Crime Scene and Trauma Cleanup in Forks, WA

Forks is a city in southwest Clallam County, Washington, on the Olympic Peninsula; it was previously known as the unincorporated town of Quillayute.

Forks is named for the forks of the nearby Bogachiel, Calawah, and Sol Duc rivers, which join to form the Quillayute River.

The Forks Prairie was Quileute tribal territory; the first homestead there was claimed in January 1878 by Luther and Esther Ford, who set up the area's first dairy in 1879.

A post office opened in 1884 and took the name "Forks" after the settlers' preferred name, "Ford's Prairie," was already taken; the town was platted in 1912 and officially incorporated on August 7, 1945.

For much of the 20th century Forks' economy was fueled by timber, and the city gave itself the title "Logging Capital of the World" before the industry declined sharply in the 1980s and 1990s.

Forks had 3,335 residents in the 2020 census, living in 1,296 households, down from its peak population of 3,532 in 2010.

Forks sits in a temperate rainforest and is one of the rainiest incorporated places in the contiguous United States, averaging about 120 inches of rain a year with roughly 212 days of measurable precipitation.

Forks is a key setting in Stephenie Meyer's Twilight novels and films, which she set there after searching for rainy locations; annual visitors rose from about 6,000 before the series to nearly 73,000 by 2010, and the Forever Twilight in Forks Festival is held each year around September 13.

The Forks Timber Museum, built in 1989 by the Forks High School carpentry class, displays the history and tools of the local logging industry with exhibits dating to the 1870s.

Tillicum Park in Forks displays Rayonier No. 10, a 1930 Shay geared steam locomotive once used to haul lumber out of the forests near Forks.