Forks, also previously known as the unincorporated town of Quillayute, is a city in southwest Clallam County, Washington, United States. The population was 3,335 at the 2020 census. It is named after the forks in the nearby Bogachiel, Calawah, and Sol Duc rivers which join together to form the Quillayute River.
For many years, the city's economy was fueled by the local timber industry. More recently it has drawn tourism related to the novel series Twilight and films of the same name, set in Forks. With recent declines in the timber industry, Forks has relied on the nearby Clallam Bay Corrections Center and Olympic Corrections Center as sources of jobs. Forks is a popular destination for sport fishers who fish for salmon and steelhead trout in nearby rivers. It is also supported by visitors to Olympic National Park.
Forks was once inhabited by the Quileute Native American tribe, before they ceded their territory. In 1889 a reservation was created near Forks the same year that Washington became a state. That same year the village was burnt down by settler Daniel Pullen. Forks is 12 miles from tribal burning areas that area tribes used to regenerate young ferns. The phrase "prairie upstream" from Quileute language was translated and became the name Forks Prairie.
Early settlers to Forks came via the rivers and trails from the Pacific and the Strait of Juan de Fuca due to the lack of overland options. In the 1860s, men from Dungeness unsuccessfully attempted to convince the territorial legislature to create Quillehuyte County out of Clallam and Jefferson counties's western ends.
In January 1878, a mile east of Forks, Luther and Esther Ford arrived and laid claim to the 160-acre homestead (at the time there was already a few trappers living in the area). Ford set up the first dairy herd in the settlement in 1879. In 1884 a post office opened in Nelson's cabin. Since another Washington settlement already was named 'Ford's Prairie' the name 'Forks' was chosen as the name. The name 'Forks' was due to the prairie's location as a fork in the vicinity of three rivers.
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