Ghostowns

Washington State
Ghost Towns

by - cub-reporter, Sharon Rahm

Well... Here I write with your challenge for my ghost towns. Remember, I am in the state of Washington which has a very rich and diverse history.

Although, there are many ghost towns and semi-ghost towns, tonight I am focusing on the Columbia Rriver ghost towns from the mouth at the pacific ocean to where I live Clark County. (Click photo for larger view.)

Clark county, the county seat, is Vancouver named for Captain Vancouver (same as in British Columbia Canada). The reason I picked the ghost towns in my list below is that I have been to most and I have traveled the Columbia River from the Pacific Ocean to Vancouver.

Here in the Pacific Northwest (Southwest Washington) we have had extensive lumber, fishing, and trapping in the area. Most of these industries are gone or non-existent. Not all of these towns reside on the Columbia River but they used the waterway (Columbia River) as means of trading or traveling. The ghost towns below include a very brief description of where, when, and what they did. The ghost towns above were either in lumber, salmon, oyster, and trapping.

Washington State...
URLs are from...
Ghosttowns.com web site
Oysterville
Knappton
Frankfurt
Baker's Bay
Altoona
Skamokawa

Fort Vancouver -- Vancouver, WA

Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) founded Fort Vancouver 1825, later to be known as just Vancouver USA. Vancouver is Washington's Oldest City and currently is the 4th largest.

Many trades and trading were here and supported the community and company at large. They enjoyed the bounties from the rivers, the mountains, and the lands. We enjoy a mild climate of misty rain fall autumn, winter, spring, and a fairly dry summer. (Click photo for larger view.)

HBC was a British company trading goods and furs from the Hawaiian Islands to York, New York to London, England. The sought after beaver is what brought the HBC to the area. Toward the end of the 19th century the United States took procession of the area and the HBC moved on and back to Canada. The United States took over the post and made it an Army base and built the Columbia Barracks. The Army is closing down the Barracks this year and turning it over to the Forest Service which maintains Fort Vancouver.

Recent digging in the area has proved interesting and will be completed sometime this year. Even though, Vancouver is far from being a ghost town the original settlement is an historic site that enjoys many visitors during the summer months. (Click photo for larger view.)

Your cub-reporter from Washington, Sharon Rahm