Puget Sound Shore Railroad Puget Sound Shore Railroad The Puget Sound Shore Railroad and successor Northern Pacific and Puget Sound Shore Railroad built a branch line of the Northern Pacific Railroad between Puyallup and Seattle, Washington, U.S., and partially constructed a line around the east side of Lake Washington to Woodinville. After Congress chartered the Northern Pacific Railroad (NP) in 1864, the communities along Puget Sound competed to be its Pacific terminus. Tacoma, about south of Seattle, became the winner in July 1873, when the NP, then building north from Portland, selected it. Seattle businessmen immediately incorporated the Seattle and Walla Walla Railroad and
Puget Sound region as 1853. In the 1880s logging railroads cut their way into Puget Sound. 1886 the St. Helens fire burned . Mount Rainier National Park started in 1899. The 1902 Yacolt Burn burned . Olympic National Park was established in 1938. George Vancouver explored Puget sound in 1792. Vancouver claimed it for Great Britain on 4 June 1792, naming it for one of his officers, Lieutenant Peter Puget. It became part of the Oregon Country, and became U.S. territory when the 1846 Oregon Treaty was signed. After arriving along the Oregon Trail, many settlers wandered north to what is now Washington