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Clark County, Washington
Map of Washington highlighting Clark County
Location in the state of Washington (state)
Map of the U.S
Washington's location in the U.S.
Founded August 20, 1845
Seat Vancouver
Area
 - Total
 - Land
 - Water

656 sq mi (1,699 km²)
628 sq mi (1,627 km²)
28 sq mi (73 km²), 4.27%
Population
 - (2020)
 - Density

503,311
549/sq mi (212/km²)
Website www.clark.wa.gov

Clark County is a county located in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Washington, across the Columbia River from Portland, Oregon.

Clark County was the first county of Washington, named after William Clark of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. It was created by the provisional government of Oregon Territory on August 20, 1845, and at that time covered the entire present-day state.[1]

On April 1, 2020 Census, Clark County's population was to be 503,311. Its county seat is at Vancouver, which is also its largest city.

History[]

Clark County began as the District of Vancouver on July 27, 1844. It included all the land north of the Columbia River, west of the Rocky Mountains, and south of Alaska. In 1845 the provisional government changed its name to Vancouver County. At that time it stretched from the Columbia River to 54 degrees 40 minutes North Latitude in British Columbia. On June 15, 1846 the United States Senate approved the present boundary between the U.S. and Canada at the 49th Parallel.

On August 13, 1848, President James K. Polk signed an act creating the entire region as the Oregon Territory. On September 3, 1849, the Oregon Territorial Legislature modified the borders again and changed its name to Clarke County in honor of explorer William Clark. At this time it included all of present day Washington and continued to be divided and subdivided until reaching its present area in 1880. It was not until 1925 that the spelling was corrected to its present form.[2]

In September 1902 the Yacolt Burn, the largest fire in state history, began in neighboring Skamania County and swept west along a 12-mile front to Yacolt, nearly engulfing the town. Salvaging the remaining timber was a lucrative industry for a time.

Further reading[]

Politics[]

Clark County is a swing county in U.S. presidential elections that recently has voted slightly more Republican than the state and nation as a whole. For example, in 2012 President Obama carried Clark County by a few hundred votes representing a fraction of a percent, he ran behind his national showing of a 3% margin. George W. Bush carried the county twice, by 52% to 47% over John Kerry in 2004 and by 49% to 46% over Al Gore in 2000. Clark County usually votes for the winning presidential candidate. It voted for Ronald Reagan twice and for Bill Clinton twice. The last three presidential elections where Clark County did not vote for the national winner were 1968, when it voted for Humphrey over Nixon, and 1988, when it voted for Dukakis over Bush, as well as in 2016 when the county narrowly voted for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton over Republican nominee and winner of the election Donald Trump. In the 2020 election, Joe Biden carried the county and significantly improved upon Hillary Clinton's margins and outperformed Trump by five percentage points, making Biden's Democratic victory in the county more resounding than in the last two previous elections. The county's legislative body is the Clark County Council which was created in 2014.[3]

The current elected officials are:[4]

  • Assessor - Peter Van Nortwick (R)
  • Auditor - Greg Kimsey (R)
  • Clerk - Scott Weber (R)
  • Councilors - County Chair (At Large) Eileen Quiring (R)
    • District 1 Temple Lentz (D)
    • District 2 Julie Olson (R)
    • District 3 John Blom (R)
    • District 4 Gary Medvigy (R)
  • Prosecuting Attorney - Tony Golik (D)
  • Sheriff - Chuck E. Atkins (R)
  • Treasurer - Alicia Topper (NP)
United States presidential election results for Clark County, Washington[5]
Year Republican Democratic Third party
No.  % No.  % No.  %
2020 126,303 45.86% 140,324 50.95% 8,776 3.19%
2016 92,441 44.34% 92,757 44.49% 23,287 11.17%
2012 92,951 48.37% 93,382 48.59% 5,843 3.04%
2008 84,212 45.79% 95,356 51.85% 4,357 2.37%
2004 88,646 51.99% 79,538 46.65% 2,311 1.36%
2000 67,219 49.59% 61,767 45.57% 6,558 4.84%
1996 46,794 41.51% 52,254 46.35% 13,682 12.14%
1992 36,906 34.64% 42,648 40.03% 26,982 25.33%
1988 37,285 47.61% 40,021 51.11% 1,000 1.28%
1984 40,681 52.86% 35,248 45.80% 1,028 1.34%
1980 33,223 46.10% 30,584 42.43% 8,268 11.47%
1976 27,938 45.65% 31,080 50.78% 2,183 3.57%
1972 28,775 49.13% 27,179 46.41% 2,615 4.46%
1968 18,858 42.40% 23,046 51.82% 2,570 5.78%
1964 12,300 29.43% 29,341 70.21% 149 0.36%
1960 20,080 49.13% 20,771 50.82% 17 0.04%
1956 19,330 49.51% 19,665 50.36% 51 0.13%
1952 18,973 50.83% 18,153 48.63% 202 0.54%
1948 11,546 38.32% 17,154 56.93% 1,432 4.75%
1944 12,312 39.03% 18,861 59.78% 376 1.19%
1940 8,776 40.03% 12,931 58.98% 218 0.99%
1936 4,868 26.24% 12,714 68.52% 972 5.24%
1932 4,901 32.33% 9,104 60.05% 1,155 7.62%
1928 7,786 62.58% 4,467 35.90% 189 1.52%
1924 5,215 47.61% 2,004 18.29% 3,735 34.10%
1920 4,852 52.20% 2,941 31.64% 1,502 16.16%
1916 4,419 48.93% 3,728 41.28% 885 9.80%
1912 1,872 23.37% 2,549 31.82% 3,589 44.81%
1908 2,416 58.83% 1,250 30.44% 441 10.74%
1904 2,436 71.88% 515 15.20% 438 12.92%
1900 1,668 57.88% 1,025 35.57% 189 6.56%
1896 1,497 48.23% 1,547 49.84% 60 1.93%
1892 1,089 41.95% 966 37.21% 541 20.84%



