Puget Sound

views updated Jun 27 2018

PUGET SOUND

PUGET SOUND is an inland waterway, connected to the Pacific Ocean through the Strait of Juan de Fuca, which borders Washington State and British Columbia, Canada. In 1787 the English captain Charles Barkley spotted the strait, and in 1792 another English captain, George Vancouver, sailed through the strait and explored the area. In 1898, Puget Sound was the jumping-off point for the Yukon and Alaska gold rushes. The Puget Sound Naval Shipyard was built at Bremerton, Washington, in 1891. The region was important during World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War as a military center for the Pacific. More than half the population of Washington State ultimately settled on the shores of the sound.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Schwantes, Carlos Arnaldo. The Pacific Northwest: An Interpretive History. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1996.

Laurie WinnCarlson

See alsoPacific Northwest ; Vancouver Explorations ; Washington, State of ; andpicture (overleaf).