Graysmarsh History
Graysmarsh History
The bedrock on the Olympic Peninsula is believed to be once Pacific atolls and volcanoes. Much later they were scraped off the slowly moving Pacific plate as it was forcibly subducted down under the North American plate. Still much later western British Columbia and the Puget Sound basin were scoured by the slowly advancing, mile thick, continental glaciers sculpting the North-South oriented valleys, waterways and islands characteristic of the region. When the climate warmed, the glaciers melted, leaving behind gravel sediment layers and terminal moraines on the north slope of the Olympic mountains.
12,000 years ago when the Olympic Peninsula was finally uncovered, the Dungeness River drained northward off the Olympic Mountains. Apparently as it was partially blocked by the receding glaciers, it was forced to the East following the path of current Bell Creek. When the glaciers completely melted, the Dungeness River eroded several successive channels across the Sequim plateau, each more directly northward than the previous. Each of the abandoned channels is currently drained by a smaller creek. Once the primary Dungeness channel, Gierin Creek drains the portion of the watershed between Bell Creek and Cassalery Creek. All three creeks were named after pioneer families.
The Klallam or S'Klallam ("the strong people") occupied the largest portion of what is now the county bearing their name. Their territory stretched along the Strait of Juan de Fuca from the Hoko River to beyond Discovery Bay, with as many as 30 villages at river mouths or sheltered harbors. The populous and powerful Klallams had seasonal camps as far away as Vancouver Island, the San Juans, and Whidbey Island. They remain a very influential part of the community with some members still residing in Jamestown adjacent just to the West of Graysmarsh Farm. (See canoe landing photo.)
Spain funded a 1592 search for the northwest passage through the American continent by the Greek explorer, Juan de Fuca (1536-1602), who may have located the arm off the ocean which by 1788 was called the Strait of Juan de Fuca. In 1792-1794 the British explorer George Vancouver (1757-1798) and the Spanish commander Bodega y Quadra (1743-1794) jointly explored the Strait, the attached Puget Sound and the large Island to the north called Vancouver & Quadra Island, (later distinguished as 2 separate islands). In April 1792, when George Vancouver entered the Strait of Juan de Fuca, he commenced naming every island, mountain, waterway, and point of land in sight, including previously recorded Spanish landmarks. In May, Lieutenant Peter Puget, under Vancouver's orders, explored more remote western channels, while Vancouver surveyed south of Bainbridge Island's Restoration Point.
Some believe the name Gray's marsh was coined by Vancouver for the estuary where fresh and saltwater meet at the mouth of Gierin Creek after his acquaintance, Captain Robert Gray of the ship Columbia Rediviva. However local historian Harriet Fish established that a William H Gray, another sea captain, owned the marsh in the 1870s. Fish found that the name Graysmarsh was combined to a single word after the land was sold to Alfred Anderson in 1909. (One of the Olympic Mountain peaks is named Mt. Anderson after him.) This 67 hectare marsh, the largest of any in the Dungeness watershed, still exists and has changed little in extent since its discovery. Much of the Gierin Creek valley still has forested wetlands described by early surveyors as cedar swamps.
Graysmarsh Farm is composed of three distinct areas. The eastern section of the Farm is a corner of the plateau above the small forested valley leading down to Port Williams, the latter located midway between Washington Harbor at the mouth of Bell Creek (further ← in image below) and Gray's marsh (further →). Port Williams once provided a wharf for commerce to the inland Sequim community. The wharf and small hotel are long gone. Now the site has a public boat launch, access to the beach, and a small picnicking park. The plateau has been continuously farmed by a number of owners and is gradually gaining residences.
The middle section of Graymarsh Farm is the Gierin Creek watershed. The Farm owners consider the marsh and the watershed as a precious part of the wildlife habitat and provide for its continued protection. It thus remains strictly off limits to all human visitors in the effort to maintain the natural ecosystem. You are asked to respect and to continue to honor that effort. Besides the Roosevelt elk which seasonally calve in the valley, the marsh and neighboring grain fields are used by migrating birds such as geese, and salmon which use the creek bed to spawn. Full-time residents include Bald Eagle pairs and deer. Of course these are only tips in the ecosystem.
The western section of Graysmarsh Farm is the location of the berry fields. The first Euro-American settlers arrived on the Sequim plateau in 1851. The area of the Graysmarsh berry fields was cultivated by the early settlers between 1855 and 1870. Although called Graysmarsh, the cultivated fields actually lie on the eastern edge of Casselary Creek's flood plain. That large alluvian fan, extending from Dungeness Spit on the West past Jamestown on the East, was formed after Gierin Creek as the Dungeness River progressively changed its channel westward. This fertile land was likely deposited during the period when the Dungeness River occupied that channel since there are no indications of this land being flooded for many centuries. Nor has this land likely ever been a marsh. Still, it takes its name from the adjoining Graysmarsh.
Page created 30 May 2006
modified 4 July 2007
by Dave Trapp
