Washougal, Washington
Cottonwood Beach Park
Home of The Lewis and Clark National Trail Monument

Washougal Washington is located at the mouth of the Washougal river where it enters the Columbia River. It is built on an old Indian Camp that has been there for thousands of years . The Indians speared and netted fish in the in the shallow water on the sand and gravel bars in the River..

Lewis and Clark Camped there for six days on there return trip east. It was from there an indian drew them a map to find the Willamette River.

The first white man on record as far as known was Lt William Broughton who had came up the river as far as Reed island in Oct 1792 .He.saw a mountain on the horizon and named it Mt Hood. After lord Samuel Hood .a British Admiral ..He planted a flag at Cotton Wood Point and and Claimed it for the King..

In 1805 Lewis and Clark Passed the Handsome Tea Prairie on there way to the Ocean. The Winter of 1805 -06 was a miserable one at Fort Clatsop for Lewis and Clark .On Marc 23, 1806 they started there return trip East On March 31 they Reached Washougal and halted on the handsome prairie ..Here they decided to stay untill they killed enough game for food for the return trip.. Here they mingled with the indians who were camped there.. A young indian who claimed to live at the falls drew a map of the Willamette River And for a burning glass Clark asked him to guide them to the River.. Finally on April 6, 1806 They loaded there boats and headed East.. There Stay had been very Fruitful. They discovered the Great River And had enough food to to last them for the weeks ahead .

The handsome Tea Prairie where Lewis and Clark camped now has buildings and blacktop roads and no peppermint tea .. The beach will become a Park..

 (NOTE ! It has become part of the Lewis and Clark National Trail Monument ) which I think is the best park in the area..

Members of the Chinook Indian tribe paddle into Cottonwood Beach on Sunday Aug 7, 2005 during the dedication ceremonies of Captain William Clark Park....
Photo courtesy of the Post Record.

Another explorer worth mentioning is David Thompson, who was commissioned by the Northwest Company to chart the Columbia River from its mouth to its headwaters. In 1811, five years after Lewis & Clark, he camped at the same "handsome prairie" at Cottonwood Beach near present-day Washougal on his exploration of the Columbia..

 

In 1832 John DUNN and George B. ROBERTS, naval apprentices from England, arrived on the ship Ganymede for posts with the Hudson's Bay Company.

Also on board Petty Officer Richard Ough making his first trip to USA..

Richard Ough a sailor on the Bark Ganymede which was now owned by the Hudson Bay Company in England was married to White Wings Daughter of Chief Schleyhous July 1,1837 on the Tualatin Plains And was Recorded at The Willamette Mission Making it almost offical.. John McLoughlin had no authority to perform marriages so it was not legal in the eyes of the church so they were married a year or two later at Fort Vancouver by clergy..

He was Petty Officer and made many Trips to England and back between 1831 -1837: His First Reference is in McLoughlin Letters of 1831 with a complaint that the Grog was too Watered Down the Crew can Hardly even get a Buzz from it..

Richard Ough marries the Indian Chiefs Daughter White Wings and took up a donation land Claim just east of the mouth of the Washougal River.. The offspring of The Oughs and the Dunns marry to one another and become well known in the area steamboat trade..

On this Land claim Joseph E C Durgan Jr will build the Town of Washougal {see Joe E Durgan founder of Washougal) And the son of John Dunn will marry the daughter of White Wings and become a famous Captain of The Steam Boats that Plied there trade on the River with the home port at steamboat landing at Washougal... Also Captain Louis love whom owned the Largest steam boat on the River The "Calliope" called at Washogal to unload freight and passengers.. After Cascade locks was built The steamers did not have to portage around the rapids any more and the railroad was built the river traffic dwindled. And steam boat landing became a relic of the past , but Washougal prospered and grew into what it has become today.. One of the fastest growing towns in Clark County..

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