Chinook Pacific County, Washington

Name: Chinook
Address: Washington

CHINOOK: A resort and fishing community located on Baker Bay/Columbia River between the Chinook River and Fort Columbia. Named for the Chinook Indians who once occupied the north shore of the Lower Columbia River. In the 1850s the area was known as Whites Point because Neil White, a squatter, had a cabin there. H. S. Gile, pioneer land surveyor, purchased several land claims in 1864, and later, under the name Gile Investment Company, sold lots to new settlers. In the 1880s and 90s Chinook was famed throughout the U.S. for its catch of salmon. A post office was established at Chinook on March 17, 1892.

“A Name for Every Place Around Pacific County, from A to Z.” Chinook Observer, 13 May 2013, https://chinookobserver.com/2013/05/13/a-name-for-every-place-around-pacific-county-from-a-to-z/.

Mapped Location

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

Information

General information on Chinook

Feature Type: Place

Official, historical, colloquial and alternative toponyms for Chinook

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

Name	Description
Chinook	Official
Chenoke	Unofficial Chinook

Origin Notes and History of Chinook

References to Chinook that document the origin of its place name

CHINOOK. This name was used for a group of Indian tribes occupying the lower banks of the Columbia River. The word is said to come from Tsinuk, the Chehalis Indian name for the Chinook Indians. The Chinook Jargon, or trade language, was begun from the brief vocabulary recorded at Nootka by Captain James Cook in 1778. The headquarters of the fur trade was removed to the Columbia River after the founding of Astoria in 1811. Many Chinook Indian words were added, and in that way it became known as the Chinook Jargon instead of the Nootka Jargon. The word, becoming familiar, was frequently used for geographic names, some of which have persisted. On early charts there was shown an Indian village on the eastern shore of Port Discovery as Chinook. That name has disappeared. An early settlement on Baker Bay in Pacific County received and has retained the name Chinook. What is now known as Scarborro Hill was once called Chinook Hill. A small stream flowing into Baker Bay has been mapped a number of times as Chinook River, while others use Wappalooche as its name. James G. Swan says: "which would carry us down the Wappalooche, or Chinook River, to its mouth." (Northwest Coast, 1857, page 98.) Chinook Point mentioned by Swan as the headquarters of the once powerful tribe of Chinook Indians, was called "Point Komkomle" in 1811 by David Thompson of the North-West Company of Montreal. Comcomly was the famous one-eyed chief of the Chinooks in early Astoria days.

Edmond S. Meany in Origin of Washington Geographic Names

Meany, Edmond S., Origin of Washington Geographic Names, 1923 University of Washington, pp 46-47 | Origin of Washington Geographic Names

Pacific County

Political Boundaries

Last updated: 2026-09-27