mustgo.html

The Goldendale Sentinel, Goldendale, WA., May 3, 1962, page 5

BLOCKHOUSE MUST GO, PARKS BOARD INFORMS COUNTY

Condition of the Goldendale Blockhouse, now located at Brooks Memorial state park, has deteriorated to the point it is hopeless to maintain, the state parks board said. In a letter to Klickitat county commissioners received last week, State Director Clayton Anderson suggested that any local body interested in preservation of what is left of the old building come forth and claim it. Its condition is such that the department no longer can maintain it, he said. Commissioner Henry Miller brought up the subject at Goldendale chamber of commerce weekly meeting, and it was referred to the chamber's parks committee, headed by Emmet Clouse. Originally built in the summer of 1856 during construction of a military road across the Simcoes, the building served as "a small fortification near Spring Creek west of Goldendale." It was garrisoned by a troop of U.S. cavalry until 1860 when the troops were removed. In those days it was a two-story building, surrounded by an 8-foot stockade fence. In more recent years it was moved a number of times, each time losing some of the lower logs and a portion of its height. It occupied sites on the courthouse square in Goldendale, and near the south entry to the city before removal to its present location. Opinion expressed at the meeting was that the 106-year-old logs have "hardly a bit of sound would in them" and that it would be hopeless to try to preserve them as a structure.