Puyallup River Junction Pierce County, Washington

Mapped Location

Puyallup River Junction: The mapped location is an approximation and should not be used for navigation or wayfinding.

 

Information

General information on Puyallup River Junction

  • Feature Type: Place

 

Official, historical, colloquial and alternative toponyms for Puyallup River Junction

A brief list of names that this geographic feature has been named

Name Description
Puyallup River Junction Official

 

Origin Notes and History of Puyallup River Junction

References to Puyallup River Junction that document the origin of its place name

Title Cover Image: Origin of Washington geographic names

PUYALLUP, the name of a town in Pierce County, of a river which flows into Commencement Bay and a glacier on Mount Rainier where the river has its principle source. The Indian word has been variously spelled. (Handbook of American Indians, Part 2, page 331.) Two distinct meanings are given for the word. Elwood Evans in an address published in the New Tacoma Ledger of July 9, 1880, says the word means shadow from the dense shade of the forest. (Quoted by H. H. Bancroft: History of Washington, Idaho and Montana, Page 66.) Henry Sicade, an educated Indian, says in the Tacoma News for June 30, 1916, that Pough means generous and allitp means people and so his tribe were known as generous people. John Work, of the Hudson's Bay Company, in 1824 called it "Qualax River". (Washington Historical Quarterly, July, 1912, page 212.) The Wilkes Expedition, 1841, in naming and charting Commencement Bay indicated Puyallup River but seem to have spelled it "Pugallup." (Volume XXIII, Hydrography, page 319, and the atlas, chart 87.) The town's first postoffice was named "Franklin" which caused much difficulty on account of there being so many postoffices by that name. Ezra Meeker says : "We agreed there never would be but one Puyallup." (Pioneer Reminiscences, page 182.)

Edmond S. Meany in Origin of Washington Geographic Names
Meany, Edmond S., Origin of Washington Geographic Names, 1923 University of Washington, pp 236-237  |  Origin of Washington Geographic Names

 

Pierce County

Political Boundaries

Last updated: 2024-06-01