Geography and climate[]

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 656 square miles (1,699.0 km2), of which 628 square miles (1,626.5 km2) is land and 28 square miles (72.5 km2) (4.27%) is water.

Clark County is surrounded on two sides by the Columbia River and on the north by the North Fork of the Lewis River. The East Fork of the Lewis River and the Washougal River cut across the county. The largest stream arising solely within the county is Salmon Creek, which terminates at Vancouver Lake before eventually flowing into the Columbia River.

Like most of Oregon and Washington south of Puget Sound into the Willamette Valley the landscape and climate of Clark County are determined by its placement between the volcanic Pacific Coast and Cascade Ranges, where glaciation helped form a U-shaped valley which meets the river valley of the Columbia River as it leaves the Columbia River Gorge. Volcanic andisol soils are common, with fertile mollisols in the lower areas. The central and southwest areas of the county are generally flat floodplains, sculpted by torrents of prehistoric Lake Missoula. A series of dramatic floods known as the Missoula Floods took place 15,000 - 13,000 years ago, as several ice dams melted, forming a series of low steps such as the "Heights", "Mill Plain", "Fourth Plain" and "Fifth Plain". Clark County's Köppen climate classification is "Csa."

Many lakes border the river in the lowlands near Ridgefield, including Vancouver Lake. Eastern and northern Clark County contain forested foothills of the Cascade Mountains, rising to an elevation of 4,000 feet (1,200 m) on the border with Skamania County. Larch Mountain is the county's highest free-standing peak.

Flora and fauna of the region include the normal ecological succession from lowland big leaf maple and western red cedar through Garry oak on up through fire-dependent species such as lodgepole pine and Douglas fir, as well as grand fir, silver fir and other species common to Gifford Pinchot National Forest. In addition to a wide variety of birds including great blue heron, raptors such as barred owl, osprey, red-tailed hawk and bald eagle, corvids (raven, crow, scrub and Steller's jay) and others, the native streams are home to various species of salmon and the Vancouver Trout Hatchery. Larger mammals include black-tailed deer, coyote, raccoon, skunk and invasive opossum. Common foods used by the indigenous people such as the Klickitat tribe and Chinook included salmon, huckleberry and Camassia quamash (after which the city of Camas, Washington is named).

Mount Hood, Mount Saint Helens and Mount Adams are all visible from Clark County, and cold winter winds through the Columbia River Gorge often bring freezing rain and a coating of glaze ice or clear ice known locally as a "silver thaw," especially in southeastern areas of the county closest to the gorge. The counterpart to this are warm winds from the southeast known locally as the "Pineapple Express".

Spring thaws can often swell county waterways, with two of the more destructive floods being those of the Columbia River in June 1894 and May, 1948. The 1948 Memorial Day flood almost topped the Interstate Bridge's support piers and completely destroyed nearby Vanport, Oregon. Construction of The Dalles Dam and destruction of Celilo Falls are credited with a decrease in such floods.

