New Exhibit at Redmen Hall

Skamokawa artists are featured at Redmen Hall from now till mid-November. Paintings, stained glass, woodworking and handmade dolls are among the show's offerings. Some items are for sale.
Photos: Left, Keri McNally peruses Jolen Durrah's display. Below clockwise from left: Sunrise Fletcher and Andrew Emlen entertain with the Willapa Hills band. Kitty Speranza explains rug-hooking to Keith Hoofnagle. Woodworking by Skamokawa Creek enterprises.

Skamokawa house loses piling foundation

October 17, 2009

Pilings under this house collapsed last night in Skamokawa. The owner was not at home. No one was injured in the collapse. Law enforcement officials were informed of the incident. Skamokawa volunteer firefighters assisted at the scene.








(photos, above left: house as it was last summer, below: at high tide after the collapse)

Town up for Auction

The Skamokawa Kayak Center trustee's sale has been delayed. The word at this point is that it will be scheduled again early in November. The mortgage holder is the local Bank of the Pacific.

The Center has one continuing long term tenant: the local post office is located in the main building. The present operators of the Paddle Center are also leasing space from the Bank of the Pacific. Operators of the Paddle Center have created a popular kayak touring and instruction center which has recently received national attention in the pages of Forbes Magazine.

The sale consists of 6 total parcels, located on the banks of Skamokawa Creek and Brooks Slough, at the confluence of Skamokawa Creek and the Columbia River. Buildings include the Post Office and former general store and cafe' building (pictured) the waterfront Paddle Center, the Lott House, an accommodations building containing several apartments and a small freestanding office.

Westport ferry leads to a great Saturday excursion

Steve Forrester, publisher of the Daily Astorian, drove our way recently, and wrote a bit about it for his readers....the following is an excerpt from his column: Of Cabbages and Kings


For Saturday meandering, it's hard to beat Puget Island, Cathlamet and Skamakowa.

We were drawn in that direction by a golf driving range in Cathlamet and a photo exhibit in Redmen Hall. It was the first time we had been inside Redmen Hall, which is beautifully restored and interpreted.

Climbing to Redmen Hall's tower affords a view downriver that includes Tongue Point and the Astoria Bridge. The visitor is encouraged to ring the tower bell.

To our great surprise, one of the photographers whose Vietnam pictures were on display was Paul Fardig of Portland. Fardig's wife Judy was my wife's nursing student decades ago.

The photos were part of Project Uplift, whose main objective was building a school in Vietnam. Having been there myself, courtesy of the U.S. Marine Corps, I found the photos most evocative. Paul said his group encountered no resentment among Vietnamese. Their experience jibed with what I've read - namely that the American military presence in then-South Vietnam was relatively brief when compared with the prior military incursions of France and China.

The Westport ferry is a brief but always scenic excursion. The traveler is bound to see waterfowl.............
...............State Highway 4 from Cathlamet to Longview is refreshing. It offers views of the Columbia that are quite different from the perspective of Oregon Highway 30.

Road Delays this Summer

Washington State Route 4, on the north side of the Columbia River, will see paving and guardrail upgrades this summer.  The contract was awarded to Lakeside Industries of Longview,WA, with a winning bid of 6.5 million dollars.

The four-month project encompasses nearly 28 miles of State Route 4 between Skamokawa in Wahkiakum County and Coal Creek road in Cowlitz County.  It is expected to support an estimated 110 direct and indirect jobs.

Guardrail and cable barriers will be upgraded and bridges retrofitted with improved railings.

The Washington State Department of Transportatin is partnering with Wahkiakum County to also pave West Little Island Road and Beaver Creek roads in the project vicinity.

Contractor crews will begin the resurfacing work in July and expect to finish by October.

Redmen Hall's Newest Docents

Pam Emery, (pictured), Nancy Granger, Sue Griffin, Keith Hoofnagle and Cathy LaBerge have joined the staff of Redmen Hall as volunteer docents.  You can visit them, say "hello", and tour the hall on weekends from noon to 4pm.

Redmen Hall is home to the RiverLife Interpretive Center, which houses a permanent exhibition of the history of Skamokawa from its earliest days as a native camping ground to its heyday before the decline of the logging and fishing industries.

There is a gift shop selling area art and handcrafts, as well as Wahkiakum County’s only bookstore, with a fine selection of northwest history and fiction, featuring works by local authors. Redmen Hall is open Thursdays through Sundays from noon to 4pm.

Anyone wishing to become a docent with the Friends of Skamokawa is invited to call or stop by Redmen Hall, 1394 State Route 4 in Skamokawa, any Thursday  or Friday afternoon between noon and 4pm.  

You can listen to a brief history of Skamokawa and Redmen hall here.   

For more information, call 360-957-3884.

Flooding in Skamokawa

Flood waters rose in the valleys and in Skamokawa Creek, January 7, 2009. Parts of State Route 4 were passable only by larger vehicles. Roads in East Valley, Middle Valley and West Valley were impassible during the high water. Creeks overflowed banks and dikes, spreading throughout the valley floors. Water entered area homes, buildings and barns. Several home owners voluntarily evacuated.

Photos - top: Skamokawa Grange Hall, second from top: Inundated Wildlife Refuge, Skamokawa, third from top: Wahkiakum County Fairgrounds, fourth from top: Flooded State Route 4 between Cathlamet and Skamokawa, January 8th. fifth from top: WSDOT truck monitoring traffic along State Route 4 in Skamokawa. Only larger vehicles were allowed through on the flooded highway. Bottom: Landslide on State Route 4 near Skamokawa.

Flooding and 'freshets' are a regular part of life on the lower river. Click here for a related post on the 1948 flood event.

Snow damage at the Fairgrounds

The weight of all that snow on Christmas Day proved too much for the arena at the Fairgrounds. The steel truss roof could not take the unusual strain of our heavy snowfall this season. The building looks like a total loss. No one was hurt in the collapse.