La Push is a small

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

situated at the mouth of the

Quillayute River The Quillayute River (also spelled Quileute River) is a river situated on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington. It empties to the Pacific Ocean at La Push, Washington. The Quillayute River is formed by the confluence of the Bogachiel River, Cal ...

Clallam County Clallam County is a county in the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2020 census, the population was 77,155, with an estimated population of 78,209 in 2021. The county seat and largest city is Port Angeles; the county as a whole comprises the ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

, United States. La Push is the largest community within the

Quileute Indian Reservation The Quileute Indian Reservation is an Indian reservation for the Quileute people located on the northwestern Olympic Peninsula in Clallam County, Washington, United States. The reservation is at the mouth of the Quillayute River on the Pacific coas ...

, which is home to the federally recognized Quileute tribe. La Push is known for its whale-watching and natural environment. The community has historically been located on the coast, however

sea level rise Globally, sea levels are rising due to human-caused climate change. Between 1901 and 2018, the globally averaged sea level rose by , or 1–2 mm per year on average.IPCC, 2019Summary for Policymakers InIPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cry ...

led the community to begin

managed retreat Managed retreat involves the purposeful, coordinated movement of people and buildings away from risks. This may involve the movement of a person, infrastructure (e.g., building or road), or community. It can occur in response to a variety of hazar ...

to higher grounds in 2017.

Geography

The name La Push is from French ''La Bouche'', meaning "The Mouth" of the Quillayute River, adapted into Chinook Jargon. Two beaches are nearby:

Rialto Beach Rialto Beach is a public beach located on the Pacific Ocean in Washington state. It is adjacent to Mora Campground in the Olympic National Park near the mouth of the Quillayute River, and is composed of an ocean beach and coastal forest. The many ...

to the north of the river mouth and

La Push Beach La Push Beach is a series of three beaches near the community of La Push, Washington, La Push, Washington (state), Washington, on the Pacific coast of the United States. The beach's most prominent natural vegetation the Sitka spruce, Sitka, spruc ...

to the south. La Push has the westernmost ZIP Code in the

contiguous United States The contiguous United States (officially the conterminous United States) consists of the 48 adjoining U.S. states and the Federal District of the United States of America. The term excludes the only two non-contiguous states, Alaska and Hawaii ...

, 98350.

Climate

La Push has a very wet

oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ( ...

. The climate is moderated and strongly influenced by the Pacific Ocean, which renders mild winters for a northerly latitude. Located to the west 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 is the highest at ; however, the easter ...

, La Push and the surrounding coastline absorb considerable rainfall dropped along the mountain front. The warmest month is August and the coolest month is December.

History

La Push, 14 miles from

Forks In cutlery or kitchenware, a fork (from la, furca 'pitchfork') is a utensil, now usually made of metal, whose long handle terminates in a head that branches into several narrow and often slightly curved tines with which one can spear foods ei ...

, is home to the Quileute Tribe. Tribal members traditionally built cedar canoes for a variety of uses; they ranged in size from two-man to ocean-going freight vessels capable of carrying three tons. The Quileute ranked second only to the

Makah The Makah (; Klallam: ''màq̓áʔa'')Renker, Ann M., and Gunther, Erna (1990). "Makah". In "Northwest Coast", ed. Wayne Suttles. Vol. 7 of ''Handbook of North American Indians'', ed. William C. Sturtevant. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institut ...

as whalers, and first among all the tribes as seal hunters. They bred special woolly-haired dogs, and spun and wove their hair into prized warm blankets. According to the stories, the Quileutes' only kin, the

Chimakum The Chimakum, also spelled Chemakum and Chimacum are a near extinct Native American people (known to themselves as Aqokúlo and sometimes called the Port Townsend Indians), who lived in the northeastern portion of the Olympic Peninsula in Washin ...

, were separated from them by a great flood that swept them to the

Quimper Peninsula The Quimper Peninsula is a narrow peninsula forming the most northeastern extent of the Olympic Peninsula of Washington state in the northwestern United States of America. The peninsula is named after the Peruvian-born Spanish explorer Manuel Quim ...

on the other side of the North Olympic Peninsula. There they were attacked and destroyed in the 1860s by

Chief Seattle Chief Seattle ( – June 7, 1866) was a Suquamish and Duwamish chief. A leading figure among his people, he pursued a path of accommodation to white settlers, forming a personal relationship with "Doc" Maynard. The city of Seattle, in th ...

and the

Suquamish The Suquamish () are a Lushootseed-speaking Native American people, located in present-day Washington in the United States. They are a southern Coast Salish people. Today, most Suquamish people are enrolled in the federally recognized Suquami ...

Tribe. The first treaty with European Americans occurred in 1855, when the Quileutes signed a treaty with representatives of Territorial Governor

Isaac Stevens Isaac Ingalls Stevens (March 25, 1818 – September 1, 1862) was an American military officer and politician who served as governor of the Territory of Washington from 1853 to 1857, and later as its delegate to the United States House of Represen ...

. A treaty a year later would have moved them to a reservation in Taholah, but the Quileute territory was so remote that it was not enforced. In February 1889, an executive order by President

Grover Cleveland Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 22nd and 24th president of the United States from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. Cleveland is the only president in American ...

established a one-mile square reservation at La Push. At the time the town had 252 inhabitants. Later in 1889, arsonists destroyed La Push while villagers were picking

hops Hops are the flowers (also called seed cones or strobiles) of the hop plant ''Humulus lupulus'', a member of the Cannabaceae family of flowering plants. They are used primarily as a bittering, flavouring, and stability agent in beer, to whi ...

in Puyallup. Work began in 2017 to relocate the village to higher ground. The plan was to reduce damage from tsunamis and flooding that might result from a higher sea level caused by

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

. The plan required modification of the boundaries of 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 ...

. The first building that was moved was the elementary school.

Tourism

Today, La Push has oceanfront resorts, a seafood company, fish hatchery, and a revamped marina. Since the early 21st century, the tribe has grown more interested in tourism. La Push is a village of the Quileute Tribe that displays a slower, more relaxed way of life. All of the businesses are owned by the tribe. The Quileute Tribe has revived many of its traditional skills and crafts, which are taught at school along with the unique language. It is an isolate language, unrelated to any root language in the world, and one of only five in the world without nasal sounds. The popular Quileute Days take place July 17–19 in La Push. The tribal celebration of cultural heritage and modern lifestyle includes a fireworks display, a traditional salmon bake, dancing and songs, a softball tournament, and other field sports, a slow-pitch tournament, a horseshoe tournament, arts and craft display, and food concessions. The

Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail The Pacific Northwest Trail (PNT) is a 1200-mile hiking trail running from the Continental Divide in Montana to the Pacific Ocean on Washington's Olympic Coast. Along the way, the PNT crosses three national parks, seven national forests, and tw ...

passes through La Push on the way to its western terminus at Cape Alava.

References

External links

Olympic Peninsula, Washington State: Things To Do Around La Push
{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Washington (state) Unincorporated communities in Clallam County, Washington Chinook Jargon place names Quileute Populated coastal places in Washington (state) Managed retreat