By Chuck Haviland

The Byrd Mill road was built from Steilacoom to the Puyallup valley. Its construction was at the request of the Oregon Territorial Legislature.  It started in Steilacoom and proceeded Eastward.  From the beginning it was a separate road from the 1854 Old Military Road. The Byrd Mill Road is clearly defined on the ground and by the monuments which I’ve found.  The first monument (Figure # 1) that I have recovered is on the plateau above Steilacoom, near one of the entrances to Western State Hospital.  The brass plaques on it identify the two roads.  The next monument (Figure # 2) which I found was in a shopping center, it recounted the Indian Chief Leschi death.  The next monument (Figure # 6) which tied the Byrd Mill Road to the outfall at American Lake. The next point is a series of monuments at the park (known as Byrds Square) on S. 84th Street.  See Figures #3, 4, 5 and 7.  These 4 monuments affirm the location and relationship of Byrd Mill Road, not only as an access to Andrew Byrd’s sawmill and his grist mill, but also as an escape route from the Puyallup valley to Fort Steilacoom.

Figure #1 is a stone and mortar marker on Steilacoom Blvd. On this marker are several plaques with the following

Inscriptions:

1) “Congress appropriated $20,000 for the construction of a military road from Fort Steilacoom to Fort Walla Walla, the road was made passable  1853.”

2) “1857 Congress  appropriated $35000 for a military road from Steilacoom to Bellingham. This memorial erected by the Washington State Historical Society 1928.”

3) “Supplementing the appropriation made by Congress citizens helped build the military road through the Naches Pass to Walla Walla.”

Figure #2 is a boulder with the following inscribed on it: “LESCHI   Chief of the Nisquallies martyr to the vengeance of the unforgiving white man was hanged 300 yards S E from here February 19, 1858  erected 1963 by Pierce County Pioneer and Historical society”

Figure #3 is marble (?) plaque with the following inscriptions “In memory of the Fern Hill Boys who gave their lives in World War II  1941 -1945”

John C. Johnson                                               Emory H. Leamon

William J. Turner                                              Robert L. Marshall

Douglas Dean                                                     Harley W Buechler

Russell E Deritis                                                 Charles J Mulderig

Lawrence M Ganes                                             Arthur Raines

David B Morgan                                                 Gerald B Holmes

Wallace E Schwiesow                                        Verne Colwell

James H Kleyn                                                   James C Mohn

John R Kleyn                                                      Delbert G Berchot

William V Porter                                                Dean W Gustafson

Robert J England                                               Lorenz F Siegel

Earl S Thompson                                                Donald M Joy

Ernest Livermore                                              Kenneth C Schulz

Oscar J Rambeck

They died so that we might live as  free men

Figure #4 is a sign board with the following inscription In commemoration of Washington historical road number one (now 84th Street). The old covered wagon route also known as the Byrd’s Mill Road was established in 1852 by the Oregon Territorial legislature it extended from the Puyallup valley to Fort Steilacoom as an escape route the valley during the Indian Uprising of 1855. The road was re-established by the Washington State Legislature in 1941 as a tribute to  territorial pioneers.

Figure #5 is a small sign in this memorial park and is inscribed as follows “In honor of all veterans who served in the armed forces of the United States” —– dedicated June 14, 2000 by the fern hill community Partnership

Figure # 6 Is a plaque on a concrete marker near chambers creek– BYRD MILL SITE – Andrew F. Byrd built a dam and a sawmill here In 1853
100 yards downstream he built a gristmill

Figure # 7 is a block from the grist mill inscribed as follows “Millstone used in grinding grain at Byrd grist mill. Built 1857 at head Chambers Creek”