The Earliest History of the Yukon Harbor Region.

The Northwest portion of what is now the United States of America was one of the last territories to be explored and settled. The influence of trappers, settlers and other white cultures took many years to gain a foothold, especially in the far reaches of the inland waters around what would eventually become Seattle.

To say that Englishman George Vancouver “discovered” the Puget Sound area in the late 1700’s is an absurd claim, because in fact there were dozens of Native American tribes inhabiting the region. Those histories are only faintly recorded, and we leave the accounts of pre-European presence in the waters, islands, and natural harbors of Puget Sound for another website and another time. The Yukon Harbor Historical Society, for now at least, will concentrate its efforts on European and American cultures in the region.

Yukon Harbor today is situated between Richie Point (top center) and Southworth ( just outside of the image, lower right) with Curley Creek feeding Puget Sound with freshwater (lower left). Colby, now a faint memory, was located half a mile north of the creek’s mouth, and South Colby is in the foreground center. Bainbridge Island is shown in the upper right corner of this veiw.

Captain Vancouver, commanding HMS Discovery, first entered the expansive channels and waterways he would eventually play a part in naming in 1792. He anchored near the Southeastern point of what is now Bainbridge Island, then spent the next few months charting Sinclair Inlet and the nearby coastlines. He and his crew met and traded with several of the native tribes, who welcomed the Englishmen.

Of course, the West Coast of the North American continent was completely untouched by whites, and the fledgling United States of America consisted of barely more than the original thirteen states and a few “territories” surrounding the Mississippi River. It wasn’t until 1841, when the United States Exploring Expedition (aka, The Wilkes Expedition) returned to the region, that any significant exploration took place. At the time, the entire region was known as Oregon Territory, and it was nothing more than a raw wilderness rich with natural resources. The Wilkes party followed Vancouver’s charts to navigate and survey the resources of the region. They labeled what is today known as Yukon Harbor “Barron’s Bay” and Blakes Island.

This, essentially, marked the start of the Oregon Territory era, when the whole of the farthest reaches of the Louisiana Purchase were one territory. That ended when local businessmen and politicians petitioned the United States government to create a separate Washington Territory in 1853. The movement toward statehood began just a few years later, but the path proved long and tumultuous. Oregon was admitted to the union in 1859, but Washington remained largely a wilderness until 1889. The result of all this is that the Western Side of Puget Sound had only scattered, informal communities and infrastructures.

Just a few years after the Wilkes Expedition surveyed the area, the gold rush boom in Northern California made the tremendous forests and ore deposits of Puget Sound an extremely valuable commodity, so local economies boomed on the coattails of the lumber industry. Dozens of mill towns — typically, reached solely by sailing ship or steamer — popped up all along the many natural harbors. These included Colby, South Colby, and Sidney.

These towns were generally fluid, following the resources while they lasted. As the thick forests were cleared, the mills — and the supporting general merchandise stores, blacksmiths, and steamship companies that supported them — moved on. The economy of these communities was tied to the natural resources, and in may cases that tie was tenuous, at best.

The Native American Tribes, meanwhile, were overtaken and overwhelmed by the Westerners. They were no match for the huge influx of homesteaders and the military presence that came with them.

From the very outset it became clear that the Puget Sound region carried more than just abundant natural resources; it had strategic military value, as well. There were many protected anchorages — hundreds, in fact — and yet the huge land masses to the West prevented any antagonist from bombarding from the open sea. Placement of a handful of forts in the main channels would make it virtually impossible to attack from the sea because any attacking force would have to “run a gauntlet” through the long narrow passages.

By 1880, efforts were underway to secure at least one major naval base here.  After several failed attempts, construction of a shipbuilding facility and Navy Yard began in 1891 at Turner Point (Bremerton). It became known as the Puget Sound Naval Station. The presence of the Navy and the shipbuilding industry gave the region a permanent economic base. Beyond the small mills, mines, and fishing communities, now full-fledged cities began to develop. Port Orchard (Sidney), Manchester (Brooklyn) became established towns, taking over what Colby, South Colby and Harper had begun. Western civilization was here to stay in the Washington Territory, with statehood soon to follow.

