Fort Rains
Columbia River Images: Fort Rains, Washington ... (Middle Blockhouse)
The Army established Fort Rains (also seen spelled "Raines"), a blockhouse built in October 1855 to defend the Middle Cascades. The location of this structure was on the north bank of the Columbia at the lower end of the portage around the Cascade Rapids, just above the present location of the Bonneville Dam and below the Bridge of the Gods and Sheridan Point. Fort Rains was known as the "Middle Blockhouse". Fort Rains was named for Major Gabriel Rains, under whose orders the fort was built.
"... During the previous winter (1855-56), a strong guard had been on duty at the blockhouse located a mile below the Upper Cascades landing, which had been erected by Major Rains in the fall of 1855; and from the name of its builder it had been uniformly but unofficially called Fort Rains. ..." [History of the Pacific Northwest Oregon and Washington 1889]
Fort Rains withstood the 1856 "Cascades Massacre". It was destroyed in 1876. A Memorial Blockhouse was erected near the original location in 1927. That too is gone. Today two informational signs exist near the Fort Rains location.
http://columbiariverimages.com/Regions/Places/fort_rains.html (Accessed: May 18, 2022)
Links
Columbia River Images: Fort Rains, Washington ... (Middle Blockhouse)
Includes ... Fort Rains ... North Bank Railroad ... Sheridan Point ... Campsite of November 1, 1805 ... Campsite of April 10 and 11, 1806 ...
http://columbiariverimages.com/Regions/Places/fort_rains.html
