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Historic Downtowns
City of Longview was built in the 1920s, Longview has a small-town atmosphere that is very appealing to residents and visitors alike. Whether you enjoy unique shopping experiences, eating outside at one of the many quaint restaurants, taking in a performance at the Columbia Theater, visiting local exhibits of fine art, or brushing up on your history with the historic walking tour, you’ll find it in downtown Longview. In the 1840s, Kelso, Washington was founded along the banks of the Cowlitz River by a surveyor named Peter Crawford who named the town after his Scottish home. Kelso has a unique historical past -- a story of struggle against competition in businesses and professions, its disasters and its faith in itself to overcome all odds and to expand, grow and progress in every way possible. The complete and colorful history of Kelso is recorded in detail in a book by local resident Camilla Summers, now deceased. Her book, About Kelso, takes the reader from the time before Peter Crawford platted his farm into the city he named Kelso in 1884, through to the effects of the Mount St. Helens eruption in 1980. Woodland located in Southwest Washington holds a rich hertiage and history. In May, 1804, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark set out to explore the Louisiana Territory and their journey concluded at the West Coast in the autumn of 1805. Historical stops trace the explorers last 100 mile journry through Oregon and Washington to the Pacific Ocean. Southwestern Washington is filled with many cultural and social points of interest and as Meriwether Lewis noted the most desirable location for a settlement west of the Rocky Mountains. Discovered by Captain Robert Gray in 1789 the Columbia River curves through Southwestern Washington passing through Vancouver, Washington and Portland, Oregon before the river meets the Pacific Ocean at Astoria, Oregon. Vancouver became the first settlement in the Pacific Northwest in 1824 when the Hudson 's Bay Company established Fort Vancouver as a shipping and trading center.
Kalama received its name from the river two miles to the north. The Kalama River was named after John Kalama, a full-blooded Hawaiian, who was born on the Hawaiian islands in 1814. John was forced to leave his Hawaiian home at sixteen years of age to seek employment on one of the fur trading vessels that made its way to the Northwest in the early 1830's. The rough life of the sea did not appeal to John, so he found the Nisqually Indians where he sang his native songs and joined in their festivities. John eventually married Mary Martin, daughter of Chief Martin. John built a cabin near Tumwater for his bride. When the Indians made their annual trip to the Cowlitz for smelt and berries, John Kalama and his wife went with them. John did not enjoy being on the move all the time so for that and perhaps other reasons he did not return to the Sound, but took up permanent residence at the mouth of the river bearing his name. He hunted, fished, and trapped for many years, and the area soon became recognized as his domain.
Castle Rock’s historic downtown features a wide variety of shops, antique stores, restaurants, and accommodations. Other activities include the Castle Rock Exhibit Hall/Visitor's Information Center – displaying carvings, photographs and exhibits relating to Mount St. Helens. The town’s namesake, a 190-foot-high rock, was a landmark for Cowlitz Indians and Hudson’s Bay Company traders as early as 1832. Castle Rock prospered as a Cowlitz River steamboat port and trading center for valley farms. A local sawmill was the first to produce cedar shingles, using the Western red cedar, which grows in abundance in the region.
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