–RN.

The Harper Brick Factory and Bridge.

The Harper Brick and Tile Factory pictured above was a huge boon to industry in the local area. Below, is a tired but historical building once used as a “hotel and boarding house” for local workers, mostly those who worked in the factory. In later years it served as a brush plant, where decorative trees and flowers were processed and packaged for florists. Photos provided by AK Kuppler.

Allen “AK” Kuppler, whose family has visited and lived in the Harper area virtually all of his life, brought us a wealth of new documents relating to the Port Orchard Brick and Tile Factory and drawbridge that once existed along the shoreline between South Colby and Southworth. He has even found what he believes are the original central pulleys for the drawbridge mechanism.

We will add more details to all of this later, but for the time being we will share just a few of the dramatic historical documents he has provided.

Above are photos of the work crews about 1920  and 1935-ish.

AK (who has a gift for artistic expression) has given us this enhanced view of the current landscape around his house and the nearby estuary, including Harper Hill Road, Southworth Road, the Boat Ramp, and the surrounding neighborhood at the point. The main current road is along the bottom of the photograph, with dotted lines showing the location of the drawbridge. The Port Orchard Tile and Brick Factory was located in the lower righthand corner, where a baseball field is located today.

The second rendering (below) shows the region as it would have appeared about 1930, showing both the bridge and the roadway. Note the apparently active road along the beachfront, left, and the more extensive salt and freshwater marshes. Originally, AK reports, the only north-south route was across the drawbridge, as the road south from Colby was dedicated to the Brick Factory, lower right. A “hotel and boarding house” was also located along the present Southworth Road, at the bottom of  this picture. Also, AK has noted the location of portions of a barge that has been found near the northern entrance to the drawbridge structure.

These renderings were provided and created by Allen Kuppler, using local historical sources and his own surveys of the Harper Bridge site adjacent to the property on which he currently resides.

A Brief History of Yukon Harbor and it’s ties to the Mosquito Fleet of Puget Sound.

Colby, Harper, and South Colby were settled on the Western side of Puget Sound, on the East shore of the Kitsap Peninsula in the area known as Yukon Harbor, in the early 1880’s, almost simultaneously with the creation of nearby Port Orchard and Bremerton. Colby, in particular, lived — and died — with the Mosquito Fleet and the need to mill lumber.

The first Post Office in that portion of Yukon Harbor was officially established on November 13th, 1884 — even before post offices were placed in Port Orchard (Sidney) and Bremerton – and the small town’s economy was centered around the lumber mill located right at the water’s edge, with a smattering of farms and ranches lending to the effort. There was also a shingle mill further inland as well as a few fruit orchards. At the time, virtually all travel was by boat, so the Puget Sound “Mosquito Fleet” was an essential component of the livelihood of Colby and the surrounding small towns.

The original settlement of Colby occupied the area south and east of the present intersection of Yukon Harbor Road and Cole Street. Three houses originally belonging to members of the Grant family survive, as well as the former office and bunkhouse of the Colby Mill Company, converted to a residence. A few hundred feet offshore a pair of pilings are the last vestige of the former Mosquito Fleet pier.

Images relating to the original Colby township are included in the Blogroll section of this site, located in the right-hand column, and in other site articles.

In its prime, Colby was home to as many as three grocers, a lumber mill, hotel, blacksmith shop, livery stable, ice cream parlor, barber shop and a one-room school. It served a population of farmers and loggers living and working as far away as Long Lake. In addition, a sandy beach and grassy picnic ground between Colby and the mouth of Curley Creek was a popular recreation are that attracted large crowds of picnickers from Seattle on the 4th of July.

