Lewis and Clark's Columbia River
Lewis & Clark's Columbia River - "200 Years Later"
"Prune Hill, Washington"
Includes ... Prune Hill ... Boring Lava Cone ... Fisher Quarry ...
Image, 2017, Prune Hill, Washington, from Chinook Landing, Oregon, click to enlarge
Click image to enlarge 		Prune Hill, Washington, from Chinook Landing, Oregon. Lady Island is the low trees in the middleground. Image taken October 25, 2017.


Prune Hill, Washington ...
The base of the Boring Lava cone "Prune Hill" can be seen rising behind Lady Island and Camas, Washington, with its high point at elevation 751 feet. It lies at Columbia River Mile (RM) 118. The first name given to this area was "Rock Quarry District" for the large quarry located on the Columbia River near Fisher. The name "Prune Hill" was adopted in 1900. In the 1880s and 1890s the west slopes and top of the hill were planted prune trees, with a Mr. Boyer being the first man in the area to put in a big prune orchard. Other settlers followed. At one time there were seven dryers in the Prune Hill area alone (none remain today). By the turn of the century Clark County, Washington, was known as the prune capitol of the world, a title which continued until the Depression when the bottom fell out of the prune market. Today only a few prune trees remain. Good views of Prune Hill can be had from Chinook Landing on the Oregon side of the Columbia. Views can also be had from another Boring Lava Cone, Rocky Butte, located south of the Portland International Airport.

Views ...

Image, 2017, Prune Hill, Washington, from Chinook Landing, Oregon, click to enlarge
Click image to enlarge 		Prune Hill, Washington, from Chinook Landing, Oregon. Lady Island is the low trees in the middleground. Image taken October 25, 2017.
Image, 2017, Prune Hill, Washington, from Chinook Landing, Oregon, click to enlarge
Click image to enlarge 		Prune Hill, Washington, from Chinook Landing, Oregon. Lady Island is the low trees in the middleground. Image taken October 25, 2017.
Image, 2017, Prune Hill, Washington, from Chinook Landing, Oregon, click to enlarge
Click image to enlarge 		Prune Hill, Washington, from Chinook Landing, Oregon. Lady Island is the low trees in the middleground. Image taken October 25, 2017.
Image, 2004, Prune Hill, Washington, from Chinook Landing, Oregon, click to enlarge
Click image to enlarge 		Prune Hill, Washington, from Chinook Landing, Oregon. Lady Island is the low trees in the middleground. Image taken October 11, 2004.
Image, 2005, Prune Hill, a Boring Lava Cone, as seen from Rocky Butte, click to enlarge
Click image to enlarge 		Prune Hill, Washington, a Boring Lava Cone, as seen from Rocky Butte, Oregon Image taken June 15, 2005.


Prune Hill, etc.

  • Fisher Quarry ...


Fisher Quarry ...
Also known as "Fishers Quarry" or "Fishers Landing Quarry", the Fisher Quarry lies at Columbia River Mile (RM) 116. The quarry began operations about 1881 and is still in operation today. Early rock went for the the Gray's Harbor jetty and the major part of the Columbia River jetty and rock today is used in road beds and landscaping. Fisher Quarry is located in basalt flows which erupted from a vent located on the slope of Prune Hill, a Boring Lava cone. Fisher Quarry is located a little over one mile east of Fishers Landing and approximately 3.5 miles west of the community of Camas. The edge of the Quarry can be seen from Washington State Highway 14.
[More]

Image, 1909, Fisher Quarry, Washington, click to enlarge
Click image to enlarge 		HISTORICAL PHOTO, Fisher Quarry as seen ca.1909.

"Quarry near Fishers Landing, Columbia River, Washington. Shows loading incline." Source: N.H. Darton, 1909, Structural Materials in Parts of Oregon and Washington: USGS Bulletin 387.
Image, 2014, Fisher Quarry, Washington, click to enlarge
Click image to enlarge 		Fisher Quarry as seen from SE 192nd Ave, Vancouver, Washington. Image taken July 31, 2014.


From the Journals of Lewis and Clark ...

Clark, November 3, 1805 ...



Vancouver PlainsReturn 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:
  • Darton, N.H., 1909, Structural Materials in Parts of Oregon and Washington, USGS Bulletin 387;
  • Evarts, R.C., Conrey, R.M., Fleck, R.J., and Hagstrum, J.T., 2009, The Boring Volcanic Field of Portland-Vancouver area, Oregon and Washington: Tectonically anomalous forearc volcanism in an urban setting: IN: The Geological Society of America Field Guide 15;


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/prune_hill.html
August 2014