Kapowsin, Washington

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Kapowsin
census-designated place (CDP)
USA Washington location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Kapowsin
Location within the state of Washington
Coordinates: 46°58′02″N122°14′22″W / 46.96722°N 122.23944°W / 46.96722; -122.23944
Country United States
State Washington
County Pierce
Elevation
[1]
581 ft (177 m)
Population
 (2020)
 • Total
249
Time zone UTC-8 (Pacific (PST))
 • Summer (DST) UTC-7 (PDT)
GNIS feature ID2584985 [1]

Kapowsin /kəˈpaʊ.ə.sɪn/ is a census-designated place located approximately 25 miles (38 kilometers) southeast of Tacoma in Pierce County, Washington, United States. The 2020 Census placed the population at 249. [2]

The boardwalk used by people in Kapowsin to walk over to the woods to work or to get to the dance hall. Kapowsin, Washington - boardwalk to the island.jpg
The boardwalk used by people in Kapowsin to walk over to the woods to work or to get to the dance hall.

Kapowsin, originally Kapousen Precinct, was named for its shallow lake. [3] [4] [5] The ancient glacial drainage channel provides a nearly level connection between the Puyallup and Nisqually Rivers, and formed a natural travel route at the base of the Cascade foothills. [4] Chief Kapowsin was a fictional leader with an iron fist who lived on the lake's shores, a folklore told by the Nisqually tribe that lived in the nearby village of bacálabc (or bišál; southwest of Eatonville) prior to the area being settled in 1888. [6] [5] [7]

Kapowsin was founded in 1901 when the Kapowsin Lumber Company built a sawmill at the community's present site. [8] Located on the north end of Lake Kapowsin, the community was a thriving lumber town in the early part of the 20th century, with a high school, shops, and trades, and a population of about 10,000. After a decline in the timber industry, the town diminished in size into a neighborhood center, with a store, tavern, post office (US ZIP code 98344), fire station and grange hall. Kapowsin High School was abandoned in 1949 after being damaged in an earthquake. The 2010 Census placed the population at 333.

Kapowsin is located partially in the Bethel School District and partially in the Eatonville School District, and Kapowsin Elementary School is located nearby. Secondary students attend Frontier Junior High and Graham-Kapowsin High School, which opened in 2005. Tacoma Rail's freight line to Morton, Washington, runs through the town.

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Lake Kapowsin is a lake in Pierce County, Washington, about halfway between Tacoma on Puget Sound, and Mount Rainier in the Cascade Mountains. The lake is 2.5 miles (4.0 km) long and 0.15–0.5 miles (0.24–0.80 km) wide, lying in a channel formed by meltwater from the Puget lobe of the Vashon glacier during the Pleistocene glaciation. A small island, Jaybird Island, lies in the northern half of the lake. As indicated by a drowned forest in the lake and other evidence, the Puyallup River was inundated about 550 years ago by a lahar from Mount Rainier called the Electron Mudflow. The mudflow partially filled the channel and blocked Ohop Creek's outlet, forming present-day Lake Kapowsin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lake Puyallup</span> Glacial lake (former) in Pierce County, Washington

Lake Puyallup developed along the south edge of the Puget Sound Glacier. The glacier was in retreat northward after having reached its most southerly point. Drainage off the north face of Mount Rainier and the melting ice of the glacier was trapped in the valley of the Puyallup River. As the glacier moved north, the lake grew until it reached its largest capacity with the glacier at the glacial front across the Puyallup valley just south of Commencement Bay at Tacoma and northern bend of the White River at Auburn. When the ice retreated further north, it was reduced in depth and volume and takes on the name of Lake Tacoma.

References

  1. 1 2 U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Kapowsin, Washington
  2. ↑ "Kapowsin, WA | Data USA". datausa.io. Retrieved January 25, 2023.
  3. ↑ MEANY, EDMOND STEPHEN (1923). ORIGIN OF WASHINGTON GEOGRAPHIC NAMES. Seattle, Washington: UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON PRESS. ISBN   9789333142410.
  4. 1 2 Troost, Kathy; Sofield, Darrell (2012). "Jökulhlaups from Glacial Lake Puyallup, Pierce County, Washington". Northwest Geological Society.
  5. 1 2 Smith, Allan H. (2006). Takhoma : ethnography of Mount Rainier National Park. Pullman: Washington State University Press. p. 84. ISBN   0874222842.
  6. ↑ Nestor, Sandy (2012). Indian placenames in America. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland. p. 171. ISBN   978-0786471676.
  7. ↑ Ramsey, Guy Reed; Engerman, Jeanne (1981). Postmarked Washington: Piercy County. Tacoma: Washington State Historical Society.
  8. ↑ Majors, Harry M. (1975). Exploring Washington. Van Winkle Publishing Co. p. 122. ISBN   978-0-918664-00-6.


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