FORT CASCADES TRAIL GUIDE

BUILDING STRONG R

Top to bottom: Petroglyph Replica; Warren Fishwheel No. 3;

The blockhouse at Grand Ronde, OR, which was of the same construction 

style as the one at Fort Cascades (1850s) Skamania County Historical Society
Warren Fishwheel No. 3 OHS Negative 25787

Welcome to the Fort Cascades

National Historic Site

Here along the powerful Columbia River, many of the dramatic 

events that shaped the settlement of the Pacific Northwest 

occurred. Though it is quiet and uninhabited today, this small and 

seemingly unimportant piece of land was a focal point of history.

Leave today’s busy urban pace and slowly walk this level, oneand-one-half-mile trail. Feel the presence of those who went 

before. Here is a glimpse of the struggles, drama and everyday 

life of Native Americans, explorers, soldiers, settlers, railroad 

workers and fishermen.

Use the map in this trail guide to follow the historic events at the 

Lower Cascades. The numbers below correspond to the numbered 

markers along the trail. Please help preserve our cultural heritage 

by staying on the trail and not removing any objects within this 

National Historic Site.

1. Warren Fishwheel No. 3 - 1894

Imagine the sounds of creaking wood and splashing fish from a 

large fishwheel spinning in the Columbia River, catching salmon 

as they swim upstream. Fishwheels are large revolving devices 

powered by river currents that scoop enormous quantities of fish 

from the water. Beginning in the 1880s, entrepreneurs in the 

fishing industry used fishwheels to catch salmon for the canneries 

along the river.

You may see the line of rocks in the water that channeled fish 

into log cribs where the fishwheel scooped them from the river. 

Warren Fishwheel No. 3 was located on the upstream side of the 

rock channel near the shoreline. Due to the depletion of salmon, 

Washington state outlawed fishwheels in 1934, ending their use in 

the Pacific Northwest.
Cascades, Washington Territory (1867). OHS Negative 21105, C. E. Watkins

2. The Great Flood of 1894

In 1894, the river that once provided the livelihood for the 

community of Cascades devastated the small town. Imagine 

the power and force of the river that altered this landscape so 

drastically. In this area you will notice the trail begins to lose 

elevation, marking the floodwaters’ edge. The highest recorded 

waters on the Columbia River occurred during the Great Flood of 

1894 and the river’s scouring action removed the soil where Fort 

Cascades stood, exposing the many boulders lying by the trail 

ahead of you.

3. Cascades Townsite - 1850 to 1894

The town of Cascades was founded in 1850 as an outpost for 

travelers and traders. The U.S. Army selected the town for the 

site of Fort Cascades in 1855 to protect the portage around the 

dangerous rapids just upstream.

Imagine the chopping of wood used to power steamships and 

the rumble of the train moving cargo from the Lower Cascades 

to the Upper Cascades. The 1880 census shows 134 residents of 

the town and records indicate that nearly all of the men worked 

for the railroad, labored on the wharf at the Lower Landing or 

chopped wood used to fuel the steamers and locomotives.

The Army abandoned the fort in 1861 at the start of the Civil War. 

Town residents moved into the abandoned fort and repurposed 

the vacant buildings as homes, a jail, a school and a courthouse. 

Cascades served as the county seat until officials moved the 

government offices to Stevenson, Washington, in April 1893.
A map of Ft. Cascades taken from an original drawing by D. R. Ransom 

(1859).

4. Fort Cascades Compound - 1856 to 1861

By 1855, the Pacific Northwest was filled with conflict between 

Native Americans and the influx of settlers. The U.S. Army 

seized land within the town of Cascades and built a fort to 

protect the portage around the Cascade Rapids. Before the fort 

could be constructed, local Native Americans attacked and 

burned all structures and supplies in late March 1856. The Army 

immediately began construction of the Fort Cascades blockhouse 

just a few hundred yards east of where you now stand, as well as 

Fort Lugenbeel at the Upper Cascades. By late 1856, completion 

of the forts secured the portage along the “Cascades of the 

Columbia”.

