Early Maps 2: Vancouver's "Voyage of Discovery"

In contrast to the Lushootseed tale of "Doh-Kwi-Buhch" and the imagining of the region as derived from diversity, communal participation, and creative interaction with nature, the first major European imagining of Everett is found in the story of British Capt. George Vancouver's "Voyage of Discovery." Here we find the region born out of imperialistic adventure and a driving push for commerce.

In William Whitfield's 1926 History of Snohomish County Vol. 1, he writes:

"We are particularly interested in the epochal expedition of George Vancouver in the waters of Puget Sound and the Gulf of Georgia, because it was here, in the very locality of Everett and the shores of Snohomish County that the famous navigator planted the sign of British authority, and proclaimed possession of all the land laved by these sheltered waters, for King George III, at the same time naming the country "New Georgia" in honor of that monarch.

Vancouver had sailed from England on April 1, 1791, in command of the sloop Discovery with 100 men and 20 guns, and accompanied by the armed tender, the brig Chatham, forty-five men and ten guns, commanded by Lieut. W. R. Broughton, vessels and officers and men being of the British navy" (30).

Vancouver had been sent to examine the coast of North West America, comprised between Lat. 60 degrees North and lat. 30 degrees North. A letter from William Grenville, British Secretary of State to the Lords of the Admiralty, instructed him to "receive" the area from the Spanish, and to "acquire accurate information with respect to the nature and extent of any water communication which may tend . . . to facilitate an intercourse for the purpose of commerce" (Derek Hayes, Historical Atlas of the Pacific Northwest, 85).

On June 4, 1792 he went ashore in the vicinity of Tulalip, near the future city of Everett.

In his journal, Vancouver wrote of the event:

"A fortnight had been dedicated to the examination of the inlet, which I have distinguished by the name of Admiralty inlet [he had already names the sound south of Seattle, Puget Sound, and the waters south of the Gulf of Georgia were included as Admiralty inlet -- Whitfield]

...On Monday, June 4 they [his crew] were served as good a dinner as we were able to provide for them, with double allowance of grog to drink the King's health, it being the anniversary of His Majesty's birth; on which auspicious day I had long since designed to take formal possession of all the countries we had lately been employed in exploring, in the name of, and for His Britannic Majesty, his heirs and successors.

To execute this purpose . . . I went on shore about 1 o'clock, pursuing the usual formalities which are generally observed on such occassions . . . took possession accordingly . . .

This branch of Admiralty Inlet I distinguished by the name of Port Gardner, and its smaller eastern (northern) one by that of Port Susan."

Vancouver described the residents who inhabited the land he had just taken "formal possession" of as "... helpful and non-threatening" and went on to document some of the traits, cultural practices, and lifestyle he witnessed there.

 1798 Vancouver Map of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, and Washington

"To the European mind, the etching of routes and roads onto maps makes certain returning to a desirable place. Find it on paper; get your colonels, bureaucrats, and men of the cloth there in person. To the imperial mind, charted trails and thoroughfares become announcements of possibility, invitations to invasion." -- Chellis Glendinning, Off the Map