For the men of the Coast Artillery, duty at Fort Columbia at the beginning of the century must have been rather pleasant. From its hillside perch on the Chinook Point promontory, the fort at the mouth of the Columbia River in southwest Washington offers great views of the river, the Columbia Bar and the Oregon shore.
Ocean beaches are a short distance away.
In those days, despite the poor roads, getting to Portland for a leave was easy. The Ilwaco Railway and Navigation Company ran steamships between the Oregon city and Megler just east of the fort. Then passengers went by rail from Megler to Ilwaco, at the southern end of the Long Beach Peninsula, through a tunnel built under the fort. Today, U.S. 101 uses the tunnel. Today, it's a state park.