Historical articles accepted for publication may be edited by the editors to conform to size and other requirements. Opinions expressed by the authors are not necessarily those of the historical society. Al1 Rights Reserved. Reprinting of any material approved by special permission from the Pacific County Historical Society. Second class postage paid at South Bend, Washington.

     The Chinook Indians of the Lower Columbia River, the Chehalis Indians, and the related tribes of Shoalwater (Willapa) Bay had no written language.  They depended on a centuries old oral tradition to perpetuate their rich cultural heritage.  The oral tradition of these tribes was no different than the oral tradition of other cultures on other continents across the span of centuries; it was used to educate and entertain.  Indian oral tradition kept alive ancestral history, religious beliefs, myths and legends, and provided instruction in tribal customs.
     The richness of Chinook and Chehalis mythology was a result of the resourceful and inventive nature of the Chinook and Chehalis people and the temperate climate they lived in.  The mild climate and bountiful environment allowed them ample leisure time to develop a communal fiction explaining creation and the natural phenomena and geographical features which defined their world.  A world populated by giants, doctors / magicians, monsters, guardian spirits, and anthropomorphic animals and spirits.  The recorded Indian folklore in written form with critical annotations.
     There is no single source, or reference, for the communal fiction of the tribes of Shoalwater Bay and the north shore of the Lower Columbia River.  There are, however, several primary and secondary sources available. The collection which follows this introduction is an attempt to put the available material in one place for interested readers, but it is not a complete collection.  Many Shoalwater Bay myths have no doubt been lost or forgotten, while others may be buried in unpublished documents known to more scholarly historians than myself.  (1)
     The criteria I used in the compilation of this collection were:

1. Each story had to be part of the communal fiction developed by either the Chinook, of Chehalis, people who once lived within the boundaries of present-day Pacific County.
2. They had to fall within the definition of the myth, or communal fiction, and not legend, which might be inaccurate and fanciful, but has greater pretense to historicity. (e.g. L. R. Williams "Battle of the Indians" in Our Pacific County, 1930, page 46-49).
3. When more than one source for a myth was available the more entertaining or coherent version was used (other sources cited).
4. Myths with long, or ornately wordy, narratives were rewritten or abridged to fit available space (other versions cited).

Chinook Indian Tribe: "A Chinook account of their origin was given to me by Mr. Swan of Shoalwater Bay, to this effect:  An old women and two young girls came from a country 'far to the north' (of) the Chinook.  The girls one day were wishing for husbands, that they might have children, when a man appeared and told them if they would look into the other world, they should see their husbands.  He made the earth open and they looked down and saw two young men, all apparently of fire.  They were frightened and told their mother, who was also alarmed.  At night the young men came and stayed with them.  In the morning they went up above, and became stars, and the girls followed them, but their children became the Chinooks and peopled the country."
     -quote from Oregon Historical Quarterly, December 1955, "George Gibbs' Account of Indian Mythology in Oregon and Washington Territories," by Ella E. Clark, p.325.

Chinook and Chehalis Indian Tribes:  "The tale of the origin of mankind, or rather of their tribe.  The Chinook and Chehalis appear to have the same account that was related to me several times by different Indians, but they did not agree together in detail.  The substance of the tradition is this:
     "Ages ago, an old man named Toolux (or the South Wind), while traveling to the north, met an old woman, named Quoots-hooi, who was an ogress and a giantess.  He asked her for food, when she gave him a net, telling him that she had nothing to eat, he must go and try to catch some fish.  He accordingly dragged the net, and succeeded in catching a grampus, or as the Indians called it, 'a little whale.'  He was about to cut the fish with his knife, when the old woman cried out to him to take a sharp shell, and not to cut the fish crossways, but to split it down the back. Without giving heed to what she said, cut the fish across the side and was about to take off a piece of blubber, but the fish immediately changed into an immense bird, that when flying completely obscured the sun, and the noise made by its wings shook the earth.  This bird, which they called the Hahness, then flew away to the north and lit on the top of the Saddleback Mountain, near the Columbia River.  Toolux and the old woman then journeyed north in search of Hahness, and one day, while Quoots-hooi was engaged in picking berries on the side of the mountain, she found the nest of the thunder-bird, full of eggs which she commenced breaking and eating and from these mankind were produced.
     "The Thunder-bird came back, and finding its nest destroyed, returned to Toolux for redress; but neither of them ever after could find the ogress, although they regularly returned to the north every year.
     "It is probably this tradition which has caused their present superstitious beliefs that the first salmon caught must not be cut across, but must be split down the back, and then split in thin flakes.  If it should be cut contrary to their practice, then all the salmon will leave, and no more be taken that season.  The same result would ensue if a salmon's heart should be lost or eaten by a dog."
     -quote from The Northwest Coast; or, Three Years at Shoalwater Bay, James G. Swan, 1857 page 203-204.  (2)

Giesy's Crossing:  On the hill at this place, Skah-no-e-tlin (wolf), Tuh-whee (fisher), Whah-tahk (deer), Skip-whah (rabbit), sat down to play a gambling game of "Stuch-ah-luk-un."  The winner was to have a choice of the others for dinner.  Wolf and fisher both tried to win by cheating, the jumped up and ran to save their lives.  They have been running ever since to avoid being dinner.  (3)
     -rewritten story from Gertrude Lilly Bloomhart interview, WPA Project 1936.

Wilson Creek:  Once there was a lodge of several Indian families at the head of the tide water on Tlugh-ah-won (Wilson Creek).  When the men all went hunting for several days, Skah-no-e-tlin (wolf) forced his way into the flimsy lodge and devoured the family members left behind.  The hunters returned to their destroyed home and grieved for their loved ones.  Shortly after, the men left their lodge, never to return.  No other band of Indians was ever known to fish or hunt on Tlugh-ah-won after that day.
     -rewritten story from Gertrude Lilly Bloomhart interview, WPA Project 1936.

Wilson Creek Mound:  "At some distance above the mouth of Wilson Creek, near Willapa, stands a great, large, oval shaped hill which looks very much like a large grave.  Indian traditions relate that the young men of the 'Whilapah' tribe, while fishing on that stream, caught great quantities of salmon, and in preparing them for cooking, cut the fish crosswise.  The act made the great thunder-bird angry, and he sent the 'Memaloosetillicum' (dead people) after them, to take the young warriors and enclose them in a huge cavern over which was heaped a great mound of earth.  For several suns the salmon were not permitted to run up the Willapa River."  This mound is located on a farm near the junction of the Monohon Landing Road and Ward Creek Road.
     -quote from Our Pacific County by L. R. Williams page 42.

