Click image to enlarge
|
Vancouver Trout Hatchery, Vancouver, Washington.
Image taken December 18, 2004.
|
Vancouver Trout Hatchery ...
|
The Vancouver Trout Hatchery is located on the Washington side of the Columbia River at River Mile (RM) 113, just upstream of the Interstate 205 Bridge, and two miles downsteam from Fishers Landing. The Hatchery can be reached from the Evergreen Highway, north of Washington State Highway 14. Today the Vancouver Trout Hatchery is also home to the Columbia Springs Environmental Education Center, the Biddle Natural Reserve, West Biddle Lake, and numerous hiking trails. The Hatchery is under control of the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW). In the 1990s, the WDFW entered onto a twenty-year agreement with Clark Public Utilities to keep the hatchery open and producing fish.
The hatchery and its operations have been incorporated into Columbia Springs' educational programs. The WDFW property north of Highway 14 is a protected watershed to provide water for hatchery operations. This area was once the home to the Hudson's Bay Company sawmills.
|
Trout Hatchery Viewing Ponds ...
Click image to enlarge
|
Vancouver Trout Hatchery Viewing Pond sign, Vancouver, Washington.
Image taken July 25, 2008.
|
Click image to enlarge
|
Rainbow Trout, Vancouver Trout Hatchery, Vancouver, Washington.
Image taken July 25, 2008.
|
Click image to enlarge
|
Brown Trout, Vancouver Trout Hatchery, Vancouver, Washington.
Image taken July 25, 2008.
|
Views around the Hatchery ...
Click image to enlarge
|
Vancouver Trout Hatchery, Vancouver, Washington.
Image taken December 18, 2004.
|
Click image to enlarge
|
Pond, Vancouver Trout Hatchery, Vancouver, Washington.
Image taken October 21, 2005.
|
Click image to enlarge
|
Viewing Platform, Vancouver Trout Hatchery, Vancouver, Washington.
Image taken October 21, 2005.
|
Click image to enlarge
|
Fall Colors, Vancouver Trout Hatchery, Vancouver, Washington.
Image taken October 21, 2005.
|
Springs ...
|
Springs are plentiful in the gravel deposits along the 25-square-mile Columbia Slope watershed which exists between Vancouver, Washington and Camas, Washington. Vancouver once used these springs as a water source.
|
Biddle Lakes ...
Click image to enlarge
|
West Biddle Lake, Vancouver Trout Hatchery, Vancouver, Washington.
Image taken October 21, 2005.
|
Click image to enlarge
|
West Biddle Lake, Vancouver Trout Hatchery, Vancouver, Washington.
Image taken October 21, 2005.
|
Click image to enlarge
|
West Biddle Lake, Vancouver Trout Hatchery, Vancouver, Washington.
Image taken October 21, 2005.
|
Columbia Springs Environmental Education Center ...
|
The Columbia Springs Environmental Education Center is located on the site of the historic Vancouver Trout Hatchery. The center was created in 1997 in a partnership of Clark Public Utilities, Evergreen School District, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, City of Vancouver/Clark County, and Clark College, with a goal to provide environmental education for local students in grades K-12 and college.
The center is located on more than 100 acres of urban green space, offering different microclimates and
ecosystems.
The Biddle Trail, located on the west end
of the center, is a self-guided interpretive nature walk.
Bird blinds provide ample opportunity for wildlife viewing
as well as shelter in wetter weather. The park is open
daily to the public.
|
Click image to enlarge
|
Columbia Springs Environmental Education Center, Vancouver, Washington.
Image taken October 21, 2005.
|
Click image to enlarge
|
Columbia Springs Environmental Education Center, Vancouver, Washington.
Image taken October 21, 2005.
|
Biddle Nature Preserve ...
|
The
City of Vancouver owns land on the west and east ends of Columbia Springs plus an area on the north side of Highway 14. The area on the west end is the Biddle Natural Preserve, donated by the Wood Family. Biddle Natural Preserve has a one-third mile interpretive trail and two bird-viewing blinds. The Biddle Natural Preserve is connected to Columbia Springs by a section of the Lewis and Clark Discovery Greenway trail.
|
Click image to enlarge
|
Pathway from the Vancouver Hatchery Complex towards the Biddle Nature Preserve.
Image taken October 21, 2005.
|
Click image to enlarge
|
Biddle Nature Preserve, Vancouver, Washington.
