Packwood: Taidnapam Land at Rainier's Gate

For hundreds of years this valley in the shadow of Mount Rainier belonged to the Upper Cowlitz people, also known as the Taidnapam, who fished the river and moved through the old-growth forests long before any road crossed these mountains. The town of Packwood arrived in the early twentieth century as a logging and mining outpost, and for much of the century the surrounding national forest was harvested heavily, with mill operations supplying timber during and after the Second World War.

The White Pass Highway through here was not completed until nineteen fifty-one, finally giving year-round road access to this side of the Cascades. Packwood sits near the southeastern entrances to Mount Rainier National Park, close enough that each summer the town functions as a quieter base camp for visitors who want the park without the crowds at the main visitor centers. The White Pass Country Historical Museum preserves the story of everything that came before the tourists.