Before the Dam

The time before the Capitol Lake Dam pre-1951

• pre-1845: Prior to settlers, Natives of the Nisqually and Squaxin tribes lived along the Deschutes River in the area that they called Tum-wa-ta meaning strong water.
• 1845: Michael T. Simmons considered first American settler.
• 1846: Edmund Sylvester arrived from New England in October.
• 1848: Area named by Sylvester as Smithfield (after his late settling partner).
• 1851: Collector of Customs first government business in the area.
• 1853: Isaac Ingalls Stevens presidentially appointed as governor of new Washington Territory.
• 1855: Sylvester donates 12 acres for the Capitol.
• 1859: City of Olympia incorporated.
• 1906: Leopold Schmidt constructs the Olympia Brewery near Tumwater Falls.
• 1938: Legislature approves the “Des Chutes Water Basin” improvement act.
• 1949: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers approved request to construct the dam.
• 1951: Construction Completed.

Michael T. Simmons (1814-67)

Isaac Stevens (1818-62)

Deschutes Estuary looking toward Olympia from Tumwater.

Dam during contruction

The area covered in blue is where the water was in 1908. The distance to past shoreline measured from the backside of dam building along 5th Avenue, parallel to the street, and measuring west was 509.16ft (155.19m).

Overlay of 1908 Sanborn Index shoreline by Olympia Historical Society & Bigelow House Museum.

4