Image taken December 18, 2004.
|
Evergreen Fisheries Park ...
|
The Washington Wildlife and Recreation Coalition developed a 49-acre regional park at the site of the historic Vancouver Trout Hatchery, including picnic tables, a picnic shelter, children's play equipment, bike trails, parking, and restrooms.
|
Woods Landing ...
|
The 10 acres of Wood's Landing has fresh water springs, upland habitat, and nearly 1,000 feet of shoreline.
Here endangered chum salmon return in late autumn each year to lay their eggs in the spring water. Wood's Landing is located upstream of the Interstate 205 Bridge and downstream of the steamboat landing housing development on the north shore of the Columbia River, and includes Joseph Creek. Wood's Landing was the homesite of Erskine B. Wood.
|
Joseph's Creek ...
Joseph's Creek flows a short distance from the marshes east of the Vancouver Trout Hatchery to the Columbia River. It is part of the Columbia Slope Watershed.
-
"The 25-square-mile Columbia Slope watershed consists of a narrow band of hillsides that drain to the Columbia River between downtown Vancouver and Lacamas Creek. Its northern boundary generally follows Mill Plain Boulevard and hilltops in Camas, including Prune Hill.
Fisher and Joseph's creeks are the only named creeks in the watershed. Fisher Creek is near the boundary of Camas and Vancouver. Joseph's Creek flows only a short distance from the marshes east of the Vancouver Trout Hatchery to the Columbia River. Springs are plentiful in the gravel deposits along the area's hillsides. Ellsworth Springs, near Interstate 205, is probably the most notable. Vancouver once used these springs as a water source.
..."
[Clark County "Water Resources & Clean Water Program" Website, 2007]
|
Springs along the Columbia Slope ...
Originally the water for the Vancouver Trout Hatchery came from spings issuing forth from the hillsides. Information from Clark County (2003 report):
-
"... Many springs flow from a six-mile stretch of the Columbia Slope between Marine Park in Vancouver and the Fisher's Landing area near Camas. Most of the springs flow from gravel deposits in the hillsides above the Columbia River.
Ellsworth Springs, west of the Interstate 205 bridge, was a source of drinking water for the city for many years. In 1973, the city stopped using the springs because of elevated nitrate concentrations, most likely from septic tanks in large areas of east Vancouver. From the late 1800s to 1973, Ellsworth Springs supplied as much as four million gallons per day of the city of Vancouver's drinking water.
In 1949, the U.S. Geological Survey found that Columbia Slope springs discharged approximately 35 cubic feet of water per second Salmon and Lacamas creeks flow at about this rate during the summer. In a 1988 update, the Geological Survey found that Ellsworth and a few other springs near I-205 flowed at rates similar to those measured in 1949. The other springs had a 40 percent decrease in flow. The large springs that supplied cold, clear water to Vancouver Trout Hatchery had decreased to 5 and 20 percent, which forced the hatchery to drill wells in the late 1980s.
... "
[Clark County "Water Resources & Clean Water Program" Website, 2007]
|
Journey of the Salmon ...
Click image to enlarge
|
Vancouver Trout Hatchery, Vancouver, Washington.
Image taken October 21, 2005.
|
Click image to enlarge
|
Vancouver Trout Hatchery, Vancouver, Washington.
Image taken October 21, 2005.
|
Hudson's Bay Company Sawmills ...
The location of the Vancouver Trout Hatchery and the Columbia Springs Environmental Education Center was once the location for the Hudson's Bay Company sawmills. The first sawmill was erected in the winter of 1828 to 1829, and the last sawmill continued in operation until 1856.
[MORE]
|
Click image to enlarge
|
Hudson's Bay Company Sawmills Sign, Vancouver, Washington.
Image taken July 25, 2008.
|
After the Hudson Bay Company ...
|
The 1850 Clark County Census lists a Wm. F. Crate, age 37, occupation Millwright, born in England, along with his wife Sarah, age 34, born in England, and two sons, Wm. F. Jr., age 5, and Adolphus, age 2, both born in Vermont.
The 1852 cadastral survey (tax survey) for T1N R1E shows "H.B.Cos Mills" (two mills) spanning both sides of a drainage in the southwest quarter of Section 3. The road from Lieser Point runs through the Mills and then swings north to the Mill Plain road, before splitting, with one branch swinging south to Fishers Landing.
The 1863 cadastral survey for T1N R1E shows that area of Section 3 being split (it appears to be along the drainage), with the western part belonging to the Donation Land Claim (DLC) of Wm. F. Crate (Claim No.38) and the eastern part belonging to E.J. Taylor (Claim No.39). No indication of the former Hudson Bay Company Mills.
|
|
From the Journals of Lewis and Clark ...
|
|
Return to