Black Lake:  "Near Ilwaco lived a young Indian chief named Westwind.  He made daily trips to Shoalwater Bay to see Katonka, who was the daughter of the Whilapah chief.  During the spring and summer the tribe lived on Baby Island where they fished for salmon.
     "Down the waters of Ford's Lake and on through the waters of Black Lake and Talilt (Tarlatt) Slough sped the swift canoe of Westwind as he nightly visited the dark haired princess of the Whilapahs.  The two lakes, according to Indian tradition, were connected by a large tunnel.  It was dark and many spirits made their homes there.  The great spirit was unkind to the Whilapahs, as he did not permit many salmon to run on Shoalwater Bay up the Bear River.  He liked the Chinook Indians who lived on the Columbia River better, and made many fish run up that stream.
     "One day Westwind went out on the bay in his canoe and frightened great schools of salmon through the opening into Shoalwater Bay.  Katonka's father was pleased and for the kind act, he promised her to Westwind.  As that young chief was returning one night from Shoalwater Bay, and was passing through the tunnel, the great spirit caused the earth to shake.  It trembled and fell, burying the young chief."  Katonka for years, made nightly visits to the spot, searching for Westwind.  Indian tradition tells that when passing the lake today, there may still be heard the faint voice of an Indian girl calling to her lover."
     -quote from Our Pacific County by L. R. Williams, page 39.

Bruceport:  The land between Bruceport Park and Stony Point was once the site of an important village called Wa-HOOT-San, which means fire-owl.  The village took its name from Owl who introduced fire to the Shoalwater Bay tribe.  Owl had decided to kill Eagle because of his cruelty.  He prepared himself by practicing archery with flint tipped arrows.  While shooting at the rocky cliff near Stony Point, sparks from the arrowheads created fire which burned the trees and blackened the rocks.  In his excitement, Owl, who had been silent previously, called out his name, Wa-HOOT-San, the first and last syllables so quiet that only the Indian people could hear them.
     For bringing them the wonderful gift of fire, the first Fire Dance on Shoalwater Bay was held in honor of Owl.
     -rewritten version of myth in The Sou'wester, Summer 1971, page 36.

Stony Point:  "Stony Point is a narrow strip of land, or rather sandy clay, with a little soil on the top, extending in the Bay (Willapa Bay) some three or four hundred rods.  It has been washed away by repeated storms so that now it is not more than ten rods wide, perfectly precipitous, with an elevation of some sixty feet from the water.  It is approached either by a path from the end next the Bay, or from its junction with the main land.  At that time it was thickly covered with spruce trees, and a thick undergrowth of vine maple, sallal bushes, vines, and other obstructions; and as the time of our visit no white man had ever had occasion to go upon it, we expected to have quite a job.  This promontory rests on boulders of basaltic rocks, which have been washed bare as the waves of the Bay have encroached on the clayey (sic) soil of the Point.  These rocks are remarkable from the fact that they are the only rocks of the kind that are to be found in the Bay.  They appear at some period to have been subjected to the action of fire.  The Indian tradition relating to them is that ages ago, a celebrated medicine-man or doctor, accompanied by his brother, came from the north on a visit to the Bay for the purpose of obtaining clams.  One day, while wading in the water for crabs, the brother of the doctor fell into a deep channel, where he was seized by some great sea monster and swallowed.  His lengthened absence from home caused much anxiety, and the doctor, by his divination, ascertained what was the cause.  At that time giants, or strong men, lived in the mountains near the Bay.  These the doctor caused to bring huge stones, while he himself collected great firs, dried spruce, and other trees wherewith to build a great fire.  When this was done, the stones were piled on the top of the wood after the present method the Indians have of heating stones for cooking purposes; and when the wood was burned down, the red-hot stones were thrown into the Bay, which caused it to boil so violently that the water soon evaporated.  The doctor then seeing the great sea monster, killed it with his club, and ripping its belly open, released his brother, who very joyfully proceeded with him to Chenook..."  (The charred remains of the sea monster are the rocks found below Stony Point.)
     - quote from The Northwest Coast by James G. Swan, page 68-69.

Doctor and Brother Rocks:  The doctor and brother referred to in the Stony Point myth are the subject of a second story.  After the doctor released his brother they went to Chenook,"... where, after performing sundry famous cures, they gave offense to some person more potent that themselves, who changed them to stone.  Two rocks near Scarborough's Hill, at Chenook Point, are still shown as the doctor and his brother."  (4)
     - quote from The Northwest Coast by James G. Swan, page 69.

Giesy Hill and Willapa Valley:  "To punish the unruly members of the Whilapah tribe, the great fire god caused the forests of Willapa Valley to burn.  Heavy timber existed everywhere and there was little chance of escape from the burning trees.  To save his friend, the beaver, a spot was cleared by the god on which no fire could burn (Giesy Hill).  There all the beavers gathered and remained while the fire god destroyed every other living thing in Willapa Valley.  The bald hill at Giesy's was the camping place of the beaver during the great fire..."
     - quote from Our Pacific County by L. R. Williams, page 42-43.

