Silver Lake (Washington)
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Silver Lake, sometimes Silverlake, is an
unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...
in
Cowlitz County, Washington Cowlitz County is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2020 census, its population was 110,730. The county seat is Kelso, and its largest city is Longview. The county was formed in April 1854. Its name derives from th ...
, in the southwestern portion of the state. Silver Lake is located east of Castle Rock along
Washington State Route 504 State Route 504 (SR 504, designated as the Spirit Lake Memorial Highway) is a State highways in Washington, state highway in southwestern Washington (state), Washington state in the United States. It travels along the North Fork Toutle R ...
, which is also known as the Spirit Lake Memorial Highway. The area considered Silverlake is about east of
Interstate 5 Interstate 5 (I-5) is the main north–south Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway on the West Coast of the United States, running largely parallel to the Pacific coast of the contiguous U.S. from Mexico to Canada. It travels thro ...
(I-5) and is approximately from
Portland, Oregon Portland ( ) is the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...
, to the south and
Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...
about to the north. The closest cities to the subject property are
Castle Rock Castle Rock may refer to: Geography Islands * Castle Rock (Alaska), an island off the coast of the U.S. state of Alaska * Castle Rock, Hong Kong, an island of Hong Kong, part of the Po Toi Islands * Castle Rock (Massachusetts), an island in th ...
, six miles (10 km) to the west, and Toutle, four miles (6 km) east. The Silver Lake community takes its name from the
lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...
of the same name, which it lies on the northwest shore of. The Silver Lake community is part of the Toutle Lake School District, a
K-12 K-1 is a professional kickboxing promotion established in 1993 by karateka Kazuyoshi Ishii. Originally under the ownership of the Fighting and Entertainment Group (FEG), K-1 was considered to be the largest Kickboxing organization in the world. ...
school district of about 600 students. Silver Lake is about west of
Mount St. Helens Mount St. Helens (known as Lawetlat'la to the local Cowlitz people, and Loowit or Louwala-Clough to the Klickitat) is an active stratovolcano located in Skamania County, Washington, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States ...
and near the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, which lies at the end of the Spirit Lake Memorial Highway. The
eruption of Mount St. Helens In March 1980, a series of volcanic explosions and pyroclastic flows began at Mount St. Helens in Skamania County, Washington, United States. A series of phreatic blasts occurred from the summit and escalated until a major explosive erupti ...
on May 18, 1980 was the deadliest and most economically destructive volcanic event in the history of the United States. The WDFW has planted grass carp in this lake. The grass carp have lived far longer than expected, and have destroyed much of the beneficial native vegetation. It is now legal to fish for or retain grass carp. Silverlake also describes the associated
marsh In ecology, a marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous plants rather than by woody plants.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p More in genera ...
. It is home to a
nature trail An educational trail (or sometimes educational path), nature trail or nature walk is a specially developed hiking trail or footpath that runs through the countryside, along which there are marked stations or stops next to points of natural scienc ...
, and the visitor center for the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument.


Economy

Employment in the area is primarily centered on the cities of Longview, Kelso, and
Castle Rock Castle Rock may refer to: Geography Islands * Castle Rock (Alaska), an island off the coast of the U.S. state of Alaska * Castle Rock, Hong Kong, an island of Hong Kong, part of the Po Toi Islands * Castle Rock (Massachusetts), an island in th ...
, which are all situated along the Interstate-5 freeway. The regional economy rests mainly on timber and tourism, but the latter has taken precedence since the decline of the timber industry. Local economic growth has remained stable due to outdoor activities that take place in the scenic Silverlake area, including camping, hunting, and fishing.


Transport

Silverlake is served by one major road, Spirit Lake Memorial Highway, which joins I-5 in Castle Rock to the west and runs east to the US Forest Services’ Mount Saint Helens Observatory at Johnston Ridge. This highway is a two-directional arterial heading west and east with both residential and commercial development areas running alongside it. Major shopping, dining and commercial properties are located up and down the I-5 corridor.


Services

Silverlake is not an incorporated town, but relies primarily on Castle Rock and the town of Toutle for schools and services. Cowlitz County provides most services including police, fire, ambulance, water, sewer, and garbage. Gas service is provided by Cascade Natural Gas while
CenturyLink Lumen Technologies, Inc. (formerly CenturyLink, Inc.) is an American telecommunications company headquartered in Monroe, Louisiana, which offers communications, network services, security, cloud solutions, voice and managed services through it ...
and
Frontier Communications Frontier Communications Parent, Inc. is an American telecommunications company. Known as Citizens Utilities Company until 2000, Citizens Communications Company until 2008, and Frontier Communications Corporation until 2020, as a communications pr ...
provide telephone service. The area is composed of a mixture of uses that range from single-family and multi-family residential, commercial, retail, and agricultural uses. Traffic volume along Silver Lake remains consistent with approximately 1,000 cars passing it per day.


Lake

The lake itself is in size and camping is available at
Seaquest State Park Seaquest State Park is a public recreation area located on the western flank of Silver Lake in Cowlitz County, Washington. The state park is home to the Mount St. Helens Visitor Center, which offers displays on the Mount St. Helens volcanic e ...
, which occupies along of the lakeshore. Camping, fishing, and boating also available at Silverlake Resort, Silver Cove RV Resort, Streeters Resort, and Mt. St. Helens RV Resort.


References


External links


Toutle Lake School District website
{{Authority control Unincorporated communities in Cowlitz County, Washington Unincorporated communities in Washington (state) Landforms of Cowlitz County, Washington Wetlands of Washington (state) Marshes of the United States Protected areas of Cowlitz County, Washington