The ghost town of Altoona, Washington

 Altoona, Washington is situated on the east of Grays Bay at Columbia River Mile, upstream from Harrington Point. In the beginning of the 1900's Altoona grew into one of the six fish-buying points as well as a cannery functioning in the area of Grays Bay. There were about 39 canneries along the lower Columbia River just before the salmon industry began to decline. Altoona used to serve, as well, as a stop for the steamers crossing the distance from Portland to Astoria and vice versa.
    During the 1830's Altoona was the station which received fish for Hudson's Bay Company's, and a salt mine at the same time. The shoals in close proximity of Altoona, Millar Sands, were favourable terrain for the seining of salmon in the early 1890's. It was the veteran fish entrepreneur William Hume who opened a fish receiving point. The name of Altoona is derived from a German town, called Altona, a main fish industry town, situated on the banks of Elbe River. The town was named by Hans Peterson, who, in 1903, registered 830 acres of land adjacent to the station, establishing Altoona Mercantile and Fish Company Cannery. Altoona Cannery ranks as one of the first four canneries in Columbia River by 1910. In the 1990's the cannery crashed down into the waters of Columbia River and presently, only remnants of it can be seen. 
    In the middle of the 1950's the salmon industry went hrough a decay, which caused the closing of Altoona Cannery. In 1978, the National Register of Historic Places recognized the situated at the Altoona Cannery, Altoona's "Columbia River Gillnet Boat" as significant part of fishing business on the Colombia River. It had been one of the first gillnet boats (a more than 25 feet double ended boat) with a gasoline engine to be built in the period from 1913 - 1916. Altoona boats used to fish during the night when the nets were invisible to the salmons.
    It was not until the early 1950's when Altoona was still only reachable by boat, that a road was built joining Altoona with the rest of the world. When the cannery officially closed after becoming unprofitable, that inevitably brought the river traffic to a halt. Altoona's destiny was to fade into oblivion.
    Presently, the scene in Altoona is one of preserved buildings, standing the way they were long ago. An intriguing place for taking pictures, the town is absolutely depopulated; there are only the empty buildings, wharves, docks and piles that reveal the former human presence. They are stark evidence of the fishing business that once flourished here. Gaining the reputation of a ghost city, Altoona is a rather curious place to visit as it can present a peek into the treasured past of the 19th and 20th centuries. Besides, there are not many deserted places like this, where not a single local can be met. If you seek unusual moments and places, you should see what it feels like to visit Altoona. One thing is for sure; it will be surprisingly different from anything you have seen before.
    Four miles away from Altoona are the Pillar Rocks where Lewis and Clark claimed to have first seen the Pacific Ocean.