Once most of the trees had been removed, farming became the main industry. Recovery took some time, but by the end of the century the community was solid and growing. As well as being affected by a nationwide economic collapse, a huge fire swept through the forests in the center of Vashon Island, causing many to lose their homes. Things were going well, but 1893 was a bad year on the islands. One of its faculty members was Oliver Scott Van Olinda, who would become the community’s first historian. In 1892, Vashon College opened near Burton. The decade started out well, with prosperous farms and other industries sprouting up, including a drydock at Dockton - the only one of its kind on Puget Sound. The 1890s had its ups and downs, paralleling development throughout the county, as well as the nation. By the end of the decade, ferry service was available at both the north and south ends of Vashon Island. The service brought more homesteaders, and islanders soon built the first school, stores, and crude roads. Sherman purchased a lifeboat and refitted it as a schooner, naming it Old Black Joe. The 1880s saw enough populace for semi-regular ship service. Eventually, more people came to live on the island, but at a much slower rate than those homesteading on the mainland. He left the island, and for months afterward other settlers would find the nomadic animals roaming amongst the trees. The following year, a farmer brought 1,000 head of sheep to the island, but his venture also proved unsuccessful. Unfortunately, there weren’t enough people on the island, and she was soon taken off the run due to lack of business. Beginning in 1874, the steamer Lively began making daily trips to Tacoma. Quartermaster Harbor quickly became a center of activity for fishing, logging, brick baking, and shingle making. The first land claim on the island was 80 acres, made by Andrew J. Within a few years, treaties forced the Indians to move elsewhere, and all Native Americans on the island were gone. In 1852, Seattle pioneers cut down trees on the island and placed the logs aboard the ship Leonesa for export to San Francisco. When the invaders came down from the north, Nisqually canoes streamed through the portage and sank the enemy fleet, mainly with thrown rocks. Legend has it that the Nisqually tribe grew tired of this and formed a navy of large war canoes within Quartermaster Harbor. Tribes from Vancouver Island and northward oftentimes traveled to Puget Sound to kill local Indians and pillage their camps. The portage also played an important part in a vast battle between warring tribes.
The portage was a preferred hunting ground, with woven nets spanning the short distance between the two islands to catch low-flying water fowl. Prior to these “discoveries,” Native Americans had lived on the island for centuries. At the time, there was a portage between the two islands. Charles Wilkes surveyed the Sound in 1841, he named Maury Island after William A. In 1792, during exploratory missions on Puget Sound, Captain George Vancouver named Vashon Island after his friend Captain James Vashon. Its history parallels that of the rest of the county, but its growth and development have occurred at a much slower rate, owing in main part to its inaccessibility to the mainland. Vashon-Maury Island is located in the middle of southern Puget Sound, midway between Seattle and Tacoma, within the boundaries of King County.
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