Jackson Prairie covers several square miles south of Chehalis and southeast of Napavine. It includes the land claim of John R. and Matilda N. Jackson, taken in 1845. It was named for these pioneers whose home was the first court house in Lewis County.

Points of Interest

Jackson Prairie Courthouse

Henry and Flossie Lucas Farm

The lofty firs of Lewis and Clark State Park, an improved forest area, shade the highway on warm summer days, and the park’s rich vegetation exudes a sweet, refreshing dampness. Woodland trails leading off through heavily timbered sections provide short hikes. The park is in one of the last major stands of old-growth forest in the state, comprised of coniferous trees, streams, wetlands and dense vegetation. The park, separate from...

The oldest active mission in the Northwest and the site of the first Roman Catholic church in Washington. In 1838 missionaries from Canada, under Father Francois Norbert Blanchet, founded the mission here, converted the neighboring Native American bands to the Christian faith, and ministered to the spiritual needs of Hudson’s Bay Company traders and settlers. For many years, St. Francis Mission, also known as the Cowlitz Mission, was the only...

Tour traverses lush grazing land and crosses the swirling Toutle River. Through the 1940s truck gardens lined the valley bottomlands and were divided from the forest only by the roadway, along which rumble heavy log trucks loaded with forest giants. The highway rises to a terrace above the valley floor; below is a panorama of river country. The broad willow-bordered Cowlitz, widening at every tributary, flows with graceful bends and...

The only round barn in Cowlitz County, and one of only five in the State, the Laughlin Round Barn is an unusually early example of its type. Built c. 1883 it was constructed as a wood pole barn with circular walls and a conical roof. The central parts or the barn are hand-hewn split and planed logs. Little is known of Samuel Laughlin except that he came from Missouri in...

A rural trading center for the fine farms in the valley, is set on low flat ground along the east bank of the Cowlitz River. Founded in 1883, it took its name from the huge rocky upthrust south of town long known as Castle Rock. Several times river floods menaced the town, until it inaugurated a successful dike system. By the 1940s, dairying, truck farming, and lumber manufacture supported the...

The tour follows the topography high above the Cowlitz River. It follows a course marked by sweeping curves, passes along a series of terraces, formed by ancient floods, and affords glimpses of the broad and deceitfully peaceful Cowlitz, winding slowly southward. The terraces rise from 300 to 400 feet above the flood plains of the river, along which are fertile farmlands, protected by a dike system. In the 1940s, logging...

The city is hidden from view by a jutting hill crowned with trees. It was named for Dr. Nathaniel Ostrander, one of Cowlitz County’s first settlers, who took his donation land claim here in 1852. This village, set in the midst of a few farms, is but a gray shadow of the busy little settlement of the late 1890s and the early 1900s, when the Ostrander Timber Company rivaled other...

The highway traverses the base of a wooded promontory and ascends gradually, offering a panorama of the Columbia as it swings westward to join the Pacific. A large island stems the current in the center of this great sweep of water. Ocean-going cargo carriers move ponderously upon its broad bosom and small fishing boats scuttle to and fro. At nights the lights of tiny settlements on the Oregon shore appear.

Mile: 34

Tour traverses a park-like area of wooded country with stands of tall Douglas fir. Descending to a rich bottom land, diked against floods, the highway runs past truck gardens and lush meadows with grazing cattle. Views from highway of Martin Island (triangular shape) and Burke Island.

Mile: 26

In the 1870s, La Center was an animated business center and head of navigation on the East Fork of the Lewis River. In late summer, the regular schedules of the river steamers Mascot and Walker, paddle-wheeling to Portland, were often interrupted by low water. Passengers and freight were transferred to scows, which were poled up the river or towed by horses along the bank. The picturesque transportation of the pioneer...

Points of Interest

La Center Wetlands Stewardship Park

Sternwheeler Park

John Pollock’s Grave

James and Hannah McCormick Barn: This red Dutch-style dairy barn as probably built about 1910. The built their home in 1910, and it is thought that the barn was built shortly thereafter.

Tour passes through green grazing lands along the base of a long slope extending from the foothills of the Cascade Mountains.

Points of Interest

Bottlemiller’s Barn

Arndt Prune Dryer

Lambert School

Kempe Prune Dryer

Sara Store

Charles J. Nickles Barn

From 1926 until 1943 this campus operated as the Clark County Poor Farm. A poor farm had existed on the site since 1873. It is an historic district that encompasses 99 acres, 13 buildings, three sites and two structures, including the Administrative Building(s), agricultural buildings, a cemetery and Hazel Dell public park. The core buildings were built in the Renaissance style, of concrete and stucco. Poor farms declined with the...

This early log cabin (1846) was moved to Leverich Park in 1926 by the Fort Vancouver Historical Society. It is the oldest known house in the state. Richard Covington, a Hudson’s Bay Company employee built it. It is used as event space by the Vancouver Women’s League who leases it from the City.