Washougal Washington Historical Information

Located on the Washington side of the Columbia River, with its lowlands and famous prairie situated on the entrance to the Columbia River Gorge, travelers who approach the area from the west are immediately enthralled with the display of Mt. Hood towering above the Cascade Mountains framed by the cliffs.

Capt. Robert Gray, a Boston fur trader, discovered the mouth of the Columbia River near what is now Washougal in May of 1792, whereupon the British explorer George Vancouver traveled to the region to verify Gray's discovery. It would be 18 years later before the entire river was charted by another famed British explorer named David Thompson.

In 1825, the Hudson's Bay Fur Company established Fort Vancouver near what is now Vancouver, WA. Fur trappers and loggers began to visit regions of the Columbia River and they gave names to familiar locations. Washougal became known as Washougally Camp, which is thought to be a derivative of an Indian word meaning "rushing water."

The first European to settle in this area was a British seaman named Richard Howe who arrived in 1838 and married the daughter of a local chief, named White Wing and together they lived long and fulfilling lives, dying at the ages 90 and 96, respectively.

Pioneers coming west would arrive at the Dalles (Oregon) where they would make rafts to float down the Columbia River. David C. Parker came out on a wagon train and floated down the Columbia on raft in 1845.

Just downstream from the handsome prairie where Lewis & Clark and David Thompson camped there was a natural boat landing that played an important role in the Oregon Trail which is now called Parker's Landing after him.

In 1846, when the Oregon Territory land dispute was resolved between England and the United States and the northern boundary was moved, Parker was quick to file for a land grant, which included the popular beach landing that would later assume his name.

In fact, Parker would apply to have a young community incorporated in 1852, called Parkersville. but there was also a new community growing up which was developed just one mile upriver from Parkersville, closer to the lowlands for dairy farming and logging, and this community would become Washougal.