European and Native American cultures once converged at this Columbia River site, where the Hudson’s Bay Company stood as the first European trading post in the Pacific Northwest. Lewis and Clark camped here, and Fort Vancouver was built here 20 years later. Today, the site features a 40-foot wide earth-covered pedestrian bridge that arcs over State Route 14, reconnecting historic Fort Vancouver with the Columbia River, which helped extend the fort’s influence from Mexico to Alaska and across the Pacific Ocean.

Learn about the site’s indigenous plants as you walk along the Land Bridge, which leads you up to a grand view of the river and the surrounding mountains. From the south, walk under the Land Bridge’s Welcome Gate, designed by Native American artist Lillian Pitt. Two cedar canoe panels, each adorned with a cast-glass sculpture of a Chinook woman’s face, evoke the site’s role as a historic tribal crossroads as well as a point of contact between European and Native people.

About Confluence:

Confluence connects you to the history, living cultures, and ecology of the Columbia River system through Indigenous voices. We are a community-supported nonprofit that works through six art landscapes, educational programs, and public gatherings in collaboration with northwest tribes, communities, and the celebrated artist Maya Lin. Confluence began as a response to the Lewis and Clark bicentennial, to tell a more inclusive story of Lewis and Clark. In 2001 Maya Lin was asked by tribal leaders to design art sites along the river. Since then five art sites have been built and Confluence offers an array of programming along the Columbia River system.