Editing Spanaway, Washington (section)

==History==

The [[Hudson's Bay Company]], headquartered at [[Fort Nisqually]], had control of this region until 1863. Company maps and journals show the company's subsidiary, the [[Pugets Sound Agricultural Company]], raised cattle, grain, and sheep at "Spanueh Station" on the south and east shores of "Spanueh Lake." Spanueh is the Hudson Bay Company's spelling of the native [[Lushootseed language|Lushootseed]] ''spadue'', which means "dug roots" referring to an area where [[Camassia|camas]] and other edible roots can be found. Lushootseed underwent a loss of nasal consonants in the 1800s, so "Spanueh" simply transcribes an older pronunciation of what is now "Spadue".<ref>{{cite book |editor1-first= Ewa |editor1-last= Czaykowska-Higgins |editor2-first= Marvin Dale |editor2-last= Kinkade |title= Salish Languages and Linguistics: Theoretical and Descriptive Perspectives |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=VBvD52-QKcAC&q=lushootseed+nasal+shift&pg=PA53 |series= Trends in Linguistics: Studies and Monographs 107 |date= June 1998 |publisher= [[Walter de Gruyter#De Gruyter Mouton|Mouton de Gruyter]] |location= [[Berlin]] |isbn= 9783110154924 |page= 53}}
*{{cite journal |author=Nancy Mattina |date=Spring 2000 |title=Reviewed Work: ''Salish Languages and Linguistics: Theoretical and Descriptive Perspectives'' |journal=Anthropological Linguistics |volume=42 |issue=1 |pages=107–112 |jstor=30028747}}</ref>

The first white settler to take a donation claim by the lake, Henry de la Bushalier, tried to rename the lake after himself.  That faded away with his death one year later. In 1890 the area was renamed "Lake Park" as a planned community by the Lake Park Land, Railway and Improvement Company, which bought all the nearby land east of the lake and built a rail line to its "recreation mecca" on the shore of "Spanaway Lake." When [[Mount Rainier National Park]] was established in 1899, tourists would take the train to its terminus in Lake Park and from there make the two-day journey to Mount Rainier, making Spanaway the original "gateway" to [[Mount Rainier]]. The journey was made by [[stagecoach]], with an overnight stop in [[Eatonville, Washington|Eatonville]]; the route was in operation as early as 1893.<ref>http://earlyeatonvillewa.blogspot.com/p/settlement-of-eatonville-prior-to.html Early Eatonville</ref>

Although the [[United States Board on Geographic Names|U.S. Board on Geographic Names]] recognized the community of "Lake Park" in 1897, it had to very belatedly reverse its decision in 1970 to accept common usage: Spanaway (Spanueh).

In the 21st century, several attempts were made to incorporate Spanaway and neighboring communities into a city.<ref>{{cite news |last=Drew |first=James |date=March 13, 2020 |title=New 'mega-city' in Pierce County? Budget provides money for study |url=https://www.thenewstribune.com/news/politics-government/article241153856.html |work=The News Tribune |accessdate=February 3, 2023}}</ref>