Chinook wind:  Hudson Bay Company trappers called the warm winds of early spring "chinook winds" because they blew from the direction of Chinook villages on the Columbia River.  These days, warm, dry winds blowing down the side of a mountain are referred to as chinook winds.
     According to the Chinook myth there was a time long ago when five Chinook wind brothers caused warm, dry wind to blow across the land from their home at the mouth of the Columbia River and five Walla Walla wind brothers caused cold, icy winds to blow across the land from their home in interior.  The winds blew out of control and made life miserable for all the tribes living in the Northwest.  A wrestling match between the ten wind brothers resulted in the death of five Chinooks.  For many years there was only cold wind blowing across the countryside.  Eventually the son of one of the defeated Chinook brothers grew to manhood and revenged his family.  He killed all but one of the Walla Walla brothers at a second wrestling match.  Coyote, the judge at both matches, declared he would let the Walla Walla brother live on condition that he would never again blow so hard that people would freeze to death.  Coyote also declared that the young Chinook would only blow hard at night along the mountain ridges and then down to the valleys to melt the snow quickly.  The young Chinook then started for home and as he passed through the Willamette Valley, which lay cold and desolate, he blew his warm breath upon it and flowers and plants sprang up into a bloom.  Ever since then, the cold wind has blown lightly in the winter, and the warm Chinook wind has blown early in the spring.
     - abridged compilation of variant versions in Indian Legends of the Pacific Northwest by Ella A. Clark, 1953 page 169-171, Our Pacific County by L. R. Williams, 1930 page 40-41, The Columbia River by William D. Lyman, 1963 edition page 19-22, and "Contest Between the Chinook and Cold Wind Brothers" by Dr. G.P. Kuykendall in History of the Pacific Northwest: Oregon and Washington edited by Elwood Evans, 1889 volume 2 page 77-79.

1. Franz Boas compiled and translated the most comprehensive collection of Chinook myths in 1890 and 1891 and published them for the Smithsonian Institution under the title Chinook Texts (1894).  The collection does not include myths about Shoalwater Bay. L. R. Williams, who collected many Chinook and Chehalis myths in his book Our Pacific County (1930), provides the most complete collection of Shoalwater Bay myths.  Williams does not indicate which myths are of Chinook and which are of Chehalis origin.
2. Emma Gene Miller, in her book Clatsop County, Oregon: A History, 1958, page 7-8, provides a slightly different version of the legend of the creation of the Chinook Indians and credits Swan's The Northwest Coast as the source.  James G. Swan may have been the source (his opening paragraph indicates he had other versions) but the myth as told above is the one given in Swan's book.  Mrs. Miller says Swan told the legend this way:
•      "Thunderbird flew to the north and lit on top of Saddle Mountain (in Clatsop County), near the mouth of the Columbia River.  There it laid a nest full of eggs.  The giantess followed the bird until she found its nest.  Before the egg reached the valley, it became an Indian.

     "The old giantess broke some other eggs and then threw them down the mountainside.  They too became Indians.  Each of the Thunderbird's eggs became and Indian.
     "When Thunderbird came back and found its eggs gone, it went to South Wind.  Together they tried to find the old giantess, to get revenge on her.  But they never found her, although they traveled north together every year.
     "This is how the Chinooks were created.  That is why Indians never cut the first salmon across the back.  They knew that if they should cut the fish the wrong way, the salmon would cease to run.  Always, even to this day, they slit the first salmon down the back lengthwise...."
3. The Indian works and spellings in this story (as in several others in this article) are from books and manuscripts written by white men and women.  The Chinook and Chehalis Indians did not use a written language.  Their spoken words were rendered in written form and translated by those who heard them.  The spellings and translations in this myth are those of Mrs. Gertrude Bloomhardt who heard the story from another white pioneer L. L. Bush.  "Fisher," the animal referred to in the myth, is a carnivorous mammal of northern North America, having thick, dark-brown fur, and a body the size of a wolverine.

Swan and Williams, among other sources, are obviously not much help in locating the two rocks. However, the rocks are still visible. The "Doctor and His Brother" rest in a shallow pond of brackish water trapped between the hillside and Highway 401. The pond is on the section of highway between Meglar rest area and the Point Ellice entrance to the Astoria-Meglar bridge. The rocks were trapped in the pond when the Oregon-Washington Railroad and Navigation Company extended its road to Meglar in the early 1900's. The railroad ceased operation in 1930 but the Washington State Highway Department acquired title to the right-of- way upon which a portion of Highway 401 was built. The beautiful pond setting was unfortunately befouled by falling trees and driftwood (washed over the roadway) during a winter storm on the Columbia River in the late 1970's.

Editor's Note:  Woody Gifford, logger poet of Seaview, has been writing poetry since high school.  Logging, living, and loving are the themes he likes to include in his work.  And his work is in great demand these days.  He has been a featured performer at the Northwest Folklife Festival (Seattle), Finnish-American Folk Festival (Naselle), a guest on KCTS (Seattle PBS station), and has been published in Loggers World and The Sou'wester.  He also published a book titled Timber Bind, Logger-Rhythms of the Great Northwest.  His poems are drawn from true life experiences and evoke a way of life that often brings both laughter and tears to the reader.
     Woody was born in North Dakota in 1912, attended elementary and high school in Stanfield, Oregon, worked for the railroad, herded sheep, was a member of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) during the Depression, and logged the hills of the Northwest until his retirement in 1974.

     Editor's Note:  Myrtle Johnson Woodcock was born April 13,1889, the year Washington Territory became a state, and died February 27, 1973.  She was the youngest child of Pacific County pioneers James Johnson, Jr., and lane Cecile Haguet.  Captain Jimmy, as he was known to friends, carried mail from Astoria to Willapa Valley for many years prior to his death by drowning on Shoalwater Bay in January 1889.  Jane (who married William Howard, South Bend, after the death of lames) was a teacher in the pioneer schools of Pacific County.
     Myrtle's family tree is firmly rooted in Pacific Northwest soil.  She was the proud descendent of Chinook and Quinault Indians and Hudson Bay Company employees.  Among her ancestors were Chief Uhlahnee of the Chinook band living at Celilo Falls near the Dalles, Chief Hoqueem of the Quinault tribe (after whom the town of Hoquiam is named), and Captain James Johnson, Sr., retired HBC employee and holder of a 638 acre Donation Land Claim at Ilwaco (settled claim in 1849).
     Throughout her life, Myrtle wrote and published several poems reflecting her deep love and understanding of her dual heritage.  One of the earliest, "The Chief of the Willapa Council", was printed in the South Bend Journal, April 28, 1918.  It is a stirring call to arms, imploring Native Americans to fight the hated Kaiser because,

