It is not known how long the Indians have lived on the Peninsula. Many believe that they came from Asia thru Alaska. All indications are that they lived along the coast, venturing into the forests to gather berries and hunt elk and deer.
The first European to see the Olympic Peninsula was Juan Perez on August 10, 1774. He named the highest mountain El Cerro de la Santa Rosalia. In 1788, John Meres renamed it Mount Olympus and in 1792, Captain George Vancouver referred to the mountains as the Olympic Mountains. In 1846 the boundary between Canada and the U.S. was established and Europeans began to settle on the Olympic Peninsula.
What is now the Olympic National Forest was first explored in 1882 by soldiers from Fort Townsend. In 1885, Lt. Joseph O'Neil led a miltary expedition of the northeastern portion of the Olympics. In 1889 a group of civilians started across the Olympics, on a trip sponsored by a Seattle newspaper. Referred to as the Press Expedition, the trip is a story in itself. Not knowing what to expect, they started out with boats and horses, moving up the Elwha River. While they succeed in following the Quinault River out, it was an extremely hard trip. Today, the trip of about 50 miles is very popular due to the excellent trails.
Two million acres were set aside in 1897 as the Olympic Forest Reserve. In 1907 the name was changed to the Olympic National Forest and in 1909 President Roosevelt (Teddy) proclaimed 600,000 acres as the Mount Olympus National Monument. During World War I the acreage was cut in half. The Monument was transferred to the National Park Service in 1933. Congress established a national park in 1938 containing 648,000 acres. Later, fifty miles of beaches along the Pacific Ocean were added. Other additions have increased the size to about 900,000 acres and 95% remains in its natural state.
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