A history of Cathlamet,
since 1846
Postcards, papers and photographs of Cathlamet from public archives, woven together by decade. Neighbors fill in the gaps.
The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗Cathlamet was the largest, or one of the largest, villages of Columbia River Native Americans west of the Cascade Mountains, and the home of the Kathlamet people. "Cathlamet was sighted in 1792 by Lt. W.R. Broughton, while verifying Capt. Robert Gray's reported exploration of the Columbia River." This village of cedar houses included 300-400 inhabitants when visited by Lewis and Clark.
In 1846, James Albion Birnie became the first permanent white settler at Cathlamet, moving there after a career with the Hudson's Bay Company. He set up a trading post, remnants of which were reported still standing in 1906. "Birnie named the area Birnie's Retreat. The name was later changed to Cathlamet in 1851."
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Timeline
built from the dates on the items belowFinish Cathlamet’s story
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
2 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 🔁Retake an old viewCharles R Spencer at Cathlamet ci…, 1906: stand where they stood+15 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Cathlamet, decade by decade
1960s
1990s
2 historic places in Cathlamet
2 places in Cathlamet are on the National Register of Historic Places, the country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
Where they are
When they were listed
Then & now
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as Charles R Spencer at Cathlamet circa 1906 (1906) and it appears here side by side.
🔁 Retake this view · +15Stories next door
nearby towns’ historyFrom Wikimedia Commons (6). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.