Communities of Clark County, Washington Quiz

Answer: Vancouver

Vancouver is a pleasant city, having many of the amenities of Portland but far fewer crowds. Like Portland, many of its houses are renovated Victorians.

Capt. George Vancouver actually never saw Vancouver, WA. His ship was too big to make it past sand bars in the Columbia, but his lieutenant, William Broughton, had a smaller ship that made it far enough up the river to enter Clark County.

Answer: Yacolt

The Yacolt Burn of 1902 devastated over than 40% of Clark County- as well as thousands of acres in neighboring Skamania and Cowlitz counties. Over 238,000 acres burned. Despite the fire's name, it did not start near Yacolt, but began near the town of Carson in Skamania County and burned westward. The town of Yacolt was actually spared from the fire.

Answer: A battle

The city is Battle Ground, where no battle ever occurred- what actually happened is that a battle may have been prevented!

In 1855, Yakima Indians in southern Washington, reacting to the large numbers of settlers pouring into their territories, staged an uprising. The soldiers of Fort Vancouver, fearing that the uprising would spread to the local non-hostile Klickitat tribe, rounded up the natives and took them into custody within the fort. Some of the Indians did not take kindly to this treatment, and packed their bags and left. The soldiers followed them to the area now known as Battle Ground and took them back into custody- without a battle.

Answer: Camas

Although the paper mill still befouls the atmosphere, even after environmental controls, Camas is now just as well-known as the site of campuses for Hewlett-Packard, Sharp Microelectronics, Wafer Tech, Underwriters Laboratories, and others. And the blue camas still blooms in forest meadows there.

Answer: Washougal

The forested hills of Washougal give spectacular views over the Columbia River and to the Oregon shore beyond.

Answer: La Center

Rather obviously given its position in northwestern Clark County, it was named because it was "the center" of county trade, not because it was in the center of the county!

Answer: Woodland

Woodland is home to the Hulda Klager Lilac Gardens, where dozens of new varieties of these beautiful and fragrant spring flowers have been tested. It also hosts a Tulip Festival in April, when hundreds of acres of the bulbs are in bloom.

Answer: Amboy

The possibly apocryphal story is that A.M. Ball, who petitioned the Postal Service for a post office for the area, was given the honor of choosing the name of the town. Thinking of his good friends A.M. Browning and A.M. Blaker, he chose the name Amboy for the "A. M. Boys."

Answer: The cat family

Felida is a suburb of Vancouver, near Vancouver Lake. It received its name in 1890, when postmaster Marian E. McIrvin was asked for suggestions of names for the town. He suggested "Lakeview," but that name was already taken. When the Postal Service suggested "Polly" as a name, he replied that that was a name for parrots- he might as well name it after his cat! So he suggested Tomcat, Thomas (the name of his cat) and Felidae, the Latin word for the cat family.

The Postal Service, misspelling Felidae as "Felida," chose the name.

Answer: Ridgefield

Ridgefield is located just north of Vancouver, and is indeed the site of the founding of the U-Haul truck rental company. The Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge is located on the banks of the Columbia River.