Banking on Oysters in Hoodsport
February 15, 1975, saw the little town of Hoodsport open its very own locally chartered bank –the Hood Canal State Bank. Represented by a steam donkey on its logo, the bank saluted its logging heritage.
The interior was decorated with large photographic murals of early logging scenes and an architectural style described as “a combination of turn-of-the-century logging camp construction and modern convenience.” Adorning the front door and above the cutesy- paned glass windows a fiery bird rising from the ashes was painted – the sign for the Phoenix Camp No. 4.
This logging enterprise was active in the Hoodsport area from the late 1890s until 1940 harvesting the massive first growth trees. Logging over difficult mountainous terrain, the engineers of the Phoenix Logging Company had to devise ingenious methods to transport their timber down to the log dump at Potlatch. To accommodate the steep grade of the railway, the locomotives would hitch exactly eighteen dogged logs– of an average 24” diameter–behind them to act as a dragging break (instead of loading it all onto a rattler car). This was quite a haul for an engine that ran with only steam brakes. As such, engineers would receive top pay for this risky work - $3.75 a day – the same as a faller. The main log dump was down at Potlatch, but in the early years the closest saloon was at Hoodsport. Logging had been an important draw to the area earlier than that though. Hoodsport was known as a good area for spar logs for ships and lumbering was the main industry of early European settlers.
The čtsa’ałlałt?b?’xw, a Twana speaking people, were the first harvesters of the forest resources in the area. They had magnificent dugout canoes of Western Red Cedar and large split cedar houses in their prosperous village of sla’l’ałlałt?b?’xw – which would one day be called Hoodsport. Ducks and sea resources were abundant here with rich clam beds and herring runs. This village was burned in the 1860s by the US Government when the čtsa’ałlałt?b?’xw were forced to live on the Skokomish Reservation. This opened the area to European resource extraction and settlers.
Early Settlement of Hoodsport
According to Dr. Harry Deegan (1971), the first European settler was Vincent Finch (of Finch Creek fame) sometime in the early 1860s – making this one of the earliest settlements on the Hood Canal. Other sources (Radtke 1975 and others) claim the first European settler was Captain G.K. Robbins who first came in 1875 (a hundred years before his grandson would help found a bank). He explored the area as a schooner captain but did not settle until 1880 when he was granted 200 three acres of land by the US Government for his military service in the Mexican War.
He opened a store and built a large house that would later become the Gateway Inn (located where the State Salmon Hatchery is now). Vincent Finch later married Ida Robbins, the Captain’s daughter –so either way you argue, their descendants were the first Europeans in the area.
Gateway Town
Even in the 1880s, Hoodsport was a “gateway” for recreationists of the Lake Cushman area. Several lodges and boarding houses were in operation here (such as the Hoodsport Hotel, and later the Gateway Ranch, and Sund’s Villa Resort) and a coach ran a route to Lake Cushman where a ferry would meet travellers to take them across to Cushman House and later, at the end of the 18th century, to the famous Antlers Hotel.
The Antlers Hotel was a popular destination for dignitaries and society figures alike: President Teddy Roosevelt enjoyed fishing and got the local elk named after him and the poet Robert Service was in raptures when he composed “The Mountain and the Lake” during his stay. This glory was subsumed by the waters of Lake Cushman when it was dammed for the Tacoma Power project in 1926. The Phoenix Logging Company removed as much lumber as they could from that area before the flooding started – these stumps can still be seen in the summer when the waters of Lake Cushman are lower. Hunting for the sunken Antlers Hotel was the subject of Don Warter’s 2016 wreck diving documentary.
Hood Canal State Bank
The original directors of the Hood Canal State Bank represented this diverse and changing economy of the region. Loggers, oystermen, Christmas tree farmers, hydroelectric foremen, real estate, and property development were the economies that felt a need for a local bank.
Founding director, Bart Robbins was a descendent of Captain G.K. Robbins and instrumental in the building of the family business now known as Hama Hama Oyster Co. located in Lilliwaup. Another founder is Bill Hunter of Hunter Farms fame. Hunter Farms is cherished for their Christmas trees, cut flowers, pumpkins, and farmer’s market located near Union. Floyd Hovey and Lowell Jarvis were also old Hood Canal names that ran logging and trucking business together and branched out into their own enterprises too. These are just a few local faces that nurtured this grass roots bank.
Hood Canal State Bank operated in the community until January 2022. Over the years it changed management several times: it was known as First Olympic Bank, Centennial Bank, West Coast Bank and then finally it became part of Columbia Bank. Now it’s getting a new lease on life as Tracing the Fjord is putting down roots in Hoodsport.
A New Era for the Bank
Over the next few months the Hansen family will be transforming the bank and look forward to welcoming the community through its doors once more. Embracing the "bank" tradition the new business will be called – The Fjord Oyster Bank.
Anticipate new landscaping, cedar trim & shake, red geraniums and hanging baskets, outdoor and indoor seating, drive thru, and a vault full of local gifts and books.
Whether it be sharing a great hike, the latest Fjord, coffee, dessert, Xinh's chowder or a freshly shucked oysters – you are sure to cash in on good times at The Fjord Oyster Bank.