City of Chehalis, Lewis County, Washington

City of Chehalis Lewis County, Washington

Mapped Location

City of Chehalis: The mapped location is an approximation and should not be used for navigation or wayfinding.

Information

General information on City of Chehalis

Feature Type: Incorporated

Official, historical, colloquial and alternative toponyms for City of Chehalis

A brief list of names that this geographic feature has been named

Name	Description
City of Chehalis	Official
Chehalis	Official

Origin Notes and History of City of Chehalis

References to City of Chehalis that document the origin of its place name

CHEHALIS CITY and RIVER, The river rises in Pacific County and flows through Lewis, Thurston and Grays Harbor Counties into Grays Harbor. George Gibbs, an early authority, says the word means "sand" and was at first applied to a single Indian village at the entrance of Grays Harbor. (Handbook of American Indians, Volume I., page 241.) Rev. Myron Bells gives the same definition, and says that the early settlers gave the same name to the river and the upper Indian tribes, though originally neither was called by that name. (American Anthropologist, January, 1892.) The name was spelled in a great variety of ways by the early explorers and writers. The city that now bears the name was laid off on the donation claim of S. S. Saunders and wife in 1873, and was first called "Saundersville." In the winter of 1850 John Butler Chapman began a city on Grays Harbor under the name of Chehalis City. It failed, and he moved to Steilacoom. Grays Harbor County was until a few years ago known as Chebalis County. There is a Chehalis Indian Reservatioa in Thurston County.

Edmond S. Meany in Origin of Washington Geographic Names

Meany, Edmond S., Origin of Washington Geographic Names, 1923 University of Washington, pp 43-44 | Origin of Washington Geographic Names

Lewis County

Political Boundaries

Last updated: 2017-06-30