Salkum, Washington
Salkum is a rural unincorporated community in Lewis County, Washington. The town is located on U.S. Route 12 and is west of Silver Creek.
Etymology
The area was a village of the Cowlitz Indian Tribe. Salkum is a Cowlitz Indian word meaning "boiling water" or "boiling up", a reference to a nearby series of waterfalls on Mill Creek. The waterway was once known as Salkum Creek and the community took its name from the prior moniker.History
The first non-Native settlers built a grist mill at Mill Creek in 1881, beginning the town's future. The community, lacking immediate access to local roads, was served by a steamer that traveled the Cowlitz River, bringing supplies to residents and in return, shipping grain and livestock to regional markets. A dock once existed on Mill Creek, the original location of the Salkum settlement. A post office was established in 1882 and moved in 1890, shifting the town's center two miles north. Salkum became a timber community, producing lumber until the 1930s when the sawmills shut down.Salkum opened its first library, as part of the Timberland Regional Library system, in 1986 as a test to expand library services to rural communities. Proving successful, the community refurbished an unoccupied gas station and the library was moved into the larger building in 1993.