This place was the home of the Chinook Indians and their great chief, Comcomly. Captain Robert Gray dropped anchor near here after his discovery of the Columbia River in 1792. During the fur trade, the area witnessed many stirring events, and in 1843 Captain Scarborough became the first permanent settler north of the Columbia here. For years this promontory served as a vital landmark for the safe crossing of the Columbia's bar. Later, as a coastal fort, its guns guarded the mouth of the river from 1896 until the end of World War II.