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Washington Counties

There are 39 counties in the state of Washington.

Washington was carved out of the western part of Washington Territory and admitted to the Union as the 42nd state in 1889. The first counties were created from unorganized territory in 1845.

Wahkiakum County, Washington

Wahkiakum County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

County Seat: Cathlamet
Year Organized: 1854
Square Miles: 264

Court House:

64 Main Street, PO Box 586
County Courthouse
Cathlamet, WA 98612-9508

Etymology - Origin of County Name

Chief Wahkiakum of the Chinook Native American tribe.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: Census Bureau Quick Facts

History

Wahkiakum County was created 24 April 1854 from Pacific County

Wahkiakum County lies on the broad tidal estuary near the mouth of the Columbia River in southwest Washington. It is named for the Wahkiakums, as the people whose villages once occupied the area were called by the explorers, traders, and settlers who arrived in the early nineteenth century. Cathlamet, the county seat and only incorporated town, is named for a related group who founded it some time before the Birnie family, the county's first pioneers, settled there in 1846. The Washington Territorial Legislature established Wahkiakum County in 1854. Early immigrants to the county, including many from Scandinavia, came for the seemingly inexhaustible fish in the river and the free homestead land. With Wahkiakum County's prodigious rainfall and immense rainforest trees, logging soon became the leading industry. For a century, forestry, fishing, and agriculture were central to the County's economy and way of life. As they have declined in recent years, Wahkiakum County has moved from a rural, resource-based existence to a more suburban one, as residents commute to, or retire from, urban areas in other counties.
File 8011: Full Text >

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 287 square miles (743 km²), of which, 264 square miles (684 km²) of it is land and 22 square miles (58 km²) of it (7.83%) is water.

Neighboring Counties:

Pacific County, Washington - northwest
Lewis County, Washington - north/northeast
Cowlitz County, Washington - east/southeast
Columbia County, Oregon - south/southeast
Clatsop County, Oregon - south/southwest

Cities and Towns:

- Cathlamet (County Seat)

town

Incorporated Area

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

County Resource Guide

Counties: US Map

The history of our nation can be seen as a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names we've given our counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of our country!"

But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history.

Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally, act locally."

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