At the northern end of Washington's North Beach just outside of the Quinault Indian Reservation lies a sleepy little town with a few hundred residents called Moclips*.
Like many of the other beaches of North Beach, the sand on Mocrocks Beach** lies flat and can extend for a quarter mile at low tide before waves break on the shore. This extensive tidal fluctuation makes the area an excellent spot for harvesting of Pacific razor clams, but be sure to check the Washington Department of Fish + Wildlife for postings regarding harvest regulations prior to digging.
At the turn of the twentieth century, Moclips was promoted as a medicinal health resort where travelers could escape the hustle and bustle of city life for the moist climate and beach. The town grew to host numerous restaurants, hotels, a theater, several canneries, and a lumber mill within only a few years after its incorporation in 1905. Throughout the 1900s, however, numerous devastating storms and fires crippled the town and transformed it to more of a quiet residential town.
* According to various sources, the Quinault name "Moclips" has two distinctive meanings. Some accounts say the word means "a place where girls were sent as they were approching puberty," and others believe it derives from a word simply meaning "large stream".
** Mocrocks Beach is the section of Washington's North Beach that stretches from the Moclips River all the way to the Copalis River.
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