Altoona Washington Ghost Town
by Charles Robinson
Title
Altoona Washington Ghost Town
Artist
Charles Robinson
Medium
Photograph - Landscape Photograph
Description
In 1903, Hans Peterson logged 830 acres at the Hudson Bay Company station on the Columbia River, and named the new community "Altoona" (after his home town of "Altona", Germany, a major fish-processing city on the Elbe River) and began the Altoona Mercantile and Fish Company Cannery. By 1910 the Altoona Cannery ranked fourth among the Columbia River canneries. Altoona flourished from the 1890's until the 1940's when canning became unprofitable and the canneries closed.
The cannery was built on pilings extending in to the Columbia River. The pilings and the ruins of the Klevenhusen Cold Storage plants compressor, which was established in 1905, are among the remaining remnants of Altoona's past. The cannery was lost to fire in 1932.
Altoona is located approximately 21 miles up the Columbia River near Pillar Rock.
Uploaded
November 13th, 2023
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