Category:Fort Hill: Difference between revisions

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Fort Hill (1855-1866) Willamette Valley settlers built a blockhouse in Polk County northeast of Valley Junction in 1855-56 on the Grande Ronde Indian Agency to keep the relocated tribes on the agency and settlers out. Initially named Fort Hill the fort name was changed to Fort Yamhill on 30 Aug 1856. The blockhouse was removed and resides in Dayton City Park, Dayton, Oregon.

The remains of the fort were recently rediscovered and preparations are underway to open a 55 acre Fort Yamhill State Heritage site in the spring of 2005.

At its peak, Fort Yamhill housed two or three companies for a total of about 250 men. Two similar outposts were created to watch over Indian agencies: Fort Hoskins in Benton County, and Fort Umpqua in Southern Oregon.

A 1991 survey revealed the location of at least 24 major buildings that once occupied the site.

• sentry box
• officers’ quarters
• barracks
• carpenter's shop
• blacksmith shop
• hospital
• cook houses
• stables
• barn
• sutler’s store
• laundress quarters
• more.

Civil War General Philip H. Sheridan, then a 2nd Lieutenant, supervised the construction of some buildings at Fort Yamhill. The wooden blockhouse once used as a jail was moved to the town of Dayton in 1911, where it still stands. Fort Yamhill was abandoned and disassembled in 1866. The buildings were auctioned off and the land sold to private interests.

Location: Northern Polk County, about 2 miles north of Spirit Mountain Casino.

Resources

Source:

• Oregon Military History, Forts-Camps-Roads
• Newspaper article