Representative Review

Eastsound, Washington

Unincorporated community in San Juan County ยท Not an incorporated municipality

About Eastsound

Eastsound (not to be confused with East Sound, which is the body of water adjoining Eastsound) is an unincorporated community on Orcas Island in San Juan County, Washington, United States. Eastsound is the largest population center on Orcas Island, the second-most populated (after San Juan Island) and physically largest of the San Juan Islands.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

How Eastsound is governed

Eastsound appears to be an unincorporated community or a census-designated place, so it may have no city government of its own โ€” services usually come from San Juan County and its elected officials. The chart below is a generic template; readers can correct it if Eastsound does have local officials.

Form of government not yet listed.

0 of 14 positions listed. Gray dashed boxes are placeholders waiting for a name.

Residents of Eastsound

Registered voters elect the officials below.

  • Mayor

    Executive

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    The city's chief elected official. Presides over the executive branch, proposes the budget and represents the city.

    • City Manager / Administrator

      Executive

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      The professional administrator who runs day-to-day operations (in some cities appointed by the council instead of the mayor).

  • City Council

    Legislative

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    The elected body that passes ordinances, sets the tax rate and approves the budget.

    • City Clerk

      Administration & departments

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      Keeps the official records, runs meeting agendas and, often, local elections.

    • City Attorney

      Administration & departments

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      The city's lawyer; advises officials and prosecutes ordinance violations.

    • Boards & Commissions

      Legislative

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      Citizen advisory bodies, such as planning, zoning appeals and library boards.

  • Municipal Court

    Judicial

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    Hears traffic, ordinance and other minor cases.

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History

The first inhabitants of Eastsound were the Lummi tribe, who were often raided by the warlike Haida, who traveled from Southeast Alaska in massive war canoes to attack the Lummis, for the purpose of slaving. The Haida had a distinct advantage, armed with flintlock rifles obtained from Russian traders. The first white people arrived in the 1850s, employees of the Hudson's Bay Company sent from the Fort Victoria post to hunt deer. These trappers brought smallpox, which, combined with the brutal Haida attacks, significantly reduced the native population.

One of the first European settlers of Eastsound was Charles Shattuck, who built a log cabin and operated a store in the late 1850s. Other early inhabitants of note included Michael Adams, a prospector and trapper from Pennsylvania and horticulturalist who planted the first apple orchard on Orcas. Belle Langell was the first white child born on Orcas, the daughter of Ephraim and Rosa Langell, who homesteaded near Michael Adams in present-day Eastsound. The Emmanuel Episcopal Church (Eastsound, Washington) was the first church on Orcas Island, was built in 1885, by the Reverend Sidney Robert Spencer Gray, on a plot of land deeded from Charles Shattuck.

Steamboats of the Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet used to dock at East Sound, one such vessel was the Sioux, a steel steamship built in 1910 and running out of Bellingham under the ownership of the Black Ball Line.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

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