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Kiosk for Fort Cascades Historic Site, Hamilton Island, Washington.
Image taken August 1, 2004.
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Fort Cascades Historic Site ...
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Fort Cascades Historic Site, the location of an 1850s blockhouse called Fort Cascades, is located one mile downstream (west) of the Bonneville Dam, and is reached from the Dam Access Road on Hamilton Island, off of Washington State Highway 14. The Fort Cascades Historic Site is on the National Register of Historic Places (North Bonneville Archeological District, added in 1987, #87000498), and features a 1.5 mile interpretive trail
which leads to the Cascades Townsite and Fort Cascades Compound. The trail
follows the bed of the portage railroad as it was in 1836.
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Plaque, National Register of Historic Places, Fort Cascades Historic Site, Hamilton Island, Washington.
Image taken August 7, 2014.
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Fort Cascades Historic Site ... (alphabetical)
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- Cascades Portage Railroad ...
- Cascades Townsite ...
- Fort Cascades ...
- Great Flood of 1894 ...
- Military Portage Road ...
- Prehistoric Indian Petroglyph ...
- Warren No.3 Fish Wheel ...
- Warren Portage Tramway ...
- Views along the Trail ...
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Cascades Portage Railroad ...
The Cascades Portage Railroad covered six miles from the Lower Landing on Hamilton Island to the Upper Landing just downstream from Stevenson, Washington, near Ashes Lake. The first steam engine (named "Ann") began operating on the tracks on April 20, 1863. The Oregon Steam Navigation Company operated the railway until 1907, until competition from the Cascade Canal and Locks, and the Transcontinental Railroad on the Oregon shore, made the railway obsolete. Part of the tracks were then used by Frank Warren for his tramway.
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Cascades Portage Railroad, Fort Cascades Historic Site, Hamilton Island, Washington.
Image taken April 2, 2005.
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Cascades Portage Railroad, Fort Cascades Historic Site, Hamilton Island, Washington.
Image taken April 7, 2014.
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Cascades Portage Railroad, Fort Cascades Historic Site, Hamilton Island, Washington.
Image taken April 7, 2014.
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Cascades Townsite - 1850 to 1894 ...
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In July 1850, George W. Johnson filed the first Donation Land Claim (DLC) in the Cascade Rapids area, for 320 acres of T2N R7E, Sections 17, 20, 21, and 29 (area now called Section 38). At the same time the area was platted as the town of Cascades, Washington Territory, becoming only the third town north of the Columbia to be platted. Johnson built a home, and with others, built a trading store, bakery, and public house for travelers. In 1855 the U.S. Army purchased the land from Johnson for their fort site. At the time the Army moved onto the Johnson Land Claim the property included a wharfboat, three buildings, and a small field enclosed by a split fence.
The town of Cascades, also known as "Lower Cascades", developed around Fort Cascades, and took over the buildings when, in 1861, the Army moved out.
The community of Lower Cascades was at one time the largest town in the Washington Territory. It was an important steamboat stop and the western terminus of the portage road. The 1880 census showed 134 residents of the town.
Lower Cascades was also at one time home of the Skamania County government.
Both the town of Lower Cascades and the post Fort Cascades were destroyed during the
Great Flood of 1894. They were never rebuilt.
Today's community of North Bonneville is located near the site of the former town of Cascades.
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Information sign, Cascades Townsite, Fort Cascades Historic Site, Hamilton Island, Washington.
Lower image by Carleton Watkins, 1867, captioned "The Oregon Steam and Navigation Company's terminal facilities at the Lower Landing".
Image taken April 7, 2014.
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Detail, Information sign, Cascades Townsite, Lower Landing, Fort Cascades Historic Site, Hamilton Island, Washington.
Lower image by Carleton Watkins, 1867, captioned "The steamer "Cascade" docked at the Lower Landing on Hamilton Island.".
Image taken April 7, 2014.
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General location of the town of Cascades, Washington, also known as "Lower Cascades".
The townsite was founded in this general area in 1850.
Image taken April 7, 2014.
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Sign, "Cascades Townsite, 1850 to 1894", Hamilton Island, Washington.
The townsite was founded in this general area in 1850.
Image taken April 7, 2014.
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Fort Cascades Compound - 1856 to 1861 ...
Fort Cascades, also known as the "Lower Blockhouse", was located on Hamilton Island downstream of the Bonneville Dam. Tanner Creek, Lewis and Clark's campsite of April 9, 1806, is located across the Columbia on the Oregon side.
Fort Cascades was built overlooking the Columbia River, at River Mile (RM) _____. The compound was enclosed by a fence measuring 590 feet on the north by 338 feet on the west. The south and the east were bordered by the Columbia River. Stuctures included in the compound included the commanding officer's quarters, officers' quarters, commissary storehouse, company kitchen, bakery, and guard house.
The fort was completed on September 30, 1855 and was built to guard the portage road around the
Cascade Rapids. Slightly upstream the town of Cascades, also known as "Lower Cascades", was developed around the fort.
In March 1856, Fort Cascades burned during an indian attack known as the Cascades Massacre. It was rebuilt. In 1861 the Army abandoned the fort to turn its attention to the Civil War.
