Editing Kitsap County, Washington (section)

==History==
The Kitsap Peninsula was originally acquired by the U.S. Government in three pieces by three treaties negotiated with the Native American tribes:

* The [[Treaty of Medicine Creek]], signed December 26, 1854, ratified March 3, 1855
* The [[Treaty of Point Elliott]], signed January 22, 1855, ratified April 11, 1859
* [[Point No Point Treaty]], signed January 26, 1855, ratified March 8, 1859.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Clark |first=William G. |date=Summer 1985 |title=Fishing in a Sea of Court Orders: Puget Sound Salmon Management 10 Years After the Boldt Decision |url=http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/salmon/fishing_in_a_sea_of_court_orders_-_puget_sound_salmon_management.pdf |url-status=dead |journal=North American Journal of Fisheries Management |volume=5 |issue=3B |pages=417–434 |doi=10.1577/1548-8659(1985)5<417:FIASOC>2.0.CO;2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170221171104/http://wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/salmon/fishing_in_a_sea_of_court_orders_-_puget_sound_salmon_management.pdf |archive-date=February 21, 2017 |access-date=June 28, 2017}}</ref>

Territorial Governor [[Isaac Stevens]] represented the United States in all three negotiations.

When the [[Washington Territory]] was organized in 1853, the Kitsap Peninsula was divided between King County to the east and Jefferson County to the west. Official public papers were required to be filed at the county seat, which meant Peninsula business people had to travel to either Seattle or Port Townsend to transact business. On the understanding that they would "bring home a new county," area mill operators [[George Anson Meigs|George Meigs]] and [[William Renton]] supported the candidacies to the Territorial Legislature of two employees from their respective mills: [[Timothy Duane Hinckley]] from Meigs' and S.B. Wilson from Renton's.

Upon arrival in Olympia, the two men introduced bills to create a new county, to be named "Madison". Representative Abernathy from Wahkiakum County proposed an amendment to name it "Slaughter", in recognition of Lt. William Alloway Slaughter, who had been killed in 1855 in the [[Yakima War]]. The bill passed as amended. It was signed by Governor [[Isaac Stevens]] on January 16, 1857. The county seat would be located in Meigs's mill town at Port Madison.<ref>[[#Bowen|Bowen ''et al.'' (1981)]], p. 11.</ref>

In Slaughter County's first election on July 13, 1857, voters were given the opportunity to rename the county. The options were "Mill", "Madison" or "Kitsap". Slaughter was not one of the options. Kitsap won by an overwhelming majority.<ref>[[#Bowen|Bowen ''et al.'' (1981)]], p. 12.</ref>

Kitsap County is home to several major [[United States Navy]] facilities, collectively named [[Naval Base Kitsap]], and grew in response to wars and conflicts in the 20th century. Bremerton, the site of the [[Puget Sound Naval Shipyard]], peaked at 80,000 residents during [[World War II]]. [[Naval Submarine Base Bangor]] was developed in the 1980s to store nuclear weapons for submarines and contributed to the county's population growth during the decade from 147,000 to 190,000.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Farley |first=Josh |date=August 5, 2020 |title=Kitsap's nuclear legacy: county has grown under its protectors and protesters |url=https://www.kitsapsun.com/story/news/2020/08/05/kitsaps-nuclear-legacy-has-protectors-protestors/5502825002/ |access-date=January 27, 2024 |work=Kitsap Sun}}</ref>