Fort Cascades was a

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

fort constructed in 1855 to protect the portage road around the final section of the Cascades Rapids, known as the "lower cascades." It was built on the

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

side of the Columbia River, between the present site of North Bonneville and the

Bonneville Dam Bonneville Lock and Dam consists of several run-of-the-river dam structures that together complete a span of the Columbia River between the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington at River Mile 146.1. The dam is located east of Portland, Oregon ...

Skamania County Skamania County () is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2020 census, the population was 12,036. The county seat and largest incorporated city is Stevenson, although the Carson River Valley CDP is more populous. The ...

. It was burned in 1856, then rebuilt, but abandoned in 1861. A small community, Cascades, formed around the fort, but the largest flood of the Columbia River in recorded history passed over both the townsite and the fort site in 1894. Cascades served as the county seat of Skamania County prior to 1893, when the county records were moved to Stevenson, In 1867, decades before the disastrous floods, famed photographer Carleton Eugene Watkins arrived on the scene. Watkins took a commission from the Oregon Steam Ship Navigation Company to document areas of the Columbia River, with "Cascades" featuring prominently in his Pacific Coast stereoviews collection. Approximately 50 Watkins stereoscopic images of the Cascades area are known to exist, ranging from serials 1250-1302. Labeled "Upper Cascades," "Cascades" and "Lower Cascades," these photographs feature river view landscapes as well as images of the town and fort blockhouses. Aside from capturing scenery, Watkins documents saw mills, as well as train and riverboat traffic vital to the local economy at that time. A few of the images provide a glimpse of salmon fishing before the rapids were submerged by the construction of the

. Although his negatives were destroyed in the great 1906 San Francisco earthquake, many of his printed images can be found in museums and private collections around the world. Fort Cascades is now on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

. There is a self-guided tour through what remains of the fort and the townsite. The trail the tour follows is approximately long. There is also a replica of a rock covered with petroglyphs that was originally located at the site but has since been moved to Stevenson. Fort Cascades is one of several forts built to protect the portage around the Cascade Rapids. Others are Fort Raines and Fort Lugenbeel.

References

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External links

Lewis and Clark's Columbia River - Fort CascadesFort Cascades
- Fort Wiki with photos and information
History and directions from Friends of the Columbia River Gorge
Columbia River Gorge Closed installations of the United States Army Protected areas of Skamania County, Washington Cascades Buildings and structures in Skamania County, Washington Cascades 1855 establishments in Washington Territory National Register of Historic Places in Skamania County, Washington