Puget Park, Tacoma

Puget Park is one of the area’s early public parks, donated on March 17, 1888, by developer Allen C. Mason. Although modest in size, it opens onto Puget Gulch and the Puget Creek Natural Area, giving the park more depth than its small entrance suggests. Mason also shaped the surrounding neighbourhood through a streetcar line that crossed the gulch by way of the historic Proctor bridge. This link between parkland, ravine, and early urban growth gives Puget Park significance beyond recreation.

The park also had a brief brush with gold-rush excitement. In August 1891, a local newspaper reported gold in Puget Park after timber-clearers found sparkling dust in the gulch. Tests confirmed traces of real gold, but not enough to mine. Mason reportedly joked that, had he known about it, he might not have donated the land so freely.

Today, the park is valued for its wooded ravine trail and its role in urban watershed recovery. After years of illegal dumping, volunteers began cleaning the gulch in 1994 and released thousands of salmon fry into the creek. Adult coho and chum salmon later returned to spawn in 2000, 2002, and 2003, marking a clear restoration success. Along the trail, visitors can see the Proctor bridge rising above the ravine and may find handmade walking sticks left at trailheads for the steep, uneven sections.