The Historic Community of Port Gamble Washington

In July 1853, Captain William C. Talbot (1816-1881) establishes a steam sawmill as the Puget Mill Co. at Port Gamble. Ten men, mostly from Talbot's hometown of East Machias, Maine, construct a bunkhouse, a cookhouse, and a store before starting work on the mill. The site is on a sand spit the local Native Americans call Teekalet, meaning "brightness of the noonday sun." The settlers call the mill Teekalet until they change the name to Port Gamble in 1868. The mill will operate continuously for 142 years, from 1853 to 1995.