Grays Harbor Timeline

1792 Robert Gray, Captain of the British ship, Columbia, discovers the harbor
Lieutenant Joseph Whidbey of Captain George Vancouver’s expedition, explores
and names Grays Harbor.
1824 Hudsons Bay Company explorers visit the future sites of Aberdeen and Hoquiam.
1825 Botanist David Douglas explores the area.
1841 The Wilkes Expedition tours Grays Harbor.
1840s Fraser River Gold Rush.
1846 The first white pioneers settle in the Grays Harbor area.
1853 Washington Territory is established.
1854 Establishment of Chehalis County (later, in 1915 of Grays Harbor County).
1857 Hoquiam’s first Euro-American settler arrives.
1860 Lower Hoquiam settled.
1867 First Hoquiam post office established.
1877 Hume Bros. establish a major cannery on the Wishkah River.
1879 Steam schooner, Kate and Ann, arrives to open trade between Hoquiam, Portland and other areas.
1880s Scouts from Asa Mead Simpson arrive
Shipbuilding initiated on Grays Harbor.
George Emerson establishes the Northwestern Lumber Mill
at the mouth of the Hoquiam River under direction of Asa Mead.
Other mills, E.K. Wood, and Hoquiam Mills and Hoquiam Shingle Company established.
1887 First local ship is launched, the Volunteer, built at the Northwestern Mill.
1889 Northern Pacific Railroad terminus brought to Grays Harbor.
1890 Tacoma, Olympia, and Grays Harbor Railroad extended from Tacoma to Montesano.
City of Aberdeen incorporates.
A plank road is built between Aberdeen and Hoquiam.
Hoquiam completes planking of 8th, I, J and K Streets
1890 Lindstron establishes shipyard in W. Aberdeen, contracts with Wilson Bros. Mill.
1895 Northern Pacific Railroad extended to Aberdeen.
1897-98 Matthews and Hitchings establish a shipyard near the E.K Wood Mill.
1899 Grays Harbor shingle mill workers strike.
1898 The Northern Pacific Railroad arrives in Hoquiam.
1910 Early union organizing of Grays Harbor shingle mill workers.
1912 Free speech rights won by IWW In Aberdeen labor clash.
1920 First bridge over Chehalis River constructed.
1922 Last builder of wooden ships, Ivan Chilman, ends Hoquiam ship repair business.
1927 E.M. Mills establishes Grays Harbor Pulp Mill in Hoquiam