Curious about Tumwater? A new book sheds light on its history
Don Trosper, author of “The Tumwater We Never Knew,” has always known his family’s place in history.
For one thing, Trosper Road was named for his great-grandfather, who came to Tumwater in 1892.
“People say, ‘Like Trosper Road? Have you lived here all your life?’ and I say, ‘Not yet,’ ” Trosper said, chuckling.
He grew up not far from that road, on land that has been in his family since Jesse Ferguson arrived in 1845 with the first non-native Americans to settle permanently in what would become Washington State.
“The Trosper homestead had many generations living on the property and still does,” Trosper told the Olympian. “We have about 25 acres. I grew up hearing my grandpa’s stories. I always had that sense of deep roots.”
Those experiences kindled Trosper’s excitement about history, an excitement he aims to share in the new book, a collection of short stories intended, as the cover proclaims, “for people who love history but don’t realize it yet.”
“Quite often, people say that history was their least favorite subject in school because it was so dry and boring,” he said. “One reason is that it was taught in a dry and boring way. It was also not focusing on local history and local stories, which make it come alive.”
“The Tumwater We Never Knew” weaves together historical details both grand and intimate with folklore, legend and flashes of humor.
In fact, Trosper starts each story with a joke.
The piece about Old Highway 99, which is in fact one of many ends to the Oregon Trail, begins with this one:
“A Washington State patrolman once pulled over a car full of elderly women and asked if they could drive a little faster since they were holding up traffic.
“The driver said, ‘But officer, all the signs read 25.’
“The patrolman politely replied, ‘Madam, that’s the state highway number, not the speed limit.’
“The driver said, ‘Oh, my! That explains why the others were screaming earlier when we were driving on Old Highway 99.’”
The book came out of Trosper’s years of researching and writing about local history, but its timing is a result of the pandemic.
“In recent years, the Olympia Tumwater Foundation has been focusing on live events at the Schmidt House,” Trosper said. “When COVID-19 hit, everything was shut down. That inspired me to get back to my first love, and this is writing and researching.
“I took all the files we had collected, newspaper articles and journals and whatever I could find, and made them into a book. And that was my project during the COVID shutdown.”
He’s been posting Tumwater tales on the Schmidt House Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/Schmidt-House-921894651268907), too.
“If this book succeeds like we think it’s going to, we can think about a second,” he said. “I have enough material already.”
“The Tumwater We Never Knew”
What: Signed copies of the book, with 40 short stories about Tumwater from its founding in 1845 to the present, are available through the Olympia Tumwater Foundation.
Cost: A $50 donation to the foundation’s history programs is suggested, with a lower price available for multiple copies.
More information: 360-786-8117, history@olytumfoundation.org.
This story was originally published October 19, 2021 at 5:45 AM.