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Wednesday,  April 23 , 2025
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Photo of Martin Middlewood

Stories by Martin Middlewood

Columbian freelance contributor

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ClarkCoHist@gmail.com
The Panic of 1893 was America’s largest economic depression to date. While locals complained about taxes, the panic was a subject for Broadway, too, as seen in this poster for Charles Dazey’s “War of Wealth,” a four-act melodrama.

Clark County history: 1894 taxpayers, what do you say?

The Panic of 1893 was America’s largest economic depression to date. While locals complained about taxes, the panic was a subject for Broadway, too, as seen in this poster for Charles Dazey’s “War of Wealth,” a four-act melodrama.

April 19, 2025, 6:05am Clark County Life Updated 20 mins ago

The Gilded Age ended in the worst economic depression to date. Effects of the Panic of 1893 lingered until 1897. Read story

In 1938, the Bonneville Power Administration received $10.75 million to lay dual transmission lines connecting Bonneville Dam and Vancouver. About 10 percent of the funds were used to build Ampere, which was renamed Ross Substation in 1941.

Clark County History: From Ampere to Ross

In 1938, the Bonneville Power Administration received $10.75 million to lay dual transmission lines connecting Bonneville Dam and Vancouver. About 10 percent of the funds were used to build Ampere, which was renamed Ross Substation in 1941.

April 12, 2025, 6:02am Clark County Life

On July 13, 1938, The Columbian’s front page announced, “Way Cleared for Building Power Lines” in a single-column block headline. Those power lines were particularly vital to Vancouver, turning it into a literal powerhouse that remains today. Read story

A.B. Eastman, Vancouver’s mayor and the receiver of the First National Bank, lived in this house during a local financial catastrophe. The crisis began when a bank examiner confronted bank President Charles Brown and cashier Edmund Canby about the bank’s fiscal anomalies in 1901. They panicked, fled and died by suicide, throwing the bank into financial chaos.

Clark County history: Suicides led to bank failure

A.B. Eastman, Vancouver’s mayor and the receiver of the First National Bank, lived in this house during a local financial catastrophe. The crisis began when a bank examiner confronted bank President Charles Brown and cashier Edmund Canby about the bank’s fiscal anomalies in 1901. They panicked, fled and died by suicide, throwing the bank into financial chaos.

April 5, 2025, 6:10am Clark County Life

Two respected employees of the First National Bank used the same pistol when they died by suicide in 1901. Bank President Charles Brown and Cashier Edmund Lee Canby were well respected in Vancouver. Both were married, with children. Read story

A circa 1850 daguerreotype captured Peter Skene Ogden (1794-1854) during a visit to New York. Ogden carried out George Simpson’s “fur desert” policy by over-trapping beavers in the Snake River basin to keep out American mountain men. His annual expeditions also supplied important geographic information to London cartographers.

Clark County history: Peter S. Ogden at Fort Vancouver

A circa 1850 daguerreotype captured Peter Skene Ogden (1794-1854) during a visit to New York. Ogden carried out George Simpson’s “fur desert” policy by over-trapping beavers in the Snake River basin to keep out American mountain men. His annual expeditions also supplied important geographic information to London cartographers.

March 29, 2025, 6:05am Clark County Life

As the head of the Hudson’s Bay Company’s Columbia Department, George Simpson understood American settlers followed missionaries who followed fur trappers. Seeing his Columbia territory as rightly British, he took steps to stop, or at least slow, the first stage of the progression. That the HBC had absorbed John Jacob… Read story

A relaxed, happy, smiling Samuel Hill (1857-1931) sits on the porch at his Seattle home in about 1925. An eccentric millionaire and Quaker, Hill re-created Stonehenge along the Columbia River as a World War I monument and a Peace Monument in Blaine.

Clark County history: Sam Hill, happy-go-lucky eccentric millionaire and philanderer

A relaxed, happy, smiling Samuel Hill (1857-1931) sits on the porch at his Seattle home in about 1925. An eccentric millionaire and Quaker, Hill re-created Stonehenge along the Columbia River as a World War I monument and a Peace Monument in Blaine.

