• Visit
    • Museum Accessibility
    • Community Access
    • Group Visits and Tours
    • Programs
      • History Café
      • MOHAI Mercantile Literary Series
      • First Thursday
      • Denny Lecture
      • Al Young Educator of the Year
      • Everyday Heroes
    • MOHAI Mercantile
    • Gourmondo at MOHAI
  • Exhibits
  • Events
  • Collections and Research
    • Collections Search
    • Themed Collections
    • Research Library
    • Image Ordering
    • Donate an Artifact
    • Curator’s Fellowship
  • Support
    • Donate
    • Membership at MOHAI
    • Gift Memberships
    • Corporate Support
  • Education
    • Field Trips
      • Self-Guided School Year Explorations
      • Creating Our Community
      • Cracking the History Code: Salish Stories
      • Cracking the History Code: Settling Around the Sound
      • Hands on History
      • Self-Guided Summer Field Trips
      • Homeschool Group
    • Portable Museum Program
    • Scholarships
    • Education FAQ
    • Primary Source Analysis
    • Online Curricula
    • Teen Programs
    • Idea Lab
    • Discovery Packs
    • Summer Camps
  • About
    • Annual Reports
    • The MOHAI Blog
    • Contact MOHAI
    • Opportunities
    • Leadership
    • Private Events
  • Donate
  • Tickets
  • Membership
HomeCollections and ResearchCollections Search

Collections Search

Explore stories in Northwest history through highlights from MOHAI’s collections. Search by keyword below or browse the entire online collection by entering the asterisk symbol (*). Filter your search by type of materials.

Download lower resolution images directly from an item page. MOHAI offers high-resolution digital reproductions of photographs and other materials from our collections for personal and professional use.

We have many more items in our collections and not everything you see online is on view at the museum. We have additional materials online at the University of Washington’s Digital Collections.

MOHAI Statement on Harmful Content

Search by Collection

Not finding what you are looking for?
Ask the MOHAI Collections Staff

832 results for: Puget Sound

Share:
Image of West Seattle grain elevator, circa 1895
Photograph

West Seattle grain elevator, circa 1895

Colonel Thomas Ewing, the major developer of West Seattle, foresaw a great industrial center on the peninsula. In 1890, Ewing built a grain elevator and hailed it as the key to Seattle's future as a worldwide grain exporter. Ewing convinced the Northern Pacific Railroad to build a trestle across the tide flats to reach his grain elevator. The railroad carried…
ID Number:SHS1053
Date:Circa 1895
Image of Steamboat
Photograph

Steamboat "Bailey Gatzert" at yard, circa 1890

The "Bailey Gatzert," named for an early Seattle businessman and mayor, was launched in Ballard in 1890. The luxury sternwheeler carried passengers on the Columbia River and Puget Sound and was one of the fastest vessels of its day. In 1920, the "Bailey Gatzert" became the first vessel to be rebuilt specifically for ferrying automobiles on Puget Sound. The ferry…
ID Number:SHS1076
Date:Circa 1890
Image of Yesler Way and Yesler's Mill, Seattle, 1873
Photograph

Yesler Way and Yesler's Mill, Seattle, 1873

Henry Yesler arrived in Seattle in 1852 and soon built the first steam-powered sawmill on Puget Sound. It was located on the waterfront at the foot of Mill Street, now called Yesler Way.This 1873 image also shows the Pioneer Drug Store and the Seattle Bakery. Yesler's Wharf, where lumber schooners docked, would be beyond the mill's tall smokestack. Title from…
ID Number:SHS1108
Date:1873
Image of Men posing in front of tent near Jacob Furth home, 1889
Photograph

Men posing in front of tent near Jacob Furth home, 1889

The Great Fire of June 6, 1889 was a significant turning point in Seattle's history and changed both the physical and political landscapes of the City. In this image men pose in front of a tent set up after the fire during regrading operations, in which streets were raised up to 22 feet in places, helping to level the hilly…
ID Number:SHS1359
Date:1889
Image of Waterfront and downtown, Seattle, circa 1887
Photograph

Waterfront and downtown, Seattle, circa 1887

Label on verso: Warner & Davis, Landscape Photographers, Front & Cherry Sts., Seattle, Wash. Ter.Typed on verso: Seattle looking south showing waterfront and railroad tracks before the fire 1889.SHS category: Views
ID Number:SHS1376
Date:Circa 1887
Image of Henry Yesler, circa 1885
Photograph

Henry Yesler, circa 1885

Henry Yesler arrived in Seattle in 1852 looking for a waterfront sawmill location. Other settlers moved the boundaries of their land claims to accomodate space for the mill, its pier, and a skid road, now Yesler Way. Yesler's sawmill, the first steam-powered mill on Puget Sound, started operation in the spring of 1853. In addition to his mill, Yesler owned…
ID Number:SHS1582
Date:Circa 1885
Image of Pat Kanim, Snoqualmie Chief, circa 1855
Photograph

Pat Kanim, Snoqualmie Chief, circa 1855

The Snoqualmie people are a Coast Salish group who have lived in the Snoqualmie River Valley since time immemorial. They made dugout canoes which they used to navigate the river and reach Puget Sound. Traditionally the Snoqualmie burned off the bottom lands of the Snoqualmie Valley to create open areas that ensured an abundance of edible plants for foraging as…
ID Number:SHS1679
Date:Circa 1855
Image of Indigenous men, women, and children working in hop field, Kent, circa 1895
Photograph

Indigenous men, women, and children working in hop field, Kent, circa 1895

From the late 1860s to the early 1890s, hop farming was an important activity in the valleys of the Puget Sound region, including Puyallup, White River, and Snoqualmie. Indigenous workers came from throughout the Pacific Northwest, Canada, and Alaska (but especially from regional tribes like the Puyallup, Snoqualmie, Muckleshoot, Duwamish, Sammamish, Lummi, and Nisqually) as a seasonal labor force to…
ID Number:SHS1975
Date:Circa 1895
Image of U.S.S. Nebraska launching October 7, 1904
Photograph

U.S.S. Nebraska launching October 7, 1904

In 1904, the Moran Brothers shipyard in Seattle launched the battleship "Nebraska." This vessel was the first steel ship to be built on Puget Sound and the first naval battleship to be built in the Pacific Northwest. At the launching, bands played, people cheered, dignitaries made speeches, and the daughter of the Governor of Nebraska christened the vessel with a…
ID Number:SHS2042
Date:1904
Image of Indigenous encampment at the Seattle waterfront, circa 1895
Photograph

Indigenous encampment at the Seattle waterfront, circa 1895

In 1865 the Board of Trustees of Seattle passed Ordinance No. 5 banning Indigenous people from living in the city unless they worked for a non-Indigenous resident and lived on their employer’s property. Despite this attempt to enforce separation between Indigenous people and the settlers, Seattle depended on Indigenous people. Settlers relied on Native people for domestic work and for…
ID Number:SHS2210
Date:Circa 1895
Previous 1 … 79 80 81 82 83 84 Next

Land Acknowledgement

MOHAI stands on the historic and contemporary lands and shores of the Duwamish, Suquamish, Muckleshoot, and other Coast Salish Nations. We acknowledge the forced displacement of Native Communities from this land while honoring the endurance of the Duwamish people who still live here.
Address: 860 Terry Ave N, Seattle WA, 98109
Phone: 206 324 1126
  • Plan a Visit
  • Directions and Parking
  • Accessibility
  • Group Tours
  • About

Sign up to Receive our Newsletter

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Copyright 2026, Museum of History & Industry. All Rights Reserved