Camp Columbia (Hanford)

Camp Columbia (variously referred to as Columbia Camp) was a prison camp established on the north shore of the Yakima River in 1944 near Horn Rapids. The camp operated between February 1944 and October 1947 by Federal Prison Industries. The camp was used to house "minimum-custody-type improvable male offenders," who had no more than one year to serve. These were violators of national defense, wartime and military laws. Included were conscientious objectors, violators of rationing and price support laws, those convicted of espionage, sabotage and sedition and by military courts martial. Aliens who failed to register were also in this category but none of them were sent here due to the nearby Hanford project.

The prisoners were brought in from the prison at McNeil Island, and worked in local fruit orchards. As many as 250 prisoners were housed there at any given time. The camp had a number of Quonset prefab buildings, and barracks to house both prisoners and staff. There were no fences around the camp, as the geography itself was a deterrent to escape. The prisoners were known to occasionally stray down to the river to fish, but only 12 were known to have escaped from the area.

After the camp was officially shut down in 1947, the facitiy was used to house workers for the Hanford project railroad until 1949. The camp was then used by the US Army Corps of Engineers to house those working on various levy projects as well as the McNary Dam.

Camp Columbia was finally abandoned in 1950, and the facilities were dismantled and removed. Some of the original Quonset huts were moved to Richland, and could be seen there until the early 1990s.

Today the site of Camp Columbia is occupied by a recreational park.