 800 Native American horses (the herd of a Palouse chief) at Liberty Lake to deny their use by enemy tri...

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U.S. Army Colonel George Wright hangs Yakama and Palouse prisoners at the Ned-Whauld River beginning on September 25, 1858.

Beginning on September 25, 1858, Colonel George Wright (1803-1865), U.S. Army, hangs Yakama and Palouse prisoners he suspects of killing whites. Wright is engaged in a punitive military expedition aga...

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Willapa Light Station opens on October 1, 1858.

On October 1, 1858, Shoalwater Bay (later Willapa Bay) Lighthouse exhibits its beacon for the first time. For the next 100 years, problems with visibility and coastal erosion on the bay, which lies ju...

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Fraser Gold Rush prospectors exit for Victoria, B.C. and debt ruins Whatcom merchant on October 4, 1858.

On October 4, 1858, merchant O. P. Davis is sued for non-payment for goods he had bought from the San Francisco firm E. Fitzgerald and Co. to sell at his Whatcom store to prospectors on their way to t...

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St. Patrick's Church is established in Walla Walla in 1859.

In 1859, Roman Catholic Priest Toussaint Mesplie begins St. Patrick's Church. The church is the first in the small village of Steptoeville -- soon to be named Walla Walla -- and operates out of a stru...

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Scientists dine with Major Haller at Port Townsend on March 1, 1859.

On March 1, 1859, as the sun sets over the small American military camp of Fort Townsend, a few miles south of Port Townsend at the northeast corner of the Olympic Peninsula, an unusual group young me...

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Lt. John Mullan and a 230-man crew begin building Mullan's Road (Mullan Road) from Walla Walla in spring 1859.

In the spring of 1859, Lt. John Mullan (1830-1909), under the auspices of the U.S. War Department, begins directing a crew of 230 soldiers and civilians in the work of making a military road. Mullan R...

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Ben Snipes builds a log cabin near Sunnyside in 1859.

In 1859, cattleman Ben Snipes (1835-1906) constructs a small cabin in the Yakima Valley. The structure is the first cabin in the region to be built by a white person.

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Lyman Cutlar touches off Pig War between U.S. and Great Britain on June 15, 1859.

On June 15, 1859, Lyman Cutlar, an American settler on San Juan Island, shoots and kills a pig belonging to the British Hudson's Bay Company. The shooting ignites a long-simmering dispute between the ...

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Gustavus Sohon explores Eastern Washington and beyond as part of Captain John Mullan's military road-building team in the summer of 1859.

During the summer of 1859, Gustavus Sohon (1825-1903), a member of Captain John Mullan's team, explores the plains of Eastern Washington and the foothills of the Bitterroot Mountains in search of a vi...

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U.S. Army founds Fort Colville on June 20, 1859.

On June 20, 1859, Captain (Brevet Major) Pinkney Lugenbeel (also spelled Lougenbeel) (1819-1886) arrives in the Colville Valley and selects a site near the present town of Colville, Spokane County (la...

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San Juan Island pioneer Edward Warbass first steps ashore on the island on July 27, 1859.

On July 27, 1859, U.S. Army sutler Edward Warbass (1825-1906) accompanies Captain George Pickett (1825-1875) and 45 soldiers from Fort Bellingham when they disembark at the wharf at San Juan Town on S...

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Ben Snipes drives cattle through the Willamette Valley to the Fraser River gold fields in 1859.

In 1859, cowboy Ben Snipes (1835-1906) drives his first herd of cattle north from the Columbia River through Washington Territory to the gold mining camps along the Fraser River in British Columbia. S...

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Town of Walla Walla is named on November 17, 1859.

On November 17, 1859, Walla Walla County commissioners name the town that has grown up around the U.S. military Fort Walla Walla. They elect to name the town Walla Walla. The town begins with a rich h...

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Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species becomes available for sale on November 22, 1859.

Near the end of 1859, a year full of stabilizing events in the Pacific Northwest, Charles Darwin's revolutionary book, On the Origin of Species, is released to the book trade in Great Britain. Althou...

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