Barracks’ founding topic of museum talk

Local historian Jeff Davis will discuss the U.S. Army’s arrival in Vancouver at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Clark County Historical Museum, 1511 Main St.

This month’s First Thursday topic will be “Raising the Colors: The Founding of the Vancouver Barracks.”

When planning the first U.S. Army post in the Oregon Territory, two separate forces took the journey westward. One went overland, the other by sailing ship. The first force arrived in 1849 and began construction, waiting for the second to arrive.

Davis will discuss which force arrived first. He will explain why the site of the Vancouver Barracks was chosen and describe the early years on the post.

Davis was an archaeologist for the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, the Boise National Forest and the Umatilla National Forest.

He has served in the U.S. Army and Reserves in Italy, Japan, Korea, Bosnia, and Kuwait and Afghanistan.

Admission fees: $4 adults, $3 seniors/students, $2 children, $10 families. Clark County Historical Society members are free.