Lewis & Clark's Columbia River - "200 Years Later" "Carty Lake ... Ridgefield NWR, Washington"

Includes ... Carty Lake ... Carty Unit, Ridgefield NWR ... Wapato Portage ...

Click image to enlarge Carty Lake as seen from Ridgefield, Washington. Image taken October 6, 2013. Carty Lake ... Carty Lake is a small lake on the southern end of the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge's Carty Unit. During the winter months it supports a great number of Swans (both Tunda and Trumpeter) and other waterfowl. Lewis and Clark and Carty Lake ... Lewis and Clark camped near Carty Lake on March 29, 1806, on their return back up the Columbia, a location today knowns as "Wapato Portage". Captain Clark described the Native method of harvesting Wapato "from a large pond". "... at 5 oClock reembarked and proceeded up on the N E. of an Island to an inlet about 1 mile above the village and encamped on a butifull grassy plac, where the nativs make a portage of their Canoes and Wappato roots to and from a large pond at a Short distance.    in this pond the nativs inform us they Collect great quantities of pappato, which the womin collect by getting into the water, Sometimes to their necks holding by a Small canoe and with their feet loosen the wappato or bulb of the root from the bottom from the Fibers, and it imedeately rises to the top of the water, they Collect & throw them into the Canoe, those deep roots are the largest and best roots. Great numbers of the whistling Swan, Gees and Ducks in the Ponds. ..." [Clark, March 29, 1806] James Carty ... Carty Lake and the Carty Unit of the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge were named after James Carty, the first settler in the area. James Carty arrived at the banks of Lake River in 1839 where he built a log cabin at or very near the site of the Cathlapotle Village plankhouses. Carty lived by himself with only a handful of Cathlapotle natives for neighbors, plus the three bachelors who lived on nearby Bachelor Island. [More] Early Carty Lake ... An 1888 Plat Map of "Clarke County" has Lake River named "Lake River" and a Post Office at today's Ridgefield called "Union Ridge". Donation Land Claims (DLC) were F. Shobart (DLC) south of town, A. Quigley (DLC) north of town, and J. Carty (DLC) in the area of Carty Lake. Views ... Click image to enlarge Carty Lake as seen from Ridgefield, Washington. Image taken October 6, 2013. Click image to enlarge Carty Lake as seen from Ridgefield, Washington. Image taken October 6, 2013. Click image to enlarge Carty Lake as seen from Long Meadow, Carty Unit, Ridgefield NWR, Washington. Image taken October 9, 2014. Click image to enlarge Carty Lake as seen from the north, Ridgefield NWR, Washington. Image taken September 13, 2003. From the Journals of Lewis and Clark ... Clark, November 5, 1805 ... Clark, March 29, 1806 ... Lewis, March 29, 1806 ... Return to Menu

*River Miles [RM] are approximate, in statute miles, and were determined from USGS topo maps, obtained from NOAA nautical charts, or obtained from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers website, 2003 Sources:    See Ridgefield NWR, Carty Unit;    All Lewis and Clark quotations from Gary Moulton editions of the Lewis and Clark Journals, University of Nebraska Press, all attempts have been made to type the quotations exactly as in the Moulton editions, however typing errors introduced by this web author cannot be ruled out; location interpretation from variety of sources, including this website author.

/Regions/Places/carty_lake.html October 2013