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According to various sources, the native name of the bay was either Tu-che-kup or Noo-sohk-um. On Nov. 8 , 1824 , John Work of the Hudson's Bay Company , while looking for potential sites for a trading post, recorded it as Soquamis Bay - a variation on the name of the Suquamish tribe which made its home on the western shore. The Wilkes Expedition surveyed the bay on May 10 , 1841 and named it for James Madison , the 4th president of the United States.

George A. Meigs built a lumber mill on the Bainbridge Island shore of the bay in 1854, and Port Madison was soon a booming mill town. The town of Port Madison became Kitsap County 's first County Seat , but after the economic depression of the 1890s closed the mill, the seat was relocated and Port Madison became a ghost town. Today, Port Madison is a residential area and a popular destination for boaters.


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