Oregon Forts

American Forts: West

OREGON

Last Update: 01/JULY/2007

Compiled by Phil and Pete Payette - Š2007 American Forts Network

Camp Baker
(1862 - 1865), Phoenix
Garrisoned by the OR Volunteer Cavalry to observe Confederate sympathizers in nearby Jacksonville. Located one-half mile west of town. Possibly also known as Camp Phoenix.

Camp Stuart
(1851), near Medford
A temporary Dragoon post southeast of town.

Camp Stewart
(1853), Jacksonville
A temporary Army camp. Replaced by Fort Lane.

Camp Alden
(1853), near White City
Located at Hailey's Ferry near Upper Table Rock east of town. A temporary camp established after the "Battle of Evans Creek" that was replaced by Fort Lane after only a few weeks.

Fort Table Rock
(1850's ?), near Central Point
A military post at the Rogue River and Stewarts Creek.

Fort Lane
(1853 - 1856), near Central Point
A log and mud structure not far from Lower Table Rock, considered a sacred place by Indians. Site located on the south-side of the Rogue River, near the mouth of Bear Creek, four miles east of town. It was built by the Dragoons to protect the Rogue River Indian Agency on the north-side of the river.

Fort (David) Birdseye
(1855), Rogue River
A settlers' stockaded log house located on the south bank of the Rogue River near the mouth of Birdseye Creek.

Fort Vannoy
(1855 - 1856), near Grants Pass
Headquarters post for the OR Volunteers during the Rogue River War, located on the north bank of the Rogue River four miles west of town. It consisted of a group of several log houses, possibly stockaded. Exact site undetermined.

Fort Briggs
(1850's ?), Josephine County
A civilian fortification. Undetermined location.
(NOTE: Two vague references: west of Grants Pass, or east of O'Brien. There is a Briggs Creek northwest of Selma.)
(info courtesy of Ted Cook.)

Fort Hayes
(1850's ?), near Wonder ?
A civilian fortification. Undetermined location, possibly at Hayes Hill.
(info courtesy of Ted Cook.)

Camp Galice
(1854 - 1856), Galice
An arsenal and powder magazine during the Rogue River War.

Fort Leland
(1855 - 1856), Leland
A fortified (stockaded) tavern, Grave Creek House, on Grave Creek east of Sunny Valley. Occupied by the OR Volunteers.
Camp Medill (1858), a temporary field camp, was also located somewhere on Grave Creek.

Fort Bailey
(1855), near Wolf Creek
A fortified tavern occupied by OR Volunteers, located five miles south of Cow Creek.

Fort (William) Smith
(1855 - 1856), Glendale Junction
A settlers' stockaded house used by the OR Volunteers during the Rogue River War. Located on the north-side of Cow Creek four miles above Glendale.

Camp Gordon
(1850's ?), near Azalea
A military camp.
(info courtesy of Ted Cook.)

Camp on Chetco River
(1856), near Brookings
A military camp at the mouth of the Chetco River.

Fort Miner
(1856), Gold Beach
A civilian blockhouse at the mouth of the Rogue River. A refuge for 100 settlers during a month-long siege by Indians.

Camp Rogue River
(1856), Gold Beach ?
A military camp reportedly located at the mouth of the Rogue River.

Fort Lamerick
(1856), Big Meadows
An OR Volunteers log breastwork during the Rogue River War. Abandoned after about two months. Site located in extreme northeast Curry County upstream from Illahe.

Camp at Big Bend
(1856 - 1857), near Illahe
An OR Volunteers post, later garrisoned by Federal units.

Fort Orford
(1851 - 1856), Port Orford
Two civilian blockhouses were located on Fort Point, and were destroyed by fire in 1868. The seperate Army post, built two months later and also called Fort Orford, was abandoned in 1856.
Of interest nearby is the Historic Port Orford Lifeboat Station.
Nearby at Cape Blanco State Park are the ruins of a WWII radar site near the lighthouse.

