Victor Smith and the Customs War
Near Port Angeles, Washington
The man most responsible for turning Port Angeles from a wilderness shore into a federal townsite was named Victor Smith, and he accomplished it through a combination of political connections and outright coercion. Smith was appointed Collector of Customs for Washington Territory in the early eighteen sixties, and he decided that the headquarters of his district should move from Port Townsend, the established and prosperous port, to Port Angeles, the new settlement he favored. Smith arrived in Port Townsend aboard a government vessel and pressed the reluctant Port Townsend customs officers to hand over their records.
He then shipped the records to Port Angeles and declared it the new port of entry for the territory. Smith had powerful connections in the Lincoln administration, and through them he secured the executive order that set aside thousands of acres as a federal reservation. The citizens of Port Townsend were furious, and Smith's methods drew sharp criticism.
He died in a shipwreck in eighteen sixty-five before his opponents could fully undo his work. Port Townsend is said to have eventually recovered the customs house, but Smith's enduring gift to Port Angeles was the Lincoln order itself, and the federal street grid the Army Corps laid out in its aftermath.
