In March 1868, McCarver then moved north and helped found Tacoma, Washington. He first went to Olympia, capital of the then Washington Territory, and procured a map to study the area and consider the most likely terminus of the then planned transcontinental railroad. On April 1, 1868, McCarver arrived at Commencement Bay, a likely railroad terminus on Puget Sound due to its proximity to Snoqualmie Pass, and then purchased the land of Job Carr. He continued buying up available land along Commencement Bay in anticipation of the railroad. McCarver also convinced Hanson, Ackerson & Company to build a sawmill in the area while he platted a town site and sold-off lots. McCarver wanted to call the city Commencement City, but after a suggestion by Philip Ritz of the Northern Pacific Railroad, McCarver changed his mind. Anthony Carr, Job's son, had already filed a plat for Tacoma on November 30, 1869. McCarver chose to call his neighboring plat Tacoma City, when he filed his plat map on December 3, 1869. The word Tacoma may be the purported Native American name for nearby Mount Rainier. Alternatively, it may have been used by Native Americans in the Puget Sound region to describe all snow-topped peaks in the region, and was not specific to Mount Rainier.