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Snohomish County is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. With a population of 827,957 as of the 2020 census, it is the third-most populous county in Washington, after nearby King and Pierce counties, and the 72nd-most populous in the United States. The county seat and largest city is Everett. The county forms part of the Seattle metropolitan area, which also includes King and Pierce counties to the south.
The county's western portion, facing Puget Sound and other inland waters of the Salish Sea, is home to the majority of its population and major cities. The eastern portion is rugged and includes portions of the Cascade Range, with few settlements along major rivers and most of it designated as part of Mount Baker–Snoqualmie National Forest. Snohomish County is bound to the north by Skagit County, to the east by Chelan County, to the south by King County, and to the west by Kitsap and Island counties.
Snohomish County was created out of Island County on January 14, 1861, and is named for the indigenous Snohomish people. It includes the Tulalip Indian Reservation, which was established by the 1855 Point Elliott Treaty, which relocated several indigenous Coast Salish groups to the reservation. The county seat was originally at the city of Snohomish until an 1897 election moved it to Everett. Since the mid-20th century, areas of Snohomish County have developed into an aerospace manufacturing center, largely due to the presence of Boeing in Everett, as well as bedroom communities for workers in Seattle.
Snohomish County now has 18 incorporated cities and 2 towns with their own local governments, in addition to developed unincorporated areas. It is connected to nearby areas by roads (including Interstate 5), railways, and transit systems. The county government is led by a five-member county council and chief executive elected by voters to four-year terms.
"Snohomish" comes from the name of the largest Native American tribe in the area when settlers arrived in the 19th century. The name is spelled Sduhubš (Sdoh-doh-hohbsh) in the Lushootseed language and has a disputed meaning with unclear origins. Indian agent Dr. Charles M. Buchanan, who spent 21 years with the Tulalips, once said that he had "never met an Indian who could give a meaning to the word Snohomish". Chief William Shelton, the last hereditary tribal chief of the Snohomish tribe, claimed that it meant "lowland people", a name associated with the tribe's location on the waters of the Puget Sound; other scholars have claimed "a style of union among them", "the braves", or "Sleeping Waters".
The name is also used for the Snohomish River, which runs through part of the county, and the City of Snohomish, the former county seat that was renamed after the formation of the county. The current spelling of the name was adopted by the Surveyor General of Washington Territory in 1857, with earlier documents and accounts using alternative spellings. John Work of the Hudson's Bay Company recorded the name "Sinnahmis" in 1824, while the Wilkes Expedition of 1841 used "Tuxpam" to describe the Snohomish River. The same river was named "Sinahomis" by Captain Henry Kellett in 1847, and was accepted by the U.S. government for several years.
Snohomish County was originally inhabited by several Coast Salish groups, predominantly settled along the western coastline and near the region's rivers. The Snohomish were the largest group and occupied an area from present-day Warm Beach to Shoreline, while Stillaguamish lived in the Stillaguamish River basin. The region was first charted and named by European explorers in the late 18th century, beginning with Captain George Vancouver and his British expedition. Vancouver arrived in Puget Sound and Port Gardner Bay on June 4, 1792, landing near present-day Everett.
The Treaty of Point Elliott was signed at present-day Mukilteo on January 22, 1855, marking the cession of Coast Salish territories in the Puget Sound lowlands. The Tulalip Indian Reservation was established to house the remaining tribes, including the Snohomish, Snoqualmie, and Skykomish. Snohomish County was created out of Island County's mainland areas and the northernmost portion of King County on January 14, 1861. The separation from Island County was the result of a petition by settlers to the territorial legislature that cited the difficulty of travel to Coupeville on Whidbey Island, the county seat at the time.
The new county was the first in Washington to have its boundaries defined by a land survey rather than natural boundaries. The territorial legislature designated Mukilteo, the area's largest settlement, as the temporary county seat in January 1861. The county government was permanently moved to Cadyville, later Snohomish, following an election on July 8. Residents north of the Snohomish River later proposed to be moved into Skagit County due to difficult travel to the county seat at Snohomish. After the incorporation of the city of Everett in 1893, the city's leaders attempted to move the county seat from Snohomish. A countywide general election on November 6, 1894, chose to relocate the county seat to Everett, amid controversy and allegations of illegal votes. After two years of litigation between the cities of Snohomish and Everett, the county seat was officially relocated to Everett in December 1896.
One of the first county censuses was taken in 1862 by Sheriff Salem A. Woods. Early important pioneers in the Snohomish County region included E. F. Cady of Snohomish, Emory C. Ferguson of Snohomish and Isaac Cathcart.
The early economy of Snohomish County relied on natural resources, namely timber and mining, alongside agriculture. The region was connected by railroads at the end of the 19th century, which also created new towns that experienced major population booms as emigrants arrived from other parts of the United States. The county was among the largest New Deal aid beneficiaries in Washington due to its troubled economy during the Great Depression; the Works Progress Administration built major projects around Snohomish County, while the Civilian Conservation Corps developed wilderness and recreational areas around several work camps.
During World War II, the county had several shipyards and airplane factories established to supply the United States Armed Forces. Several existing and new airfields were converted into military use, which would continue beyond the war. A post-war population boom brought new suburban development to Snohomish County, where bedroom communities were built alongside new highways to Seattle. In 1967, Boeing began construction of an aircraft assembly plant—the world's largest building—in Everett for its Boeing 747 program. The U.S. Navy located a major homeport in Everett that opened in 1994.
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