Significant windstorms in Clark County include the Columbus Day windstorm of October 12, 1962, and an April 6, 1972 tornado which rated F3 on the Fujita scale, striking a local school. A "Friday the 13th" storm in November 1981 brought winds up to 70 miles per hour (110 km/h), with other storms including the inauguration day storm of January 20, 1993, the Guadalupe Day storm of December 12, 1995 (with winds up to 95 miles per hour (153 km/h) at Washougal, Washington) and small tornado on January 10, 2008, which destroyed a boathouse at Vancouver Lake and caused damage to buildings in Hazel Dell before dissolving near Hockinson.[6]

Geographic features[]

  • Cascade Mountains
  • Columbia River
  • Vancouver Lake
  • Lacamas Creek
  • Lacamas Lake
  • Battleground Lake
  • Moulton Falls
  • Lucia Falls
  • Larch Mountain
  • Silver Star Mountain

Major highways[]

  • I-5 Interstate 5
  • I-205 Interstate 205
  • WA-14 State Route 14
  • WA-500 State Route 500
  • WA-501 State Route 501
  • WA-502 State Route 502
  • WA-503 State Route 503

Former major highway[]

  • WA-140 State Route 140

Adjacent counties[]

National protected areas[]

  • Fort Vancouver National Historic Site (part)
  • Gifford Pinchot National Forest (part)
  • Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge
  • Steigerwald Lake National Wildlife Refuge

Other[]

Clark County Youth Commission[]

The Clark County Youth Commission (CCYC) is a citizen advisory board to the Clark County Board of Commissioners (BOCC) in Clark County, Washington. The Youth Commission consists of approximately thirty 11-19 year-old youth from around the county, each school district in the county having two representatives. Since its establishment in 1998, the CCYC has given input to the BOCC and other county departments and organizations on various issues important to youth. In the past, the group worked on a fireworks policy and an economic development plan for the county.

In addition to helping shape county policy, the Youth Commission takes on a youth-driven project each year to promote or combat an issue. Past youth-driven projects include a Civil Rights Open House at the Youth House, a benefit concert for Invisible Children, and Freedom's Answer. Each year, the Youth Commission also hosts a Clark County Youth Achievement Celebration at Skyview High School to honor youth around the county.[7]

In 2008, the CCYC plans to be involved in shaping Sustainability Policy.

Demographics[]

Historical populations
Census Pop.
1850 643
1860 2,384 270.8%
1870 3,081 29.2%
1880 5,490 78.2%
1890 11,709 113.3%
1900 13,419 14.6%
1910 26,115 94.6%
1920 32,805 25.6%
1930 40,316 22.9%
1940 49,852 23.7%
1950 85,307 71.1%
1960 93,809 10.0%
1970 128,454 36.9%
1980 192,227 49.6%
1990 238,053 23.8%
2000 345,238 45.0%
2010 425,363 23.2%

As of the census[8] of 2000, there were 345,238 people, 127,208 households, and 90,953 families residing in the county. The population density was 550 people per square mile (212/km²). There were 134,030 housing units at an average density of 213 per square mile (82/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 88.82% White, 1.68% Black or African American, 0.84% Native American, 3.21% Asian, 0.37% Pacific Islander, 1.99% from other races, and 3.08% from two or more races. 4.71% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 17.7% were of German, 10.2% English, 8.6% Irish, 8.6% United States and 5.1% Norwegian ancestry according to Census 2000. 88.8% spoke English, 3.6% Spanish and 1.9% Russian as their first language.

There were 127,208 households out of which 37.20% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.80% were married couples living together, 10.30% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.50% were non-families. 21.80% of all households were made up of individuals and 6.80% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.69 and the average family size was 3.15.

In the county, the population was spread out with 28.70% under the age of 18, 8.40% from 18 to 24, 30.80% from 25 to 44, 22.60% from 45 to 64, and 9.50% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females there were 98.50 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.90 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $48,376, and the median income for a family was $54,016. Males had a median income of $41,337 versus $28,537 for females. The per capita income for the county was $21,448. About 6.90% of families and 9.10% of the population were below the poverty line, including 11.70% of those under age 18 and 6.80% of those age 65 or over.

Cities and Towns[]

  • Battle Ground
  • Camas
  • La Center
  • Ridgefield
  • Vancouver
  • Washougal
  • Woodland (partly in Clark County, mainly in Cowlitz County)
  • Yacolt

Census-designated communities[]

  • Amboy
  • Barberton
  • Brush Prairie
  • Cherry Grove
  • Dollar Corner
  • Felida
  • Five Corners
  • Hazel Dell, which the United States Census Bureau keeps data on in two separate sections:
    • Hazel Dell North
    • Hazel Dell South
  • Hockinson
  • Lake Shore
  • Lewisville
  • Meadow Glade
  • Mill Plain
  • Minnehaha
  • Mount Vista
  • Orchards
  • Salmon Creek
  • Venersborg
  • Walnut Grove

Other communities[]

  • Chelatchie
  • Heisson
  • Sifton

See also[]

  • National Register of Historic Places listings in Clark County, Washington
  • The Vancouver Voice
  • Washington State University, Vancouver

References[]

External links[]

Coordinates: 45°46′N 122°29′W / 45.77, -122.48


This page uses content from the English language Wikipedia. The original content was at Clark County, Washington. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with this Familypedia wiki, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons License.
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