What's a Tenalquot?

Tenalquot is a prairie in Thurston County. In the Lushootseed language it means "the best yet"- the Nisqually people cite it as the place that caused their wandering ancestors to stop and stay in the area. For centuries they maintained the prairie through controlled burns to promote the growth of camas and medicinal plants. The first European settlers were Glasgow and Linklater, Hudson Bay Company employees from Fort Nisqually, who founded an agricultural station and later became US citizens. In the 1850s the US government designated the trail from Vancouver Barracks to Fort Steilacoom a Military Road and built a blockhouse at the Deschutes River ford. Much of the Prairie was part of the Nisqually Reservation until the early 20th Century when government officials commandeered the area as part of Fort Lewis. Since then, the US military uses the prairie for occasional field maneuvers, preserving it from encroaching development.

Today the prairie remains mostly rural with few obvious signs of its early history. Passing through the prairie always reminds me that our history surrounds us, whether or not we see it.


Thanks for visiting!

-Ed