Swantown is a historic neighborhood at the southern end of Budd Inlet in South Puget Sound, about 26 miles (42 km) southwest of Tacoma and now part of downtown Olympia, Washington. It is named for John M. Swan, an early pioneer from Scotland who arrived in 1850. Budd Inlet spans about 7 miles (11 km) long and varies in width from 1 mile (1.6 km) at the entrance near Boston Harbor, to 1.5 miles (2.4 km) mid-stream. Its head splits into East Bay and West Bay, separated by a peninsula hosting the Port of Olympia. Depths range from 100 feet (30 m) in the north to extensive mudflats in the south; the mean tide is 14.6 feet (4.5 m), with spring tides exceeding 18 feet (5.5 m). West Bay is an estuary of the Deschutes River, which drains a 119,040‑acre (48,174‑ha) watershed over 50 miles (80 km) from 3,870 feet (1,180 m) to sea level. Historically, the river extended 2.4 miles (3.9 km) further south to Tumwater Falls before being dammed to form Capital Lake. French fur traders dubbed it Rivière des Chutes (‘River of the Falls’). Tumwater—named from Chinook Jargon for ‘waterfall’—developed at the site of an ancient Steh-chass village. The Steh‑chass, a band of the Nisqually tribe, fished and gathered seafood along Budd Inlet for millennia. They lived in cedar‑built dwellings housing up to eight families; middens testify to long‑term habitation. The village also hosted potlatches and gatherings for the Nisqually, Squaxin, Chehalis, Suquamish, and Duwamish tribes. By 1776, English and Spanish explorers had navigated the Pacific coast and, by 1778, ventured into the Strait of Juan de Fuca. In 1792, Captain George Vancouver explored the Salish Sea, sending Lieutenants Peter Puget and Joseph Whidbey to search for the mythical Strait of Anián, mapping as far south as Eld Inlet and noting smallpox among coastal tribes. In 1833 the Hudson’s Bay Company established a fur trading post at Fort Nisqually, about 14 miles (23 km) northeast of Steh‑chass; in 1841 Lieutenant Charles Wilkes of the US Exploring Expedition named Budd Inlet after Lieutenant Thomas A. Budd of the USS Peacock, and estimated that native villages in South Puget Sound numbered about 3,000.

The 1846 Oregon Treaty ended competing British and American claims to the Oregon Country, jointly occupied since the 1818 Anglo-American Treaty. Settlers soon arrived, drawn by Steh‑chass waterfalls that promised power for a sawmill. They founded the first Puget Sound settlement—later known as Tumwater—at the northern end of the Cowlitz Trail linking the Cowlitz River and Puget Sound. Euro‑American diseases quickly decimated coastal tribes, reducing native populations in South Puget Sound to about 800. In the same year, Edmund Sylvester and Levi L. Smith jointly claimed land at West Bay’s head. Smith built a cabin and was elected to the Oregon Territory Provisional Legislature in 1848, but a seizure led to his drowning, leaving Sylvester sole owner of the land where he later platted a townsite. In 1849 John M. Swan sailed on the brig Recovery intending to settle on Vancouver Island. Disappointed by Victoria’s land laws, he continued to South Puget Sound, promptly declaring his intent to become an American citizen. Sylvester rewarded him with two town lots—a gesture that helped attract more settlers to the rapidly developing region. Budd Inlet’s population grew with Oregon Trail migrants, and in 1850 the town was named Olympia for its view of the Olympic Mountains to the northwest—a sign of the region’s swift transformation from contested frontier to budding settlement. The following year Swan filed a land claim under the Donation Land Claim Act for 317.5 acres (128.5 ha) on East Bay, adjacent to the Olympia townsite but separated by a tidal mudflat or slough. By 1852 a primitive 300‑foot (91‑m) wharf extended over the mudflats to deep water, serving a fleet of small steamboats. In 1853 the Washington Territory was carved out of the Oregon Territory north of the lower Columbia River.

In 1853, President Franklin Pierce appointed Isaac Stevens governor of the Washington Territory and Superintendent of Indian Affairs. Settlers complained they could not obtain clear title because the Northwest Ordinance of 1789 had guaranteed that no land be taken without tribal consent. In 1854, Stevens signed the Treaty of Medicine Creek, opening the territory to settlers. In exchange for establishing three reservations, cash payments over twenty years and recognition of traditional fishing and hunting rights, the treaty granted the U.S. 2.24 million acres (9,060,000 ha) from the Nisqually, Puyallup, Steilacoom, Squawskin of Squaxin Island, S’Homamish, Steh-chass, T’Peeksin, Squi-aitl, and Sa-heh-wamish. The tribes were relocated to temporary camps, one on Fox Island under the wardenship of John M. Swan. By 1859, Swan had cleared 30 acres (12 ha) of his claim and begun selling lots in the emerging settlement of Swantown, located across a mudflat—later the Swantown Slough—from Olympia. The slough was partially filled in the 1870s to accommodate growing urban needs. The area’s strategic location spurred rapid growth and integration into regional commerce. By the 1880s, Long Wharf—later known as Gidding’s Wharf—had been extended from 300 feet (91 m) to over 4,000 feet (1,219 m) to reach deepwater. In 1889, Washington achieved statehood with Olympia remaining the capital. Between 1910 and 1911 a project known as the Carlyon Fill—named after Philip H. Carlyon—dredged more than two million cubic yards of sediment from Budd Inlet. The fill, placed behind bulkheads to create an artificial peninsula of nearly 30 city blocks, covered the historic Swantown Slough and replaced the long wharf that provided the only deep‑water access. In 1997, East Bay Marina was renamed Swantown Marina and Boatworks to commemorate the area’s original name. These events illustrate the region’s evolution from contested indigenous land to a modern settlement, with vestiges of its turbulent past preserved in its place names and infrastructure. Read more here and here. Explore more of Swantown and Budd Inlet here: