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Hamilton Creek, North Bonneville, Washington.
Image taken October 27, 2004.
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North Bonneville ...
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North Bonneville, Washington, is located on the northeast side of Hamilton Island at Columbia River Mile (RM) 146, just downstream of the Bonneville Dam. Across the river on the Oregon side is the community of Bonneville.
North Bonneville came into existence in 1933 with the development of the Bonneville Dam, and was re-located in the 1970s with construction of Bonneville's North Powerhouse.
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North Bonneville History ...
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North Bonneville is located on the site of the former community of Cascades, also known as "Lower Cascades". The community of Lower Cascades, which was at one time was the largest town in the Washington Territory and an important steamboat stop and terminus of the portage road. Slightly downstream was located the military defense post Fort Cascades, built in 1855 to guard the
portage road around the Cascade Rapids.
Lower Cascades was also at one time home of the Skamania County government.
Both the town of Lower Cascades and the post Fort Cascades were destroyed during the
Great Flood of 1894. They were never rebuilt.
According to the Skamania County Chamber of Commerce Website (2004):
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"Following the 1894 flood, a small community continued to exist and it sprang back to life as North Bonneville in 1933 when work began on Bonneville Dam, the first hydroelectric
dam on the Columbia River. North Bonneville was a spontaneously assembled community, built with whatever materials were available and put together in a rush to meet the needs of construction workers arriving by the hundreds in the area. When the Bonneville Project was completed in 1938, the town remained. The town was incorporated in 1935.
Construction of a second powerhouse at Bonneville Dam began in the mid-1970's. The site of the new powerhouse covered over 90 percent of the town of North Bonneville. The town was relocated west of the old town on Hamilton Island and south of Greenleaf Slough. Site selection and design for the new North Bonneville were a result of intensive multi-disciplinary planning. The new town was dedicated in 1978."
Today North Bonneville can be reached from an exit off of Washington State Highway 14.
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North Bonneville Archeological District ...
In 1987, the North Bonneville Archeological District was added to the National Register of Historic Places (District -
#87000498), location not disclosed, for its
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"... Information Potential;
Area of Significance: Industry, Prehistoric, Historic - Aboriginal,
Commerce, Historic - Non-Aboriginal, Military, Engineering,
Transportation, Exploration/Settlement;
Cultural Affiliation: Cascade Indians, Anglo-American settlers,
American military;
Period of Significance: 1499-1000 AD, 1749-1500 AD, 1750-1799, 1800-1824,
1825-1849, 1850-1874, 1875-1899, 1900-1924, 1925-1949;
Owner: Federal;
Historic Function: Defense, Domestic;
Historic Sub-function: Camp, Fortification, Military Facility, Village Site;
Current Function: Landscape;
Current Sub-function: Underwater;
..."
[National Register of Historic Places Website, 2005]
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Captain Bonneville ...
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Bonneville, Oregon, Bonneville Dam, and North Bonneville, Washington, were named after
Captain (later Brig. General) Benjamin L.E. Bonneville, a West Point graduate who explored the west from 1832 to 1835, visiting many parts of Oregon. Bonneville Post Office, Oregon, was established in 1900, and the railway along the Columbia maintained a Bonneville Station for many years.
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Hamilton Creek ...
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Hamilton Creek, North Bonneville, Washington.
Image taken June 15, 2003.
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Views from North Bonneville ...
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Hamilton Mountain from North Bonneville, Washington.
Image taken October 27, 2004.
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Aldrich Butte from North Bonneville, Washington.
Image taken October 27, 2004.
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Table Mountain from North Bonneville, Washington.
Image taken June 15, 2003.
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From the Journals of Lewis and Clark ...
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