100- Bucoda & the Legend of Seatco

Aaron Webster arrived in what is now Bucoda in 1854 and became the area's first American immigrant. Webster sold his claim and sawmill to Oliver Shead in the 1860s, and Shead gave the community the official name "Seatco," which is a native term for an evil spirit or demon.
In 1872, the Northern Pacific Railroad built a station at Seatco. Eventually, using the first two initials of three major investors in regional industries—Buckley, Coulter, and David—the town was christened Bucoda.
Investors started mining coal in the region in the 1880s, but the coal was of poor quality, and the activities were irregular. Bucoda served as the first territorial jail for Washington from 1874 through 1888. Since the prisoners were forced to perform hazardous and hard physical labor in the local industrial sector, it developed a reputation as a harsh institution. When the state opened the Washington State Prison in Walla Walla, Washington, it was abandoned. On the 7th of June, 1910, Bucoda would formally be incorporated.
Listen now to learn more about the fascinating history of this Thurston County town!
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