Kalama, Washington

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Coordinates: 46°0′31″N 122°50′33″W / 46.00861, -122.8425
Kalama, Washington
Location of Kalama, Washington
Country	United States
State	Washington
County	Cowlitz
Area
- Total	2.3 sq mi (6.0 km²)
- Land	2.3 sq mi (5.9 km²)
- Water	0.0 sq mi (0.1 km²)
Elevation	39 ft (12 m)
Population (2000)
- Total	1,783
- Density	783.3/sq mi (302.4/km²)
Time zone	Pacific (PST) (UTC-8)
- Summer (DST)	PDT (UTC-7)
ZIP code	98625
Area code(s)	360
FIPS code	53-34645^[1]
GNIS feature ID	1512340^[2]

Kalama is a city in Cowlitz County, Washington, United States. It is part of the 'Longview, Washington Metropolitan Statistical Area'. The population was 1,783 at the 2000 census.

1 History
2 Geography
3 Demographics
4 References
5 See Also
6 External links

[edit] History

Kalama was officially incorporated on November 29, 1871. It was named after the nearby Kalama River which took its name from a Native Hawaiian named John Kalama.^[3] Kalama was the northern terminus of a railroad ferry operated by the Northern Pacific Railroad from Goble, Oregon. This was a critical link in rail service between 1883 when the service began until 1909 when the major rail bridges in Portland were completed.^[4] Kalama originated with a stake driven by Gen. John W. Sprague of the Northern Pacific Railroad who in March of 1870 selected a spot near the mouth of the Kalama river to mark the beginning point of Northern Pacific's Pacific Division.^[5] From that stake, the Northern Pacific began building north to Puget Sound, ultimately getting to Commencement Bay at what was to become Tacoma before going bankrupt. Construction began in April of 1871 with a crew of 800 men, with the official 'first spike' being driven in May of 1871^[5] Scheduled service from Tacoma to Kalama began on January 5, 1874.^[5] The Portland-Hunters line was completed about the same time that the cermonial spike was driven west of Helena, Montana to mark the completion of the transcontinental Northern Pacific Railroad in the fall of 1883. The following year in October of 1884, a 3 track, 360 foot long railroad ferry marked the beginning of 25 years of ferry service across the Columbia River ^[5]. Hunters^[6] was located near the south end of Sandy Island about a mile south of Goble. However the crossing times were excessive when the Tacoma had to work against the tide, and the ferry slip was soon moved to Goble at the north end of Sandy Island and directly across from Kalama. The ferry could handle 12 passenger cars or 27 freight cars^[5].

Today, Kalama continues to thrive amidst a surge of new home building. Downtown consists of many original and renovated buildings containing Antique shops, unique gift boutiques, a grocery store, feed store and other merchants to meet the daily needs of residents.

[edit] Geography

Kalama is located at 46°0′31″N, 122°50′33″W (46.008523, -122.842469)^[7].

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 2.3 square miles (6.0 km²), of which, 2.3 square miles (5.9 km²) of it is land and 0.04 square miles (0.1 km²) of it (1.30%) is water.

Highway access to Kalama is provided by Exit 30 for I-5. The industrial district is along the river front while the business district is on the east side of I-5. Residential areas are up the hill to the east and on the cliffs above town, portions of which have dramatic views overlooking the Columbia River. The busy Portland-Seattle rail connection parallels I-5 to the west on double tracks (or more) all the way through town.

[edit] Demographics

As of the census^[1] of 2000, there were 1,783 people, 732 households, and 502 families residing in the city. The population density was 783.3 people per square mile (301.9/km²). There were 800 housing units at an average density of 351.4/sq mi (135.5/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 95.96% White, 0.73% African American, 0.90% Native American, 0.28% Asian, 0.06% Pacific Islander, 0.28% from other races, and 1.79% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.51% of the population. 17.1% were of German, 8.3% Irish, 7.8% American, 7.5% English, 7.2% Norwegian and 5.0% Finnish ancestry according to Census 2000.

There were 732 households out of which 29.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.2% were married couples living together, 10.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.4% were non-families. 23.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.44 and the average family size was 2.88.

In the city the population was spread out with 26.0% under the age of 18, 6.6% from 18 to 24, 25.4% from 25 to 44, 27.4% from 45 to 64, and 14.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 95.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.6 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $38,152, and the median income for a family was $45,347. Males had a median income of $41,058 versus $25,521 for females. The per capita income for the city was $19,592. About 10.5% of families and 13.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 19.3% of those under age 18 and 12.0% of those age 65 or over.