Little Washington: A Nostalgic Look at the Evergreen State's Smallest Towns

by Nicole Hardina

Overview

Washington’s Small Towns Have Great Stories.

Little Washington presents 100 of the state’s tiniest towns. With populations under 3,500, these charming and unique locations dot the entire state—from Neah Bay along the Northwest coast to LaCrosse, a farming community in the eastern county of Whitman. With full-color photographs, fun facts, and fascinating details about every locale, it’s almost as if you’re walking down Main Street, waving hello to folks who know all of their neighbors.

Inside You'll Find

• Details about 100 small towns—with entries from every county
• Full-color photographs, fun facts, and fascinating locations
• Guide to exploring these quaint and historic locations
• Insights from an author who has lived in various parts of the state

The selected locations help readers to appreciate the broader history of small-town life in Washington. Yet each featured town boasts a distinct narrative, as unique as the citizens who call these places home. These residents are innovators, hard workers, and—most of all—good people. The locations range from quaint to historic, and they wonderfully represent the Evergreen State. Little Washington, written by Nicole Hardina, is for anyone who grew up in a small town and for everyone who takes pride in being called a Washingtonian. They may be small towns, but they have huge character!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781591938453
Publisher:	Adventure Publications, Incorporated
Publication date:	11/03/2020
Series:	Tiny Towns
Pages:	208
Sales rank:	1,010,771
Product dimensions:	6.90(w) x 9.90(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Nicole Hardina has lived in Washington for over 20 years, in towns big and small. Alaska-grown, she is a Seattle-based writer sharing an apartment with two cats, a guitar, and several overflowing bookcases. Her writing has appeared in Scope, Months to Years, Out There Outdoors, the Bellingham Review, Proximity, and elsewhere. She received a Grant for Artist Projects award from Artist Trust in 2016 and is working on a memoir that is equal parts grief account and love letter to the Pacific Northwest.

Read an Excerpt

Ilwaco


Population: 945

“Where the trail comes out”

The town of Ilwaco is a long-established fishing port situated at the southernmost point of Washington’s Long Beach peninsula, at the confluence of the Columbia River and the Pacific Ocean. Ilwaco was historically inhabited by the Chinook people, who called it No’ Squalakul’, or “where the trail comes out,” a reference to its location at the end of a traditional portage route between Chinook villages on the Columbia River and Willapa Bay. Ilwaco was briefly called Unity in celebration of the end of the Civil War, but it was eventually renamed after Elwahko Jim, son-in-law of Chief Comcomly, who met with Lewis and Clark and later traded with Captain Robert Gray.

Non-Indian settlers began to arrive in Ilwaco in the 1840s. The earliest arrivals included James DeSaule, a Peruvian working as a cook for a U.S. naval expedition. After the ship he was working on ran aground, DeSaule moved to Ilwaco and founded a freight service. Captain James Johnson, former ship master with the Hudson Bay Company, built a house in Ilwaco in 1848. Ten years later, the house was sold to Isaac Whealdon, a Pennsylvania-born Quaker and descendent of Welsh immigrants. Isaac and Mary Ann Whealdon are considered Ilwaco’s pioneering family. Together with his son Will, Isaac Whealdon operated the first passenger and freight wagons in the area, and he carried the mail. Soon, Ilwaco was a transportation hub on stagecoach and ferry routes between settlements in Oregon and Washington. The railway replaced the stagecoaches in 1889, and Ilwaco became a center of industry, including fishing, logging, and cranberry farming. The town incorporated in 1890.

The population of Ilwaco boomed during the late 1880s as fishermen flocked to its bounty. Conflict emerged between traditional gillnet fishermen and settlers using fish trapping methods brought from the Great Lakes. The so-called “gillnet wars” lasted nearly twenty years, and fish trapping was outlawed in the 1930s. By then, overfishing and changes to the river’s habitat had led local fishermen to switch their focus from Columbia River salmon to crab, oysters, and tuna. Other important industry in the area included commercial cranberry farming and log floating, in which logs were rafted together and floated to nearby sawmills. Today the Port of Ilwaco hosts commercial and charter boats and remains a hub of industry and recreation.