5. Johnson Donation Land Claim - 1850

The Lewis and Clark expedition brought back stories of the 

area’s incredible beauty and rich bounty. The portage around 

the hazardous rapids known as “The Cascades of the Columbia 

River” was the last major difficulty settlers faced during their 

westward migration along the Oregon Trail. Once past the rapids, 

the calmer river offered an ideal location to settle. The Donation 

Land Claim Act of 1850 declared that every male citizen over 18 

years of age who had become a resident of the Territory before 

December 1st 1850, and who had lived on the land for four years 

could be granted 320 acres of land.
Petroglyph in its original location (1954)

In July of 1850, George W. Johnson was the first pioneer to call 

this location his home. Johnson filed a Donation Land Claim 

for 320 acres and laid out the town of Cascades, Washington 

Territory- only the third town to be mapped north of the Columbia 

River. Shortly after building his farmhouse, Johnson (along with 

several partners) built a trading store, bakery and pubic house for 

travelers. In 1855, the U.S. Army seized Johnson’s land claim 

for the construction of Fort Cascades. In 1866, after a decade 

of lawsuits and letters, Johnson was finally compensated for the 

Army’s use of his land.

6. Petroglyph Replica - Date Unknown

This petroglyph (rock carving) is a replica of a rock that was 

found here. Although its meaning is unknown, it serves as a 

reminder of the people who first inhabited this area. Lewis and 

Clark’s journals noted a village of 14 houses in this general area 

which may have been a seasonal fishing site for the Clahclellar 

band, the native inhabitants. By the early 1830s disease had 

significantly reduced the native population and many of the local 

bands collectively became known as the Cascades Indians.

The original petroglyph can be found in front of the Skamania 

County Courthouse Annex in Stevenson, Washington.

7. McNatt’s Hotel - 1858

Like many pioneers, Thomas and Ellen McNatt sought a better 

life out west. After crossing the Great Plains in 1853, the McNatts 

eventually settled at Fort Cascades in 1858 and established a hotel 

and tavern on the main entrance road into the fort.

Archeologists excavated numerous objects from this site 

including bricks, square nails, fragments of china, bottle glass and 

glassware. These items help paint the picture of pioneer life in the 

region during the late 1800s.
Foreground: Sutler’s store; Background: Portage Party House, 

Quartermasters’ Residence, Stables. U.S. Military Post, Lower Cascades, 

Columbia River, May 1860

School children at Cascades, Washington Territory

8. McNatt’s Barn and Stable - 1858

Similar to hotel parking today, it was common for 19th century 

hotels to board travelers’ horses. You are now at the site of 

Thomas McNatt’s barn and stable, 500 feet from the western 

perimeter of the fort compound. Researchers determined the 

building’s location by examining the original boundary surveyors’ 

notes from 1859.

9. Quartermaster’s Complex – 1857

The Quartermaster’s complex stood a short distance south of 

here in what was an open clearing. It included stables, a barn, 

blacksmith shop and Portage Party House. The U.S. Army’s 

Quartermaster Department provided supplies, clothing and 

transportation for the soldiers stationed at Fort Cascades. During 

the winter of 1858-1859, the Army also built the Quartermaster’s 

storehouse and a wharf to facilitate the transport of supplies.

The buildings were located along the Military Portage Road near 

the entry gate to the fort compound. In the fall of 1862 the former 

Quartermaster’s residence served as the Cascades’ schoolhouse and, 

in the mid-1860s, as the county’s first courthouse.
Lower Cascades (1867), C.E. Watkins

10. Blacksmith Shop and Sutler’s Store - 1859

Standing here at the blacksmith’s shop in 1859, you would hear 

the loud strikes of the blacksmith’s hammer as he molded iron 

into goods like horse shoes and tools.

The Sutler’s Store, located across the Portage Road from 

the Quartermaster’s Complex, was similar to a modern day 

convenience store and sat in the northwest corner of the fort 

compound. The store provided non-military goods like tobacco, 

candy and coffee to soldiers. It was the only civilian structure 

allowed within the fort compound.

