Recent Stories

In 1872 two colonial powers, Great Britain and the United States, peacefully agreed to end - through arbitration - the joint occupation of San Juan Island. Ambiguous language in the 1846 Treaty of Oregon, a boundary agreement between the two…

From this vantage point, you can see where Charley dug drain ditches in the 1860s or 1870s. Charley, known at the time as Siwash Charley, is one of the few Indigenous men on island we have record of. (Siwash, from Chinook Jargon, is considered a…

In the early 20th century, just about from here, a long pier stretched out into the water, towards the marker you can see in the channel. Steamships, like the Georgia, would deliver passengers and goods to “Lopez” — one of three centers of commerce…

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Island Histories

San Juans Explorer is a digital guide to the history, natural history, and culture of the San Juan Islands. A project of the Public History Program at Eastern Washington University, the geolocated stories on San Juans Explorer were created by EWU students. Initial content will be deployed in the summer of 2018, and the project will grow one student cohort at a time. For questions or complaints, please contact Larry Cebula, at LarryCebula@gmail.com. This site is powered by Omeka + Curatescape, a humanities-centered web and mobile framework available for both Android and iOS devices.  Read more About Us