Editing Fox Island, Washington (section)

==History==
The island was part of the territory of the [[Steilacoom people]], a [[Coast Salish]] tribe.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Indian Claims Commission |title=Indian Claims Commission Decisions, Volume 11, Part 1 |pages=332–33|date=1978 |publisher=Native American Rights Fund |location=Washington, DC |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_6lFAQAAIAAJ}}</ref>

In 1792, during the [[Vancouver Expedition]], [[Peter Puget]] led an exploration party through southern Puget Sound. After an encounter with local Native tribes ended with Puget ordering a musket fired as warning, the exploration party retreated to Fox Island, where they made camp for the night.<ref name="morgan">{{cite book |last= Morgan |first= Murray |title= Puget's Sound |url= https://archive.org/details/pugetssoundnarra00mor_x19 |url-access= registration |year= 1979 |publisher= University of Washington Press |isbn= 0-295-95842-1}}</ref>

In 1856, during the [[Puget Sound War]], most of the [[Puyallup (tribe)|Puyallup]] and "non-hostile" [[Nisqually (tribe)|Nisqually]] Indians, totaling about 500 people, were removed from their homelands and displaced to Fox Island. John Swan was assigned to supervise the internment camp and distribute food rations provided by the government (territorial government). On January 5, 1856, [[Chief Leschi]] and other "hostile" Indians arrived at Fox Island with a flotilla of canoes. Trusting Swan, they had come to talk about the war and how to resolve it. While the hostile Indians were on Fox Island, Captain Maurice Maloney took the steamship ''Beaver'' to the island, hoping to rescue Swan, but forgot to bring landing craft and was unable to send men ashore. Before Maloney could figure out what to do, Swan came to the shore and paddled a canoe to the ''Beaver''. He told Maloney that there had been no violence, urged him to not come ashore, and said he had promised to return to the island, which he did. Maloney returned to Steilacoom and, along with other military officers, took another steamship, the ''USS Active'' from [[Steilacoom, Washington|Steilacoom]] to [[Seattle, Washington|Seattle]] to get a howitzer (which they failed to acquire), then back to Fox Island, hoping to capture Chief Leschi. But by the time the ''Active'' returned, more than 30 hours after Leschi had arrived on Fox Island, the hostile Indians had left.<ref name="morgan"/>

By August 1856 the war was essentially over. Governor [[Isaac Stevens]] went to the Indian encampment on Fox Island to renegotiate the 1854 [[Treaty of Medicine Creek]], which had been a major factor in the outbreak of war. Stevens agreed to new, larger reservations for both the Puyallup and Nisqually tribes.<ref name="morgan"/>

The first non-Indians settled on Fox island in 1856, just after the war ended. One of the first real estate transactions was in 1881 when 56.5 acres (22.6 hectares) were sold for $118. By 1908 there were about 60 homes scattered across the island.

The most important change to this community happened in 1954 when the Fox Island Bridge was completed, connecting Fox Island to the mainland. This allowed easy access to businesses, schools, and medical facilities outside the island. During the construction a historical Indian canoe was found preserved in the mud, which can be visited in the Fox Island history museum. In 1956 the population of the island was 120, by 2000 it had grown to more than 2,800.

Cartoonist [[Gary Larson]] visited Fox Island frequently as a child. He has called Fox Island a "wondrous place" and credits the island's swamps and wildlife with inspiring his interest in nature.<ref>{{cite news|title=Larson is drawn to the wild side|url=http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/2006-11-20-larson-cover-usat_x.htm|access-date=24 January 2016|newspaper=[[USA Today]]|date=22 November 2006}}</ref>

[[File:SSBN 609 - Sam Houston - aground on Fox Island.jpg|thumb|Nuclear submarine Sam Houston aground on the southwest shore of Fox Island|alt=Grounded submarine Sam Houston with a nearby tug]]

On April 29, 1988, at 6 PM local time, a nuclear-powered US Navy submarine, the [[USS Sam Houston (SSBN-609)]], ran aground on Fox Island while operating in nearby [[Carr Inlet]]. The ship remained aground for approximately 10 hours until high tide returned and tugboats were brought in to unstick the ship. No damage was done to the island, and the ship entered a drydock at the Bangor Naval Submarine Base for minor repairs to its hull.<ref>{{cite news|title=Atomic Craft Aground Off Washington Coast|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/05/01/us/atomic-craft-aground-off-washington-coast.html|access-date=19 July 2012|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=1 May 1988}}</ref>

In recent years, Fox Island has become a wealthy [[exurb]] of [[Tacoma, Washington|Tacoma]], largely because of the amount of waterfront property on the island and because of the island's location between the Olympic Mountains and Mount Rainier; a large number of the island's residential properties have views. Based on [[Washington locations by per capita income|per capita income]], one of the more reliable measures of affluence, Fox Island ranks 29th of the 522 ranked areas in the state of Washington.