Chinook Point, National Historic Landmark on Columbia River, Washington, United States.

Chinook Point is a cape at the mouth of the Columbia River holding remains of a military installation built between 1897 and 1902. The site contains thirteen buildings and three artillery stations that were part of the coastal defense network.

In May 1792 Robert Gray entered the Columbia River and made landfall near this point to trade with the Chinook people, whose name the headland bears. A military reservation was set aside in 1864, but construction came only in 1898, when the Spanish-American War and the Alaska boundary dispute with Britain prompted the building of Fort Columbia.

The point takes its name from the Chinook people, and Captain Robert Gray landed near here in May 1792 to trade with them. The Chinook lived along the lower Columbia, and their name also labels the Chinookan language family of the river's lower villages.

The grounds can be explored easily along walking paths and interpretive signs throughout the military structures. Visit during dry weather since the location near the river can be damp and exposed to the elements.

Spanish explorer Bruno de Heceta sighted Cape Disappointment and Point Adams in the 1770s but illness aboard ship kept him from exploring further, and currents drove his vessel out to sea. He still recorded his belief that a river mouth lay nearby.