Lake Cushman borders the southeast corner of Olympic State park. In 1871, an Olympia newspaper claimed that rich iron ore deposits were found near Lake Cushman. Excitement about iron deposits in the Lake Cushman area renewed in 1888 and apparently aroused the interest of not only local residents but engaged the fantasies of speculators in San Francisco and New York. The group of New York investors suddenly lost interest and the exploitive project quickly died.

The Lake Cushman area was the site of yet another metallic mineral discovery in 1888. In September of that year two local residents, J. D. Dow and A. H. Rose, found copper leads in the North Fork Skokomish River bottom, approximately four and one-half miles above Lake Cushman. The Mason County Mining and Development Company continued their active promotion of the mines above Lake Cushman for several years before discontinuing operations.

Prospectors staked claims near the mouth of Seven Stream on the North Fork Skokomish River several miles above Lake Cushman before Joseph O'Neil entered the mountains in 1890 by way of Lake Cushman.  In 1890, the first regular steamer line carried passengers to the west bank of Hood Canal, sixteen miles east of Lake Cushman. That same year a tent welcoming visitors on the lake was set up on the east side of Lake Cushman. Lake Cushman was established very early as a summer resort area.

The Cushman House was among the first summer resorts in the state of Washington. Early settlers on the lake erected the Antlers, an intricately built log cabin resort, in the late 1890s. With the completion of the Lake Cushman Dam in 1926 both the Cushman House and the Antlers, along with other lakeside resorts, succumbed to rising waters that backed up for several miles up the North Fork Skokomish River.

Credits and Sources:

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

National Park Service. “Olympic NP: Guidebook (1941).” NPS.gov

http://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/brochures/1941/olym/sec1.htm (accessed June 26th, 2015).