Hoquiam River drains a 62,720‐acre (25,382 ha) watershed with three main tributaries converging into a single channel that trends south for 2.5 miles (4 km) before joining the Chehalis River at the head of Grays Harbor, about 47 miles (76 km) west of Olympia and 12 miles (19 km) northeast of Westport, Washington. The river is said to derive its name from a Native American term meaning ‘hungry for wood,’ a reference to the abundant driftwood at its mouth. Its tributaries—the East Fork, Middle Fork, and West Fork—measure 22 miles (35 km), about 9 miles (15 km), and about 10 miles (16 km), respectively, with the Middle Fork feeding into the West Fork. Grays Harbor, an estuary named for Captain Robert Gray, who sailed into the harbor on May 7, 1792, covers the lower 16 miles (26 km) of the Chehalis River. The river originates in the Cascade Range and is joined by major tributaries, including the Satsop, Wynoochee, Wishkah, Hoquiam, and Humptulips. These steep streams flow from the southern margin of the Olympic Coast Range, an uplifted accretionary complex. Underlain by Eocene flood and pillow basalts as well as sedimentary rock from submarine accumulation, the Grays Harbor estuary records a landscape sculpted by Pleistocene and early Holocene glaciations. As glaciers melted in the Pleistocene, outwash sands and gravels were deposited along the lower Chehalis. Meltwater from glacial lakes—formed along the southern margin of the ice sheet near present-day Olympia and Tacoma—subsequently added further alluvial material to Grays Harbor. Rising sea levels at the close of the Pleistocene inundated the lower Chehalis, forming the modern estuary. In the Grays Harbor area, sea levels are estimated to have risen nearly 360 feet (110 m) over 13,000 years and have stabilized for the past 3,000 years.
Native Americans have inhabited the Grays Harbor area for thousands of years. The Quinault, Humptulips and Wynoochee bands of the Chehalis thrived on abundant game and fish and cultivated rich cultural traditions such as the potlatch—a ceremony in which tribal elites redistributed wealth to celebrate prosperity. European contact brought deadly pathogens and worsened internecine conflicts, rapidly reducing coastal indigenous populations during the 19th century. In 1856, after months of pressure from Isaac Stevens, Washington’s territorial governor and Indian agent, several coastal tribes signed treaties establishing reservations, including the Quinault reservation about 24 miles (39 km) north of Grays Harbor. The first white settler in what is now Hoquiam was James Karr, who arrived from Oregon in 1859. By the early 1870s, numerous settlers had come to work in a budding lumber industry. With forests in the eastern and midwestern United States depleted, unemployed loggers and Scandinavian immigrants flocked to the area. Hoquiam’s first logging operation began in 1872. From 1880 the town’s growth depended primarily on lumber. Its first mill was financed by San Francisco lumber baron Asa M. Simpson, who dispatched his manager, George H. Emerson, to set up operations. Emerson purchased 300 acres (121 ha) for the mill. By September 1882 the Simpson mill—then operating as the Northwestern Lumber Company under Emerson’s leadership—produced its first lumber products. It was later renamed the Simpson Lumber Company, a title it retained until 1906. In 1927 the Grays Harbor Pulp Company established a pulp mill; a year later, Hammermill Paper bought stock and built a paper mill that later became the Grays Harbor Pulp & Paper Company. In 1936 it merged with Rayonier Incorporated, which produced rayon from wood pulp. Most of the Hoquiam River watershed lies within the Weyerhaeuser Twin Harbors Tree Farm, where original forests have given way to Douglas fir plantations.
Sea levels along Washington’s coast are expected to rise by up to 3 feet (1 m) by 2100. Grays Harbor, a shallow, low-gradient estuary, is especially vulnerable—rising tides could inundate 97% of its estuarine forests, altering fish habitats (including those of juvenile salmon) and intensifying flood risks in settlements with some of the highest flood insurance premiums in the state. Adaptation strategies are under review in light of several impacts: inundation of developed areas; habitat loss and change; morphological shifts from erosion and deposition; and saltwater intrusion. Coastal flooding occurs when exceptionally high tides, onshore winds and waves force estuary waters over stream banks and shorelines. Extended immersion will reduce rearing habitat for out-migrating juvenile salmon and disrupt floodplain ecosystems. Shorebirds and the benthic flora and fauna on the outer estuary’s mudflats will also suffer significant habitat changes. Although Grays Harbor’s shoreline is relatively shielded from high-energy waves, tidal-channel erosion will intensify—further compounded by human efforts to stem erosion through jetties and shoreline armoring. Saltwater intrusion is expected to affect groundwater quality and increase the upstream extent of the river’s salt wedge. The severity of these impacts will depend on local relative sea level rise, storm frequency and site-specific topography. Read more here and here. Explore more of Hoquiam River and Grays Harbor here: