It was named for the once-powerful Quiatso Indian tribe which inhabited the area when the first white explorers came to this coast. The name is from a Indian legend in which The Great Spirit waded across a river and rubbed his legs to restore circulation. He then threw the rolls of dirt which came from his legs, and they landed in the river. Out came a man and a woman to form the Qu-itz-qu or Qu-ai-tso tribe. The name literally means out of the dirt of the skin.

Queets Corridor is a fourteen mile long strip of land along the lower Queets River which was added to Olympic National Park by presidential proclamation on January 6, 1953. This was done in order to join the main area of the park with a 50-mile strip of land along the ocean which was added to the park. The Queets Corridor contains about 30 square miles.