Deception Pass

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View from bridge looking east

Deception Pass is a narrow body of water separating Whidbey Island from Fidalgo Island, in the northwest corner of Washington State.

Captain George Vancouver and his navigator and First Mate Joseph Whidbey are credited with naming Deception Pass in 1792. One explanation behind the name holds that both officers mistook Whidbey Island for a peninsula, and named the passage Deception Pass for the way the island had deceived them. The second explanation is that the strong current during the change from high to low tide caused them to mistake the waterway for a river, and believed that they had stumbled across the fabled Northwest Passage. Due to the current's deception, Deception Pass was so named.

In the waters of Deception Pass, just east of the present-day Deception Pass Bridge is a small island known as Ben Ure's Island. The island became infamous for its activity of smuggling illegal Chinese immigrants for local labor. Ure and his partner Lawrence "Pirate" Kelly were quite profitable at their smuggling business and played hide-and-seek with the United States Customs Department for years. Ure's own operation at Deception Pass in the late 1880's was comprised of Ure and his Native-American wife. Local tradition has it that his wife would camp on the nearby Strawberry Island (which was visible from the open sea) and signal him with a fire on the island's summit to alert him to whether or not it was safe to bring his illegal cargo ashore. For transport, Ure would tie the illegal immigrants up in burlap bags so that if customs agents would approach he could easily toss the bags overboard. The tidal currents would carry the discarded immigrant's bodies to San Juan Island to the north and west of the pass and many ended up in what became known as Dead Man's Bay.

Between the years 1910 and 1914, a prison rock quarry was operated on the Whidbey Island side of the pass. Nearby barracks housed some 40 prisoners, members of an honors program out of Walla Walla State Penetentiary and the prison population was made up of all kinds of prisoners, including murderers. Guards stood watch at the quarry as the prisoners cut the rock into gravel and loaded it onto barges located at the base of the cliff atop the pass' waters. The quarried rock was then taken by barge to the Seattle waterfront. The camp was dismantled in 1924 and although abandoned as a quarry, the remains of the camp can still be found. The location, however, is hazardous and over the years there have been several accidental casualties when visitors have ventured onto the steep cliffs.

Upon completion in July 1935, the 976 foot span Deception Pass Bridge connected Whidbey Island to the tiny Pass Island, and Pass Island to Fidalgo Island. Prior to the bridge, travellers and businessmen would use a inter-island ferry to commute between Fidalgo and Whidbey islands. The pass is today surrounded by Deception Pass State Park, the most-visited park in Washington state with over 2 million visitors each year. The park was established in the 1930s when the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built roads, trails, and buildings in order to develop the park.

Deception Pass is a major tourist destination and is noted for its scenic views and fast flowing tide water changes.

Deception Pass is also the name of a webcomic, though it takes place in a fictional town bearing the same name.