* Astronomy

Sept. 16, 1859, edition of the Pioneer & Democrat

"Yesterday our neighbourhood was startled with hearing and feeling a dreadful loud report, such as a large cannon nearby. I was in the field at the time, and went to the house where Mr. Krise was, who said that it shook the house. I called on Colonel (Michael T.) Simmons, who said that it was a meteor; that two Indians in his employ saw it fly and burst. They came to his house very much alarmed" - Mr. William Walter, writing to the Steilacoom Herald from Swamish (now Mason) County.

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Tumwater (originally New Market) was the site of the first American settlement on Puget Sound. The present name is an Indian word, Tum-wa-ta, meaning "a waterfall or cataract".

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