Friday Harbor Laboratories, a marine biology field station of the University of Washington, is located on the northern shore of Friday Harbor, an inlet on the eastern coast of San Juan Island, approximately 72 miles (116 km) northwest of Seattle and 18 miles (29 km) west of Anacortes, Washington. Friday Harbor was named after Joseph Poalie Friday, a Pacific Islander who tended sheep for the Hudson’s Bay Company around 1861. The harbor and much of the eastern part of San Juan Island consist of rocks from the Constitution Formation. This formation includes, from bottom to top, Late Mesozoic sandstone composed of volcanic rock fragments, black mudstone, ribbon chert, green tuff, and minor pillow lava. The waters around San Juan Island are relatively clear, cold, and free from pollution. The tidal range, nearly 10 feet (3 m), exposes biologically diverse intertidal areas of rock, sand, and mud. This variation creates regions with swift currents as well as quiet bays and lagoons. Nearly all major groups of marine algae, invertebrates, and fish can be found between the shoreline and depths of 980 feet (300 m), making it an attractive location for scientific study.
San Juan Island held historical significance for the Coast Salish people, who fished for Pacific salmon and gathered medicinal plants. In 1791, Gonzalo López de Haro explored the island as part of a Spanish expedition led by Francisco de Eliza. The island was named after the expedition’s sponsor, Juan Vicente de Güemes Padilla Horcasitas y Aguayo, the 2nd Count of Revillagigedo. In 1853, the Hudson’s Bay Company established the first permanent non-native settlement on the island. In 1904, the University of Washington’s Zoology Professor Trevor Kincaid founded Friday Harbor Laboratories. He later petitioned Washington State’s congressional members to secure the Point Caution military reserve as the ideal location for a future biological marine station. In 1921, President Warren G. Harding signed a House Resolution transferring the Point Caution property to the University of Washington for use as a biological station and for general university research purposes. Construction of the new Puget Sound Biological Station was completed in 1924, and the first summer courses were taught there that year. In 1930, the Biological Station became part of the University of Washington Oceanographic Laboratories. In 1958, the facility was renamed the University of Washington Friday Harbor Laboratories.
The university facility is located on a tract of 490 acres (198 ha) and also manages biological preserves at False Bay and Argyle Lagoon on San Juan Island, as well as at Point George and Cedar Rock on neighboring Shaw Island. These preserves offer a variety of protected terrestrial and marine environments for both short-term and long-term research projects. Over 20 resident scientists conduct research at the labs year-round, while approximately 100 visiting researchers use the facility annually. Friday Harbor Laboratories is renowned for its intensive summer classes in marine biology, oceanography, and fisheries, offered to graduate students from around the world. In 2013, President Barack Obama used the Antiquities Act to establish the San Juan Islands National Monument from existing federal lands. The monument encompasses approximately 1,000 acres (405 ha) on San Juan Island and around 75 other sites in the Salish Sea. It protects archaeological sites of the Coast Salish peoples, historical lighthouses, relics of early European American settlers in the Pacific Northwest, and the region’s biodiversity of island plants and animals. Read more here and here. Explore more of Friday Harbor Laboratories and San Juan Island here: