Ferries once linked many locations such as Steilacoom. Transportation by water was once common in the South Sound. 101 red, SR 3 orange, SR 16 orange and lignt blue Pacific Ocean container ship and crane at Port of Olympia Highway network surrounding the South Sound. Olympia is wetter than Seattle due to the absence of protection from the Olympic Mountains, and has been reckoned the rainiest city in America with 64 days of rain a year. The Chehalis Gap brings Pacific moist air to the entire Puget Sound area, arriving first in the South Sound (the gap near Matlock is 15 miles (24 km) from Shelton on Oakland Bay). Major watersheds in the South Sound include the Deschutes River (Washington) and the Nisqually River. The entirety of Oyster Bay is exposed mud at low tide. Mudflats include the Mud Bay region at the southern end of Eld Inlet and Oyster Bay at the southern end of Totten Inlet. Tidal variation increases with distance from the entrance to Puget Sound and is greatest at 15+ feet in the South Sound, versus only 11 in Seattle (compare 5 in Los Angeles). Great tidal variation gives rise to extensive mudflats in the inlets of the South Sound. Shoreline complexity is greater in the South Sound than in the other basins, due to the many passages, inlets and islands: Passages Away from the Tacoma Narrows, the basin has low rates of tidal exchange ( tidal flushing), leading to issues with eutrophication. The passages and inlets west of Hartstene Island, due to extensive Pleistocene glaciation, contain the shallowest water of the entire Sound. True color satellite image of same region Geography South Puget Sound navigation chart showing shoreline complexity The 20th century was characterized by rapid development and urbanization on the shores of the South Sound. The church spread throughout the Northwest United States and Southern British Columbia in the 19th century, and still exists as of 2017. The Indian Shaker Church was founded in 1881 at Mud Bay by Native Americans "Mud Bay" Sam Yowaluch and "Mud Bay" Louie Yowaluch, and John Slocum of the Squaxin Island Tribe. In 1860 the route was made into a military road between Fort Vancouver on the Columbia to Forts Nisqually and Steilacoom on the Sound. Simmons and Bush likely hacked a path through virgin forest from the Oregon Trail. Tumwater pioneers Michael Simmons, born in Kentucky, and George Washington Bush, a multiracial War of 1812 veteran from Pennsylvania, were among the first Puget Sound settlers from the United States in 1844. Olympia became a settlement in the 1840s, providing access to inland areas in Southwest Washington. The Medicine Creek Treaty between the tribes and the United States was signed in 1854 at the Nisqually River delta in the South Sound area, when settlers from other parts of America began to arrive. Both preceded by decades Fort Lewis (now Joint Base Lewis-McChord), which was created for World War I. Fort Nisqually was established in 1832, and Fort Steilacoom became the territorial militia headquarters in August 1849. Lieutenant Peter Puget perhaps made first contact with the indigenous peoples and first charted the South Sound in the 1790s, giving rise to the original "Puget's Sound", which was then just the area south of the Narrows. The terms appear in names of local institutions and commercial entities such as South Puget Sound Community College in Olympia and South Sound Center in Lacey.įurther information: History of Olympia, Washington and History of Washington (state) § Puget SoundĪrchaeology indicates that continuous human occupation began approximately ten thousand years ago by the Salish peoples who still live there. The South Sound contains the Olympia-Tumwater Metropolitan Statistical Area and the Shelton Micropolitan Statistical Area. The term "South Sound Region" or just "South Sound" is used to apply to the communities surrounding the water. The state's Department of Ecology defines a similar area south of Colvos Passage. The same agency counts Mason, Jefferson, Kitsap, Pierce and Thurston Counties for wildlife management. Exact definitions of the region vary: the state's Department of Fish and Wildlife counts all of Puget Sound south of the Tacoma Narrows for fishing regulatory purposes. It is one of five major basins encompassing the entire Sound, and the shallowest basin, with a mean depth of 37 meters (121 ft). South Puget Sound is the southern reaches of Puget Sound in Southwest Washington, in the United States' Pacific Northwest. Region in Washington, United States South Basin (lightest blue) marked on a map of Puget Sound Olympia at the southern end of Budd Inlet
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