The San Juan Islands comprise an archipelago of 172 jewels set in the sparkling blue waters of Washington State’s northwest corner. (There are as many as 743 at low tide.) Within these islands are 15 State Parks ranging in size from the 5,225 acre Moran State Park on Orcas Island to the entirety of tiny Posey Island with its single acre. These islands are essentially continuous with the Canadian version called the Gulf Islands. Until recently they were considered more or less separate, with the Gulf Islands sitting within the Strait of Georgia and the San Juans as either a separate group or according to some, the northern Puget Sound.
Technically, most agree that only those islands that fall within San Juan County’s 175 square miles are officially the San Juans, even though there are others that are geographically related. These islands are sparsely populated and mostly rural with only about 15,500 fulltime residents. However, these numbers swell in the summer with vacationers and those owning summer homes.
In 2009, a new designation became official, recognizing that all these islands sit within a single body of water with common heritage. They have been populated by Coast Salish speaking people for at least 9,000 years. This area, now called The Salish Sea, stretches from the south end of Puget Sound well up into coastal British Columbia. This change was accomplished due to the dogged work of marine biologist, Bert Webber who campaigned and provided documentation that this entire area was really a continuous geographical and marine ecosystem.
So, how did this single body of water with seemingly continuous sets of islands become separated in the first place? The border differentiating these island groups as either part of Canada or the US, was set by Kaiser Wilhelm in 1872, acting as an international arbiter between US and British claims. The Kaiser was called in when British and American war ships began to assemble by San Juan Island to settle the territorial dispute following an American shooting of an errant British pig. This conflict has come to be known as the “Pig Wars” and fortunately, the pig was the only casualty in this war, but that is a story for another post. In the meantime, check out the US Canadian border in the islands on Google Earth. You’ll see what almost looks like gerrymandering.
The islands themselves are products of the Rim of Fire the Juan de Fuca tectonic plate activity, and geologically recent glacial carving during the last ice age, and its subsequent rising sea. Before the last glacial age ended about 10,000 years ago, these islands were mountain tops while glacier carved valleys are now sea bottom dropping to as deep as 145 fathoms (870 feet).
The island names are a curious mixture from rather varied origins. Of course the Native Americans were first name them and unfortunately, few of their names or name-sakes survive (e.g. Lummi). Following this indigenous naming, the Spanish were the first Europeans to explore these waters and assign their names. San Juan Island itself and the group of islands, was named after the Viceroy of New Spain (1790) who had sent Lt. Francisco Eliza to explore the north coast. Eliza honored the Viceroy by naming the island group after him and further honored him by using the title: “san” or saint, (he was not a saint but they probably used it as an honorific). Other island names of Spanish origin include Sucia, Lopez, Fidalgo, Orcas, Eliza, and Patos. Next came the British to add their names, which they did in wholesale fashion, apparently unaware that the Native Americans and Spanish had already done so. Islands were named for officials of the Hudson’s Bay Company who had been in the area since 1820’s. Soon, the Americans got into the naming act, and in particular, Commander Wilkes in 1841 who named the islands liberally after many War of 1812 heroes and their ships such as Decatur, and the USS Constitution "Old Ironsides.”
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