The Quillayute River (also spelled Quileute River) is a

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

situated on the

Olympic Peninsula The Olympic Peninsula is a large peninsula 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, and the ...

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

. It empties to the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

La Push, Washington La Push is a small unincorporated community situated at the mouth of the Quillayute River in the Western Olympic Peninsula. It is the de facto capital and main population center of the Quileute Indian Reservation, which is home to the federally ...

. The Quillayute River is formed by the confluence of the

Bogachiel River The Bogachiel River () is a river of the Olympic Peninsula in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. It originates near Bogachiel Peak, and flows westward through the mountains of Olympic National Park. After emerging from the park it ...

Calawah River The Calawah River is a tributary of the Bogachiel River in Clallam County in the U.S. state of Washington, on its Olympic Peninsula. Its two major tributaries are the South and North Forks Calawah River. The river drains an unpopulated portion ...

and the Sol Duc River near the town of

Forks In cutlery or kitchenware, a fork (from 'pitchfork') is a Eating utensil, utensil, now usually made of metal, whose long handle terminates in a head that branches into several narrow and often slightly curved tine (structural), tines with whic ...

, WA. The

Dickey River The Dickey River is a stream on the Olympic Peninsula in the U.S. state of Washington. It has three main forks, the East Fork, West Fork, and Middle Fork Dickey Rivers. The main stem is formed by the confluence of the East and West Forks. The riv ...

joins the Quillayute from the north, just above the river's mouth at the Pacific Ocean. Although the Quillayute is one of the main rivers on the Olympic Peninsula and has a large

drainage area A drainage basin is an area of land in which 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, th ...

, due to an unusual naming arrangement it is officially very short, being only about long. At the confluence of the Sol Duc and Bogachiel rivers the use of the Quillayute name ends, although these source rivers continue far into the interior of the

Olympic Mountains The Olympic Mountains are a mountain range on the Olympic Peninsula of the Pacific Northwest of the United States. The mountains, part of the Pacific Coast Ranges, are not especially high – Mount Olympus (Washington), Mount Olympus is the high ...

. The name "Quillayute" comes from the

Quileute The Quileute () are a Native American people in western Washington state in the United States, with 808 enrolled citizens in 2018. They are a federally recognized tribe: the ''Quileute Tribe of the Quileute Reservation''. The Quileute people ...

people. In the

Quileute language Quileute , sometimes alternatively anglicized as Quillayute , is an extinct language, and was the last Chimakuan language, spoken natively until the end of the 20th century by Quileute and Makah elders on the western coast of the Olympic pen ...

the name is /kʷoʔlíːyot'/, which perhaps derived from /kʷolíː/ ("wolves"), and was the name of a village at

La Push La Push is a small unincorporated area, unincorporated community situated at the mouth of the Quillayute River in the Western Olympic Peninsula. It is the de facto capital and main population center of the Quileute Indian Reservation, which is ho ...

. The Quillayute River is the current, traditional, and ancestral center of the territory of the Quileute Native Tribe, which before European settlement occupied the entire

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which 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, ...

(plus that of the

Hoh River The Hoh River is a river of the Pacific Northwest, located on the Olympic Peninsula in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. About long, the Hoh River originates at the snout of Hoh Glacier on Mount Olympus (Washington), Mount Olym ...

). Presently the natives live at the town of

on their small treaty reservation which adjoins the south shore of the

at the mouth. The final at the mouth of the Quillayute pass through the narrow coastal strip of the

Olympic National Park Olympic National Park is a national park of the United States located in 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 e ...

. Park roads lead to the Mora Campground and Rialto Beach recreation area on the north side of the Quillayute. There are camping and picnicking facilities, public parking, and trailhead access to the coastal wilderness strip north of the river.

References

Rivers of Washington (state) Rivers of Clallam County, Washington Washington (state) placenames of Native American origin {{Washington-river-stub

See also

References