Onalaska, WA

Onalaska is a Lewis County census-designated place in the South Fork Newaukum River valley, along Washington State Route 508. The 2020 census counted 657 residents. Chehalis is a few miles northwest; Morton lies 24 miles east, and Napavine nine miles west. The community grew around the Carlisle Lumber Company's inland mill, established in 1909, and the 225-foot smokestack built around 1918–20 still stands near Carlisle Lake. That tall brick remnant gives the former timber economy a visible marker.

Current local routines cluster around Carlisle Lake Park and the Onalaska High School campus. The park has paved trails and lake access, while the Onalaska Alliance's Apple Harvest Festival brings a parade, farm tours, pie contest, music, and vendors each fall; the 2026 festival is scheduled for October 2–4. The high school also participates in fish releases—students released a combined 135,000 coho and steelhead hatchlings in 2023—linking present-day school work to the watershed. Onalaska's map runs from mill smokestack to lake park, highway, and school.