middle village station camp

When you see the historic church in the distance you are stepping back in time along the Columbia River. You can feel glimpses of Lewis & Clark and thought about their foggy days along the river. This boardwalk and church have interesting historical views from both the explorer side and the native peoples side. There are always two sides to every story, and this one is fascinating as different cultures attempted to take over this beautiful, abundant territory.

This site is part of the Lewis and Clark National and State Historical Parks, which also include the Dismal Nitch Rest Area, Fort Columbia, Cape Disappontment (all in Washington), Fort Clatsop, and other sites (in Oregon).We stopped here because it famously is where Lewis, Clark and the Corps of Discovery voted on where to spend the winter of 1805-1806, once they escaped from the Dismal Nitch a short distance upriver (now a rest stop) where they were trapped by a storm for a week. (My wife bought a "Dismal Nitch" postcard to place in her office.) Somewhat remarkably for the time, the vote at Station Camp included the votes of Sacagawea and York -- Clark's slave -- in addition to votes of the members of the Corps. Sacagawea favored moving to the south side of the Columbia River for wapato, while others were lured by reports of abundant elk. They built Fort Clatsop on the Netul River near present Astoria, which has been recreated and hosts a variety of interpretive displays and demonstrations. It was from Station Camp that Clark drew his detailed map of the mouth of the Columbia (which looks radically different from today's map because of coastal beach reshaping by the modern jetties) and from which he led a group across Cape Disappointment to the shore of the Pacific.However, Lewis and Clark receive only about one panel of signage in this site that emphasizes Middle Village of the Chinook -- appropriately so since the Chinook occupied the site much longer than the Corps. Here you can read the Chinook creation story, learn about their trade network, their runs of salmon and Pacific lampreys, see a plank house, canoes, fishing implements, and much else. Chief Comcomly, who aided Lewis and Clark and later the Astorians, resided at the next village to the west, now the site of Fort Columbia, where Robert Gray landed the Columbia Rediviva in 1792 and named the river for his ship. Comcomly's grandson Ranald MacDonald, who shipwrecked himself in Japan in 1848 in order to visit the closed country, was born at Fort Astoria across the River. MacDonald taught English to his Japanese captors and advised his American rescuers to impress the Japanese with western technology, advice followed by Commodore Perry a few years later.Middle Village eventually became McGowan, where Euro-Americans and Chinese immigrants created a cannery, utilizing the fish runs that had sustained the Chinook before their numbers plummeted from smallpox and other western diseases. The chapel on the site is still used for church services and visitors are welcome.The view across the river and out to the Pacific is stunning, or opaque if the fog is in. We could partially make out Saddle Mountain to the south, where the eggs of Thunderbird gave birth to the Chinook people, and presumably the mountain is in full view in clearer weather. Cormorants, terns, gulls, geese, herons, crows, swallows, and ospreys all were in evidence, and nearby at the north Columbia jetty (Cape Disappointment) we also saw brown pelicans, murres, and sea lions. Watch for Douglas squirrels, chipmunks and deer.It's a 30 minute stop or so if you read all the signs, and well worth the time.

I am so glad that this area was made into a park. We enjoyed our visit here and found it well worth taking a half hour or so to learn some local history! The Chinook Indians had a village here for many years; they were savvy traders and during excavations, archeologists found items from Europe and China. Lewis and Clark stopped here for several days during their journey. A Catholic Mission was established in the mid 19th Century, then later in that century, P.J. McGowan purchased the land and built a town.In reading all the informational signs in the park, we learned that the town of "McGowan" was quite a thriving place. They had a big cannery, post office, houses, a RR depot and a church. Some of the houses still stand but are not within the park's boundaries, so you can't see them tucked behind the trees. There are several visible foundations of old buildings. The church is a well known landmark here and has been sturdily facing the Pacific storms for over 100 years.We followed the wide smooth footpath all the way around through the park. It's very easy walking, is a total of about a half mile long and wheelchair accessible. There are several observation decks where you can look out over the area, and lots of informational signs. An interesting feature is the three large concrete canoes which kids are welcome to climb on and enjoy.The cannery docks are long gone - victims of the highway building. And yes, the highway goes right by here, so there is some traffic noise. But it didn't really detract from our visit. The views are wonderful on a sunny day :-)There is a paved parking lot that is just off the highway with some RV and bus parking. Worth a stop!

I don't see the distinction between Station Camp and Middle Village Station Camp. The map shows different locations but they were obviously close together. The Corps of Discovery spent ten days here and first saw the ocean up close on a day trip from here. This was not a place to stay for the winter. A better place with more abundant game was located across the river and the rest is history.