CHENOOK or CHENOOKVILLE

Early settlement on the Columbia River between Fort Columbia and Point Ellice.

The name is derived from the Chinook Indians who camped there before and after the appearance of white settlers. The Chinook villa at this site was one of the permanent campsites of the tribe. Captain Robert Gray (May 1792), Hudson Bay Company factors (around 1800), Lewis and Clark (November 1805), and Fathers DeSmet and Blanchette (1831), all made note of the village in their respective reports. Lewis and Clark labeled the site "Chinnook" on their map and estimated 400 members of the tribe lived along the Columbia River and interior. In 1840 the Hudson Bay Company built a store to enhance trade with the tribe.

Washington Hall filed a Donation Land Claim on the site in 1849 and eventually surveyed a town September 1850. The plat was recorded as Chenookville in County Commissioner records Oct. 5, 1852 (the alternative spelling "Chinookville" was also used). In December 1852 county records were transferred from Pacific City to Chenookville. It remained the county seat from December 1852 to Dec. 6, 1854. A post office was established Oct. 19, 1852, but was discontinued December 1860.

The first salmon cannery in Pacific County was established at Chenookville (Point Ellice) by Ellis, Jewett and Chambers in 1870. By the 1880s nearby McGowan overshadowed the older settlement and erosion was rapidly removing buildings from the shrinking river bank. Erosion finally vanquished the old town site during this century (the name disappeared from area maps decades before), but it wasn't until January 1965 that the plat of Chenookville was vacated at a county commissioners meeting.

For a time (1948 to the late 1950s) the high ground behind the eroding beach was call Derbyville. The name derived from the annual salmon derby held at the campground located there.