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Staff Gage, with 1894 high water and 1948 high water, Water Resources Education Center, Vancouver, Washington.
Image taken January 1, 2006.
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Vanport City ...
At one time Oregon's second largest city, called the "Miracle City", existed between the Columbia River on the north, the Columbia Slough on the south, Denver Avenue (Interstate 5) on the east, and the Union Pacific Railroad Tracks and Smith Lake on the west. This city was called "Vanport City", a name derived from the two cities on either side of it, Vancouver, Washington and Portland, Oregon. The construction of Vanport City began in 1942 as "temporary housing" for World War II workers in the shipyards, and often was referred to as "Kaiserville" after Henry Kaiser, owner of the areas largest shipyards. The city was built on the floodplain of the Columbia River and was protected by levees and dikes.
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"... Henry Kaiser was importing so many workers from the eastern United States and the South to work in his shipyards that he chartered special trains to carry them directly to the Portland area. Because there was insufficient housing available in the city, new housing had to be created in a matter of months. Kaiser's solution was to build his own city in the flood plain of the Columbia River. People began moving into Vanport on December 12, 1942, and it came to be the second largest city in Oregon, with 35,000 people, a movie theater, five schools, a library, a police station and even a college.
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[Oregon Historical Society Website, 2006]
The Vanport City Post Office was established on April 22, 1943. On May 30, 1948, Vanport City was destroyed in the second largest flood in recorded Columbia River history. The Post Office was officially closed on June 30. Today the area which once was Vanport City is the location of the Portland International Raceway, Huron Lakes, and the Vanport Wetlands Wildlife Habitat.
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1948 Vanport Flood ...
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A warm May in the spring of 1948 resulted in rapid snowmelt in the Cascades and rising waters of the Columbia River. By May 25, 1948, both the Columbia and the Willamette Rivers were nearly at 23 feet, eight feet over flood stage. On May 30, 1948, at approximately 4:17 p.m., the railroad dike between Smith Lake and Vanport City gave way. Within moments a 10-foot-high wall of water rushed over lands north of the Columbia Slough and inundated the city of Vanport. Sixteen lives were lost and Vanport City was forever gone.
Today, Vancouver, Washington's Water Resources Education Center, located upstream of Ryan Point and downstream of Wintler Park, has a staff gage on its property showing the high water marks of the 1894 "Great Flood", the 1948 "Vanport Flood", and the 1996 Columbia River flood.
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Staff Gage, Water Resources Education Center, Vancouver, Washington.
Staff gage shows height of 1894 flood (top, left side of gage), the 1948 "Vanport Flood" (center), and the 1996 flood (bottom of gage).
Image taken January 1, 2006.
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The Vanport Wetlands Wildlife Habitat is a 90.5-acre wildlife habitat site located in the Columbia Slough corridor, between Interstate 5, the Multnomah Expo Center, and Portland International Raceway. Smith and Bybee Lakes lie to the west. The site was formerly known as the "Radio Tower Site". The site was renamed to "Vanport Wetlands" in 2001 as it was developed into a wildlife habitat. The name "Vanport" is reminiscent of the 1948 flood which wiped out the community of Vanport.
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Vanport Wetlands, looking towards the "Expo Center", Portland, Oregon.
View from West Delta Park.
Image taken January 18 2006.
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From the Journals of Lewis and Clark ...
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