Dave Knows Portland

May 16, 1898: Astoria And Columbia River Railroad Connects Portland and Coast

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Scenes along the Astoria and Columbia River Railroad (Morning Oregonian, 17-May-1898)Astorians celebrated the completion of the Astoria and Columbia River Railroad, connecting Astoria to Portland via a route following the Columbia River, on April 4, 1898. The first train from Portland arrived, carrying 700 people, on May 16, 1898.

Astoria and Seaside had been connected by railroad since 1890. With the completion of the Portland link, tourists began arriving on the coast in droves. Seaside became a resort town, expanding from hundreds of residents to thousands during the summer months. Astoria became an important hub for the timber industry, which with the arrival of the railroad had access to the forests of the Coast Range.

April 27, 1792: Captain George Vancouver Almost Discovers the Columbia River

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Captain George VancouverEnglish Captain George Vancouver, tasked with mapping the Pacific Northwest coast, sailed by the mouth of the soon-to-be-christened Columbia River on April 27, 1792. Though he knew there was a river emptying into the ocean at the spot, he decided against an attempt to cross the bar, and continued north up the coastline.

A few days later Captain Vancouver’s ship, the Discovery, encountered the Columbia Rediviva, captained by American Robert Gray, sailing south.

Gray asked Vancouver about the river’s mouth at latitude 46° 10′, which he had passed himself on his voyage north. Vancouver declared it too small to worry about.

But Gray wasn’t so sure of Vancouver’s analysis, and on May 11, 1792 he sailed up the river’s mouth, the first Euro-American to do so. He named the river after his ship.

Dave Goes . . .

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Astoria!Heather and I are moving to Astoria!

I put in my notice at my day job last week – my last day will be in early May, and by June we except we’ll be living somewhere above downtown Astoria with a view of the Columbia.

That’s the plan anyway.

We don’t have new jobs lined up. Well, jobs in the traditional sense. Between developing Dork Face Media, running PDX Web Ads, blogging and tweeting, we’ll be busy enough.

But really our plan is to largely take the summer off and discover more of what the North Coast has to offer. With the Astoria Bicentennial celebration taking place all summer long, the place will be especially thick with fun activities. But also, we just want to relax and enjoy the town (Blue Scorcher, Fort George Brewery, and daily walkabouts; we’re looking in your direction).

So that’s the “plan,” if it really qualifies as such.

But don’t worry, Dave Knows Portland is not going anywhere. In fact I’ll have more time to spend on the site this summer than ever before. Plus we’ll be in Portland a lot during the summer – for weddings, Timbers games, and business. I’ve got some new plans for the site percolating too, which I’ll share in due time . . .

Heather has more details on this big announcement at Mile73.com, including FAQs!

Kick Ass Oregon History: Episode 3

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Kick Ass Oregon HistoryKick Ass Oregon History is the latest series of podcasts from the enthusiastic historians behind ORHistory.com.

Episode 3 dropped friday: Balloon Bombs!

The previous episodes:

  • Kick Ass Oregon History Vol 1 #1: The Roseburg Blast – The city of Roseburg goes up in smoke
  • Kick Ass Oregon History Vol 1 #2: The Eggs! – 1942 poisoning at the Oregon State Hospital for the Insane.

The brains behind this project are the crack hustlers of Oregon History Doug Kenck-Crispin and Andy Lindberg. Doug is a graduate student studying Public History and Pacific Northwest History at PSU, and Andy, though a Portland native, is currently working as an actor in New York City. Doug does most of the research and writing for the podcasts with input from Andy, who voices the broadcasts with a thespian’s flair.

With the Kick Ass Oregon History podcast they plan to cover just the good stuff: Sex, Drugs, Rock and Roll and Earth Shattering, Devastating Destruction.

Ultimately, our goal is to take Oregon History out of the hallowed halls of the academy, get folks excited and enthused about this shared history, and get them out into the state, digging it and experiencing it. Get them to embrace it, and get their boots muddy in the process. It’s all OUR History; nobody owns it.

Visit ORHistory.com and stay tuned to @Oregon_History on Twitter for further details on specific episodes and the series.

March 27, 1964: Tsunami Hits Oregon Coast

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A tsunami struck the Oregon coast on Friday evening, March 27, 1964 following the great Alaskan earthquake, the second largest earthquake ever recorded and largest ever recorded in North America. In Alaska nine deaths were attributed to the earthquake, but the tsunami took the lives of 106 Alaskans, and wreaked havoc across the Pacific.

The Oregonian reported the local damage on March 28, 1964:

Astoria – Some high water but no damage.
Depoe Bay – High water, wharf broke loose.
Point Adams Coast Guard Station – Coast Guard boats moved into the Columbia River to avoid high water
Newport – High water hit in two surges, but no damage
Florence – Siuslaw River rose eight feet in eight seconds. It tore loose at least four boats.

What they didn’t know until later was that four members of a family camping at Beverly Beach State Park were crushed by logs and drowned in the tsunami. Further down the coast the citizens of Crescent City, California suffered the worst fate outside of Alaska, with eleven deaths attributed to the tsunami.