Sams River is a river

River

A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...

 in the U.S. state

U.S. state

A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...

 of Washington. A tributary of the Queets River

Queets River

The Queets River is a river in the U.S. state of Washington. It is located on the Olympic Peninsula, mostly within the Olympic National Park and empties into the Pacific Ocean.The Queets River is long. Its drainage basin is in area...

, Sams River flows through Olympic National Park

Olympic National Park

Olympic National Park is located in the U.S. state of Washington, in the Olympic Peninsula. The park can be divided into four basic regions: the Pacific coastline, alpine areas, the west side temperate rainforest and the forests of the drier east side. U.S...

 and Olympic National Forest

Olympic National Forest

Olympic National Forest is a U.S. National Forest located in Washington, USA. With an area of 633,677 acres , it nearly surrounds Olympic National Park and the Olympic Mountain range. Olympic National Forest contains parts of Clallam, Grays Harbor, Jefferson, and Mason counties...

. Part of the river's lower course forms the boundary between the national park and national forest.

Sams River is 15.7 miles (25.3 km) long. Its drainage basin

Drainage basin

A drainage basin is an extent or an area of land where surface water from rain and melting snow or ice converges to a single point, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another waterbody, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean...

 is 30.8 square miles (79.8 km²) in area.

Course

Sams River originates on the north slopes of Finley Peak in Olympic National Park. The river flows north a short distance, then west between Sams Ridge, to the north, and Matheny Ridge, to the south. Along the way the river leaves the national park and enters Olympic National Forest. For several miles the national park and forest boundary runs along the crest of Sams Ridge. At the western end of the ridge, where the Olympic Mountains

Olympic Mountains

The Olympic Mountains is a mountain range on the Olympic Peninsula of western Washington in the United States. The mountains, part of the Pacific Coast Ranges, are not especially high - Mount Olympus is the highest at - but the western slopes of the Olympics rise directly out of the Pacific...

 open up into broader valleys, the boundary follows Sams River. The boundary turns south near the mouth of Sams River, leaving the final half mile or so within the national park.

Sams River joins the Queets River just upstream from Queets Campground, located near Sams Rapids on the Queets River. The Queets Ranger Station is located about a mile downstream from Sams River.

Name

The origin of the river's name is not certain. There are two stories about it. According to one story the name comes from Harry and Sam Sams, who were members of an important Quinault family. Every autumn they poled their dugout canoes up the Queets River to Sams Rapids and the mouth of Sams River, where they hunted elk and caught salmon, which they smoked and sold to settlers. Some historians think the name is derived from the word sams or samis, a shortened form of Samms-mish, a prominent Quinault tribal group which once lived along Sams River.