11. Military Portage Road - 1856

Foaming rapids, rushing whirlpools and dangerous rocks were 

the harsh welcome for the U.S. Army’s first troops to cross the 

Cascade Rapids. In May 1849, the Army lost six men to the 

unforgiving rapids. In 1855, the U.S. Topographical Engineers 

sent Lt. George Derby and civil engineer Robert Whiting to 

survey the 95-mile route between Fort Vancouver and the isolated 

Fort Dalles. The critical six-mile portage route around the 

Cascades was completed in one year. The roadbed as it passed 

through the town of Cascades is still visible in this location.

12. Warren Portage Tramway- 1890’s to 1930

The openings on either side of the trail are remnants from the 

Warren Packing Company’s Portage Tramway. Frank Warren 

needed an efficient way to transport the tons of fish caught by his 

fishwheels to his cannery downstream. In the late 1890s, Warren 

constructed a short tramway connecting his fishwheels to the 

Cascades’ Lower Landing where the fish were brought downriver 

to the cannery in present-day Warrendale, Oregon. The tramway 

operated until 1930.
Lower Landing Terminal Facilities (1867) OHS Negative 21103, C. E. Watkins

13. Cascade Portage Railroad - 1863

A few steps up the hill to your right will bring you to the former 

grade of the Cascade Portage Railroad. The railway spanned 

six miles from the Lower Landing on Hamilton Island to the 

Upper Landing near present-day Stevenson, Washington. The 

combination of competition from the Transcontinental Railroad 

on the Oregon shore, the devastating 1894 flood and the 

completion of the Cascades Canal and Locks in 1896 made the 

portage railroad obsolete.

In front of you lies an original set of wheels and narrow-gauge 

tracks from the portage railroad. Many of the locomotives that 

operated on the CPR were shipped from Philadelphia around 

South America’s Cape Horn.

14. McNatt’s Grave - 1861

Thomas McNatt, owner of McNatt’s hotel, barn and stables and a 

key figure in the growth of the town of Cascades, succumbed to 

a lengthy illness in May 1861. The original headstone has been 

preserved here, however McNatt’s final resting place lies within 

a tract of land which later was set aside by his widow as a deeded 

cemetery.
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Bakery

Kitchen

Block House

Commander’s

Quarters

Army Store

Guard House Hospital Sutlers

Laundry

Portage Party

Quarer Masters

Black Smith

Shop Stables

Ocers

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Warren Fishwheel

No. 3

1894 Flood

Kiosk and

Viewpoint

McNatt’s Grave

Cascades Portage Railroad

Warren Portage Tramway

Military Portage Road

Blacksmith’s Shop & Sutler’s Store Sites

Quartermaster’s Comples

McNatt’s Barn and Stable

McNatt’s Hotel

Indian Petroglyph

Johnson Donation Land Claim

Fort Cascades Compound

Cascades Townsite

To Bonneville

Second Powerhouse

Washington State Highway 14 To Vancouver

38 Miles

Fishing Access Road

To Hamilton Island

COLUMBIA RIVER

N

To Wildlife Viewing

We hope you have enjoyed your walk through time, 

experiencing the sights, events and people who 

passed this way. The “Cascades of the Columbia” 

played an important role in the settlement and 

development of the Pacific Northwest. Due to its 

historical significance, the Fort Cascades site was 

placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 

1987 and is considered a valuable cultural resource. 

The site is managed by the U.S. Army Corps of 

Engineers for your appreciation.

Trail Map
Public Information

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Portland District

P.O. Box 2946 

Portland, OR 97208-2946

Bonneville Lock and Dam Project

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Cascade Locks, OR 97014-0150

Federal rules and regulations concerning public use of this area are set forth 

in Title 36, Chapter III, of the Code of Federal Regulations and are on display 

in the areas of the project most frequently used by the public. All other 

federal, state and local laws also apply in Corps areas. 

Under the Archeological Resources Protection Act of 1979, it is illegal to 

excavate or remove artifacts from federal land. Violators are subject to a 

fine of not more than $100,000, imprisonment of not more than five years, 

and forfeiture of all equipment (including vehicles) used in connection with a 

violation.

If a violator is observed excavating or collecting artifacts form federal 

land, report the violation immediately to the local authorities or to Corps of 

Engineers personnel.