1. CAPE DISAPPOINTMENT HISTORIC DISTRICT (FORT CANBY/NORTH HEAD LIGHTHOUSE/CAPE DISAPPOINTMENT LIGHTHOUSE), southwest of Ilwaco on Cape Disappointment, 8/15/75.
2. CHINOOK POINT/FORT COLUMBIA STATE PARK, at Fort Columbia Historical State Park on Hwy. 101, 10/15/66.
3. COLBERT HOUSE, Quaker and Lake Streets, Ilwaco, 10/18/77.
4. COLUMBIA RIVER QUARANTINE STATION, southwest of Knappton on Hwy. 401, 2/08/80.
5. KLIPSAN BEACH LIFE SAVING STATION, at Klipsan Beach on Hwy. 103, 7/05/79.
6. LUMBER EXCHANGE BUILDING, Robert Bush Drive (Hwy. 101) and Willapa Avenue, South Bend, 5/19/88.
7. MARTIN SITE, archaeological dig near Joe Johns Road, Nahcotta.
8. OYSTERVILLE HISTORIC DISTRICT, in Oysterville on Sandridge Road, 4/21/76.
9. PACIFIC COUNTY COURTHOUSE, Cowlitz and Vine Streets, South Bend, 7/20/77.
10. RAYMOND PUBLIC LIBRARY, 507 Duryea Street, Raymond, 11/29/79.
11. RUSSELL HOUSE, 902 E. Water Street, South Bend, 11/25/77.
12. SCHULDERMAN, PETER, HOUSE, C Streets, Seaview, 5/19/88.
13. SHELBURNE HOTEL, Hwy. 103, Seaview, 12/15/78.
14. SOUTH BEND CARNEGIE PUBLIC LIBRARY (CARNEGIE LIBRARIES OF WASHINGTON STATE), West 1st and Pacific Streets, South Bend, 8/03/82.
15. TOKELAND HOTEL, Kindred Avenue (Tokeland Road), Tokeland, 4/11/78.
16. WILLAPA BAY BOATHOUSE, former U.S. Coast Guard Station at Tokeland, 3/13/86.
17. WRECKAGE, THE, 256th Place, Ocean Park, 9/18/79.

• KNAPPTON, abandoned townsite on Hwy. 401 between Naselle and Astoria-Megler Bridge.
• SAINT LAWRENCE CATHOLIC CHURCH, abandoned church on Kendricks Street, South Bend.
• S. A. MATTHEWS HOUSE/WHALEBONE HOUSE, on Bay Avenue, Ocean Park.
• WILLIE KEIL GRAVESITE, Keil Colony Cemetery on Hwy. 6 between Raymond and Menlo.

18

• The "Place Names" covered in this article are places of settlement - past and present.  My list includes cities, towns, centers or hubs of scattered rural communities, logging camps, ocean/bay/river resorts, ghost towns, and failed real estate sales schemes of historic interest.
• Each place name entry includes:
• site location reference,
• historical highlights,
• date post office established (where appropriate),
• date post office closed (where appropriate), and
• the source/derivation of the place name.
• The references I consulted for this article are listed at the end of the article.
• The (numbers in parenthesis at the end of each place name entry are keyed to the reference list).
• Specific page references were omitted due to space limitations.
• I encourage readers to add or correct information in this article.  Contributions will be welcome.  I endeavored to make this list as comprehensive as possible.  Omissions are an oversight and not intentional.  All errors of factor judgment are entirely my responsibility.

     BALEVILLE:  A rural farming/residential community located on Highway 105 and the north shore of the Willapa River across from South Bend.  Elijah Pernich, an early resident on the south bend of the Willapa River, bought land on "Mailboat Slough" in 1871.  Several real estate schemes subdivided the land around Mailboat Slough for boomtowns (1889-1891 and 1910) but each of the schemes failed and most of the subdivisions became additions to South Bend.  North Pacific City (1889) and Willapacific (1910) were two of the most highly promoted schemes.  In both cases, the land was low and swampy, sales were slow, the promised railroad terminals were never built, and the towns were ultimately a bust.  Around 1891, Joseph Camenzind bought the Terminus Addition, which was on high ground, for his dairy herd and built a farmhouse and barn overlooking the Willapa River.  Herbert Bale purchased land near the Camenzind farm in 1898.  Later, Herbert's father Lee Bale, brother George T. Bale, and son Harry Bale purchased acreage in the same vicinity.  In 1910 the Milwaukee railroad promised Herbert Bale a depot near his farm and named it Baleville.  The railroad did not lay track past Raymond but the community was thereafter known as Baleville.  The Bale and Camenzind farms and pastures still cover much of the landscape in Baleville, along with the South Bend sewage treatment plant and county airport facility.  See North Pacific City and Willapacific.  (4, 7, 12, 13, 17)

     BEDFORD:  A logging camp in the Willapa Hills in the 1920s.  Located on the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad route from Chehalis to Raymond.  Bedford was one of the logging camps operated by the Raymond Lumber Company (Charles E. Lewis, president).  Name derivation unknown.  (10, 13, 34)

     BREAKERS:  Ilwaco railroad mail and passenger stop north of the City of Long Beach, 1901-1920.  J. M. Arthur built "The Breakers", a four story hotel (December 1900), on the sandridge overlooking the Pacific Ocean and named it for the excellent view of the breaking surf.  A fire in 1904 destroyed the hotel's original elegance.  Arthur rebuilt the hotel but declining patronage eventually closed it in 1920.  A post office was established at the hotel August 17, 1905; discontinued March 31, 1919.  The Breaker' condominium, a modern facility, now occupies the site.  (7, 9, 14, 30, 31)

     BROOKLYN:  A rural community of homes and farms near the junction of the upper North River and Fall Creek in northeast Pacific County.  The name "Brooklyn" was arbitrarily assigned by postal department officials when the community post office was established December 10, 1891.  Postal officials asked the designated postmaster Mrs. Marion (Emma C.) Roberts to suggest a name for the community of scattered farms.  Mrs. Roberts submitted "Clifton" (a contraction of Cliff's Town) in honor of her son Clifford Roberts.  The department rejected the name because there was already a Clifton in Mason County, Washington, and substituted Brooklyn.  The post office was closed May 16, 1969.  (5, 6, 7, 8, 11, 13)

