This scene, photographed about 1905, shows the home of John Robinson Jackson, one of the first
settlers north of the Columbia River. The John R. Jackson home was located in Section 9,
Township 12 North, Range 1 West, and about nine miles up the Cowlitz Trail from Cowlitz
Landing. The Cowlitz Trail was an early route to Puget Sound from Cowlitz Landing at the head
of the navigable water route from Fort Vancouver. Cowlitz Landing was located on the donation
land claim of Fred A. Clarke, about one mile down the Cowlitz River from present-day Toledo,
Washington. The John R. Jackson home was known as the Jackson Prairie courthouse, as the
building was used as the first courthouse within the northern part of Oregon Territory, which
a few years later became Washington Territory.
The Jackson home was also established as the “Highland” post office in 1854 and
John R. Jackson is listed in the 1855 edition of “Post Offices in the United
States”, as postmaster of Highland, Lewis County, Washington Territory. The first record
from the Jackson Prairie courthouse is from October 4, 1847, when Sheriff John R. Jackson
presented a Lewis County tax assessment roll for examination at the October term of the
Commissioners Court of Lewis County. Lewis County was named after Captain Meriwether Lewis,
and in 1847 Lewis County included all of what is now western Washington, west of the Cowlitz
River and the crest of the Cascade Mountains. Federal Judge William Strong held the first U.S.
District Court session north of the Columbia River at the Jackson Prairie courthouse on
November 12, 1850. On October 27, 1852, a public meeting of citizens of northern Oregon
Territory was also held at the Jackson Prairie courthouse. At this meeting, a resolution was
passed to appoint and send delegates to a general convention, to be held at Monticello, Oregon
Territory, on the last Thursday of November, for the purpose of memorializing a petition to
Congress to establish a separate territory north of the Columbia River. Monticello was located
along the west bank of the Cowlitz River, near the confluence with the Columbia River, and
within what is now the present-day city of Longview, Washington. On November 25, 1852, John R.
Jackson was one of forty-four delegates who met at Monticello and signed the Monticello
Convention Memorial, the petition to Congress to establish a separate territory north of the
Columbia River. The Monticello Convention Memorial stated that the new territory should be
named the Territory of Columbia, but on March 2, 1853, President Millard Fillmore signed
legislation establishing the new territory as the Territory of Washington. The restored
Jackson Prairie courthouse is located about eleven miles south along the present-day Jackson
Highway (old US 99) from Chehalis, Washington, and is located near present-day Marys Corner.
Andrew Craig Magnuson
Forks, Washington
March 15, 2006
The Jackson home was also established as the “Highland” post office in 1854 and
John R. Jackson is listed in the 1855 edition of “Post Offices in the United
States”, as postmaster of Highland, Lewis County, Washington Territory. The first record
from the Jackson Prairie courthouse is from October 4, 1847, when Sheriff John R. Jackson
presented a Lewis County tax assessment roll for examination at the October term of the
Commissioners Court of Lewis County. Lewis County was named after Captain Meriwether Lewis,
and in 1847 Lewis County included all of what is now western Washington, west of the Cowlitz
River and the crest of the Cascade Mountains. Federal Judge William Strong held the first U.S.
District Court session north of the Columbia River at the Jackson Prairie courthouse on
November 12, 1850. On October 27, 1852, a public meeting of citizens of northern Oregon
Territory was also held at the Jackson Prairie courthouse. At this meeting, a resolution was
passed to appoint and send delegates to a general convention, to be held at Monticello, Oregon
Territory, on the last Thursday of November, for the purpose of memorializing a petition to
Congress to establish a separate territory north of the Columbia River. Monticello was located
along the west bank of the Cowlitz River, near the confluence with the Columbia River, and
within what is now the present-day city of Longview, Washington. On November 25, 1852, John R.
Jackson was one of forty-four delegates who met at Monticello and signed the Monticello
Convention Memorial, the petition to Congress to establish a separate territory north of the
Columbia River. The Monticello Convention Memorial stated that the new territory should be
named the Territory of Columbia, but on March 2, 1853, President Millard Fillmore signed
legislation establishing the new territory as the Territory of Washington. The restored
Jackson Prairie courthouse is located about eleven miles south along the present-day Jackson
Highway (old US 99) from Chehalis, Washington, and is located near present-day Marys Corner.
