Qualla: Chinook Point https://qualla.com/chinook-point en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:11 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/c/0/p/z/chinook-point-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Chinook Point https://qualla.com/chinook-point Chinook Point: Introduction https://qualla.com/chinook-point/ Photo credit Ian Poellet (User:Werewombat), CC BY-SA 3.0. Three flags, three centuries, one small headland. In 1792, Captain Robert Gray anchored near Chinook Point and traded with the people who gave the place its name -- the Chinook, whose territory straddled the lower Columbia River long before European sails appeared on the horizon. Thirteen years later, the Lewis and Clark Expedition pitched camp on this same promontory in November 1805, rain-soaked and exhausted, having crossed a continent to reach a river that Gray had named. And in 1898, the United States Army arrived with artillery and concrete, fortifying the point against foreign warships that never materialized. Chinook Point collects American history the way its bluffs collect fog -- in layers, each one settling over the last.

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Image: Ian Poellet (User:Werewombat) | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Wed, 18 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/c/0/p/z/chinook-point-wp/c0pz-chinook-point-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Chinook Point: The River Nobody Could Find https://qualla.com/chinook-point/ Photo credit Ian Poellet (User:Werewombat), CC BY-SA 3.0. The Columbia's mouth was spectacularly difficult for European navigators to locate. Spanish explorer Bruno de Heceta glimpsed the entrance in 1775 but could not investigate -- illness had thinned his crew, and the current pushed his ship back to sea. Captain James Cook sailed pas...

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]]> Wed, 18 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/c/0/p/z/chinook-point-wp/c0pz-chinook-point-the-river-nobody-could-find.mp3 0:06 2 full Chinook Point: Where the Expedition Ran Out of West https://qualla.com/chinook-point/ Photo credit Ian Poellet (User:Werewombat), CC BY-SA 3.0. By November 1805, the Lewis and Clark Expedition had been traveling for seventeen months. They had crossed the Great Plains, hauled boats over the Continental Divide, and descended the Columbia's rapids on dugout canoes. Chinook Point was one of their final encampments before rea...

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]]> Wed, 18 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/c/0/p/z/chinook-point-wp/c0pz-chinook-point-where-the-expedition-ran-out-of-west.mp3 0:06 3 full Chinook Point: Fort Columbia's Concrete and Steel https://qualla.com/chinook-point/ Photo credit Ian Poellet (User:Werewombat), CC BY-SA 3.0. The military came late to Chinook Point. A reservation was established in 1864 as part of broader coastal defense planning, but nothing much was built. Decades passed. Then 1898 brought two simultaneous anxieties: the Spanish-American War and a simmering boundary dispute with Bri...

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]]> Wed, 18 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/c/0/p/z/chinook-point-wp/c0pz-chinook-point-fort-columbias-concrete-and-steel.mp3 0:06 4 full Chinook Point: Layers Preserved https://qualla.com/chinook-point/ Photo credit Ian Poellet (User:Werewombat), CC BY-SA 3.0. Chinook Point was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1961, recognition that its significance lies not in any single event but in the accumulation of them. Fort Columbia State Park now occupies the headland, preserving the 1902-era military buildings, the gun emplacements,...

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]]> Wed, 18 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/c/0/p/z/chinook-point-wp/c0pz-chinook-point-layers-preserved.mp3 0:06 5 full