     BRUCEPORT:  Early Shoalwater Bay community located on the shoreline between South Bend and Bay Center, 1851-1895.  Before the arrival of white settlers the site was an Indian village called "Wa-Hoot-San or "Hwa'hots".  The village was sparsely populated when the crew of the schooner Robert Bruce was stranded there in 1851.  The crew was preparing to haul oysters to market in San Francisco when a disgruntled cook set the schooner on fire and burned it to the keel.  The resulting camp was first known as the "Bruce Boys' Camp".  In 1851, John W. Champ who filed a Donation Land Claim on a portion of the village site, hired Washington Hall to survey a townsite to be called "Whilapi City".  According to James G. Swan the settlers voted to name the town "Bruceville" in 1854.  The name Champ proposed for the settlement was ignored.  Bruceville was the county seat of Chehalis County (renamed Grays Harbor County in 1915) from 1854-1860.  A post office was established April 29, 1858, and the town name was officially changed to Bruceport.  The office was closed July 11, 1893.  In the 1870's Bruceport had 25 families, two hotels, two stores and a school.  Oyster harvesting was the main source of income.  The settlement failed by the 1890s, a victim of several seasons of poor oyster harvesting and severe shoreline erosion.  An historical marker, one mile south of the townsite on Highway 101, tells the fascinating story of Bruceport's beginning.  (2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 12, 27, 34)

     BUSH:  A logging camp in the Willapa Hills in the 1920's.  Located on the Chicago Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad route from Chehalis to Raymond.  Name derivation unknown.  (10, 13)

     CAMP BRIX:  A logging camp on Sisson Creek in southeast Pacific County at the turn of the century.  Operated by the Brix Brothers (Asmus, Peter Johannes, Albert, and Anton) under the name Grays Bay Logging Company.  The company earned sufficient capital to permit the brothers to buy the Knappton Mill from A.M. Simpson in 1909.  Albert Brix was in charge of the sawmill and P. J. Brix operated the logging camp.  (7, 16, 18, 23, 34)

     CEMENTVILLE: See Knappton.  (18)

     CHETLO HARBOR:  Located on the south shore near the mouth of the Naselle River.  Chetlo, or Jetlo, is a Chinook Jargon word meaning oyster.  A post office was established here December 19, 1911, and closed February 15, 1918.  Also known Cougar Bend.  (7, 12, 23)

     CHINOOK:  A resort and fishing community located on Baker Bay / Columbia River between the Chinook River and Fort Columbia.  Named for the Chinook India who once occupied the north shore of the Lower Columbia River.  In the 1850s the area was known as White's Point because Neil White, a squatter, had a cabin there.  H. S. Gile, pioneer land surveyor, purchased several land claims in 1864, and later, under the name Gile Investment Company, sold lots to new settlers.  In the 1880s and 90s Chinook was famed throughout the U.S. for its catch of salmon.  A post office was established at Chinook on March 17, 1892.  (1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 16, 31)

     COLUMBIA RIVER QUARANTINE STATION:  Abandoned United States quarantine station at Knappton Cove / Columbia River on Highway 401.  The site was part of the Job Lamley Donation Land Claim 1853 to 1876.  The Hume brothers, who brought salmon canning to the Columbia River in 1867, had a cannery on the site from 1876 to 1899.  The Federal Government bought the site for $8,000 and opened a quarantine station May 1899.  The station caretakers and medical personnel were the only inhabitants of the station but there were several families living near the station and Knappton was just over the hill to the east of the site.  Ships with infestation or disease went to Knappton for fumigation.  Hundreds of Chinese, Japanese, and European laborers went through the station until it was closed in 1938.  The Clarence Bell family bought the property at auction in August 1950 and operated a fishing resort on the site until 1956.  The old station hospital, mess hall, caretakers / medical personnel quarters and repair shop are still used by the Bell family.  The wharf was dismantled due to the danger posed by rotting pilings.  (6, 7, 18, 20, 22, 26)

     CRANBERRY STATION:  Ilwaco railroad station north of the Breakers 1910 to 1930.  John D. Briscoe settled on the site in 1853 and filed a Donation Land Claim.  The station took its name from the nearby cranberry bogs which run north and south through the center of the peninsula.  The residential subdivisions which now crowd the beach are known as Pacific Beach.  (7, 14, 34)

     DERBYVILLE:  See Chenook/Chenookville.  (1, 7)

     DIAMOND CITY:  Early Shoalwater Bay settlement on the northern tip of Long Island, 1867 to 1878.  Isaac Doane secured patent to the oysterlands off the north tip of the island in 1867 and sold them to local oystermen.  Eventually the settlement had around 75 inhabitants, mostly single men living in shanties.  The only access was by boat.  The name is said to be derived from the heaps of white oyster shells which covered the beach.  The setting sun, reflecting on the glittering shell linings, gave them the sparkle of diamonds when viewed from across the water at Oysterville and Nahcotta.  (Some sources say the reflection from shanty window panes made the settlement glitter like diamonds).  The oystermen moved on when native oyster stocks were depleted by natural disasters and over-harvesting.  A few homesteaders remained in the 1880s.  Ferdinand John Katzer built a two story house on the northwest edge of the island near Diamond City around 1893.  In 1900, Ferdinand, and his brother Frank bought Diamond City and salvaged the remaining buildings for lumber.  The Katzer house was moved by barge to property on Freshwater Creek, south of Nahcotta, where it stands today.  The abandoned Diamond City site is today littered with driftwood and debris.  (5, 7, 8, 9)

     EAST RAYMOND:  A rural residential subdivision on the Willapa River between Raymond and the town of Willapa.  In the late 1880s Dan Louderback built a boat shop on Louderback Slough near the future site of East Raymond.  Louderback built plungers, rowboats, sail boats, dinghies, launches, fishing boats, towboats, and anything else that would float on the waters of Willapa Bay.  In 1892, the Northern Pacific Railroad surveyed a route through the area and by-passed the town of Willapa.  Since the railroad depot was a mile from town, several Willapa businesses moved across the river to be near the railroad tracks.  In 1912, the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railroad surveyed a route through the same area and Henry Nihart filed a subdivision called " East Raymond".  When the Milwaukee depot was finished in 1915 the post office was moved from the town of Willapa to East Raymond.  The name of the post office remained the same.  Local residents often refer to the town of Willapa as "Old Willapa" and East Raymond as "Willapa".  The Willapa post office in East Raymond was closed April 30, 1954.  See Willapa.  (10, 11, 13, 35)

