Rainbow Falls State Park History

Rainbow Falls State Park, a peaceful haven in an oasis of old-growth forest, was established early in the growth of the Washington State Park system. The park was envisioned to be one of the “natural beauty spots untouched by civilization and the greed of man” that Governor Roland H. Hartley and others believed would make an ideal state park.

Indigenous Lands

The park lies within the traditional territories of Coast Salish Indigenous people whose present-day descendants include members of the Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation, Cowlitz Indian Tribe and Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe. For thousands of years the lands and waters around these rocky rapids on the Chehalis River have provided habitat for a diverse community of life that forms the basis of their cultures. In particular, the falls have been a customary place for harvesting salmon, steelhead, and lamprey, mainstays of Indigenous food and culture.

Local tribes refused to accept the conditions proposed by Washington Territorial Governor Isaac Stevens at the Chehalis River Treaty Council in February 1855. Consequently, tribal members continued to live and harvest natural resources in their usual and accustomed places even as settlers began to occupy their lands, unlike the situation in other parts of Washington Territory, where tribes ceded lands to the US federal government with ratified treaties. Subsequently, title to the land was relinquished to the US federal government and the Chehalis Reservation was established by Executive Order of Secretary of the Interior J. P. Usher on July 8, 1864. On September 22, 1866, President Andrew Johnson established the Shoalwater Bay Reservation by executive order. The Cowlitz Indian Tribe received federal recognition in 2000.

The land in today’s Rainbow Falls State Park passed into private ownership when it was granted to the Northern Pacific Railroad (NP) on December 13, 1894, part of nearly 40 million acres of public lands granted to the railroad by the US federal government to subsidize the construction of railroad lines in the western states. As with most of its granted lands, the NP sold this parcel to another private landowner. It was owned by the Schaefer Brothers Logging Company (which donated another parcel of their land for the establishment of a different state park in 1924), before coming into the ownership of the Leudinghaus Brothers Lumber Company, operators of a mill in nearby Dryad from 1902-1930.

Becoming a State Park

As early as 1921, George A. Onn, a local shingle mill owner, lobbied for the establishment of a publicly owned park surrounding the falls. The site was a popular picnic spot (a great place to "enjoy a real afternoon under some real trees," as George Onn put it), but it was understood that the timber would be cut from the property if it remained in private ownership, making it much less appealing. In a letter to the editor of the Chehalis Bee-Nugget in August of that year, he hoped that “the powers that be will not let slip from their minds the idea of purchasing forever that six or so acres of natural beauty …. known as Rainbow park.” Onn passed away a few days after his letter was published, but he is credited with naming the falls in honor of the “Rainbow Division,” a US Army unit drawn from 27 National Guard units to address a shortage of trained soldiers at the outset of US involvement in World War I.

The idea of a park at the falls was sustained by the Pe Ell Kiwanis Club, Rotary Club, and Izaak Walton League, who enlisted State Senator Fred B. Norman and State Representative Arthur S. Cory for help.

On March 9, 1931, Governor Roland H. Hartley signed Senate Bill 18, authorizing an exchange of public lands with the Leudinghaus Brothers Lumber Company “for the purpose of securing and preserving certain stands of timber bordering the Willapa-Grays Harbor Highway,” referencing the location of Rainbow Falls. Commissioner of Public Lands Clark W. Savidge presented a proposal for the exchange, stating that “it seems to me that it would be almost a crime against future generations to permit this timber to be devastated.” The land exchange was approved by the Board of State Land Commissioners on December 13, 1932, making the reservation of the land for park purposes one of the last official acts of Savidge’s 20-year service as Commissioner of Public Lands.

Funds were appropriated to hire local unemployed men to clear underbrush from the property and build a kitchen, restroom and caretaker’s residence south of the river. No access was provided to the north side of the river.

The park was officially dedicated on July 9, 1933, in a ceremony attended by over 2,000 people, with speeches by members of the State Parks Committee and Governor Clarence D. Martin.

The Civilian Conservation Corps

As the Great Depression deepened, people throughout Washington and across the US struggled with poverty as job losses and business closures erased their economic security. Newly elected President Franklin D. Roosevelt moved fast to provide material relief for suffering families, and one of the earliest hallmark programs of the administration was the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). Intended to provide useful employment and training for single men aged 18 to 25, the CCC ultimately provided jobs for more than 2 million enrollees who performed work in national and state parks and forests at more than 500 camps across the country.

CCC Company 1633 was organized in Illinois in June 1933, and its 200 men arrived at Rainbow Falls in November 1933. The Rainbow Falls CCC camp is notable as one of three camps in Washington State Parks that were home to an integrated company that included both black and white enrollees. Assigned to the park for about one year, the workers cleared trails in the park’s forested areas, removed stumps to create a flat, open “recreation ground,” and built a caretaker’s house, garage, kitchen shelter and restroom. Perhaps most importantly of all, the CCC workers built a 200-foot suspension bridge over the Chehalis River to join the north and south portions of the park.

In 1971 the Washington State Legislature decided that continued lease of state trust lands for park purposes was not in the best interest of the state and directed the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission (WSPRC) to negotiate a sale of the leased lands. The two agencies entered into a contract for the purchase of 15,083 acres in 24 parks, including 120 acres in Rainbow Falls State Park, at a total purchase price of $11.4 million. However, the timber on the lands was excluded from the contract, as there was no source of funding. The timber in Rainbow Falls State Park alone was appraised to be more than 3.6 million board feet valued at $1.6 million. In 1980, the legislature authorized the sale of bonds to cover the cost of the timber; on September 28, 1981, it was deeded to the WSPRC, securing its protection. 

The beloved bridge over the falls, maintained through the years and substantially rebuilt once, remained a focal point of the park until a mighty flood in December 2007, more than twice the size of any previously recorded, ripped the bridge out. Luckily, most of the other projects completed in the park by the CCC remained intact, a monument to the quality of work that was accomplished by the program and its participants.