Francis Hornby Barkley, Captain Barkley's wife, is believed to have been the first woman to visit this part of the Northwest coast and recorded the event in her diary. The event is significant since Charles Barkley is generally credited with the positive discovery of the opening of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Barkley proceeded south, rounding the cape earlier named Cape Flattery by James Cook, and eventually anchored near the mouth of the Hoh River.

The Hoh River was named Destruction River by Barkley. In July of 1787, Charles Barclay, British captain of theImperial Eagle,sent six sailors to the mouth of the Hoh River, where they were killed by Indians. Crew members from the Imperial Eagle were sent ashore and, like the Spanish explorers in 1795, met a similar fate.

The first 12 miles of the Upper Hoh Road outside the park is a mosaic of second growth, third growth and pastures. Logging, clearing for homesteads and market hunting of elk changed the look of this valley. Even 100 years ago, there was concern that humans were altering the landscape on a grand scale.

Olympic National Park was created in 1938 to preserve “the finest example of primeval forest…and provide permanent protection for the herds of native Roosevelt elk.” Thus, the Hoh Valley from the park boundary to Mount Olympus looks much like it has for 5,000 years. About 400 of the parks estimated 4,000-5,000 elk live in the Hoh Valley today.

Credits and Sources:

National Park Service. "Administrative History 1992." NPS.gov. http://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/olym/olym_adhi.pdf (accessed June 20, 2015).

National Park Service. "Historic Resource Study 1983." NPS.gov. http://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/olym/hrs/contents.htm (accessed June 20, 2015).

National Park Service. "Olympic: Hoh Rain Forest." NPS.gov. http://www.nps.gov/olym/planyourvisit/upload/Hoh.pdf (accessed June 12, 2015).