Whidbey Island and Deception Bridge

Deception Bridge

Picture by Jafar Shameem

From our home in Woodiville, Jafar covered the distance in three and half hours to reach Whidbey and two and half hours to return from it. The onward journey was entirely by road which enabled us to halt at the Deception Bridge while the homecoming was partially by road and on a ferry. It has the second oldest town in Washington state, Whidbey does have history though not very ancient. Sharing it anecdotally:

Whidbey is approximately 40 miles (65 km) long, it is one of the largest offshore islands in the continental United States. Its chief towns are Oak Harbor, Coupeville, and Langley. Captain George  Vancouver, named it after his sailing master  Joseph Whidbey , who led the expedition that discovered Deception Pass in 1792.

One day Indians, representing every Puget Sound tribe, arrived and set up camp at Penn’s Cove on the east side of Whidbey Island where two settlers, Glasgow and Rabbeson were located. Within a three-mile radius of the two men’s cabin, there were about eight thousand of these men. The Indians constructed  a brush and kelp fence across the width of the island.. Then they went some distance to the south and used dogs and “whippers-in” to herd deer and other game towards the fence line. Before the day was over the Indians had captured 60 to 70 deer and large quantities of other game and had the biggest barbecue. Then the men  held a dance and the immigrants hid until the excitement was over. One of the settlers had an Indian wife, who told them that the Natives had expressed a desire to force the white settlers to leave Whidbey Island and other settlements. 

On the third day of the Indian gathering, they held a “big talk” about this and allowed the settlers to attend. The first speaker, who was influential with Indian tribes, spoke very bitterly against the Hudson’s Bay Company, and urged that all the tribes combine to attack and destroy their stations, divide the goods and stock, and kill or drive off the British.

Another Indian, said that if they did not act the Britishers would soon overrun the country, and the Indians would then be transported in fire ships [ships with cannons] to some distant country where the sun never shone, and there be left to die; few Indians who escaped death would be made slaves. He urged that it was the time to strike terror into the white man’s heart and avoid future trouble.The discussion between the Indians continued and hard words were spoken.

Outnumbered 4,000 to one, the two settlers took the Indians’ comments seriously.  They abandoned their Whidbey Island cabin, left their household goods and farm implements behind, and headed back to the settlements at the south.

Do listen to Woody Allen for further facts about the island.

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Picture by Jafar Shameem

Picture by Jafar Shameem

Picture by Jafar Shameem

Deception Pass, the narrow strait between Whidbey and Fidalgo Islands, was named by Captain Geor’ge Vancouver.  While exploring the area in their small boats the crew discovered that the waterway here was narrow, striking and, in the fog, haunting. Vancouver, feeling that he had been ‘deceived’, in frustration he changed it  from  Port Gardner and  wrote on his chart ‘Deception Pass. The Deception bridge is the name of two lane bridge which connects Whitbey Island to Fidalgo Island.

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Picture by Jafar Shameem

We stopped at Langley, a quaint little town:

For lunch at one of the rather busy restaurants.

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“A page of history is worth a pound of logic.” Anonymous.

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