Olequa, Washington

Olequa, also known as Olequah, is an unincorporated community in Cowlitz County, Washington. Olequa is located north of the city of Castle Rock on the west bank of the Cowlitz River. Olequa is accessed by traveling 7.5 miles (12.1 km) north on West Side Highway from Castle Rock. The Olequa community is part of the Castle Rock School District, a K-12 school district of about 1,300 students.

Olequa, Washington
Unincorporated community
Olequa Location in the state of Washington Show map of Washington (state) Olequa Olequa (the United States) Show map of the United States
Coordinates: 46°22′31″N 122°56′25″W[1]
Country	United States
State	Washington
County	Cowlitz
Elevation [1]	30 m (98 ft)
Time zone	UTC−8 (PST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−7 (PDT)
ZIP code	98611
Area code	360
FIPS code	53-51130
GNIS feature ID	1511203[1]

Etymology

Named after Olequa Creek, circa 1872, by General J.W. Sprague, two competing theories of the Cowlitz Indian word, Olequa, exist. One hypothesis is considered to come from a vague association of the term "cametze", translated to mean "where the salmon come to spawn". A second theory suggests the name came from the sound associated with a nickname of an elder, well-known Cowlitz tribal member, "Old Laquash".^[2][3]

History

The community originally was situated on a main line of the Northern Pacific Railroad.^[2] A post office called Olequa was established in 1875, and remained in operation until 1912.^[4]