Last updated: July 16, 2022
Place
Old Town Lagoon
NPS
Quick Facts
Location:
American Camp
Significance:
First Euro-American town on San Juan Island
Charles Griffin, the head of the Hudson’s Bay Company’s Belle Vue Sheep Farm, was amazed by the unusual community that once occupied this scenic lagoon. “Soldiers, Inds. (Indians) and men were all determined to be drunk together. [I] Never saw anything like it.” Members of the American Boundary Commission were equally derogatory, describing San Juan Town as consisting of “about 20 houses…five or six are ‘rum mills’…the population of the place numbers about 30 or 40..white men, Chinamen and Indians. Whiskey drinking seems to be the principal occupation. There were not more than half a dozen respectable Americans in the place.”
This small village was an immediate result of the military presence on San Juan Island during the boundary conflict. Shortly after US soldiers landed on San Juan Island in 1859, entrepreneurs, sensing a new market amongst the soldiers, began ferrying over abandoned buildings from defunct mining operations near Bellingham and repurposing them in San Juan Town. Vice-related businesses, such as alcohol sales and prostitution especially flourished in this location during the joint occupation. Proprietors evaded law enforcement by claiming American citizenship when questioned by British authorities and British citizenship in front of American authorities. Authorities only held jurisdiction over citizens of their own nation making this an attractive strategy for lawbreakers on San Juan Island.
Not all observers had a negative opinion of San Juan Town. A US newspaper described it as having “quite a stable appearance. The town possesses a bakery, a butchery, three or four barrooms, one aristocratic “two-bit” house, a fruit stand, grocery…..all of which are liberally patronized.” This small town was a multiethnic community whose residents and habitues included German-Jewish immigrants such as Israel Katz, Asian and Hawaiian migrant workers, Native Americans, and of course soldiers from both the US and British militaries.When the border conflict ended in 1872 and the armed forces left the region San Juan Town was abandoned and Friday Harbor became the urban center of life on San Juan Island.
By 1890, the only resident of San Juan Town was “Whispering Pete” Searcy a local character who lived in the otherwise abandoned community. That year, San Juan village was obliterated by a brushfire which Searcy attempted to fight but which consumed the remaining landscape of this early settlement.Today, no visible traces remain of San Juan Town. Instead, a scenic lagoon brimming with plants and animal life occupies its location. On a clear day, stunning views of Mount Baker and the San Juan archipelago await visitors to this former townsite. You can reach Old Town Lagoon by walking along the waterfront from the Fourth of July Beach trailhead or downhill 1/10th of a mile from the Jakle’s Lagoon Trailhead.
This small village was an immediate result of the military presence on San Juan Island during the boundary conflict. Shortly after US soldiers landed on San Juan Island in 1859, entrepreneurs, sensing a new market amongst the soldiers, began ferrying over abandoned buildings from defunct mining operations near Bellingham and repurposing them in San Juan Town. Vice-related businesses, such as alcohol sales and prostitution especially flourished in this location during the joint occupation. Proprietors evaded law enforcement by claiming American citizenship when questioned by British authorities and British citizenship in front of American authorities. Authorities only held jurisdiction over citizens of their own nation making this an attractive strategy for lawbreakers on San Juan Island.
Not all observers had a negative opinion of San Juan Town. A US newspaper described it as having “quite a stable appearance. The town possesses a bakery, a butchery, three or four barrooms, one aristocratic “two-bit” house, a fruit stand, grocery…..all of which are liberally patronized.” This small town was a multiethnic community whose residents and habitues included German-Jewish immigrants such as Israel Katz, Asian and Hawaiian migrant workers, Native Americans, and of course soldiers from both the US and British militaries.When the border conflict ended in 1872 and the armed forces left the region San Juan Town was abandoned and Friday Harbor became the urban center of life on San Juan Island.
By 1890, the only resident of San Juan Town was “Whispering Pete” Searcy a local character who lived in the otherwise abandoned community. That year, San Juan village was obliterated by a brushfire which Searcy attempted to fight but which consumed the remaining landscape of this early settlement.Today, no visible traces remain of San Juan Town. Instead, a scenic lagoon brimming with plants and animal life occupies its location. On a clear day, stunning views of Mount Baker and the San Juan archipelago await visitors to this former townsite. You can reach Old Town Lagoon by walking along the waterfront from the Fourth of July Beach trailhead or downhill 1/10th of a mile from the Jakle’s Lagoon Trailhead.