Clark Asks Why are there stairs to the river by Who Song

first_imgOur most recent Clark Asks voting round ended in a tie for the first time. One of our readers asked: “Why is there an old staircase that goes down to the Columbia River by Who Song and Larry’s? What used to be there?”The answer: It’s from a time when the U.S. Coast Guard had a station along the river.The station was established sometime around 1940, according to Doug Wilson, archaeologist with the National Park Service and adjunct associate professor of anthropology at Portland State University.“It’s also the location of the original government docks for the Vancouver Barracks,” Wilson said. “Before that, it was the docks for the Hudson’s Bay Company.”As for the stairs themselves, Wilson said that a former student’s research found that they were built around 1967. They determined the dating of the stairs by referencing photographs, although the material used to make the stairs provided a vital clue.“We don’t get a lot of concrete manufacturing until the 20th century, really, in the Northwest,” he said of the stairs. “They’re relatively recent.”last_img read more