Port Angeles

Port Angeles is on Highway 101 and is the main city in Clallam County.

In 1791, Spanish captain Don Francisco de Eliza sailed into the deep-water harbor of what is now Port Angeles and became the first European to behold the area. He named the site Puerto de Nuestra Senora de Los Angeles, "Port of Our Lady of Angels," from which the current name is derived. President Abraham Lincoln designated Port Angeles as a federal city in 1862, the only other being Washington, D.C.

Today Port Angeles, population 18,397, depends upon pulp and paper mills as well as boating and fishing. It also is a tourist destination with hot springs and Olympic National Park in the area. Nearby Hurricane Ridge is noted for its spectacular overlook of mountain ranges. Ediz Hook, the 4-1/2-mile sandbar that forms the harbor, offers a panoramic view of the city and the Olympic Mountains.

A U.S. Coast Guard air rescue station is here and the Lower Elwha Indian Reservation lies northwest of the city.