Puget Sound, Salish Sea, and where to buy the map

Map by Stefan Freelan

By Diane Hettrick

The beautiful map of the Salish Sea that we published last week stirred up a lot of conversation about names so I did a little research.

Capt. George Vancouver

Capt. George Vancouver was part of the British Royal Navy, who led an expedition to map the unknown areas of the Pacific, while looking for the fabled "Inside Passage" which was said to lead from the east coast of America to Asia.

He explored and charted parts of New Zealand before heading to the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) and the Pacific Coast of California, Oregon, and Washington. Along the way he named multiple features which still bear his name - two cities, two mountains, a river, and a large island. Many features he charted were named for friends and former associates.

He sailed all the way into Puget Sound, and reaching the end, proved it was not the Inside Passage. His lieutenant, Peter Puget, was instrumental in exploring and charting south Puget Sound, using a small boat to explore every inlet and island. In recognition, Vancouver named the south sound Puget. 

The name eventually came to refer to the north sound as well but the borders were ill-defined.

Professor Bert Webber

This lack of definition greatly bothered Bert Webber, faculty of Huxley College of Environmental Studies at Western Washington University located in Bellingham. He came to the issue out of concern for oil spills in Puget Sound. He was part of a scientific group that studied the ecology of the northern section of our waterway and the ebb and flow of salt and fresh water.

He stated, "We know the Puget Sound, the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the Strait of Georgia are an estuarine ecosystem that forms an inland sea.  In order to better manage the resources of this ecosystem we needed to understand how this inland sea works.  In order to better understand the inland marine sea, we needed to be able to accurately and consistently reference it, and to do that, it needed a name."

Harvey Manning, a noted Outdoor author in Washington State, suggested that the name “Whulj” (a traditional Salish name) be used for U.S. water north and west of Port Townsend, but not including “southern Puget Sound”.

That name did not catch on.

Every agency that lived on or dealt with an aspect of the waterway had a different description and a different name for the area. “Strait of Georgia, Puget Sound and the Juan de Fuca Strait,” “Georgia Basin Puget Sound Ecosystem” were two such names.

But slowly "The Salish Sea" was catching on, describing the area from the Pacific Ocean to the reaches of the south Sound.

Webber spent years advocating for the name and a unified description of the area it referred to.

The map of the Salish Sea

Webber said 

"As the Salish Sea name became more widespread, maps of the inland sea started to appear. "None of the early maps approached the quality of that produced by Stefan Freelan of Western Washington University in 2008. This map has found local, national and international attention."

Cartographer Stefan Freelan has a website with many wonderful maps. The Salish Sea map can be downloaded or purchased.