Click image to enlarge
|
"Visit Ridgefield, Lewis & Clark Did - TWICE" sign.
Image taken July 24, 2005.
|
Ridgefield, Washington ...
|
Ridgefield, Washington, is located two miles east of the Columbia River at River Mile (RM) 89.5. Between the community and the river lies the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge, a location Lewis and Clark camped at both on their journey to the Pacific, and again upon their return. Separating Ridgefield from the Refuge is Lake River, whose source is Vancouver Lake, located to the south. North lies the Lewis River and the community of Woodland, Washington and northeast lies the small community of La Center. From the "ridge" at Ridgefield, views into Oregon can be had while views of Bachelor Island and the Wildlife Refuge are located below the ridge.
|
Lewis and Clark and Ridgefield ...
Click image to enlarge
|
Lewis and Clark information kiosk, Ridgefield, Washington.
Image taken March 25, 2007.
|
Click image to enlarge
|
Sacajawea and Seaman, Lewis and Clark information kiosk, Ridgefield, Washington.
Image taken March 25, 2007.
|
Click image to enlarge
|
Seaman, Lewis and Clark information kiosk, Ridgefield, Washington.
Image taken March 25, 2007.
|
Early Ridgefield ...
|
"The first Euro-American to settle in what would later become the town of Ridgefield was Irish immigrant James Carty, who took up residence on Lake River in 1839. After Congress passed the U.S. Donation Land Claim Act in 1850, more settlers arrived. In 1849, bachelors Stillman Hendrick, B.O. Teal, and George Thing settled on the island across Lake River from Carty's land claim, thereby giving "Bachelor Island" its name. They were followed by Arthur Quigley in 1852 and Frederick Shobert in 1853. Both Quigley and Shobert established mud landings on their properties adjoining Lake River where river steamers could offload their goods and take on loads of farm products. Thus, "Shobert's Landing" became the common name for the area for the next 10 years. Ferry crossings were also established in the 1850s. James Carty began running a ferry service across Lake River in 1851.
The little community got its next name, "Union Ridge", during the Civil War. According to a reporter who visited the area in 1875, this was because "all the settlers, save one, were outspoken Union men". When the first post office was established in 1865, the name became official. An 1886-1887 gazetteer listed Union Ridge as "a post village on Lake river ... Settled in 1853. Ships farm produce. Population, 65." It had a general store and post office run by Stephen Shobert, and a church.
The post office name was changed to Ridgefield in 1890 at the urging of the new postmaster, S.P. Mackey, who was originally from Virginia, and not keen on the name Union Ridge. The City of Ridgefield was incorporated in 1909."
Source:
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge Comprehensive Conservation Plan (CCP), September 2010.
|
The community of Ridgefield, Washington, first known as "Shobert's Landing", was named after the Frederick Shobert family who settled in Clark County around 1854. "Shobert's Landing" became a steamboat landing.
The 1854 cadastral survey (tax survey) for T4N R1E, in the southwestern quarter of Section 19, shows the "F. Shobart" home on the ridge overlooking "Vancouver Slough", today's Lake River.
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management General Land Office (GLO) Records database (2007) shows Frederick Shobart being granted title to 8 acres of T4N R1E Section 19, on April 1, 1865 (1820 Sale-Cash Entry). The database also shows Frederick Shobart and Catherine Shobart being granted title to 299.59 acres of T4N R1E Section 19, and T4N R1W, Section 24, on August 27, 1871 (1850 Oregon Donation Act).
After the Civil War Union Soldiers settled the Ridgefield area. The town which grew up around "Shobert's Landing" became known as "Union Ridge" after the Civil War Soldiers.
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 are of today's Carty Lake.
In 1890 as settlers built homesteads below the "ridge", and postal officials changed the community name to "Ridgefield". The name derives from the town being located on a large field that covers a beautiful basalt ridge. The lava flows making up the ridge are Columbia River Basalt flows which erupted east of Ridgefield approximately seventeen million years ago. These same flows created the Columbia River Plateau, located in eastern Washington and Oregon.
Rock quarried from areas around Ridgefield between 1880 through 1910 was transported by barge to Portland for use as cobble paving stones.
Ridgefield is known as the "Birthplace of U-Haul". In the summer of 1945 Sam and Anna Marie Shoen initiated "U-Haul", renting their trailers for $2.00 per day (see more below).
|
The "ridge" ...
Click image to enlarge
|
Homes of Ridgefield, Washington, from Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge.
Looking east to the ridge of "Ridgefield", from Ridgefield NWR River "S" Unit.
Image taken November 25, 2006.
|
Click image to enlarge
|
Ridgefield Refuge from Ridgefield "ridge", Ridgefield, Washington.
