James Tilton

James Tilton (August 10, 1819, Wilmington, Delaware – November 23, 1878, Washington, D.C.) was the first Surveyor General of the Washington Territory, from August 1, 1854 to July 17, 1861. He was also a soldier and a politician.

James Tilton was born in Wilmington, Delaware, to Dr. James and Frances Gibson Tilton. The family moved to Indiana in 1827. He studied to become a surveyor, joined the United States Navy and was wounded twice in the Mexican–American War. He was discovered; Captain John Fleming intended to return him to his master and locked the boy up before sailing into Victoria on September 25. However, he was forced by a writ of habeas corpus to surrender the boy to official custody so his legal status could be determined. James Tilton lodged a protest, and the story was covered by newspapers ranging from the Victoria Colonist to the San Francisco Daily Evening Bulletin. After his defeat in an election for territorial delegate, he returned briefly to Indiana and then to the family home in Wilmginton, but he returned to the Pacific Northwest to work for the Northern Pacific Railroad Company and is almost certainly the "railroad surveyor James Tilton" credited with being the first to climb Denny Mountain in 1867. He eventually returned east and died in Washington, D.C., in 1878.

The Tilton River and Fort Tilton (near what is now Fall City, Washington) are both named in his honor.