March 22, 2025, 6:05am Clark County Life

Sam Hill was a wealthy, happy-go-lucky eccentric millionaire and philanderer, which mixed oddly with his Quakerism. James J. Hill hired Sam Hill into the Northern Pacific Railroad legal department in 1886. Two years later, Sam married his boss’s daughter, Mary Francis Hill (making her Mary Francis Hill Hill). The couple… Read story

James Delmage “J.D.” Ross (1872-1939) was photographed surrounded by flowers about 1930, likely while working for the Security Exchange Commission under Joseph Kennedy. When President Franklin D.

Clark County history: Bonneville Power Administration’s Ross Complex

James Delmage “J.D.” Ross (1872-1939) was photographed surrounded by flowers about 1930, likely while working for the Security Exchange Commission under Joseph Kennedy. When President Franklin D.

March 15, 2025, 6:08am Clark County Life

On Highway 99 between Interstate 5 access ramps and 63rd Street is a turn-off rising up a grassy hill to the Bonneville Power Administration’s Ross Complex. Read story

An artist’s imagining of a Native American shaman, thought to influence the unseen good and evil spirits, administering curatives to a patient. Neither Native nor European treatments stopped major disease outbreaks in the 19th century in the Lower Columbia region.

Clark County history: Diseases decimated Native populations

An artist’s imagining of a Native American shaman, thought to influence the unseen good and evil spirits, administering curatives to a patient. Neither Native nor European treatments stopped major disease outbreaks in the 19th century in the Lower Columbia region.

March 1, 2025, 6:03am Clark County Life

By the time sailing ship Capt. Robert Gray named and claimed the Columbia River for the United States in 1792, European diseases already had decimated the Pacific Northwest Native American population. Later outbreaks — influenza (1836), malaria (1830s), measles (1830s and 1840s), smallpox (1781 to 1863) and shigellosis (1844) —… Read story

A Vancouver Weekly illustration shows Mayor E.G. Crawford introducing “Miss Vancouver” to millionaire railroader James J. Hill during his 1905 visit to the city. Before his October arrival, Hill had maneuvered behind the scenes to gain the route along the north bank of the Columbia River, even gaining influence over the Clark County’s Portland, Vancouver & Yakima Railroad.

Clark County history: J. J. Hill’s 1905 visit to Clark County

A Vancouver Weekly illustration shows Mayor E.G. Crawford introducing “Miss Vancouver” to millionaire railroader James J. Hill during his 1905 visit to the city. Before his October arrival, Hill had maneuvered behind the scenes to gain the route along the north bank of the Columbia River, even gaining influence over the Clark County’s Portland, Vancouver & Yakima Railroad.

February 22, 2025, 6:05am Clark County Life

On Oct. 1, 1905, railroad baron James J. Hill and a party of executives arrived in Vancouver about noon. Residents greeted them with whistles, bells, cheers and the 14th Infantry band played. President Charles M. Levey of the Portland & Seattle Railway organized the party. Hill passed through the crowd… Read story

Lt. George Horatio Derby (1823 -1861) graduated from West Point in 1846. A decade later, as a topographic engineer stationed at Vancouver, he conducted surveys and issued contracts for road building. Using pen names, he was also celebrated for his humorous writing.

Clark County history: George Derby, road builder & humorist

Lt. George Horatio Derby (1823 -1861) graduated from West Point in 1846. A decade later, as a topographic engineer stationed at Vancouver, he conducted surveys and issued contracts for road building. Using pen names, he was also celebrated for his humorous writing.

February 15, 2025, 6:05am Clark County Life

Massachusetts-born soldier Lt. George Derby led a dual life as an Army topographer of significant ability and an ingenious humorist. Derby penned amusing satires, burlesques and books under the pen names “John P. Squibob,” “John Phoenix” and “Squibob” in his humor published by many West Coast newspapers. Read story

The Jantzen Beach amusement park brought thousands to Hayden Island from 1928-1970. In addition to rides, it featured large swimming pools.

Clark County history: The many names of Hayden Island

The Jantzen Beach amusement park brought thousands to Hayden Island from 1928-1970. In addition to rides, it featured large swimming pools.

February 8, 2025, 6:08am Clark County Life

Hayden Island has borne several names. For four decades, it was best known for the Jantzen Beach amusement park. Today, a spread-out shopping center and residential neighborhood inhabit the same sandy shore. Read story