Since time immemorial, the Chinook people have lived along the lower Columbia River.

Chinook tribes in the Columbia-Pacific region include the Lower Chinook, Willapa, Wahkiakum, Kathlamet and Clatsop, and their summer villages along the river allowed them to maintain the center of trade in this region.

Middle Village, located along U.S. Highway 101 in Chinook, Washington, just west of the Astoria Bridge, is the site of Qiqaiaqilxam, one of three important Chinook villages on the Washington side of the Columbia River.

Capt. William Clark used this point, dubbed “Station Camp” by historians, as a base camp for mapping this area on foot in 1805.

European diseases arrived before the explorers and the Chinook were decimated by malaria and smallpox in the early 19th century. Survivors along the Columbia River retreated north up Willapa Bay, and only a few years later white settlers took the land and founded the town of McGowan.

This became a center of salmon fishing and canning, an industry that quickly depleted the burgeoning salmon populations to dangerous lows. Today, only St. Mary’s Church and a few rotting piers mark where McGowan once stood.

Lewis and Clark National Historical Park has preserved the Middle Village-Station Camp site for visitors to explore and learn about. An accessible, paved path winds its way through a grassy field east of the church, with a total distance of less than 1/4 mile.

Interpretive signs and other outdoor exhibits highlight three main historical phases of this land: the Chinook villages, the 10 days spent here by Lewis and Clark and McGowan and its salmon industry.

Photos bring to life these historical moments. Visitors may also marvel at the sculptural reproductions of traditional Chinook canoes and walk around the restored church.

The site is open from dawn until dusk year-round, and visitors may park in the paved lot. Keep dogs on a leash and stay on the established trails.