What’s in a name?

August 8, 2024 1:30 am
In 1918, the Beaver-Tyee area grew as hundreds of soldiers called the Spruce Division arrived and set up camp at the south end of Lake Pleasant. The contractor, Siems Carey, represented by H.S. Kerbaugh, was awarded the contract to remove 250 million board feet of spruce. Siems Carey built barracks, a mess hall, offices, a dance hall and post office — and even changed the name of the community to Siems Carey. In 1919 the name changed back.
In 1918, the Beaver-Tyee area grew as hundreds of soldiers called the Spruce Division arrived and set up camp at the south end of Lake Pleasant. The contractor, Siems Carey, represented by H.S. Kerbaugh, was awarded the contract to remove 250 million board feet of spruce. Siems Carey built barracks, a mess hall, offices, a dance hall and post office — and even changed the name of the community to Siems Carey. In 1919 the name changed back.

Beaver – Tyee?

This bit of information about the name of Beaver/Tyee from the collections of the Forks Timber Museum was shared at the West End Historical Society meeting in July.

The earliest known maps of Lake Pleasant-Sappho (General Land Office (GLO) 1891) makes no reference to either Beaver or Tyee. This situation continued on at least through 1919. A Spruce Production Division railroad map of the area merely refers to the Lake Pleasant area as Lake Pleasant.

The nomenclature problem apparently began about 1924 when Bloedel-Donovan Lumber Mills (BDLM) constructed its logging railroad mainline from Pysht Pass south along Beaver Lake and Beaver Creek. The earliest reference to “Beaver” as a community is to Beaver Creek. Beaver was the headquarters camp for BDLM’s Sekiu operations and corporate correspondence from that time period indicates that “Beaver Camp” probably moved with the rialhead (in jumps) to the end of the projected mainline in section 30, Township 30 N, Range 12 West. This is confirmed from a map from the mid-’20s which shows Beaver in the aforementioned location. It is shown as being south of the Olympic (highway), but in reality probably spanned both the railroad and highway. (This was the old Highway location.)

The late 1920s and early ’30s were a highball logging era for BDLM. Beaver Camp increased in importance as the mainline was extended west, and the need for some civilization was apparent. Indicative of the maturing community was the schoolhouse, constructed in Section 30, Township 30 N., Range 13 W. half a mile or so west of the original site of Beaver. It is obvious that by this time the community that had started as Beaver Camp was now a legitimate residential community lying west of the old camp site. This is confirmed by a map from the 1930s.

By the mid-’30s Beaver was losing its importance with BDLM. Logging emphasis was shifting and Sappho became the headquarters camp for the company, Railroad expansion did continue to the West, however, and when Lake Pleasant was arrived at, BDLM platted the area as BDLM Lake Pleasant Subdivision of Tyee. The plat was made in 1938 and probably utilized a common use name of the area, It was somewhat non-committal, however, in that it called the plat both Lake Pleasant and Tyee —no point in stepping on anyone’s toes.

Tyee continued to grow in importance as Beaver faded and by the 1950s the Beaver Post Office moved to Tyee. So …Tyee belongs right where it is, at Lake Pleasant, even though it has Beaver’s Post Office, Beaver belongs somewhere around the Beaver Schoolhouse – give or take half a mile.

A 1942 Metsker Map also identifies Lake Pleasant as Lake Tyee.

A 1942 Metsker Map also identifies Lake Pleasant as Lake Tyee.