SKAMOKAWA, WA

SKAMOKAWA, WA

SKAMOKAWA (Wahkiakum Co.) is located along SH 4, eight miles northwest of Cathlamet and nestled along a shallow backwater of the Columbia River. It was named after Chief Skamokawa and was established possibly as early as the 1850s. The Moe Store opened here in 1872, and a post office followed suit on January 27, 1873 with Albert Moe as the first postmaster. It was a bustling salmon fishing, canning and logging town, and in 1900, a major fire destroyed the wharf and buildings of Silverman's Landing. An old photo shows a large two-story white building on the wharf jutting out into the river. Until 1915-1917 era, its only access was via boat until the state highway (now SH 4) reached Skamokawa. Even so, its fishing days were on the downslide.

The town reached its zenith around 1940 when as many as 750 folks lived here. The town had a co-operative creamery, a huge wooden three-story hotel, meat market, saloons, a school, three shingle mills, a steam ship office, and other businesses along a quarter mile long line of wharf supported structures.

In 1985, Skamokawa, was a small, dingy, down-in-the-tooth, near dead town former boomtown whose remaining cabins, shacks and historic structures were watched over by a handful of folks.

By 2014, thigs had changed drastically since our 1985 visit and the historic old community exhibited a true reversal of fortune. What was abandoned in 1985 had been repaired, repainted and resurrected. As we cruised through town I saw nothing ghostly about it. In 1990, the population was listed as 220, but 2007 estimates place it around 450, well past my 50% threshold I consider for semi-ghost towns. As a result, I feel this historic old town can be removed from the dead column and moved to the living side of my ghost town list. Even so, it will remain on this listing as a pleasant memory of one place that has been resurrected from the near-dead.

This was our GHOST TOWN OF THE MONTH for September 2004.

***************

Visit Ghost Town USA’s WASHINGTON Ghost Town Pages

Also visit: Ghost Town USA’s

CURRENT Ghost Town of the Month | PAST Ghost Towns of the Month

Ghost Towner's Code of Ethics | Publications | Genealogy | License Plate Collecting

A few LINKS to outside webpages:

Ghost Towns | Treasure Hunting | License Plate Collecting | Genealogy

***

E-mail Us

***

THIS PAGE

FIRST POSTED: September 03, 2004

LAST UPDATED: July 10, 2015

**************