Rivalries on the Cowlitz

Kelso/Longview Beginnings

“But an opposition town has sprung up, laid out by Nathaniel Stone...”

Peter Crawford’s journal on the founding of Freeport

Nathaniel Stone

The First Rivalries

MONTICELLO• 1st town on the lower

Cowlitz River• Founded by Darby

Huntington in 1849• Was the county seat for

15 years• Center of trade and

transportation• Destroyed by a flood in

1867

FREEPORT• 2nd town on lower

Cowlitz River• Founded by Nathaniel

Stone in c. 1865• Located a half mile

north of Monticello• In 1865 voters chose

Freeport as the county seat

• It was a better location

The “New” Monticello

• Darby Huntington built the new town down river

• Overrun by fires and floods

• Never attained the importance of the first Monticello

Darby Huntington

Freeport

• Became leading town on the Cowlitz

• Lost the county seat to Kalama in 1872

• Remained an important town until the coming of the railroad

The Rest is History

• “…But we have the railroad…” Peter Crawford on defending his plan to build a city on his donation land claim on the east bank of the lower Cowlitz.

Peter Crawford, 1884

Kelso

• Laid out by Peter Crawford in 1884

• Named after his boyhood home in Scotland

• Free building lots were given to people to get the town started

• This town had a railroad!

Another Rival

• In 1889 Adam Catlin founded a new town

• Located directly across the river from Kelso’s business section

• Freeport businessmen moved to Catlin

• Catlin consolidated with Kelso in 1908, became known as West Kelso

Adam Catlin

A Secure Future for Kelso?

• In 1922 Kelso won the battle for the

county seat• With a courthouse, the railroad, the port

dock, and well established businesses, Kelso’s future seemed secure.

• And then a newcomer named R.A. Long and Long-Bell Lumber company move to the area… .

What does the New Century Hold for the Latest Rivalry?

LongviewThe huge mill’s of Longview’s heyday are shutting down or downsizing

KelsoDevelopers are looking hard at Kelso and its rivers, railroad, interstate highway, airport, and cheap industrial and residential land.