Tumwater Falls is a stepped series of cascades on the Deschutes River near Budd Inlet at the south end of Puget Sound, formed after the Pleistocene ice age when the river cut through glacial debris and met volcanic bedrock. Its location made it a natural landmark and the site of New Market, regarded as the first European settlement in Western Washington. In the late 19th century, bridges and a hydroelectric plant were built there, and the dam still stands. A 1952 fish ladder opened the upper river to hatchery salmon, and land donated in 1962 became Tumwater Falls Park, now a major local attraction.