Looking down on the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge. Oregon is in the distance.
Image taken July 24, 2005.
|
Street Scenes ...
Click image to enlarge
|
Spring, Pioneer Street, Ridgefield, Washington.
Image taken March 25, 2007.
|
Click image to enlarge
|
Sidewalk store fronts, Main Street, Ridgefield, Washington.
Image taken March 25, 2007.
|
Click image to enlarge
|
Pioneer Street, Ridgefield, Washington.
Image taken March 25, 2007.
|
Click image to enlarge
|
Ridgefield Pioneer Market Place sign, Ridgefield, Washington.
Image taken March 25, 2007.
|
Click image to enlarge
|
Clock, Pioneer Street, Ridgefield, Washington.
Image taken March 25, 2007.
|
Click image to enlarge
|
Sidewalk store fronts, Pioneer Street, Ridgefield, Washington.
Image taken March 25, 2007.
|
Click image to enlarge
|
Radio Flyers, Pioneer Street, Ridgefield, Washington.
Image taken March 25, 2007.
|
Click image to enlarge
|
Old Liberty Theater, Ridgefield, Washington.
Image taken October 4, 2014.
|
- "Birdfest and Bluegrass" ...
- "Birthplace of U-Haul" ...
- Leucistic Blacktailed Deer ...
- Mammoth Tusk ...
- Murals ...
- Overlook Park ...
- Ridgefield Farmer's Market ...
- Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge ...
- Roundabout Easter Eggs ...
|
"Birdfest and Bluegrass" ...
Ridgefield, Washington's "Birdfest and Bluegrass" began in 2000 and features two days (three days if you count all the Sandhill Crane tours) of activities involving not only the Ridgefield community but also the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge.
[More]
|
Click image to enlarge
|
"Birdfest", Ridgefield, Washington.
Image taken October 6, 2013.
|
Click image to enlarge
|
Turkey Vulture, Audubon Birds, "Birdfest", Ridgefield, Washington.
Image taken October 6, 2013.
|
Click image to enlarge
|
Peregrine Falcon, Audubon Birds, "Birdfest", Ridgefield, Washington.
Image taken October 6, 2013.
|
"Birthplace of U-Haul" ...
|
The Washington community of Ridgefield is known as the "Birthplace of U-Haul", with the original location being on today's Carty Unit of the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge.
In the summer of 1945 Sam and Anna Marie Shoen initiated "U-Haul", renting their trailers for $2.00 per day.
-
"...
With $5,000, L.S. Shoen, his wife Anna Mary Carty Shoen and their young child moved to the Carty ranch in Ridgefield, Washington. There, with the help of the Carty family, the Shoens built the first U-Haul trailers in the fall of 1945, using the ranch's automobile garage (and milk house) as the first manufacturing plant for the budding U-Haul Co.
... By the end of 1945, thirty 4' x 7' open trailers were on service station lots in Portland, Vancouver and Seattle, Wash. ..."
["Uhaul.com" website, 2006]
In 1966, when the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service purchased most of the Carty land for the Ridgefield Refuge, the milk house/garage/U-haul building was still in existence. It was located near where today sits the Cathlapotle Plankhouse replica. The Carty family moved the structure uphill to their property along the road, where it still sits today, overlooking the land of the Refuge.
|
Click image to enlarge
|
"Birthplace of U-Haul, Welcome to Ridgefield" sign.
Image shot from moving car.
Image taken July 1, 2007.
|
Click image to enlarge
|
U-haul house, Ridgefield, Washington.
Image taken September 23, 2011.
|
Leucistic Blacktailed Deer ...
|
Blacktailed Deer (also known as Mule Deer) are the common species of deer in the Pacific Northwest. The Northwest however also is home to the endangered Columbian White-tailed Deer, a species seen by Lewis and Clark.
|
Click image to enlarge
|
Leucistic Blacktailed Deer, Ridgefield, Washington.
Seen grazing at dusk in a neighborhood front lawn.
Image taken January 18, 2016.
|
Mammoth tusk ...
|
In January 2010, during construction of a new Ridgefield overpass of Interstate 5, workers found a Columbian Wooly Mammoth tusk buried 30 feet below the surface on the east side of the freeway. The tusk remains were about 3 feet long and 6 inches in diameter, narrowing down to 1 inch. Researchers at the Burke Museau at the University of Washington report that mammoths roamed southwest Washington until approximately 10,000 years ago. The mammoth may have been buried by one of the floods of the Missoula Floods which sent waves of sediment and flood waters down the Columbia River. The Columbian Mammoth is the official Washington state fossil.
|
Murals ...
Beautiful Murals depicting the history of Ridgefield, including the two visits of Lewis and Clark, decorate the buildings of downtown Ridgefield, Washington.
