The U.S. Bureau of Land Management's 1878 cadastral survey map (tax survey) for T3N R8E, shows Carson Creek but does not name it.

On October 29, 1805, Lewis and Clark passed by the Carson area and called today's Wind River the "New Timbered river" after the abundant Oregon Ash trees.

"... Some rain, we landed above the mouth of a Small river on the Stard. Side and Dined ...   we call this little river [fr Ash] New Timbered river from a Speces of Ash [that wood] which grows on its banks of a verry large and different from any we had before Seen, and a timber resembling the beech in bark [& groth] but different in its leaf which is Smaller and the tree smaller. ..." [Clark, October 30, 1805]

On October 29, 1805, Lewis and Clark passed by the Carson area and called today's Wind River the "New Timbered river" after the abundant Oregon Ash trees.

The Carson area was settled in the late 1870s and early 1880s with sawmills being built using the waters of Carson Creek.

An early name for the Carson settlement was "Ash". According to the Tacoma Public Library's Washington Place Names database (2020):

"Lewis and Clark named a site at the mouth of what is now Carson Creek, a tributary to the Columbia River in south central Skamania County. They named the place Ash for the Oregon Ash trees that they found there in 1805. The place is now occupied by the community of Carson."

There are two versions of how today's Carson was named.

E.S. Meany wrote in "Origin of Washington Geographic Names" (1923, University of Washington Press):

"Ash, see Carson, in Skamania County."

"Carson, a town in Skamania County. The town derived its name from a creek of the same name. It is said that the name is a corruption from the name of Katsner. (Postmaster, in Names MSS.,, Letter 406). A former name was "Ash," as Lewis and Clark there found the first ash timber of the West. The place is becoming famous from the Carson Hot Springs. (L.C. Gilman, in Names MSS., Letter 590)."

Robert Hitchman, in "Place Names of Washington" (1985, Washington State Historical Society), gives the same version.

"... Settlement on Carson Creek, 1 mile north of Columbia River, south central Skamania County. It was named for Carson Creek, which is said to be a corruption of "Katsner, the name of a pioneer. ..."

However, Henry Metzger, who settled in the Carson area in 1883, wrote in his article "History of Settlement of the Wind River Valley" ("Skamania County Pioneer", April 21, 1939, online at "rootsweb.com"):

"... Prior to 1893, the nearest store and postoffice was at Cascade Locks, Oregon. To get there and back by rowboat was to say the least, very inconvenient. In that year, A.G. Tucker, an old bachelor, started a store in a miserable, tumble-down shack which was built by the sawmill company. The citizens of Carson applied for a postoffice and were granted a twice-a-week mail service. Mr. Tucker, an ardent admirer of Kit Carson, suggested the name "Carson" for the postoffice and the name was adopted without objection. ...   Before [there was] a postoffice ... Carson was known as "Sprague Landing". ..."

Metzger also wrote:

"... the development of the valley was rather slow until about 1900, or soon thereafter, at which time hotels were built at both the St. Martin's and Shipherd's Hot Springs, 16 miles up the valley. ...

... by about 1910 the town of Carson boasted of 5 hotels, including St. Martins and Shipherds, 1 restaurant, 4 stores, 2 large livery barns, 1 blacksmith, 1 barber, 2 butchershops, 1 bakery, 1 weekly newspaper (for a short time only), 1 billiard hall and dance hall, a brass band, 2 schoolhouses, 1 church and when the railroad was built -- 7 saloons. Four of these saloons were in town, 1 was at Shipherd's Springs, 1 at St. Martin Springs and one near the steamboat landing. The building of the Northbank railroad in 1907 brought a land boom to the valley and uncleared stump and brush land sold for as much as $100 per acre on the lower flat. ..."

According to "Names in Clark County" ("The Columbian", 2014):

"Carson ... A.C. Tucker had asked the Post Office for the name Casner to honor the first settler, but the government misspelled it "Carson". Earlier the area had been called Ash, because it was the first stand of ash trees seen by Lewis and Clark."

• Carson Hot Springs ...
• Conrad Lundy Jr. Bridge ...
• Shipherd Falls ...
• Shipherds Hot Springs ...

[More]

The "High Bridge" is the 4th bridge to span the Wind River canyon north of Carson. The first bridge was built in 1890 and lasted two years. Next came a one-lane suspension bridge built in 1913.

"... Across the flats of the valley proper, where the soil is gravelly, road building (such as was needed) was comparatively easy but the crossing of Wind River canyon, three miles north of Carson, was a difficult task. In 1890 the first bridge was built across Wind River Canyon one-half mile upstream from the present cable bridge, by donation labor. Two years later this bridge was washed away and for many months a cable crossing was the only means of getting into or out of the upper valley. About 1910 a delegation of citizens went before the County Commissioners and asked for the construction of a bridge where the cable bridge now stands [note, bridge of 1925]. After much discussion and many delays the commissioners ordered the building of the suspension bridge in 1912. The first estimate of its cost was $8,000.00, but by the time it was ready for traffic it had cost $17,000.00, and since that time steel towers and other improvements have increased this cost, but it has long since paid for itself in convenience to travel. John Isham, better known as "Hi John," drove the first team across this bridge. ..." [Skamania County Pioneer, April 14, 1939, "History of Settlement of the Wind River Valley" by Henry Metzger]

The 1913 bridge was replaced by a steel wire cable suspension bridge in 1925 which was in use until it was bypassed by the current bridge. The 1925 bridge was subsequently removed. In 2002 the Conrad Lundy Jr. Bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places (Architecture/Engineering, #02000326).