La Push is a small

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 ...

situated at the mouth of the Quillayute River in the Western

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 ...

. It is the de facto capital and main population center of the

Quileute Indian Reservation The Quileute Indian Reservation is an Indian reservation for the Quileute people located on the northwestern Olympic Peninsula near the southwestern corner of Clallam County, Washington, United States. The reservation is at the mouth of the Qui ...

, 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 The sea level has been rising from the end of the last ice age, which was around 20,000 years ago. Between 1901 and 2018, the average sea level rose by , with an increase of per year since the 1970s. This was faster than the sea level had e ...

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.

History

Etymology

The name La Push is from French term, ''La Bouche'', meaning "The Mouth" of the Quillayute River, adapted into

Chinook Jargon Chinook Jargon (' or ', also known simply as ''Chinook'' or ''Jargon'') is a language originating as a pidgin language, pidgin trade language in the Pacific Northwest. It spread during the 19th century from the lower Columbia River, first to othe ...

Quileute Tribe history

La Push, 14 miles from

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 ...

, 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 (; Makah: ') are an Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast living in Washington, in the northwestern part of the continental United States. They are enrolled in the federally recognized Makah Indian Tribe of the Makah I ...

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 traditional stories, the Quileutes' only kin, the Chimakum, were separated from them by a great flood that swept them to the Quimper Peninsula on the other side of the North Olympic Peninsula. There they were attacked and destroyed in the 1860s by

Chief Seattle Seattle ( – June 7, 1866; , ; usually styled as Chief Seattle) was a leader of the Duwamish and Suquamish peoples. A leading figure among his people, he pursued a path of accommodation to white settlers, forming a personal relationship wi ...

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 Su ...

Tribe. Their first treaty with the United States occurred in 1855, when the Quileutes signed a treaty with representatives of the governor of the

Washington Territory The Washington Territory was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1853, until November 11, 1889, when the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Washington. It was created from the ...

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 Represe ...

. 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 the 22nd and 24th president of the United States, serving from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. He was the first U.S. president to serve nonconsecutive terms and the first Hist ...

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 whic ...

in Puyallup.

La Push relocation

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 Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

. The plan required modification of the boundaries 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 ...

. The first building that was moved was the K-12 school.

Geography

Two beaches are near La Push, Rialto Beach to the north of the river mouth and La Push Beach to the south. The closest incorporated city to La Push is

Forks, Washington Forks, also previously known as the unincorporated town of Quillayute, is a town in southwest Clallam County, Washington, Clallam County, Washington (state), Washington, United States. The population was 3,335 at the 2020 United States Census, 2 ...

. La Push has the westernmost ZIP Code in the

contiguous United States The contiguous United States, also known as the U.S. mainland, officially referred to as the conterminous United States, consists of the 48 adjoining U.S. states and the District of Columbia of the United States in central North America. The te ...

, 98350.

Climate

La Push has a very wet

oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate or maritime climate, is the temperate climate sub-type in Köppen climate classification, Köppen classification represented as ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of co ...

. 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 (Washington), Mount Olympus is the high ...

, 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.

Arts and culture

Culture

La Push is a village of the Quileute Tribe. 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 Quileute 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.

Festivals and events

The popular Quileute Days take place July 17–19 in La Push. The tribal celebration, which is a synthesis of cultural heritage and modern lifestyle, includes a fireworks display, a traditional salmon bake, dancing and songs, field sports, a horseshoe tournament, arts and craft display, and food concessions.

Tourism and recreation

In the 21st century, 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. The Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail passes through La Push on the way to its western terminus at Cape Alava. La Push garners a good amount of tourism partially due to the success of the Twilight novel series in which the town is one of the primary locations, and in which the Quileute Tribe and their traditions are incorporated.

Education

La Push was the location of the K-12 Quileute Tribal School until 2022 when the school was relocated elsewhere in the reservation as part of the Move to Higher Ground initiative.

References

External links

Olympic Peninsula, Washington State: Things To Do Around La Push
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180208182913/https://www.olympicpeninsula.org/things-to-do/around-la-push/ , date=2018-02-08 Unincorporated communities in Washington (state) Unincorporated communities in Clallam County, Washington Chinook Jargon place names Quileute Populated coastal places in Washington (state) Managed retreat