Description Where The River Flows, Cowlitz River, Packwood - WashingtonThe Cowlitz River is a river in the state of Washington in the United States, a tributary of the Columbia River. Its tributaries drain a large region including the slopes of Mount Rainier, Mount Adams, and Mount St. Helens.The Cowlitz has a 2,586-square-mile (6,698 km2) drainage basin,[5][6] located between the Cascade Range in eastern Lewis County, Washington and the cities of Kelso and Longview. The river is roughly 105 miles (169 km) long, not counting tributaries.Major tributaries of the Cowlitz River include the Cispus River and the Toutle River, which was overtaken by volcanic mudflows (lahars) during the May 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens.Packwood is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) located in easternmost Lewis County, Washington, in the United States. As of the 2020 census, the CDP had a population of 319, while the town and surrounding Packwood community (east of Cora Bridge) had a total population of 1,277.[1]Packwood was originally established as Sulphur Springs. Shortly thereafter, it was renamed to Lewis, in honor of Meriweather Lewis, but was finally renamed to Packwood, in honor of William Packwood due to the US Postal Service confusing the town with Fort Lewis.The name 'Packwood', used for the town, a mountain pass, and a lake, honors William Packwood, a Virginian pioneer and explorer of Oregon and Washington.[3] Packwood and James Longmire were tasked by the Washington Territorial Legislature to chart a low pass over the Cascade Range, this necessitated by the deaths of several delegates in their journey to the first legislative session. As a mark of their successes in this venture, the charted pass - called the Packwood Saddle - is still unused by any road, trail, or other conveyance to pass between the east and west sides of the Cascades.Wikipedia