The Humptulips River is a river in
Grays Harbor County
Grays Harbor County is a county in the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2020 census, the population was 75,636. Its county seat is Montesano, and its largest city is Aberdeen. Grays Harbor County is included in the Aberdeen Micropolitan ...
,
Washington, in the United States. Its main tributaries are the East Fork Humptulips River, about long (32 km), and West Fork Humptulips River, about long (48 km). After the forks join, the main river is approximately 20 miles (32 km) long.
The Humptulips has a
drainage basin
A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...
of . The river's average
discharge
Discharge may refer to
Expel or let go
* Discharge, the act of firing a gun
* Discharge, or termination of employment, the end of an employee's duration with an employer
* Military discharge, the release of a member of the armed forces from serv ...
is , with a maximum recorded discharge of , in November, 2006, and a minimum of , in September, 1944.
Variant names, according to the
United States Geological Survey
The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...
(USGS), include Hum-tu-lups, Humptolups, Humtutup, and Um-ta-lah. The name comes from the Humptulips Indians, part of the
Chehalis tribe. Some sources say the word "humptulips" means "hard to pole" while others say it means "chilly region".
Course
The Humptulips River originates in the
Olympic National Forest in the East Fork and West Fork. This region of
Olympic Peninsula
The Olympic Peninsula is a large arm of land in western Washington that lies across Puget Sound from Seattle, and contains Olympic National Park. It is bounded on the west by the Pacific Ocean, the north by the Strait of Juan de Fuca, an ...
receives around of precipitation annually, feeding many streams. The forks are separated by Humptulips Ridge. The West Fork is separated from the
Quinault River Quinault may refer to:
* Quinault people, an Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast
** Quinault Indian Nation, a federally recognized tribe
** Quinault language, their language
People
* Quinault family of actors, including
* Jean-Bapti ...
by Quinault Ridge, while the East Fork is separated from the
Wynoochee River The Wynoochee River is a long river located in the Olympic Peninsula in the U.S. state of Washington. A tributary of the Chehalis River, the Wynoochee River rises in the Olympic Mountains within the Olympic National Park and flows generally sou ...
by Fitzgerald Peak.
Flowing south and southwest, the forks exit the mountains, merging about 4.5 miles (7.2 km) above the town of
Humptulips. Near the town the river is crossed by
U.S. Route 101. The Humptulips Salmon Hatchery is located just below the town, at the mouth of Stevens Creek, a tributary of the Humptulips River. After the hatchery, the river turns south, flowing the last few miles before its mouth at North Bay of
Grays Harbor Grays Harbor is an estuarine bay located north of the mouth of the Columbia River, on the southwest Pacific coast of Washington state, in the United States of America. It is a ria, which formed at the end of the last ice age, when sea levels flood ...
, which empties into the Pacific Ocean. There are two small towns near the river's mouth, Copalis Crossing and Tulips.
Although the
Chehalis River ends when it flows into Grays Harbor as well, the Humptulips is sometimes considered the westernmost tributary of the Chehalis system, when Grays Harbor is considered part of the system.
Natural history
The Humptulips is actively eroding its banks at a rate estimated at of bottomland washed away each year. The severity of erosion and stream bank degradation is due in part to the large scale failure of the hatchery system and lack of river management (wdfw) in the river's basin. The East Fork area has been logged. Most of the land in the river's drainage basin is commercial forest. There are some areas of pasture and cropland as well. In the upper drainage basin there are within the Olympic National Forest. The Humptulip River's headwaters are managed by the
Olympic National Park
Olympic National Park is a United States national park located in the State of Washington, on the Olympic Peninsula. The park has four regions: the Pacific coastline, alpine areas, the west-side temperate rainforest, and the forests of the drier ...
.
About 30
splash dam
A splash dam was a temporary wooden dam used to raise the water level in streams to float logs downstream to sawmills. By impounding water and allowing it to be released on the log drive's schedule, these dams allowed many more logs to be broug ...
s, used for
log driving
Log driving is a means of moving logs (sawn tree trunks) from a forest to sawmills and pulp mills downstream using the current of a river. It was the main transportation method of the early logging industry in Europe and North America.
His ...
, were built on the river. These dams decimated the native
salmon
Salmon () is the common name
In biology, a common name of a taxon or organism (also known as a vernacular name, English name, colloquial name, country name, popular name, or farmer's name) is a name that is based on the normal language of ...
runs. Several salmon
hatcheries have been built in an attempt to mitigate the damage.
Cities and towns
Humptulips, Copalis Crossing, and Tulips are small towns located along the Humptulips River. The nearest cities are
Hoquiam and
Aberdeen
Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), ...
, located at the mouth of the Chehalis River on Grays Harbor.
See also
*
List of rivers of Washington
This is a list of rivers in the U.S. state of Washington.
By drainage basin
This list is arranged by drainage basin. Respective tributaries are indented under each larger stream's name and are ordered downstream to upstream.
Fraser River (Briti ...
Notes
References
* ''Washington Road & Recreation Atlas'' (2000) Benchmark Maps
Humptulips River Chehalis River Basin Nonpoint Action Plan
The Columbia Gazetteer of North America.
Humptulips River Channel TopoQuest.com
* , USGS GNIS
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Rivers of Washington (state)
Rivers of Grays Harbor County, Washington