Port Angeles, an hour drive west from Port Townsend, was first reached by European explorers in 1791 when Spanish explorer Francisco de Eliza named it Puerto de Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles, later shortened and anglicized to Port Angeles. The city developed as a small whaling, fishing, and shipping village in the 19th century and the Washington Territory Port of Entry was relocated here from Port Townsend at that time.
However, after the sinking of the Brother Johnson, a paddle steamer that struck an uncharted rock and sank in 1865, making it the deadliest shipwreck up to that time on the Pacific Coast (225 people perished), there was a loss of interest in the area, the Port of Entry returned to Port Townsend, and the town sank into obscurity. In the early 1900s, Port Angeles developed a strong logging industry, along with lumber and pulp mills and a railway connection which supported the region until the 1970s/1980s, at which time tourism expanded when the Hood Canal Bridge dramatically reduced the driving time to the region and it developed as a gateway into the Olympic National Park.
We wander into town and admire the historical artwork at the pier.
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