Wilkeson is a town in Pierce County, Washington, United States. The population was 477 at the 2010 census. Take a look below for 15 fun and interesting facts about Wilkeson, Washington, United States.
1. Wilkeson was officially incorporated on July 18, 1909 and boasts an elementary school building dating from 1909.
2. The town is named for Samuel Wilkeson, father of journalist and pioneer settler Frank Wilkeson.
3. At one time the town of Wilkeson had a population of about 3,000, but today it hovers around 400.
4. Many of the same principals of the Wilkeson operation built the coking ovens at Cokedale, about 80 miles north in Skagit County, which led to the creation of the town of Sedro, now Sedro-Woolley.
5. As far as we can determine, neither Frank nor any member of his family actually ever lived in the namesake town, but his brother, Samuel G. Wilkeson, invested substantially in coal companies that operated there.
6. There are still several existing relics from Wilkeson’s mining past, including bee hive coke ovens, a gated mine shaft on the other side of Wilkeson Creek and an abandoned concrete coal works.
7. Wilkeson hosts the annual Handcar Races on the third Saturday of July.
8. Near the towns of Buckley and Carbonado, Wilkeson is located at 47°6′25″N 122°2′54″W (47.107066, -122.048263).
9. Wilkeson is situated near to the northwest corner of Mt. Rainier National Park.
10. To the south of Wilkeson is the Carbon River access to the Park.
11. Unimproved roads from the east of Wilkeson plunge deep into the park.
12. One Road, FS 7720 leads to within 200 yards (180 m) of the Wilderness Boundary.
13. According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 0.47 square miles (1.22 km2), all of it land.
14. This region experiences warm (but not hot) and dry summers, with no average monthly temperatures above 71.6 F (22 C). According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Wilkeson has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate, abbreviated “Csb” on climate maps.
15. Wilkeson was once much larger, boasting a population of 1,437 in the 1910 census.
