Troutdale: The Captain's Fish Ponds

Troutdale gets its name from a very specific image: a sea captain's fish pond. Pioneer John Harlow settled here along the Sandy River. He named his place Troutdale for a trout pond in a dale near his house, and a town grew up around it.

When the Columbia River Highway was completed in nineteen sixteen, Troutdale became the official gateway to the gorge, a title it still holds. The town that started with one captain's trout pond now welcomes visitors to one of the most dramatic river corridors in North America.