Photo courtesy of Polson Museum, Hoquiam

After being on a six-month hiatus, we’re bringing back a “From Our Corner” feature that examines how different Washington towns acquired their names.

Located along the banks of the Hoquiam River near its mouth where it empties into the Chehalis River channel and Grays Harbor, Hoquiam (population 8,770) was settled in 1859 by the James Karr family, according to “Washington State Place Names,” written by James W. Phillips.

Hoquiam was named after the river by the same name, a Native American term meaning “hungry for wood.” The Native Americans used that term because at its mouth, driftwood, fallen trees, and all manner of woody debris were always deposited on the mudflats at low tide.  Although people have mistakenly considered Hoquiam’s hunger for wood as a logging and sawmilling center as reason for its name, the native meaning is in fact the correct one, according to John Larson, director of the Polson Museum in Hoquiam.

This 1897 photo, taken by Josiah Stearns, shows Hoquiam’s first sawmill, the North Western Lumber Co., located at the mouth of the Hoquiam River. Note the woody debris along the bank.

You can learn more about Hoquiam by going here and here .