Fort Rowland
(1850's ?), Curry County
A civilian fortification. Undetermined location.
(info courtesy of Ted Cook.)

Fort Kitchen
(1850's ?), Coos County
A civilian fortification. Undetermined location.
(info courtesy of Ted Cook.)

Fort Umpqua (1)
(1832 - 1850), Elkton
A British fur trading post on the south (or west) bank of the Umpqua River, also known as (Thomas or Desportes) McKay's Fort. It was later acquired by the Hudson's Bay Co. and moved five times, although remaining in the same general area. The last location was opposite the mouth of Elk Creek. A reconstruction of the stockaded post is planned in the near future.
(website courtesy of Scott Dano)

Fort Umpqua (2)
(1856 - 1862), near Gardiner
Built at the end of the Rogue River War from salvaged material from Fort Orford. Located on the north bank of the Umpqua River about two miles from its mouth. It was closed in 1862 after the Indian troubles died down. The old blockhouse and soldiers' quarters were later moved into town as a memorial.

Fort Flournoy
(1850's ?), near Lookingglass
A civilian fortification just west of town.
(info courtesy of Ted Cook.)

Camp Elliff
(1850's ?), Douglas County
A civilian camp. Undetermined location.
(info courtesy of Ted Cook.)

Siletz Blockhouse
(1858 - 1866), Siletz
A two-story blockhouse built to protect the Siletz Indian Agency. It was a subpost of Fort Hoskins. Originally called Yaquina Bay Blockhouse (1856 - 1858) located at the mouth of the Yaquina River near South Beach. It was dismantled and floated upriver in 1858.

Fort Hoskins
(1856 - 1865), Hoskins ?, Logsden ?
A Federal post originally located on the Luckiamute River near the mouth of Bonner Creek, it was soon relocated in 1856 to the eastern side of the Siletz River Indian Reservation, about 38 miles northwest of the original site.

Camp Russell
(1864 - 1865), Salem
A Civil War training camp once located at the state fairgrounds, present-day 17th Street and Silverton Road.

Fort Lafayette
(1863), Grand Ronde
Officially known as Post at Grand Ronde Indian Agency, it was a temporary outpost of Fort Yamhill built by OR Volunteers.

Fort Yamhill
(1855 - 1866), Valley Junction
Settlers first built a blockhouse on what became known as Fort Hill. The Army arrived in 1856, erected a palisade and renamed it. The blockhouse still remains, which was moved sometime after 1866 to the Grand Ronde Indian Agency three miles away where it was used as a jail, and then moved again in 1911 to a city park in Dayton.

William Henry Fort
(1813 - unknown), near Newberg
A North West Co. trading post, possibly renamed in 1814 to Henry House.

Fort Champoeg
(Champoeg State Park)
(1811 - 1861 ?), near Donald
Originally Fort (William) Wallace or Willamette Post of the Pacific Fur Company. Sold in 1813 to the North West Co. Taken over by the Hudson's Bay Co. in 1830 and enlarged and renamed. Also spelled Champooick. A fire and a flood in 1861 destroyed the post and settlement. The history of the post is told at the state park museum. Friends of Historic Champoeg.
Nearby is the Willamette Mission State Park.

Camp Clackamas
(1862), Oregon City
A temporary state militia post that lasted only one month. Located at the mouth of the Clackamas River about one mile north of town. Replaced Camp Barlow.

Camp Barlow
(1862), near Oregon City
A temporary Civil War encampment for the OR Volunteers, located two miles north of town. The entire garrison moved to Camp Clackamas.

Camp McKinley
(1898), Portland
A Spanish-American War muster camp for state troops. Located on the racetrack grounds at Irvington Park (NE 7th Ave. between NE Freemont and NE Brazee Streets).

Camp Withycombe (State Military Reservation)
(1909 - present), Clackamas
An Oregon National Guard summer training area, originally known as the Clackamas Rifle Range, located just east of town. Renamed in 1917. Still in use by the state guard. Located here is the Oregon National Guard Military Museum and Reserch Center.

