"Sequim, Olympic Peninsula, Washington" Sequim by rids

<center><b><font color=forestgreen>History of Sequim & the Dungeness Valley
excerpt from "Dungeness: The Lure of A River"
Publisher: Sequim Bicentennial Committee and Daily News – 1976
Virginia Keeting, Editor.</font></b></center><p>The Valley of the Dungeness lies at the northern end of the Olympic Peninsula, from the Dungeness River gorge to the beaches of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, in the extreme northwest corner of the United States.
The history of the Valley stems from the River. Ensign Manuel Quimper, exploring the Strait of Juan de Fuca for Spain, sighted New Dungeness on July 4, 1790. The following day he spent trading with the Indians and replenishing the ship's water supply from the Dungeness River. He named the bluff behind the Dungeness Spit "Punta de Santa Cruz" and the bay, "Puerto de Quimper." On July 8, 1790, he took formal possession and planted a Holy Cross close to a pine tree on which another cross was cut in the bark. At the foot of the tree the "bottle of possession" was buried. The bay and the port were named Quimper.
Two years later, Capt. George Vancouver made the first thorough exploration of the Strait and Puget Sound. On April 30, 1792, he sailed into the bay, to anchor for the night, and named its sheltering sandspit New Dungeness, after its great resemblance to Dungeness in the British Channel. Captain Vancouver sailed away and it was many years before white men again anchored in the bay.
One of the country's last frontiers, the Valley until 1850 knew only Indian's footstep. Its only trails were made by wild animals. Heavy forests reached from the foothills to the shore, and the Dungeness River from its headwaters high among the snowcapped peaks of the Olympics, flowed unhampered to the strait.
In the 1850s the first settlers came to the Dungeness, to cut down the thick stands of timber and float logs down the River; to take up donation claims; to clear land and plant crops. They came on sailing ships around the Horn, from the gold fields of California, across the plains by covered wagon.
Early farmers grew fabulous crops in the bottomlands of the River. When irrigation ditches were built, the River furnished water for rich pasturelands, and the Valley became one of the top dairying spots in the country.
The area gradually became famous for its unusual climate, and rainfall less than 17 inches per year. Attracted by its climate, living conditions, outdoor recreation and scenic beauty, an increasing number of retired people have come to build homes. Farmland is being broken up and sold as homesites, and the Valley has become a retirement community.
<b><font color=forestgreen>Here is a <a href=http://www.visitsun.com/ target=_new>website</a> for more information about Sequim and the surrounding area.</font></b>