Editing Cathlamet, Washington (section)

==History==
[[File:THE RIVERSIDE TOWN OF CATHLAMET BOASTS A POPULATION OF 656 - NARA - 548040.jpg|thumb|left|Cathlamet in 1973 (Main Street from Columbia Street)]]

Cathlamet was the largest, or one of the largest, villages of Columbia River [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] west of the [[Cascade Mountains]], and the home of the [[Kathlamet people]].<ref name=strong>{{Cite book
| publisher = Binfords & Mort
| last = Strong
| first = Thomas Nelson
| title = Cathlamet on the Columbia : recollections of the Indian people and short stories of early pioneer days in the valley of the lower Columbia River
| location = Portland
| accessdate = August 15, 2013
| date = 1906
| url = https://archive.org/details/cathlametoncolum00stro
}}</ref> "Cathlamet was sighted in 1792 by [[William Robert Broughton|Lt. W.R. Broughton]], while verifying [[Robert Gray (sea captain)|Capt. Robert Gray]]'s reported exploration of the Columbia River."<ref name ="Wahkiakum">{{Cite web| title = Wahkiakum County| work = Wahkiakum County Government Website
| accessdate = September 26, 2023| url = https://www.co.wahkiakum.wa.us/389/Wahkiakum-County}}</ref>{{Citation needed|reason=Source does not state this quote fully; prior source was a 404 Page Not Found|date=September 2023}} This village of cedar houses included 300-400 inhabitants when visited by [[Lewis and Clark]].<ref name = "natgeo">{{Cite web| title = Lewis & Clark—Tribes—Cathlamet Indians (Kathlamet)| work = National Geographic| accessdate = August 15, 2013| url = http://www.nationalgeographic.com/lewisandclark/record_tribes_088_14_1.html| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20030423154431/http://www.nationalgeographic.com/lewisandclark/record_tribes_088_14_1.html| url-status = dead| archive-date = April 23, 2003}}</ref>

In 1846, [[James Albion Birnie]] became the first permanent white settler at Cathlamet, moving there after a career with the [[Hudson's Bay Company]].<ref name="Shults 2005">{{Cite web| last = Shults| first = Carla|author2=Geoffrey Wexler| title = Guide to the James Birnie Papers 1845-1916| work = NWDA
| accessdate = August 15, 2013| date = 2005| url = http://nwda.orbiscascade.org/ark:/80444/xv54044}}</ref><ref name="Anderson">{{Cite web| last = Anderson
| first = Nancy Marguerite| title = Fur Trade Family History: James Birnie, Laird of Cathlamet| accessdate = August 15, 2013| date = September 2, 2012
| url = http://furtradefamilyhistory.blogspot.ca/2012/09/james-birnie-laird-of-cathlamet.html}}</ref><ref name="Birnie, James">{{Cite web| title = Biography of James Birnie | work = Access Genealogy| date = June 19, 2011| accessdate = October 8, 2023| url = https://accessgenealogy.com/oregon/biography-of-james-birnie.htm}}</ref> He set up a trading post, remnants of which were reported still standing in 1906. "Birnie named the area Birnie's Retreat. The name was later changed to Cathlamet in 1851."<ref name ="Wahkiakum"/>

Cathlamet was officially incorporated on February 18, 1907. In 1938, the [[Julia Butler Hansen Bridge]] was built to carry what is now [[Washington State Route 409|State Route 409]] across the [[Columbia River]]'s [[Cathlamet Channel]] to [[Puget Island, Washington|Puget Island]].