Fort Nisqually was operated and served by Scottish gentlemen, Native Americans, Kanakas (Hawaiians), French-Canadians, Metis, West Indians, Englishmen and, in the last final years before the British cession of their claims to Puget Sound with the Oregon Treaty, a handful of American settlers.
The river is named for John Kalama, a Hawaiian employee of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) and a Kanaka who made a living making containers for the salted salmon exported by the HBC.