"... We encamped at dusk about five miles above La Prairie du The, so called by the Canadians from a species of mint which grows in it, and which they are fond of using as a substitute for tea. ... " [Ross Cox, April 21, 1817, published 1832]

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"... Early explorers and fur traders who passed through the Steigerwald Lake area often described it as a prairie. In 1805 and 1806, Lewis and Clark mapped the area as 'prairie'. In his journal, Lewis described the diversity of trees and evergreen shrubs in the bottomlands and the 'sand rush which are luxuriant and abundant in the river bottoms.' Over the following two decades, the bottomlands at Steigerwald Lake became known as the 'Tea Prairie", perhaps because of the abundance of wild mint growing in the area. Land surveyor notes from 1856 described the river bottom as prairie that was 'unfit for cultivation due to inundation'. Early settlers attempted to farm the area, but annual spring flooding by the Columbia River and Gibbons Creek made farming difficult, if not impossible. By 1880 the agricultural emphasis switched from farming to dairying. Drainage and diking efforts between 1920 and 1950 made possible the planting of some row crops and small orchards. Annual freshets persisted until the major dam building projects of the 1950s. The bottomlands were diked in 1966 and expulsion pumps were installed in preparation for the development of the Washougal Industrial Park at the western margin of Steigerwald Lake. ..." Source:    U.S. Department Fish and Wildlife, Steigerwald Lake, Franz Lake, and Pierce National Wildlife Refuges Comprehensive Conservation Plan

"Steigerwald Lake is a former floodplain that was diked in 1964 to create an industrial park. Dredge spoils from the Columbia River were pumped over the dike filling in much of the wetlands. In 1975, the newly formed Vancouver Audubon Chapter took the preservation of this area on as its first project. After ten years of gathering data and fighting various planned projects including a proposed nuclear power plant, the core of the area was purchased as a mitigation site for wetlands lost to the expansion of Bonneville Dam. This was accomplished through the efforts of Senator Mark Hatfield of Oregon, to whom we are grateful." [Vancouver Audubon Society, 2004]

Good overall views of 1,049-acre Refuge can be had on the Oregon side of the Columbia from Vista House at Crown Point.

Steigerwald Lake Refuge: "Steigerwald Lake Refuge is located in Clark County, Washington, adjacent to the town of Washougal. The northwest boundary of the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area bisects the Refuge. The Portland-Vancouver metropolitan area, with a combined population of approximately 1.5 million, is located approximately 20 miles west of the Refuge. The Steigerwald Lake Refuge's approved boundary is 1,406 acres. The Service owns 1,049 acres or 75 percent of the land within the approved Refuge bounday. The boundary for Steigerwald Lake Refuge was established in 1987. The Refuge's origin is closely tied to the mitigarion of impacts that resulted from construction of a second powerhouse at the Bonneville Lock and Dam on the Columbia River by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (COE) between 1974 and 1983. Construction of the powerhouse and related relocation of the town of North Bonneville resulted in the loss of 1,122 acres of habitat on the Washington side of the Columbia River ..." ." Source:    U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, 2004, "Draft Comprehensive Conservation Plan ..."

• Allen N. Steigerwald ...
• Birds ...
• Columbia River Dike Trail ...
• Gibbons Creek ...
• Gibbons Creek Wildlife Art Trail ...

"Allen N. Steigerwald and Sons have done more to develop and further dairy interests in Portland and this section of the country than almost any others in that line ... Mr. Steigerwald was born in Schuylkill county, Pennsylavnia, November 3, 1860 ... While in Salina, Kansas, Mr. Steigerwald had met and married Miss Etta Brown ... who did not hesitate to accompany her young husband ... They lived in California for a time and in 1886 came to Portland ... He had only ten dollars in his pocket but he possessed what is worth far more than money -- courage and determination. He sought and obtained work as a carpenter and a little later met a man who wanted to build a home. Mr. Steigerwald undertook the contract, and while he was a stanger and naturally had no credit in Portland, he succeeded in convincing a lumber dealer that he was honest and obtained the necessary building materials. ... Before the opening of the Lewis and Clark exposition in 1905, Mr. Steigerwald secured a contract and did much of the building on the exposition grounds. In the same year he purchased a tract of raw land which he cleared, situated between Prescott and Alberta streets and between Forty-second and Forty-seventh streets. He there developed a berry and fruit ranch and for several years was an extensive grower of small fruits. He also specialized in handling nursery stock and introduced the Perfection currant into this section of the country. In 1914 Mr. Steigerwald had one cow and his son Ira, realizing that there was more milk than the familiy could use, began selling to the nieghbors. This was the beginning of the extensive dairy buisness developed by the Steigerwalds. It was not long before the son realized the possibilities for business in that field and soon had a dairy of more than twenty cows. The business grew so rapidly that Mr. Steigerwald and his sons later purchased eight hundred acres of land just east of Washougal, Washington, which was in charge of his sons, Ira and Alvin, until 1925, when they sold the dairy there, and since then all milk handled by them has been purchased of dairymen in the Portland territory. On the original tract of land Mr. Steigerrwald erected a beautiful residence and other buildings, including a model dairy barn, and in 1927 their present building on Sandy bouldevard at Thirty-seventh street was erected. This is a most novel structure, its outstanding feature being an immense milk bottle carrying out the ideas of his son Ira -- a bottle that rises to an elevation of more than seventy-five feet and can be viewed from all parts of the city. ..." Source:    Lockley, F., 1928, History of the Columbia River Valley from the Dalles to the sea: The S.J. Clarke Publishing Company, Chicago.

Allen N. Steigerwald: David P. Steigerwalt was born 1833 in Pennsylvania ... he had two sons, Franklin B. Steigerwalt and Allen Norman Steigerwald. Allen Norman Steigerwald was born November 3, 1860 in Pennsylvania and died in 1948 in Portland, Oregon. "Allen was a resident of Portland, Ore. for more than 60 years. In 1890 he built one of the finest houses on N.E. Union Ave., and Oxford Street, now known as Simpson Street in the city of Portland. A building contractor and member of the firm of Steigerwald Disbrow, Melton Co., he built boats for the gold rush miners. In 1904 and 1905, he contracted work on the Lewis and Clark Exposition and helped build the Agricultural and Forestry buildings. In 1905, he purchased land and established the Rose City Nursery and Fruit Farm near Portland, out of which in 1913 grew the Steigerwald Dairy, operated by his sons. ..." Source:    Descendants of Johann or Friedrich Frederick Steigerwalt website, 2011