Castle Rock trip planner

Castle Rock is a city in Cowlitz County, Washington, United States. Located between the Willapa Hills and western base of Mount St. Helens, Castle Rock is at the heart of Washington timber country in the Pacific temperate rain forest. Castle Rock is part of the Longview, Washington Metropolitan Statistical Area; the population was 1,982 as of the 2010 census.HistoryCastle Rock is named for a volcanic rock outcropping over the Cowlitz River, "The Rock", rising 190 feet high on the south side of the city. The rock formation, resembling a castle, became a geographic landmark for Cowlitz Indians and Hudson's Bay Company traders as early as 1832. Today, it is the location of The Rock Community Park, with hiking trails, picnic tables, and a historical marker.Castle Rock is centered primarily on the donation land claim of Eliza and William Huntington, who settled at the location in 1852. The city was platted December 12, 1888 and incorporated on June 20, 1890. Castle Rock prospered as a Cowlitz River steamboat port and trading center for valley farms. The local sawmill was the first to produce cedar shingles, using the Western red cedar, which grows in abundance in the region.By 1940, the population had reached 1,182 and was supported by dairy farming, truck farming, and lumber manufacturing. Sword ferns, common in the region, were picked each year by several hundred people to be processed into medicine. In the spring, large quantities of Cascara Sagrada bark were gathered, dried, and shipped.