Today’s fort is the fourth to go by this name.  The first fort was a fur-trading post opened by the North West Company. The post was built at the confluence of the Walla Walla and Columbia Rivers.  Established in 1818, the post ran until abandoned and burnt down during the 1855 Yakima War.  A steamboat landing settlement sprang up a few years later. The remains now all under the waters backed up from the McNary Dam some miles further down the Columbia.