Early Tumwater-
When did other settlers come to New Market?

The little settlement of New Market was growing. The Simmons-Bush party had survived the first long, hard winter, and now had farms, homes, and a gristmill. Pioneers coming west on the Oregon Trail heard about New Market. Many of them decided to come to South Puget Sound to stake their land claims. New Market pioneers encouraged them to come by writing to their friends and families back east, telling them about the nice weather, good farming, and about the Deschutes Falls, which could be used to power factories and mills. The New Market pioneers remembered how hard it had been to get started in a new land, and they helped the newcomers. Mrs. Andrew Chambers, a pioneer who settled in what later became Lacey, came through Tumwater in 1847. She said:

"We then came to New Market. The men of this settlement all turned out and helped us to cut a wagon road to Chambers Prairie, a distance of 3 ½ miles. The old settlers here were glad to see the newcomers and they were ready and willing to help us." (From The History of Tumwater vol. 2 by Don Trosper)

An important family who came to New Market was the Crosby family, who arrived in 1850. Instead of traveling in covered wagons across the country on the Oregon Trail, the Crosby family came by sailing ship, all the way around South America and then back north to Puget Sound in Washington Territory. Clanrick Crosby, a sea captain from Maine, bought Michael T. Simmons’ entire land claim, which included the land around all three of the waterfalls. He became the new owner of the sawmill Michael T. Simmons had built.