Grays River, Washington

14 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1940 and the latest in 1985. It stands in the Grays River census division. It lies in ZIP code area 98621. It stands on Hull Creek. The Survey maps it on the Grays River quadrangle. 248 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 161 feet above sea level.

Research this city

Grays River within Wahkiakum County

On record in Grays River

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 1 record

Grays River Covered Bridgelisted 1971

Population over time

2 figures

Grays River fell from 263 to 248 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

Year	People	Change
2010	263
2020	248	-15 (-6%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

8 surveys from 14 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

1940 USGS Brookfield quadrangle1:62500
1953 USGS Hoquiam quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
1955 USGS Grays River quadrangle1:62500, 3 printings
1957 USGS Hoquiam quadrangle1:250000
1958 USGS Hoquiam quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
1962 USGS Hoquiam quadrangle1:250000
1981 USGS Astoria quadrangle1:100000, 3 printings
1985 USGS Grays River quadrangle1:24000

Fires near this place

9 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 9 fires within 5 miles of Grays River between 1992 and 2019, burning about 5 acres in total. 2 started naturally. None was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Natural	2
Recreation and ceremony	2
Debris and open burning	2
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	1
Equipment and vehicle use	1
Other causes	1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
29 September 2019	Natural	under an acre	Washington State Department of Natural Resources Headquarters	SALMON CREEK
27 September 2000	Recreation and ceremony	under an acre	Washington State Department of Natural Resources Headquarters	not named
23 September 2018	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	under an acre	Washington State Department of Natural Resources Headquarters	DEEP RIVER
3 August 2002	Other causes	under an acre	Washington State Department of Natural Resources Headquarters	not named
25 August 1996	Recreation and ceremony	under an acre	Washington State Department of Natural Resources Headquarters	not named
14 August 1992	Debris and open burning	2.0 acres	Washington State Department of Natural Resources Headquarters	not named
18 May 1996	Natural	under an acre	Washington State Department of Natural Resources Headquarters	not named
6 March 2001	Equipment and vehicle use	2.0 acres	Washington State Department of Natural Resources Headquarters	not named

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Wahkiakum County

Mines and quarries near this place

5 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 5 workings within 5 miles of Grays River: 5 past producers. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Stone, Crushed/Broken, Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status
Grays River Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Olsen Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
7000 Pit # 1	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Past Producer
Johnson Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Past Producer
Unnamed Quarry	Stone, Crushed/Broken	Past Producer

Every working recorded in Wahkiakum County

Storms near this place

20 since 2012

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Grays River in 20 storm reports between 2012 and 2025: 20 flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
February 2025	Flood	Grays River	-	Grays River at Covered Bridge near Rosburg. Reached minor flood stage (28.5 ft) 2/25 at 3 15 am. Reached Moderate Flood (30.5 ft) 2/25 at 645 am. Peaked at 31.9 feet 2/25 at 1215pm. Fell below Moderate 2/25 at 2030 PST. Fell below minor at 2/26 5 am.
January 2022	Flood	Grays River	-	The gauge on the Grays River near Rosburg rose above flood stage of 12.0 feet at 2345PST, crested at 15.5 feet on the 12th at 0715PST, the fell below flood stage at 2330PST. A mudslide closed SR-4 in both direction near Raistakka Road.
January 2022	Flood	Grays River	-	The gauge on the Grays River near Rosburg rose above flood stage of 12.0 feet at 0640PST, crested at 16.2 feet on the 7th at 0200PST, then dropped below flood stage on the 8th at 0340PST. In addition to river flooding, widespread areal flooding resulted in a lot of road closures in the county, trapping people for 3 days.
February 2022	Flood	Grays River	-	Minor flooding occurred along the Grays River. Heavy rain fell as surrounding areas measured 2 to 10 inches of rain. No damages were reported.
November 2021	Flood	Grays River	-	The Grays River crested at 12.5 feet on the afternoon of November 5th. Flood stage is 12 feet.
December 2020	Flood	Grays River	-	The Grays River gage (GRRW1) measured a crest of 12.1 feet. The flood stage is 12.0 feet. No damage was reported.
April 2018	Flood	Grays River	-	The Grays River near Rosburg crested at 12.6 feet around 1 AM, which is 0.6 foot above flood stage. No damage was reported.
December 2018	Flood	Grays River	-	The Grays River near Rosburg crested at 13.2 feet around 11:30 AM, which is 1.2 feet above flood stage. No damage was reported.
February 2017	Flood	Grays River	-	Heavy rain caused the Grays River near Rosburg to flood. The river crested at 15.57 feet, which is 3.57 feet above flood stage.
November 2017	Flood	Grays River	-	The Grays River crested at 13.6 feet around 10 am, which is 1.6 feet above flood stage. No damage was reported.
November 2017	Flood	Grays River	-	The Grays River crested at 15.3 feet around 12 am, which is 3.3 feet above flood stage. No damage was reported.
November 2017	Flood	Grays River	-	The Grays River crested at 14.0 feet around 3 am, which is 2 feet above flood stage. No damage was reported.
December 2017	Flood	Grays River	-	The Grays River near Rosburg crested at 13.4 feet around 7 pm, which is 1.4 feet above flood stage. No damage was reported.
October 2017	Flood	Grays River	-	Heavy rain caused the Grays River near Rosburg to flood. The river crested at 15.56 feet, which is 3.56 feet above flood stage.
November 2016	Flood	Grays River	-	Heavy rain resulted in flooding of the Grays River near Rosburg. Grays River reached flood stage at 1021 AM on November 24th, and crested at 13.9 feet at 1215 AM November 25th. The river dropped below flood stage at 850 AM November 25th.
January 2012	Flood	Grays River	-	Heavy rain combined with snowmelt runoff caused the Grays River near Rosburg to overflow its banks and flood low lying areas. The Grays River crested at 13.1 feet on January 21st at 6 am PST, 1.1 feet above flood stage.
February 2012	Flood	Grays River	-	Heavy rainfall caused the Grays River near Rosburg to overflow its banks and flood low lying areas. The Grays River crested at 12.7 feet on February 22nd at 8 am PST, 0.7 feet above flood stage.
March 2012	Flood	Grays River	-	Heavy rain caused the Grays River near Rosburg to overflow its banks and flood low lying areas. The Grays River crested at 12.9 feet on March 29th at 8 pm PDT, 0.9 feet above flood stage.
November 2012	Flood	Grays River	-	Heavy rain caused the Grays River near Rosburg to overflow its banks and flood low lying areas. The Grays River crested at 16.0 feet on Novemeber 19th at 3 pm PST, 4.0 feet above flood stage.
March 2012	Flood	Grays River	-	Heavy rain combined with snowmelt runoff causing the Grays River near Rosburg to overflow its banks and flood low lying areas. The Grays River crested at 14.7 feet on March 15th at 2 pm PDT, 2.7 feet above flood stage.

Every storm recorded in Wahkiakum County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Place	Distance	Sheets
Rosburg	2.3 miles	16
Deep River	4.1 miles	16
Eden	4.6 miles	16
Oneida	4.7 miles	16
Svensens Landing	5.8 miles	16
Carlson Landing	6.4 miles	16
Dahlia	6.6 miles	14
Altoona	6.7 miles	16

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on Grays River	An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q3474297	The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1505253. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.