The so-call Mosquito Fleet was an unofficial title given to the huge array of steamers that served the hundreds of harbors and landings throughout the region, and it was the lifeblood of all commerce from the middle of the 19th century through to the 1920’s. Early Mosquito Fleet service was provided by such boats as Alta, Swiftsure and Grace, landing passengers and cargo either on the beach or on a float made of cedar logs from which they were rowed to the beach. Grace ran from Chico to Sidney, Colby and Seattle. Sentinel, Hattie Hansen and Advance — larger ships that could carry more freight –served Colby after a pier was constructed in about 1900 on a route from Poulsbo to Brownsville, Manchester, Colby, South Colby, Harper and Seattle. Reliance held down the Colby run from 1901 to 1925, and made special cargo runs delivering direct to the Grant & Son warehouse on high tides after the scheduled runs. Colby was also served from time to time by Suquamish, Donacella, Athlon and Inland Flyer.

 

  

Meanwhile, a second township began to blossom. The South Colb  y area was also settled in the late 1880s and was connected to Colby first by a rope-hauled raft across the mouth of Curley Creek and soon thereafter by a plank and log bridge. A steamship pier was constructed in 1911, and the South Colby Post Office was established on August 27, 1913. South Colby had the White Ranch Pure Food Products fruit cannery, a sawmill, the Curley Creek Grange, and served the Harper Brick & Tile brickyard at nearby Harper.

Colby’s Mosquito Fleet service ended in 1925, with the expansion of the auto and truck road network. The final blow came with the opening of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge; ferry operators who could no longer compete in that region moved their auto-carrying ships to Puget Sound in search of new markets, and only towns with piers capable of handling that traffic could survive. With people no longer passing through the pier, the Colby’s businesses whithered away. The mill and stores were taken down and hauled away, and much of the timbered lots were cleared for more modern houses. The Post Office was dis-established on Dec 31, 1954.

Only traces of the surrounding communities of South Colby and Harper remain.

Colby History Timeline–

• 1884 – The first store was built by William H Morgan, who also becomes Postmaster.
• 1885 – Joseph Squire Grant, Sr., Morgan’s brother-in-law, establishes Grant & Sons General Merchandise, taking over the log store from Morgan. Grant previously had built a similar store/post office in Olalla.
• 1888 – John N. Anspaugh, who had lived in the area for four years, builds a hotel and a store, becomes the postmaster, and builds a structure that becomes Grant & Son Groceries.
• 1880 to 1900 – Steamboat service by Alta, Swiftsure and Grace is offered via a float landing at Colby. A formal, permanent pier is built at Colby in 1902, and another is constructed at Harper and South Colby in 1911.
• 1900 to 1926 – Steamboat service by larger ships, including Sentinel, Advance, Reliance and Kitsap, is provided at a Colby pier.
• 1954 – Grant & Son general store and adjacent post office is closed.
• 1967 – Grant & Son general store and Squire Grant confectionary store is demolished.
• 1977 – Georgina Harding Grant, dies at age 101. She was married to Tom Grant, Joseph S Grant’s oldest sons. She is one of the last connections to the original founding family living in Yukon Harbor. 
• 2006 – Brick store building, long since empty and beyond saving, is torn down to make room for a beachfront home.

The primary source for this article are docments provided by The Kitsap County Historical Society, including Kitsap County History: A Story of Kitsap County and Its Pioneers, Book V- South Kitsap, published by the Kitsap Historical Society, Seattle, 1977. Sectional Editors of that volume were Virginia Stott (South Kitsap), Evelyn Bowen (Bremerton), Fredi Perry (Central Kitsap), Rangvald Kvelstad (North Kitsap) and Elnore Parfitt (Bainbridge Island). Also used were articles in The Bremerton Sunand private letters and notes provided by the Grant Family. This article was researched and written by JB Hall and edited for this site by Russell Neyman.