     ELKHORN:  A roadside stop on Highway 101 from the 1940s to early 1970s.  The availability of gasoline at the end of World War II inspired construction of a series of rest stops and gas pump stations all along the coast.  The Elkhorn cafe on Elkhorn flats was such a stop.  The cafe and gas pump was the last stop in Pacific County on the Raymond to Aberdeen highway (opened October 3rd, 1930) before crossing the county line.  The cafe closed in the 1970s.  Elkhorn took its name from the Elk herds which grazed on the flats near Elkhorn Creek.  (7)

     EKLUND PARK:  A residential neighborhood on a hill at "the Narrows" of the Willapa River.  Eklund Park was platted in the 1890s by the South Bend Land Company as an addition to the City of South Bend.  The subdivision was never annexed and is outside the eastern city limits of South Bend to this day.  The subdivision was named for Louis N. Eklund, founder and secretary of the South Bend Land Company.  The Columbia Box Mill Company, built on pilings over the Willapa River, was located on the east side of the hill.  The mill was built by Hyman and Company of California in 1905 and operated into the 1930s.  Eklund Park is also called "Snoose Hill" by local residents due to the great number of snoose chewing Scandinavians that once lived there.  (2, 7, 11, 12, 17)

     FIRDALE:  Farming community on Mill Creek.  Named for the old growth fir trees which once covered the Willapa Hills surrounding the community.  About 1906, the Sunset Timber Company (Ralph Burnside, president) laid rails for a logging railroad called the Pacific and Eastern (P and E).  Firdale was established as a logging camp at one end of the line, while the other end was on the Willapa River.  Logs were hauled to the river by rail, dumped and then rafted to the landing at the town of Willapa.  In 1913, the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad purchased the P and E holdings, severed the connection with the town of Willapa, and extended the line to Raymond in 1915.  A post office was established at Firdale, March 21, 1912; discontinued December 6, 1918.  (10, 12, 13, 34)

     FORT CANBY:  A deactivated military fort on Cape Disappointment overlooking Baker Bay / Columbia River.  An Executive Order, dated February 26, 1852, reserved Cape Disappointment for military purposes.  Cape Disappointment Lighthouse was placed in operation October 15, 1856, but construction of a post and fortifications were delayed until August 1863.  The fort was not activated until April 15, 1864.  For a number of years after its establishment the fort was generally known as "Fort Cape Disappointment".  Finally, on February 13, 1875, the government designated the post "Fort Canby" in honor of Brevet Major General Edward Richard Sprigg Canby, who had been killed by the Modoc Indians, April 11, 1873.  A post office was established June 30, 1890 and continued until January 31, 1923, when it was closed.  Fort Canby was deactivated on March 28, 1947.  Jurisdiction over Federal property was transferred to other departments, including the Treasury Department which operated Cape "D" and North Head lighthouses and the U.S. Coast Guard life saving station.  (4, 22, 29)

     FORT WILLAPA:  A stockade built by residents of the Willapa Valley in 1855 when fear of Indian attacks swept the Northwest.  The site, now known as Giesy's Crossing on Highway 6, was at the north end of the valley and overlooked the Willapa River.  Three small buildings surrounded by a stockade wall (with guard house on top) were built to protect the settlers.  The time of fear passed and the fort was never used for defense purposes.  For several years afterward it was a community meeting place or housed new families moving into the valley.  The stockade was sometimes known as "Fort Giesy" because it was on land taken as Donation Land Claims by the John and Henry Giesy families.  Eventually the stockade fell into disrepair and the Giesy family built their home on the site.  A post office was established at the fort April 29, 1858, and continued until December 7, 1870, when the office was moved to Woodard's Landing.  The tree shaded knoll near the fort site is the gravesite of Willie Keil and members of the Keil Colony and Giesy family.  An historical roadside marker on Highway 6 tells the story of possibly the longest burial processional in history.  (4, 11, 13)

     FRANKFORT:  Early Columbia River community near Portuguese Point (also called Barney's Point for Barney Gallagher who had a homestead there in 1876) in south central Pacific County.  Named by (James) Frank Bourn and Frank Scott in their own honor.  Bourn and Scott purchased land around Portuguese Point, formed the Frankfort Land Improvement and Investment Company on April 30, 1890, and on May 5th filed a town plat "where fashionable people would walk the streets - where commerce and industry would prosper".  Frankfort had three golden years (1890-1893).  Land sales and boomtown development were brought to an end by the Panic of 1893.  Frankfort survived until World War I but the plat was not vacated until 1952.  During its existence Frankfort was only accessible by water.  The town had dozens of residential dwellings owned by fisherman, a land office, the Gannon Hotel, a newspaper (Frankfort Chronicle), a school, a store, a saloon, and a post office established June 6, 1890 (closed February 28, 1918).  The last person living in Frankfort died in 1964.  See Gray's Frankfort.  (19, 34)

     FROGTOWN:  Located between Chinook and Ft. Columbia on the Columbia River.  Early local name for the frog filled swampland below Scarborough Hill.  (1)

     GIESY'S CROSSING:  See Fort Willapa.  (4, 5, 11)

     GEORGETOWN:  See Shoalwater Bay Reservation.  (4, 11, 15)

     GLOBE:  Early lumber mill community (1901-1928) between Lebam and Frances on Highway 6.  The Globe mill was built and named by Frank Gougar in 1901.  In 1902 it was purchased by W. C. Miles.  A post office was established on April 19, 1904, and continued in operation until November 30, 1929.  Oren Armstrong was post master and mill foreman from 1908 to 1928.  The mill was destroyed by fire in 1910, rebuilt in 1915, and operated until 1928.  (7, 11, 12, 34)

     HALF MOON PRAIRIE:  Half Moon Prairie, also called Half Moon Creek, was early name of the community now known as Lebam.  The first settler on the prairie was William F. Meloy in 1879.  See Lebam.  (6, 11)

     HILDA:  A logging camp in the Willapa Hills near Eight Creek.  Located on Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railroad route between Chehalis and Raymond the Pacific / Lewis County border.  Name derivation unknown.  (7, 34)

     HOLCOMB:  Scattered community of farms and homes on Highway 6.  Former railroad stop on the N. P. R. R..  The name was chosen by officials of the Northern Pacific Railroad to honor Judge George U. Holcomb, who was general manager of the South Bend Land Company in the 1890s.  A post office was established at Holcomb May 1912; discontinued April 30, 1943.  (8, 13, 34)

