Friends Landing, who is Quigg?

June, 2020

Of course, as I usually do when I’m camping in a place that’s new to me, on this trip I got to thinking and wondering … how did Friends Landing get its name … why is Lake Quigg named Quigg … and what actually is Lake Quigg? Is the lake a natural extension of the Chehalis River? Was it purpose-built for a campground or for fishing? What? And why? And who?

With those questions in mind, I talked with the campground host and I searched online for answers. And I got answers!

A few decades ago, David Hamilton, a Trout Unlimited board member, wanted to help a close friend who was having a difficult time accepting life in a wheelchair. David thought about what he could do to help. He began making plans for a recreational facility that people with disabilities could enjoy, where they could enjoy the beauty of nature and get to fish in that beauty of northwest Washington State. David set about to make his dream happen, complete with a campground wedged between a river and a lake for the disabled community.

As part of the project, a family with the last name of “Friend” made a donation to Trout Unlimited of 152 acres that had previously been an old gravel pit and was right on the Chehalis River. When dredging for gravel had stopped many years prior to this, the gravel pit soon filled with water from the Chehalis River and became a 32-acre, human-made lake, Lake Quigg, and a variety of fish began to inhabit the lake.

When David Hamilton presented the plan to use this property to build a park for the disabled community, Trout Unlimited agreed to support the project. David planted the seed and got the wheels turning. Trout Unlimited, along with Columbia Pacific Resource Conservation & Development and Grays Harbor County, funded the project and provided volunteers.

The community came together in three phases. First the volunteers built a fishing pier and a paved boat launch on the Chehalis River, along with two fishing shelters, a picnic shelter, a small parking lot, and quarters for a caretaker. In the second phase of the project, they built a paved path along the south shore of the lake, with viewing/fishing docks and piers on the lake, and they added a floating dock on the river (so small boats could tie to it) and added a large parking lot and landscaping.

Photo above from the internet … accessed by land from the campground, here’s the fishing pier and boat dock on the Chehalis River. The campground is just to the left, just out of view. Photo below (mine) … the boat launch/ramp, also inside the campground and just upriver from the boat dock, where people can launch boats into the Chehalis River.

In 1999 the final phase was completed with the construction of a paved/boardwalk pathway circling the lake, recreational vehicle and tent-camping facilities, accessible restrooms with showers, accessible playground equipment, and an unpaved boat launch/ramp inside the campground that accesses the lake. Friends Landing, once a dream, had become a reality.

When I walked around Lake Quigg on my camping trip here, the path around the lake was nicely paved with sections of very well-maintained, level wooden boardwalk and was completely wheelchair accessible. The fishing piers were accessible as well, as were all of the buildings in the campground, and the playground too.

What a great idea David Hamilton had. The world could use more ideas like his.

I’m glad I wonder about things like this, because I usually find good answers. This answer was a really great answer. On the other hand, I have not been able to find out who Quigg was/is and why the lake is named Lake Quigg. I found that the surname Quigg is Irish, but found no more information about the name and how it relates to the water that filled that old gravel pit. Maybe one of you readers can help me out. Calling all researchers!

For you folks who might be interested in fish information, check out this Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife website. They do not list sturgeon, but the campground host told me that sturgeon are in Lake Quigg year ’round and are one of the “major catches”.

Next post … the Blue Slough. Now, what’s with a name like that?!