| Official Name: | Doty, Washington |
| Settlement Type: | Unincorporated community |
| Pushpin Map: | Washington#USA |
| Pushpin Label: | Doty |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | United States |
| Subdivision Type1: | State |
| Subdivision Name1: | Washington |
| Subdivision Type2: | County |
| Subdivision Name2: | Lewis |
| Established Date: | 1900 |
| Population Total: | approx. 250 |
| Timezone: | Pacific (PST) |
| Utc Offset: | -8 |
| Timezone Dst: | PDT |
| Utc Offset Dst: | -7 |
| Elevation M: | 95 |
| Elevation Ft: | 312 |
| Coordinates: | 46.6344°N -123.2778°W |
| Postal Code Type: | zip code |
| Postal Code: | 98539 |
| Area Code: | 360 |
Doty, Washington is an unincorporated community located 1.3-miles directly west of Dryad and 5 miles east of Pe Ell on Washington State Route 6.[1], approximately 250 people reside in or around Doty, which boasts a general store, post office, fire department, and two churches. Logging and farming are the industries that most of the residents rely on for income.
The Doty-Dryad area was once known as North Prairie and the lands were first settled in 1852 by Joseph and Karolina Mauermann, Austrian immigrants who traveled by wagon train from Missouri. The region was inundated with strands of old growth fir and teemed with abundant wildlife, including cougars which caused issues for farmers attempting to raise cattle. The closest post office at the time was in Olympia, approximately away.[2]
Chauncey A. Doty built a sawmill in the area around 1900, and the community that sprang up around it was named after him.[3] [4] Doty once boasted the largest sawmill in Lewis County.[5]
Doty was once home to the Doty Bridge, a covered railroad bridge that was one of the last remaining in the state.[6] [7] It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places but had its designation removed in 1990.
Many residents in Doty participate in the annual Pe Ell River Run that has been held since 1978. The event consists of entrants buying or building water crafts and floating down the Chehalis River from Pe Ell to Rainbow Falls State Park, where riders can float over a slight waterfall that remained after severe flooding damage due to the Great Coastal Gale of 2007.[8] [9]
The Willapa Hills Trail passes thru the area.[10]
This region experiences warm (but not hot) and dry summers, with no average monthly temperatures above 71.6 °F. According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Doty has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate, abbreviated "Csb" on climate maps.[11]