Fort William
(1834 - unknown), Sauvie Island
A trading post built by Nathaniel Wyeth, originally located at Warrior Point on the north-end of the island, but moved to the center in 1835 after spring flooding. In 1837 the Hudson's Bay Company leased the post.

Fort Clatsop (National Memorial)
(1805 - 1806), near Warrenton
A 1955 reconstruction of the 50-foot square stockaded winter encampment of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, on the exact spot. It is located about five miles southwest of the Fort Astoria site, and about three miles inland from the ocean. This was the first American military post west of the Rocky Mountains. The reconstructed fort was destroyed by fire in October 2005. Another website from Online Highways and another from LC Archive.org

Camp Rilea (State Military Reservation)
(1927 - present), Camp Rilea
An Oregon National Guard training area originally named Camp Clatsop. Additional land was purchased in the 1930's, and the post was Federalized in 1940 for WWII training. Reverted back to the state in 1947. Renamed in 1959. Still in use by the state guard.

Salt Camp
(1805 - 1806), Seaside
Several men from the Lewis and Clark Expedition stayed here during the winter to boil ocean water to produce salt.

Astoria Post
(1811 - 1824, 1830 - 1848), Astoria
A Pacific Fur Co. post until 1813, when the North West Co. purchased it, and renamed it Fort George. Became a Hudson's Bay Co. trading post in 1830 (HBC records cover 1820 - 1848), which eventually developed into the town. It was the first permanent white settlement in the state. It was also the first permanent American settlement west of the Rocky Mountains. The post itself was later renamed to Fort Astoria after the British left. The blockhouse is a reconstruction on the original site, located on Exchange Street between 14th and 15th Aves.
Located near here was American Camp Astoria (1850 - 1851), a temporary Federal post which transferred to Columbia Barracks, WA.

¤ HARBOR DEFENSES of the COLUMBIA RIVER (partial) (see also Forts Canby and Columbia, WA)

¤ Fort Stevens (State Park)
(1863 - 1947), Hammond
Originally called Fort at Point Adams, an earthwork battery. Placed on care-taker status from 1883 to 1897. Concrete Endicott-era batteries here are Battery David Russell (1903 - 1944), Battery William Clark (1899 - 1942), Battery Lyman Mishler (1897 - 1941), on which a harbor entrance control post was built in 1941, West Battery which later became Batteries Lewis and Walker, Battery Meriwether Lewis (1897 - 1920), Battery Leverett Walker (1897 - 1920), Battery James Pratt (1902 - 1943) (currently under restoration), Battery Constant Freeman (1902 - 1920) built into the old fort - later destroyed, Battery 245 (1944 - 1947) later used by USAF as a radar platform, Battery Elias Smur (1902 - 1920), and Anti Motor Torpedo Boat Battery 1 (1943 - 1946) by the river jetty. Railway mortars were stored here in WWII. This was the Columbia River mine depot during WWII. Battery Russell is well to the south of the rest of the batteries, and faces the ocean instead of the river. In 1942 Battery Russell was fired upon by a Japanese submarine, but it was too far away to be fired back upon. This made it the only seacoast fortification in the 48 contiguous states to be attacked by a foreign enemy vessel since the War of 1812. Fort Stevens commanded Fort Canby and Fort Columbia in Washington.
Also of interest is the Officers' Inn SHS and also Officers' Inn B&B (commercial site).
Another website at hevanet.com and another at Online Highways

WWII fire-control towers in Oregon were located at Columbia Beach, DeLaura Beach (two), Hammond, and Sand Island (two). Several other towers were located within the fort. Nothing is left of these. An SCR-270 air-defense radar site (1942) was located at Tillamook Head (Ecola State Park) near Cannon Beach. Ruins exist.

NEED MORE INFO:
Towns:

Of related interest near Brookings is Crissey Field State Recreation Site, a former World War II Army airbase. Several structures still remain.

Interior Oregon - page 2