Lewis County, Washington: History
=== Indigenous history ===
Native American tribes that lived in the area were primarily the Upper Chehalis people and the Meshall. The tribes usually lived in villages located near rivers, including the Chehalis and the Skookumchuck, as well as streams or tributaries such as Lincoln Creek and Scatter Creek. A large community was located at Grand Mound.
The indigenous harvested berries, nuts, and tubers from nearby prairies and forests, and gathered migrating salmon from the waters. The Meshall used horses to trade with other native communities east of the Cascade Mountains.
The Chehalis refused to sign the Quinault Treaty that required indigenous tribes in Southwest Washington to relinquish their rights to the land; the tribe has proclaimed rights as "affiliates" under the treaty. The Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation was created near Oakville in 1864. The population of the Chehalis people dropped from approximately 5,000 in 1855 to 1,200 in twenty years, due to the spread of several diseases.
Prior to the creation of Lewis County, French-Canadian settlers began homesteads on the Cowlitz Prairie in the 1820s and worked on farms, such as Cowlitz Farm, for the Hudson Bay Company. The earliest known settler was Simon Plomondon (Plamondon) who established a 640-acre (260 ha) land claim on the Cowlitz River in 1827. The community constructed a log cabin church, the first house of worship in what became the state of Washington; the church became known as Saint Francis Xavier Mission.
Cowlitz Farm was considered the first settlement in the area and crops and livestock were transported to other trading posts in the region. Goods, materials, and people traveled using the rivers, most notably at Cowlitz Landing, or via the Cowlitz Trail.
The county was created as Lewis County, in honor of Meriwether Lewis, on either December 19 or December 21, 1845, by the Provisional Government of Oregon, and was originally part of the Oregon Territory when it was officially formed in 1848. At the time, the county included all U.S. lands north of the Cowlitz River, including much of the Puget Sound region and British Columbia. Despite the county being named for him, Meriwether Lewis never traveled in the present-day boundaries of Lewis County.
Ownership of land in the Oregon Territory was prohibited to Black Americans. Anna and James Cochrane purchased a land claim on the Skookumchuck River to circumvent the restriction, allowing their adopted son, George Washington, to occupy the land; the Cochranes sold the acreage to Washington when Lewis County became part of the Washington Territory in 1853, which did not include any restrictions against Black ownership. Washington went on to establish the town of Centerville in 1875, which was incorporated as Centralia in 1886.
Further settlements commenced, including the establishment of Saundersville in 1851, which was later renamed to Chehalis in 1879, and Warbassport, eventually known as Toledo. Exploration of the eastern portion of the county was led by William Packwood, who helped to install a road system that opened up mountain pass near Packwood and Naches Pass in the 1850s. …