MASON COUNTY is a land with deep roots in the timber industry that has slowly become a bedroom community for government workers in neighboring Thurston and Kitsap counties.

It's a land of great natural beauty with deep forests, quiet lakes and saltwater expanses, farmed valleys, river gorges and mile-high mountains. That, and its abundant fish and wildlife and generous doses of rain, make it a green recreational paradise.

Mason County is a sparsely populated land with 53,100 inhabitants at last estimate and only one incorporated city in 961 square miles.

It is a land of contrasts. It has one of the highest rates of out-of-county commuting in the state (43 percent) and the second longest average commute of 39 counties in the state (more than 30 minutes) but only 15 stoplights on 800 miles of streets and roads. The county has a per capita income about $10,000 below the state average, but the richest man in the world has a waterfront compound here. It has some delightful highs and lows – all the way from sea level (or lower if you're scuba diving) to the tip of 6,250-foot Mount Washington in the gorgeous Olympic Mountain Range. And its weather highs and lows are equally delightful – mostly mild without extremes.

THE COUNTY claims the southeast corner of Olympic National Park, one of the nation's most popular, as well as a large chunk of the Olympic National Forest. In fact, 275 square miles of the county's land (28 percent) are in the park and forest.

Rural and forested, but it has an airport with a 5,000-foot runway on which 727s have landed as well as many marinas.

About 3 percent of the county's population is in prison at the Washington Corrections Center, the county's third largest employer. Top employer is the Squaxin Island Tribe with a growing casino and hotel and other enterprises. Simpson Timber Company, which once accounted for 20 percent of the jobs in the county, now employs about 3 percent of the county's workers after major restructuring in its industry.

Mason County has public trails in spectacular wetlands on Hood Canal in Belfair. The Shelton tourist center is a caboose. The biggest festival is a seafood feast built around the West Coast Oyster Shucking Championships. The county has a kayak park in Allyn, a Christmas parade in freezing weather, a 22-year-old fiddle festival and a transit system that offers local rides for no fare.

SEVEN SCHOOL districts and two private schools educate 8,368 children, spending more than $73 million annually. There's a program at a Shelton elementary school where the children study half the day in English and half the day in Spanish, so that the entire population – Anglo and Hispanic – becomes bilingual. There's a school district in the forested west end of the county with less than one child for every square mile.

The county remains in the top half of Washington's counties in growth rate; it has tripled its population over the last 40 years as retired people and government workers in neighboring counties moved here in droves.

The population of this popular retirement community is older than the state as a whole, with 17.9 percent of us 65 or older compared to the state's 11.4 percent.

We're somewhat whiter than the rest of the state (88.5 percent white persons to Washington's 81.5 percent). The state is a little more educated than the county. Eighty-seven percent of Washingtonians are high-school graduates, while 83.7 percent of those here have diplomas. The disparity is greater for college-educated people. Almost 28 percent in the state have a bachelor's degree or more while 15.6 percent in the county do.

You'll learn more about this wonderful place we call home on the following pages.

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