Willapa Pacific County, Washington

Mapped Location

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

 

Information

General information on Willapa

  • Feature Type: Place

 

Official, historical, colloquial and alternative toponyms for Willapa

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

Name Description
Willapa Official

 

Origin Notes and History of Willapa

References to Willapa that document the origin of its place name

Title Cover Image: Origin of Washington geographic names

WILLAPA, a bay, river and town in Pacific County, all bear this Indian name. The name was first applied to the Indians and the river, on the banks of which they lived. Writing in 1853, James G. Swan recorded: "The Indians of Shoalwater Bay had no distinct language of their own, but used the Chinook or Chehalis promiscuously, with the exception of the tribe on the Whil-a-pah River, who spoke a language somewhat resembling the Cowlitz. There are two or three of the Whil-a-pah Indians still living at Shoaiwater Bay, but the rest of the tribe is all extinct" (The Northwest Coast, page 211.) Captain George Davidson wrote: "The Whil-a-pah Indians are extinct. The true name is Ah-whil-a-pah, or Ah-whil-lapsh." (Pacific Coast Pilot, page 475.) The Bureau of American Ethnology calls these Indians a Cinookan tribe and says a single survivor who understood the language was known in 1910. (Handbook American Indians, Volume II., pages 955-956.) George Gibbs mentioned the stream as "Willopah" on March 1, 1854. (Pacific Railroad Reports, Volume I., page 465.) From that time on some variation of the name was used on maps and charts. The bay was discovered by Lieutenant John Meares, retired officer of the British Navy, on July 5, 1788. He was then in the fur trade. He called it Shoalwater Bay. (Voyages Made in the Years 1788 and 1789, Volume I., page 263.) Meares on the next day named Deception Bay and Cape Disappointment. He was looking for the "River San Roque" reported by the Spaniards. After the discovery of the Columbia River by Captain Robert Gray, the chart by Meares was deemed wholly inaccurate. "It was thrown aside altogether, and his account of Shoal-water Bay considered fabulous." (James G. Swan, The Northwest Coast, page 24.) The bay was explored and the name Shoalwater Bay was restored to the charts by Lieutenant James Alden, United States Navy, while working for the United States Coast Survey in 1853. (United States Public Documents, Serial No. 704, chart 50.) The neglect of the bay between the dates mentioned, 1792 and 1853, was not complete. The Wilkes Expedition, 1841, shows an exploration of the bay by Midshipman Eld. (Narrative, Volume V., page 133.) The Bureau of American Ethnology says the Chehalis Indian name for Shoalwater Bay is "Atsmitl." (Handbook of American Indians, Volume I, page 113.) The name of Shoalwater Bay proved a commercial handicap and was changed by extending the name of the river to the bay. On September 13, 1921,, the Seattle Times published a special dispatch saying a new thirty-foot channel had been discovered at the entrance to the bay. The town of Willapa is three miles southeast of Raymond.

Edmond S. Meany in Origin of Washington Geographic Names
Meany, Edmond S., Origin of Washington Geographic Names, 1923 University of Washington, pp 349-350  |  Origin of Washington Geographic Names

 

Pacific County

Political Boundaries

Last updated: 2017-02-12