BRIGHAM CITY

Abandoned settlement on Hawk's Point near North River on Highway 105.

Capt. David K. Weldon and wife came to Shoalwater Bay from San Francisco in 1852 and built a home and store on Weldon"s Point (Hawk's Point). Weldon laid out a town around his store and called it Brigham City. The name was bestowed in honor of Weldon's partner, another early bay visitor, Captain Brigham.

In 1854 the state legislature created Chehalis County (renamed Grays Harbor County in 1915) and designated Weldon's place "in Bruceville" as the first county seat. Weldon was elected county treasurer. The county seat designation was changed to the stockade at Bruceville (Bruceport) later in the year when it was discovered that Weldon's place was not in Bruceville.

Weldon had another partner, Chehalis County Commissioner George Watkins, who built the first sawmill on Shoalwater Bay, on the banks of North River and Salmon Creek, near Brigham City. The partners were soon arguing over the ownership of the mill and went to court. The lawsuit, a fever epidemic at the mill, and a freshet which nearly destroyed the mill, were the end of Brigham City.

Weldon returned to San Francisco, Brigham was lost at sea bringing supplies to the settlement, Watkins moved to the Cascades where he was killed by Indians, and the remains of the mill were dismantled and sold.

Brigham City disappeared from maps of the bay. John Hawks and family were the only settlers found living on the abandoned settlement site in 1858.

Weldon's Point is now known as Hawk's Point.