How were Pacific, Pend Oreille and Pierce counties named?
Jan 19, 2023, 6:47 AM | Updated: 9:46 am
This is the 鈥楳inding Your Ps鈥� edition (and ninth overall episode) of 鈥淐ounty Countdown,鈥� our series examining the names of counties and county seats around the Evergreen State. Given that we are a few years into this epic 13-part saga and still not quite finished, you may be forgiven if you think 鈥榩鈥� stands for 鈥減rotracted.鈥� Whether this is true or not, 鈥榩鈥� also stands Pacific, Pend Oreille, and Pierce.
One minor advance warning: for this installment, we are not going strictly in alphabetical order.
Pacific County
is located in the southwest corner of the state and is named after, you guessed it, the Pacific Ocean, which forms the western boundary of the county (and which was named by in 1519). The county seat is , which is home to a lovely courthouse on the hill overlooking the town. South Bend is named for a bend (to the south) in the Willapa River.
The county was created Feb. 4, 1851 鈥� when Washington Territory was not yet its own entity and when what鈥檚 now the Evergreen State was contained within Oregon Territory. The new county was carved from the giant Lewis County, one of the 鈥渕other counties鈥� of early Oregon Territory. Some sources suggest the community of Chinook was the first county seat. It then moved to Oysterville until South Bend stole it away in anything but pacific fashion in 1893.
Pierce County
, on the east side of South Puget Sound, is named for President Franklin Pierce 鈥� who was president-elect when the new county was carved from Oregon Territory鈥檚 Thurston County Dec. 22, 1852. The county seat is Tacoma, also known as Commencement City (for Commencement Bay, where the 1841 Wilkes鈥� survey of Puget Sound 鈥渃ommenced鈥�). Tacoma is an Indigenous word, an alternate pronunciation of Tahoma, the once and perhaps future name of Mount Rainier. The city of was founded in fits and starts, ultimately being established as part of a speculative real estate project of the Northern Pacific Railroad who designated the city the terminus of the NP鈥檚 transcontinental route in 1873 (though construction to complete the route would take nearly two decades).
Pierce鈥檚 vice president was William Rufus King, original namesake for King County. King served as VP for only six weeks before he died in April 1853 (inauguration was held on March 4 in those days). His death also came before he could return to Washington, DC from where he鈥檇 been remotely inaugurated in Cuba. King County鈥檚 namesake was legally changed to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 2005.
Pend Oreille
, most reasonable history and geography folks agree, is one of the two most mispronounced county names in the Evergreen State (the other being .) The correct pronunciation, those same reasonable folks agree, sounds something like 鈥淧onderay.鈥�
Pend Oreille, in the extreme northeast corner of Washington, was carved by the legislature from part of Stevens County March 1, 1911 鈥� which makes it the youngest county in the state. The county seat is Newport, which was named for its role on the steamboat route on the Pend Oreille River. Place-name expert and author Robert Hitchman writes, 鈥淭he name was suggested by an early resident, M.C. Kelly, when a new river landing was built on the Pend Oreille [River] to accommodate the first sternwheelers.鈥�
Pend Oreille is a variation (something like a 鈥榥ear-Anglicization鈥�) of the French phrase for 鈥渉angs on the ear,鈥� believed to be descriptive of ornamentation worn by Indigenous people in that area as seen and described by non-Native settlers in the 19th century.
Regarding the pronunciation, 成人X站 Newsradio鈥檚 All Over The Map staff made some calls to ask local experts how badly and how often the pronunciation of 鈥淧end Oreille鈥� gets mangled by outsiders.
鈥淪o our county is [spelled] 鈥楶end Oreille,鈥� but we hear 鈥榩enned oriole鈥� a lot,鈥� said Celene Thomas at the .
鈥淭he only one I鈥檝e ever heard on the mispronunciation is 鈥榩enned oriole,鈥欌�� said Lynette King at the , also in Newport. 鈥淏ecause that鈥檚 the way it鈥檚 spelled.鈥�
鈥淚 think the most typical pronunciation is 鈥榩ond o-RYE-ull,鈥欌�� said Crystal Zieske, Clerk of the Board for Pend Oreille County government.
Pond o-RYE-ull?!?
Zieske quickly apologized. 鈥溾�楶enned oriole,鈥欌�� she then corrected herself. 鈥淚t鈥檚 hard for me to mispronounce it. I鈥檝e been here so long,鈥� Zieske said.
Further complicating the local spelling and pronunciation struggles is the fact that right next door in Idaho, there鈥檚 a town on Lake Pend Oreille called (and spelled) 鈥�.鈥�
Eric Brubaker is the Parks and Community Development Director there. He told 成人X站 Newsradio that the phonetic spelling was created by the railroad a hundred years ago as a strategic move while in competition with another nearby townsite already called Pend Oreille.
But wait, Brubaker said, there鈥檚 more. As if two spellings of Pend Oreille/Ponderay weren鈥檛 enough, there鈥檚 a non-profit group working to create a trail along the lake that鈥檚 found a way to complicate things even further.
鈥淔riends of the is the non-profit that spells it the old way, with the lowercase d [and] apostrophe,鈥� Brubaker explained. That old way, Brubaker says, is the actual French spelling.
鈥淚t鈥檚 also a pain,鈥� Brubaker continued, describing writing grant applications to far-away potential donors, where the narrative confusingly mentions Pend Oreille, Ponderay, and Pend d鈥橭reille.
鈥淪o there鈥檚 three spellings,鈥� Brubaker continued, clearly pleased to have flummoxed the big city history radio folks. 鈥淵ou thought there were two,鈥� he chuckled.
But perhaps this whole spelling and pronunciation kerfuffle is only something worried about by those big city history radio folks in Seattle, and not something that anyone in Pend Oreille County, the city of Ponderay or along the Pend d鈥橭reille Bay Trail gives much thought to these days.
Sure enough, that鈥檚 pretty much exactly what Celene Thomas at the Newport Library says.
鈥淵ou鈥檙e probably reading too much into it,鈥� Thomas said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e pretty low-brow, we鈥檙e pretty chill out here.鈥�
But what about when a visitor or new arrival says it wrong? Do the chill Pend Oreilleians/Ponderanians (good luck pronouncing that) just ignore it?
鈥淲e just take 15 seconds to correct them, and move on most of the time,鈥� Thomas said.
Thanks to all the good sports in Pend Oreille County, Washington and Ponderay, Idaho.
Check out earlier episodes of 成人X站 Newsradio鈥檚 All Over The Map: County Countdown!
County Countdown Episode Three
County Countdown Episode Seven
County Countdown Episode Eight聽
In the next exciting episode: San Juan, Skagit and Skamania!
You can hear Feliks every Wednesday and Friday morning on Seattle鈥檚 Morning News with Dave Ross and Colleen O鈥橞rien, read more from him鈥�here, and subscribe to The Resident Historian Podcast聽here. If you have a story idea, please email Feliks鈥�here.
