Communities With Vivid Past

A vivid past colors the communities of West Columbia Gorge. Each city and town tells its own story through historic main streets, landmark structures and committed historical societies.

Lewis and Clark’s Discovery Corps explored the passageway made by the Columbia River in the early 1800s, and the pioneers traveling the water route on the Oregon Trail 40 years later made the same portage

The small settlements that grew up on the banks of the Cascades were involved in helping early travelers on the river get around the rapids.

Cascade Locks is one of the oldest towns in the Columbia River Gorge. Settled in 1853, the town became a city in 1935. Troutdale was originally the home of the Chinookan Native Americans, though few remained in the area when settlers arrived in 1907. Pioneer families arrived in the city of Fairview in the late 1800s. The original two-cell jail, built in 1906, still stands in Nechocokee Park.