In
1894 the largest recorded flood on the Columbia River wiped out the town of Lower Cascades and the abandoned fort.
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1850s image of the Blockhouse near Grand Ronde, similar to the Fort Cascades blockhouse, Hamilton Island, Washington.
Detail from information sign, Fort Cascades Historic Site, Hamilton Island, Washington.
Image taken April 7, 2014.
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Sign, "Fort Cascades Compound, 1856 to 1861", Hamilton Island, Washington.
Image taken April 2, 2005.
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Field trip at location of Fort Cascades, Fort Cascades Historic Site.
Image taken April 2, 2005.
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Great Flood of 1894 ...
The "Great Flood of 1894" was the highest-recorded flood along the Columbia of all time. This flood destroyed the town of Cascades. Downstream, a gage at Vancouver, Washington, reached a record 36 feet, while Longview, Washington hit a record 24 feet (June 7, 1894). The force of the flood waters removed several feet of soil and exposed many boulders now visible in the area of Fort Cascades.
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Boulders uncovered during the flood of 1894, Cascades Townsite, Hamilton Island, Washington.
Image taken April 7, 2014.
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Boulders uncovered during the flood of 1894, Cascades Townsite, Hamilton Island, Washington.
Image taken April 7, 2014.
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Military Portage Road ...
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In 1855 the U.S. Topographical Engineers sent Lt. George H. Derby and Robert E.K. Whiting, a civil engineer, to survey a 95-mile route from
Fort Vancouver, Washington, to
The Dalles, Oregon. That route included a military portage road around the Cascade Rapids.
By October 1856 the Army had completed the Military Portage Road which covered a distance of six miles from the Lower to the Upper Landing.
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Military Portage Road, Fort Cascades Historic Site, Hamilton Island, Washington.
Image taken April 2, 2005.
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Petroglyph ...
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A replica of a prehistoric Indian Petroglyph (the original sits in front of the Skamania County Courthouse in Stevenson, Washington) sits within the Fort Cascades National Historic Site. According to the Fort Cascades Historic Site handout:
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"Although floods have destroyed nearly all traces of prehistoric life, the petroglyph is a reminder of the people who first passed this way. The meaning of the rock carving is unknown. According to early historic records, the Cascades Indians once inhabited a village in this general area just below the Lower Cascades. The village, consisting of 14 houses, probably was a seasonal fishing site from which the Cascades Indians annually reaped abundant harvests of salmon. During their spring ascent of the river in 1806, Lewis and Clark noted in their journals the site was in the process of being inhabited by the Clahclellar band of the Shahalar Nation."
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Prehistoric Indian Petroglyph, Fort Cascades National Historic Site.
Image taken April 7, 2014.
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Prehistoric Indian Petroglyph, Fort Cascades National Historic Site.
Image taken April 7, 2014.
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Prehistoric Indian Petroglyph, Fort Cascades National Historic Site.
Image taken April 2, 2005.
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Prehistoric Indian Petroglyph, Fort Cascades National Historic Site.
Image taken April 2, 2005.
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Petroglyph, Stevenson, Washington.
Image taken July 15, 2011.
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Warren No.3 Fish Wheel ...
From the 1880s to the 1930s, fish wheels were used along the Columbia River to harvest salmon as they migrated upstream. In 1894 Frank Warren constructed Fish Wheel No.3 along the shore of Hamilton Island, upstream of Fort Cascades. The line of rocks (see photo) served to lead the salmon into log cribs from which the wheel scooped the fish. The salmon were then shipped several miles downstream to be processed at a cannery in Warrendale, Oregon. Fish Wheels were outlawed in 1934 in the state of Washington.
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Detail, information sign, Warren Fishwheel No.3, Fort Cascades Historic Site, Hamilton Island, Washington.
Image taken April 7, 2014.
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Location of the Warren Fishwheel No.3, Fort Cascades Historic Site, Hamilton Island, Washington.
The line of rocks served to lead the fish into the log cribs from which the wheel, which was located to the left, scooped the fish.
Bradford Island is in the background.
Image taken April 7, 2014.
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At low water, location of Warren Fishwheel No.3, 1894, Hamilton Island, Washington.
The line of rocks served to lead the fish into the log cribs from which the wheel, which was located to the left, scooped the fish.
Bradford Island is in the background.
Image taken October 27, 2004.
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Warren Portage Tramway ...
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The "Warren Portage Tramway" was once used by the Warren Packing Company to transport fish caught in Frank Warren's fishwheel down to the Lower Landing of the town of Cascades, and from there transported across the Columbia to the cannery at Warrendale. The tramway was built in the 1890s and operated until 1930.
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Sign, Warren Portage Tramway, Fort Cascades Historic Site, Hamilton Island, Washington.
Image taken April 7, 2014.
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Warren Portage Tramway, Fort Cascades Historic Site, Hamilton Island, Washington.
Image taken April 7, 2014.
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Warren Portage Tramway, Fort Cascades Historic Site.
Image taken April 2, 2005.
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Views along the Trail ...
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Bonneville Dam as seen from the Fort Cascades Trail.
Image taken August 1, 2004.
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From the Journals of Lewis and Clark ...
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Clark, October 31, 1805 ...
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