     HOLMAN:  A resort subdivision and former Ilwaco railroad stop south of Seaview.  After Pacific City was found to be within the boundaries of the military reservation Cape Disappointment in 1852, James D. Holman, owner of the hotel Holman House, moved to his Donation Land Claim outside the military reservation.  The claim included land overlooking both the Pacific Ocean and Baker's Bay / Columbia River.  Around 1855, the Holman family moved to Portland (returning for summer vacations or to do business).  In 1873 Holman subdivided his ocean property and promoted the beach as a Portland summer resort.  When the Ilwaco railroad was completed in 1889, Holman station on Holman road became a regular passenger stop and was the location of a water tank for the steam engines used by the railroad.  The resort was also known as the Willows because of the numerous shrub-like willow trees in the area.  (7, 14, 26, 34)

     KLIPSAN BEACH:  A resort community on Highway 103 south of Ocean Park.  Klipsan is a spelling variation of the Chinook Jargon word "klip sun", meaning "sunset".  The name was chosen by retired sea captain A. T. Stream in 1912.  Stream was promoting a unique "all year resort development" on the Pacific Ocean with "absolutely no saloons" and featuring a confined retail business block, quiet neighborhood streets lined with cottages and bungalows, a commodious hotel, and public buildings.  A post office was established January 13, 1912, and continued in operation until April 30, 1919.  The resort was next to the Ilwaco Beach Lifesaving Station commanded by station keeper Captain Theodore Conick (1902-1913).  Theodore, who was married to Amelia Conick, the Postmaster at Klipsan Beach, submitted a petition to the lifesaving service to change the station name to conform with the surrounding community and avoid confusion with the town of Ilwaco, thirteen miles south.  The change was finally approved June 11, 1912.  The U.S. Lifesaving Station (Coast Guard station after 1915) was in operation at Klipsan from 1889 until closure in the mid-1940s.  (6, 7, 8, 22)

     LEBAM:  A farming and residential community on Highway 6.  Settlers first moved to the site in 1879 and called their little community Half Moon Prairie, or Half Moon Creek.  When the post office was established May 26, 1890, postmaster Jotham "Joe" Weeks Goodell was asked to supply a shorter name.  Goodell considered various alternatives but finally submitted the reversed spelling of his daughter Mabel's name.  Lebam is Mabel spelled backwards.  Lebam was a prosperous sawmill and farming district town for nearly three decades.  Two calamitous fires in the 1910s almost destroyed the town but residents rebuilt both times.  (6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 13)

     LONG BEACH:  A Pacific Ocean resort / city on Highway 103.  On November 1, 1880, Henry Harrison Tinker purchased one square mile of a sandy swamp, bordering an unbroken 21-mile long "weather beach" on the Pacific Ocean.  It was Tinker's dream to develop a resort on his property which would attract travelers year around.  To this end he laid out lots and blocks (with park areas reserved for picnics), named streets, started the process of filling lowlands, and advertised the availability of lots in "Tinker's Addition to Long Beach" in Portland newspapers.  Tinker also built the Long Beach Hotel for those who couldn't afford to buy one of the tent-sized lots or were "just passing through".  Tinker's subdivision was popular with Portland residents almost immediately.  Camping tents, summer cottages, and commercial ventures popped up everywhere.  Residents and visitors called the resort "Tinkerville" for many years but the post office department recognized the name Long Beach when a post office was established January 25, 1887.  Long Beach has been a popular beach resort community, for over 100 years.  The town was incorporated in 1922.  (7, 9, 11, 12, 14, 16, 28, 31)

     MacPHAIL:  A logging camp in the Willapa Hills in the 1920s.  Located on the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad route from Chehalis to Raymond.  Name derivation unknown.  (10, 34)

     McGOWAN:  Early salmon cannery settlement between Chinook Point and Point Ellice on the Columbia River.  The site is one of the camps used by the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1805.  It was also a "mission grant" taken by Catholic missionary Father Louis Joseph Lionnet in 1848.  Father Lionnet established the Stellam's (Star of the Sea) mission and baptized, buried and married Indian and white residents between 1848-1860.  Patrick J. McGowan paid Father Lionnet for the land and then filed a Donation Land Claim for the site in 1853.  The claim ad joined Washington Hall's newly created town of Chenookville.  McGowan operated a business in Portland for many years before moving to his claim permanently around 1861.  From the start McGowan engaged in salmon salting and established the earliest salmon packing company in the state.  McGowan changed over to canning salmon around 1884 when he admitted his four sons as partners and changed the name of the business to McGowan and Sons.  The settlement that grew up around company holdings was known as McGowan in honor of the owner.  A post office was established on March 7, 1901, and continued in operation until April 15, 1939.  In 1904 McGowan built and paid for a church near his cannery.  The church was dedicated as St. Mary's Catholic Church on May 20, 1906, and is still a north shore Columbia River landmark.  (7, 8, 9, 11)

     MENLO:  A farming community on the Willapa River and Highway 6.  Around 1851, Captain Heman Croker had a claim on the Willapa River near the future site of Menlo.  For several years after he left, the boat landing on his property was called "Crocker's Landing".  The Bullard brothers (Job, Mark, and Seth) arrived around 1853 and filed Donation Land Claims in the vicinity.  In November 1855, members of the Keil Colony arrived in the valley and filed Donation Land Claims throughout the valley.  Van Marion Bullard (son of Job) and John Brophy (of Menlo Park, California) subdivided their properties around 1893 into lots and blocks.  Both men anticipated the arrival of the Northern Pacific Railroad which had surveyed a grade near their properties and planned to establish a railroad station.  The railroad intended to call the station "Preston" in honor of Lindley Preston who lived in a farmhouse near the tracks and distributed mail to neighbors.  The name was rejected by the post office department because there was already a station using the name.  When the post office was established on September 5, 1894, the department decided on the name "Menlo".  The name was taken from the sign John Brophy had erected to advertise his real estate development.  The sign originally read "Menlo Park" but had been moved around the valley so much only "Menlo" remained when the post office adopted the name.  The community is in the heart of the Willapa Valley agricultural district and has been the home of the Pacific County Fair each August since 1938 (the first county fair was held in South Bend in 1896, the first community fair in Menlo was held in 1919).  (2, 4, 7, 8, 11, 13, 26)

