Across the Bay

The settlement of Gig Harbor by white people actually began on the east side of the harbor. Samuel Jerisich arrived in Gig Harbor in 1867 and built a small cabin on the east side of the bay near the sandpit. Later, the Jerisich family moved to the west side.

Joseph and Rose Goodman and their children came by steamboat to Gig Harbor in 1883. The family and their possessions were deposited on the sandspit and the family watched as the boat chugged away. The Goodmans lived in a cabin near the sandspit for one year before moving to Crescent Valley.

Settlers trying to homestead on the east side learned much of the area was a military reservation and not yet open for settlement. Not until the reservation was abandoned in the early 1900s were settlers able to acquire title to the land.

The bay itself played host to community events. Before a church was built, religious services were held on a barge moored in the harbor. Congregation members arrived by rowboat and everyone, including ladies in long skirts, had to climb up a rope ladder.

One of the first steamboat landings was on the east side, known as Young's Landing. Passengers, mail, and freight were loaded and unloaded at the dock. A.W. Young was Gig Harbor's first postmaster, operating the post office out of his home alongside the landing. The site of Young's Landing is now the county boat ramp.

In 1938, National Air Mail Week was celebrated near the site of Young's Landing. Postal employees A.L. Hopkins, John Insel, and Gladys Hunt affixed special stamps on letters going on the first airmail flight from Gig Harbor.

[Photo captions, top to bottom, read]

. The Atalanta arrives in the harbor. The Rawley house is visible on the sandspit, circa 1915.

. The first airmail delivery arrives on the beach at east Gig Harbor, May, 1938

. Young's Landing, 1906-1910. The dock served several steamboats including the Crest and the Florence K. . This historical marker was erected by City of Gig Harbor and Gig Harbor Peninsula Historical Society. It is in Gig Harbor in Pierce County Washington