Fort Columbia: Triangle of Fire on the Columbia

Perched on Chinook Point above the Columbia River, Fort Columbia was built to make sure no enemy warship ever made it upstream. Construction began in eighteen ninety-six, and by nineteen oh-four the fort was operational, forming what the Army called a triangle of fire with Fort Canby to the northwest and Fort Stevens on the Oregon shore. Any hostile vessel attempting to enter the Columbia would have been caught in overlapping artillery from all three sides.

The fort saw duty through World War One and World War Two without, by most accounts, ever firing a shot in anger, which is perhaps the best testimony to its deterrent value. The Army declared it surplus after the Second World War and transferred it to Washington State in nineteen fifty. The preserved barracks, gun batteries, and commander's quarters give a clear picture of coastal defense as it was practiced across three generations of American soldiers.