VANCOUVER, a city of south-western Washington, U.S.A., at the head of deep-water navigation on the Columbia river (here crossed by the Interstate highway bridge, 3,531 ft. long), 8 m. N. of Portland; the county seat of Clark county. It is on Federal highways 99 and 830; has a large airport, the Portland base of the Pacific coast airmail service; and is served by the Great Northern, the Northern Pacific, the Spokane, Portland and Seattle and the Union Pacific railways, electric trolley and motor-stage lines and ocean and river steamers. The population was 12,637 in 1920 (86% native white) and was 15,766 in 1930 by the Fed eral census. It is the trading centre for large lumber operations, and for one of the most diversified agricultural districts of the State, noted for its prunes, filberts, walnuts, small fruits, poultry and dairy products. The traffic of the port is growing rapidly, and in 1927 included 87,733,033 ft. of logs rafted in to the city's mills and 72,770,00o ft. of lumber shipped out. The manufactures
(valued at $7,505,861 in 1927) are chiefly lumber and lumber products, paper, dried and canned fruits, fruit juices and syrups, dairy products, furs, logging machinery and linen twines and fabrics. The State schools for the deaf and the blind are within the city limits. Adjoining it on the east is Vancouver Barracks, one of the principal U.S. army posts on the coast (established 1849). Its polo and flying fields adjoin the commercial aviation field. Vancouver is the oldest city of Washington. It was founded in 1825 by Dr. John McLoughlin, chief factor of the Hudson's Bay Company, who built a stockade (Ft. Vancouver) on a site now included in the military reservation, and it was one of the company's important trading posts until 1846, when it was taken over by the United States. The village became the county seat in 1854 and was chartered as a city in 1889.