The Carty Unit encompasses many entities, including Wapato Portage - the location of Lewis and Clark's campsite of March 29, 1806, and the Cathlapotle Village - a historical Chinook Indian village. The Unit also includes the Carty and Duck Lakes, Gee Creek, the "Oaks to Wetlands Trail", and the Basalt Cobblestone Quarries District which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The Carty Unit is bordered on the north by the Lewis River, on the west by the Columbia River, on the southwest and south by Lake River, and on the east by the outskirts of the city of Ridgefield which lies on the "ridge" above.

The Carty Unit of the Ridgefield NWR (and other features in the Ridgefield area) was 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.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management's General Land Office (GLO) Records database (2011) shows James Carty being granted title to 322.08 acres of T4N R1E Sections 18 and 19, and T4N R1W Sections 12 and 24, on December 22, 1865 (1850 Oregon-Donation Act). James Carty was also granted title to 36.8 acres of T4N R1W Section 13, on July 2, 1866 (1829 Sale-Cash entry).

"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." Source:    U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge Comprehensive Conservation Plan (CCP), September 2010.

"Irish immigrant James Carty settled on Lake River in 1839. In 1851, he filed a Donation Land Claim on the property south of the refuge (DLC 48), and established a ferry crossing Lake River. He lived on the land until his death in 1873. The DLC 44, on the present-day Carty Unit, was settled by Charles Reed in 1854. Columbia Lancaster and his wife filed a claim on the south bank of the Lewis River in 1854. The Cathlapotle area may still have been occupied by Indians after these claims were filed. The 1853-1854 survey notes of the General Land Office (GLO) refer to an "Indian lodge" on the southeatern bank of Gee Creek, where it enters the Lewis River, approximately 800 meters north of Cathlapotle. An 1853 GLO map shows a trail from Vancouver which passes directly alongside Cathlapotle. However, the Cathlapotle townsite is not marked on the map. The 1863 Washington Territory cadastral survey of T4N R1W, Willamette Meridian, shows the following claims on the present-day Carty Unit: William Gee (No.44), F.A. Fowler (No.47), and James Carty (No.48). In 1873, James Carty's nephew (also named James) acquired the DLC 48 land claim from his uncle, as well as DLC 44 and portions of DLC 57, including the site of the Cathlapotle village. At least two structures were built on DLC 44 by the Carty family. ...   The primary land use during this time appears to have been as pasture for livestock, although gardens and orchards were also cultivated. Upon Carty's death, the land was left to his widow and his only son William." Source:    U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge Comprehensive Conservation Plan (CCP), September 2010.

• Basalt Cobblestones Quarry District ...
• Boot Lake ...
• Bridge, new ...
• Bridge, old ...
• Carty Lake ...
• Cathlapotle Village ...
• Duck Lake ...
• Fowler Lake ...
• Gee Creek ...
• Long Meadow ...
• Missoula Floods, Glacial Erratic ...
• Oaks to Wetland Trail ...
• Oregon White Oak ("Garry Oak") ...
• Plankhouse Replica ...
• U-Haul ...
• Wapato Portage ...

The site of this village is located on the Carty Unit of the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge. It is one of the few archaeological sites on the Columbia River that has not been lost to looting, development, or flooding. During the late 1990s a partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Portland State University, and the Chinook Nation resulted in six field seasons which located the remains of six plankhouses and thousands of artifacts were recovered and catalogued.

Today a 37 by 78-foot replica of a Chinook plankhouse has been built near the site of the original townsite. Two hundred and fifty-six logs split into 305 planks went into building the house. The plankhouse foundation was prepared during Summer 2003 and the house was completed with opening ceremony on March 29, 2005, the 199th anniversary of Lewis and Clark's visit.

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"... Oregon white oak (Quercus garryana), a broadleaved deciduous hardwood common inland along the Pacific Coast, has the longest north-south distribution among western oaks-from Vancouver Island, British Columbia, to southern California. It is the only native oak in British Columbia and Washington and the principal one in Oregon. Though commonly known as Garry oak in British Columbia, elsewhere it is usually called white oak, post oak, Oregon oak, Brewer oak, or shin oak. Its scientific name was chosen by David Douglas to honor Nicholas Garry, secretary and later deputy governor of the Hudson Bay Company. [U.S. Forest Service website, 2007]

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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.