     MILL RANCH:  A ranch and ferry landing on the north shore of the Naselle River in the 1910s and 20s.  A post office was established at Mill Ranch on July 20, 1922; discontinued January 31, 1924.  Motorists on the south shore got the attention of the ferryman by hammering a huge triangle installed for that purpose in 1923.  The toll ferry was operated from a landing at the ranch until 1924 when the Ocean Beach Highway (Highway 101) was completed and a toll bridge replaced the landing.  The bridge was towed to the Naselle River from the Willapa River at Raymond (where it was replaced by a newer bridge).  The toll bridge was operated by the K. L. Goulter Company under county franchise for ten years.  In 1985, a new bridge span was constructed across the river.  The ranch was subdivided and is now the site of several river front homes.  The abandoned ferry landing is used by local sports fishermen.  (11, 12)

     MOOSE:  A logging camp near Firdale in the 1920s.  Located on the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad route between Chehalis and Raymond.  Named for local moose herds in the area.  (10)

     NALPEE:  Abandoned Northern Pacific Railroad station on Highway 6.  Nalpee was located on the N. P. R. R. track at a junction for a spur to the Quinault Lumber Company logging camp on Trap Creek.  (The Quinault mill was a Raymond sawmill in the 1910s and 20s).  Mill office workers suggested the names Hartwood, Podger, Nalpee and Darnrich.  Nalpee was chosen.  It is a combination of the initials "N. P." (Northern Pacific) and "Albee" (W. C. Albee was a division superintendent of the Northern Pacific Railroad).  A post office was established at the station August 15, 1918; discontinued June 30, 1934.  (5, 8, 12)

     NAHCOTTA:  Willapa Bay community on Sandridge Road south of Oysterville.  The community of Nahcotta was the site of the Chinook Indian encampment called " Nu-pats-tcthl."  John Crellin, Jr., oysterman, filed a Donation Land Claim for the land in 1855.  In 1889, John Peter Paul bought the claim and subdivided portions of it into city lots and blocks.  He called his town Nahcotta in honor of Chief Nahcati (his name is spelled several ways) who lived there during Paul's lifetime.  Paul created the town in anticipation of the arrival of the Ilwaco railroad in 1889.  The railroad was supposed to terminate just south of Oysterville on Shoalwater Bay, but Lewis Loomis and other stockholders changed their minds when they realized the bay was deeper at Nahcotta.  A post office was established at Nahcotta October 16, 1889.  About the same time, another town called Sealand was platted on the north border of Nahcotta.  Sealand was the creation of B. A. Seaborg, a railroad stockholder, who lobbied to have Sealand named the official terminus of the railroad.  Seaborg convinced the post office department to move their Nahcotta office across the railroad tracks to Sealand on April 3, 1890, and put Sealand on the November 1892 ballot as one of the choices for a new county seat, but Loomis and friends were the winners in the terminus sweepstakes, and South Bend won the courthouse.  The post office was moved back to Nahcotta on February 1, 1894.  Jacob Kamm, another railroad stockholder, bought Seaborg's Sealand property and the would-be town soon disappeared from local maps.  The Ilwaco Railroad and Navigation Company terminus was located at Nahcotta (1889 to 1930) until the railroad made its last run.  Today, residential neighborhoods, oyster canneries and a boat basin dominate the landscape.  (2, 7, 8, 9, 14, 26)

     NASEL:  See Naselle.  (11, 23)

     NASELLE:  A rural community on Highway 4 and 401 in the heart of the Naselle River Valley.  The word "Naselle" is a derivation of a word used by the small band of Chinook Indians who lived there before the arrival of white settlers.  In their language Na-sil", or "Ni-sal" means protected, sheltered or hidden.  Harry K. Stevens settled on the river in 1853, ignored the Indian name, and called the river "Kennebec" in honor of the river in his home state of Maine.  The name did not survive his land tenancy and does not appear on any known maps of the period.  Swan labeled the river "Nasal" on the map he made for his book Northwest Coast in 1857.  "Nasel" is the spelling which most often appears on early county maps and in narratives and documents prior to 1920.  A post office was established at "Naselle" on November 16, 1877, but was discontinued June 6, 1879.  On January 26, 1881, the post office department reestablished an office at "Nasel" and kept the spelling until a community petition convinced them to adopt the more poetic spelling / pronunciation "Naselle" on May 19, 1920.  The town has a large ethnic community of Finnish settlers and holds a folk festival every two years to celebrate their heritage.  (6, 7, 8, 11, 12, 17, 23)

     NEW SARATOGA:  Abandoned subdivision south of Oysterville on Sandridge road.  The Ilwaco railroad initially planned to build their Shoalwater Bay terminus at Oysterville in 1888.  New Saratoga, overlooking Skating Lake, was to be a residential / resort addition to Oysterville and the actual terminal site.  The name was taken from a popular upstate New York resort Saratoga Springs.  By the time Andrew and Wilhelmina Olsen got around to recording the plat of New Saratoga at the courthouse, June 19, 1890, the railroad had already decided against Oysterville in favor of Nahcotta.  New Saratoga was never developed and the subdivision was abandoned.  (7, 9, 14)

     NORTH COVE:  Resort community on Highway 105 south of Grayland.  The original site of North Cove was a sandy peninsula known as Cape Shoalwater, 1884-1960s.  The peninsula was once the site of a town, lifesaving station and lighthouse.  Severe beach erosion, over the course of a century, erased the original site in the 1960s.  The name "North Cove" is now applied to the surrounding community of cranberry farms, resort businesses, and beach homes which crowd the landscape from Grayland to Tokeland.  The town of North Cove was platted by Mrs. George (Lucy) Johnson in February 1884.  The name was derived from the cove created by Cape Shoalwater peninsula.  The post office department established an office at North Cove on June 10, 1878.  The office was discontinued August 16, 1963, and mail was routed to Tokeland.  The beach at North Cove is one of the best clam digging areas on the coast.  (6, 7, 8, 12)

     NORTH PACIFIC CITY:  Abandoned real estate sales scheme on the north shore of the Willapa River across from South Bend in 1889.  During the years 1889-1891, excitement was generated on Shoalwater Bay and the Willapa River over rumors that three railroads were planning to terminate near the mouth of the river.  One rai