[More]
|
Click image to enlarge
|
Mural, Ridgefield, Washington.
Image taken March 25, 2007.
|
Click image to enlarge
|
Detail, Ridgefield Lewis and Clark painting.
Image taken March 25, 2007.
|
Overlook Park ...
"Located at the end of Main Street, Overlook Park "overlooks" the beauty of the National Wildlife Refuge. It is a way to connect the urban and natural aspects of the city. The park, which was recently redone, includes a amphitheater, brick plaza, historical information about the early settlement of the Native Americans, and public restrooms."
Source:
City of Ridgefield website, 2016.
|
|
Click image to enlarge
|
Overlook Park, Ridgefield, Washington.
Image taken October 6, 2013.
|
Click image to enlarge
|
Stepping stone, Overlook Park, Ridgefield, Washington.
Image taken October 6, 2013.
|
Click image to enlarge
|
Plaza, Overlook Park, Ridgefield, Washington.
Image taken October 9, 2014.
|
Click image to enlarge
|
Plaza detail, Overlook Park, Ridgefield, Washington.
Image taken October 9, 2014.
|
Ridgefield Farmer's Market ...
Click image to enlarge
|
Ridgefield Farmer's Market, Ridgefield, Washington.
Image taken October 4, 2014.
|
Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge ...
|
The Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge is located on the shore of the Columbia River in Ridgefield, Washington.
The Refuge is bordered on the east by Lake River and on the west by the Columbia. Sections of the Refuge reach as far south as Vancouver Lake.
The Ridgefield Refuge was established in 1965 in response to a need to establish winter habitat for the dusky Canada Goose whose nesting areas in Alaska were severly impacted by the violent earthquake of 1964. The refuge covers over 5,000 acres of flood plain habitat, seasonal and permanent wetlands, and agricultural lands.
The Refuge is part of the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge Complex, which also includes nearby Steigerwald Lake NWR, and three other Refuges further up the Columbia River Gorge.
[More]
|
Click image to enlarge
|
Red-tailed Hawk, Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge, Washington, River "S" Unit.
Image taken December 14, 2012.
|
Roundabout Easter Eggs ...
|
Mysterious Easter eggs appear overnight in Ridgefield
"RIDGEFIELD — Long before Easter and Peter Cottontail came along, a colossal rabbit hopped along the open expanses of southwest Washington dropping eye-popping eggs that confounded and amazed primitive man.
Amid gray, overcast skies Wednesday night, this long-since forgotten rabbit behemoth dropped three “eggs,” all eight feet in diameter, inside a roundabout on Highway 502 in Ridgefield. ...
OK, here’s the truth: TLC Towing of Ridgefield placed the “eggs,” which are actually painted concrete mixing drums, in the roundabout Wednesday night. The project’s purpose was to bring added excitement to Easter and give locals something to talk about, TLC Towing owner Cory Wells said. He agreed with Tierney that mixing drums looked like “prehistoric eggs.”
The “eggs” will be removed within seven to 10 days, Wells said. ...
“It’s great,” Ridgefield Mayor Ron Onslow said. “It gives a little bit of celebration to the season.”
Onslow recalled seeing a similar display a few years ago, but did not know if it was the work of TLC Towing.
TLC Towing previously celebrated Easter with oversized “eggs,” but has not the past two years due to the company’s busy work schedule, Wells said.
The timing worked out this year, and the company got old mixing drums from Glacier Northwest. Employees painted the drums and wrote their names on them, leading some students in the area to believe the “eggs” were a senior prank.
The installation was erected under cover of darkness. Upon seeing the “eggs” Thursday, Wells had a reaction similar to others in town.
“It kind of makes you excited,” he said. “Hopefully it will make other people excited.” ..."
Source:
Ray Legendre, April 4, 2011, "The Columbian".
|
|
2018:
Click image to enlarge
|
BIG Easter Eggs, Ridgefield, Washington.
View from moving car.
Image taken April 2, 2018.
|
2011:
Click image to enlarge
|
BIG Easter Eggs, Ridgefield, Washington.
View from moving car.
Image taken April 22, 2011.
|
Click image to enlarge
|
BIG Easter Egg, Ridgefield, Washington.
View from moving car.
Image taken April 22, 2011.
|
2012:
Click image to enlarge
|
BIG Easter Eggs, Ridgefield, Washington.
View from moving car.
Image taken April 5, 2012.
|
Click image to enlarge
|
BIG Easter Egg, Ridgefield, Washington.
View from moving car.
Image taken April 6, 2012.
|
|
From the Journals of Lewis and Clark ...
|
|
Clark, November 5, 1805 ...
|
|
Return to