The Puget Sound region was formed by the collision and attachment of many
terranes ("microcontinents") to the
North American plate between about 50 to 10 million years ago. About 15,000 years ago during the
Vashon Glaciation, the Puget Sound region was covered by a lobe of the
Cordilleran ice sheet. The glacier that covered the area was about thick within the vicinity of Seattle. By the time
Captain George Vancouver found the Sound in 1792, early native people had already been there for over 5,000 years. Logging started as early 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 June 4, 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 people traveled north to what is now Washington and settled the Puget Sound area. The first non-indigenous settlement was New Market (now known as
Tumwater) in 1846. In 1853
Washington Territory was formed from part of
Oregon Territory. In 1888 the
Northern Pacific railroad line reached Puget Sound, linking the region to eastern states. For a long period Tacoma was noted for its large smelters where gold, silver, copper and lead ores were treated. Seattle was the primary port for trade with
Alaska and the rest of the country and for a time possessed a large shipbuilding industry. The region around eastern Puget Sound developed heavy industry during the period including
World War I and
World War II, and the
Boeing Company became established in the area. During World War II the Puget Sound area became a focus for the war industry, with Boeing producing many of the nation's
heavy bombers and the ports of Seattle,
Bremerton and Tacoma available for shipbuilding. The most important yards in the Sound during World War II were
Seattle-Tacoma Shipbuilding's Seattle and Tacoma yards, also known as
Todd Pacific,
Todd Seattle and
Todd Tacoma and the
Puget Sound Navy Yard. They produced a significant portion of
destroyers and
escort carriers. Smaller operations included
Winslow,
Associated Shipbuilders and the
Lake Washington Shipyard. Since 1995, Puget Sound has been recognized as an
American Viticultural Area by the
Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. ==Political geography==