Lewis and Clark at Cape Disappointment

In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson commissioned Captains Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to find the elusive Northwest Passage, a route to the Pacific Ocean from the Missouri River. On July 5, one day after the announcement of the Louisiana Purchase, the Corps of Volunteers for Northwestern Discovery set out with a crew of forty and specific instructions from Jefferson regarding journals, maps, natural science, ethnography, diplomacy, and safe return.

In late 1805 and early 1806, the Corps of Discovery navigated the Snake and Columbia rivers, successfully completing their mission to find a riverine pathway to the Pacific. The difficulties they faced are reflected in the names of local features, including Dismal Nitch, Point Distress, and Quicksand River. Upon reaching their long-sought goal, William Clark noted in his journal, “Great joy in camp we are in View of the Ocian, this great Pacific Ocian which we been So long anxious to See.” Finally seeing it, he exclaimed, “Ocian in View! O! the Joy!” Detailed accounts of their journey can be found at the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center at Cape Disappointment State Park, just outside Ilwaco.

Since 1968, the U.S. Coast Guard has operated its National Motor Lifeboat School off Cape Disappointment, where notoriously difficult-to-navigate waters are known as “the graveyard of the Pacific.” It is the “only heavy weather training school for coxwains in the Coast Guard, and it draws surfmen-in-training from all over the world,” as well as tourists, who can watch the Coast Guard perform lifesaving drills from Cape Disappointment State Park.

Table of Contents

Dedication and Acknowledgments 2

Introduction 4

Locator Map 5

Towns

Neah Bay 6

Quilcene 8

Cosmopolis 10

Oakville 12

McCleary 14

Harstine Island 16

Port Gamble 18

Long Beach 20

Ilwaco 22

South Bend 24

Gathlamet 26

Pe Ell 28

Napavine 30

Vader 32

Mossyrock 34

Castle Rock 36

Yacolt 38

North Bonneville 40

Stevenson 42

Bucoda 44

Tenino 46

Rainier 48

Roy 50

South Prairie 52

Beaux Arts Village 54

Carnation 56

Skykomish 58

Lopez Village 60

Coupeville 62

Langley 64

Nooksack 66

Sumas 68

LaConner 70

Lyman 72

Hamilton 74

Concrete 76

Darrington 78

Index 80

Bingen 82

Tieton 84

Naches 86

Harrah 88

Roslyn 90

Cle Elum 92

South Cle Elum 94

Kittitas 96

Entiat 98

Winthrop 100

Twisp 102

Pateros 104

Conconully 106

Riverside 108

Tonasket 110

Oroville 112

Nespelem 114

Elmer City 116

Grand Coulee Dam 118

Rock Island 120

Waterville 122

Mansfield 124

George 126

Soap Lake 128

Coulee City 130

Krupp 132

Benton City 134

Mesa 136

Kahlotus 138

Hatton 140

Lind 142

Ritzville 144

Washtucna 146

Prescott 148

Waitsburg 150

Starbuck 152

LaCrosse 154

Lamont 156

St. John 158

Rosalia 160

Oakesdale 162

Tekoa 164

Palouse 166

Uniontown 168

Pomeroy 170

Asotin 172

Odessa 174

Wilbur 176

Davenport 178

Sprague 180

Republic 182

Springdale 184

Kettle Falls 186

Marcus 188

Spangle 190

Waverly 192

Latah 194

Rockford 196

Fairfield 198

Ione 200

Metaline 202

Metaline Falls 204

References 206

Towns by Region and by County 206

About the Author 208

Editorial Reviews

Hardina’s book is part history, part travelogue and all love letter to the Evergreen State.”
—Tim Johnson, Cascadia Weekly

From the Publisher