Our first stop on today's agenda is the Columbia River Maritime Museum in Astoria OR. Astoria is the first permanent US settlement on the Pacific Coast (other older settlements, like Monterey and San Francisco were established by the Spanish). The town was founded in 1811 as Fort Astoria built by John Jacob Astor's (the first multi-millionaire in the US) American Fur Company.
Long before Astor's Fur Company, the Columbia River has been central to the cultures of the Pacific Northwest for thousands of years furnishing both transportation and food. Salmon and other fish were the mainstay diet of the local populations. Today it continues to be an important shipping channel and as well as providing the region with power from hydroelectric dams.
Plaza in front of Columbia River Museum
After finding a parking spot, we explore the large waterfront plaza adjacent to the museum. We are particularly fascinated by the large screw propeller which is prominently displayed. It's enormous standing taller than either of us. It must have come from a BIG ship.
Exploring the plaza
Large screw propeller
We then enter the main museum and are greeted by a large map illustrating why the area around the mouth of the Columbia River is called the Graveyard of the Pacific. Since 1792 it's estimated 2000 ships have met their demise around the Columbia Bar, a system of shifting sand bars and shoals at the mouth of the Columbia. It's little wonder the US Coast Guard is featured in the initial exhibits.
Columbia River Maritime Museum
Map showing locations of shipwrecks
US Coast Guard boat
The most dramatic exhibit is of a life sized Coast Guard boat performing a rough water rescue.
The video below shows what rough water training is like. This is not a job for anyone prone to seasickness. During my university years in the Vietnam war era, many guys with low draft numbers were signing up for the Coast Guard to avoid fighting in the steaming jungles of Southeast Asia. After watching the video below, it makes me wonder how they fared in the Coast Guard as it certainly doesn't qualify as a cake walk. They pull off amazing rescues under incredibly difficult conditions. We walk away with a new appreciation of our Coast Guard and the work they do.
The next set of exhibit focus on "running the Bar", that is, getting in and out of the mouth of the Columbia River in one piece.
Not so lucky ship
Map of "the Bar"
Nasty actual footage
We especially like the interactive exhibit in which you get to steer a ship through the "bar".
Peter is steady as she goes through massive swells
I don't think I'm cut out for this kind of work
Another set of exhibits are focused on the WWII era. At that time, it was feared the Japanese would try to capture the Columbia River waterways to give them control over important shipping lanes and also provide invasion access to the US mainland. Fortunately, these fears never came to fruition (except for a Japanese sub firing on Fort Stevens on one occasion). Several Good Luck Flags are on display. These were gifts to Japanese solders being deployed by the Empire of Japan to fight during WWII. The flags are usually made of silk and inscribed with the well wishes of the soldier's friends and family. They were often carried for good luck in battle and became a favorite war trophy of US soldiers who found them on fallen Japanese troops. Today the non-profit Obon Society works to return these flags to surviving Japanese families to foster goodwill between the US and Japan.
A Good Luck Flag with departing soldier and his family
Japanese Good Luck Flags
I try out a ship's gunnery
Today the main products of the Pacific Northwest are still being shipped via the Columbia River. In an odd twist of fate, much of these products especially timber, is being shipped to Japan.
Labels of fish canneries
Canned fish display
Timber on it's way to the shipping yards
Back on the road we continue eastward on Hwy 30, the Oregon side of the Columbia River. We cross over into Washington at Longview on the Lewis and Clark Bridge. As we start over the bridge we notice a large timber yard with it's own shipping dock below.
Once over the bridge, we continue eastward along the Columbia River to Woodland WA and then on to Amboy WA. Here Peter meets with the owner of a small audio equipment manufacturer about a tube pre-amp. It's a beautiful area of Washington and I can see why people would want to live here.
Crossing Lews & Clark Bridge
On our way to Amboy
Woodland's a pretty small town and Amboy's even smaller
After Amboy, we head northwest to Rainbow Falls State Park on the Chehalis River. It's a lovely state park located in a grove of old growth trees off the beaten path, plus there's hardly any other people camped there = our kind of place.
On the way to Rainbow Falls State Park
Campsite
Fall colors are starting to show
Large grassy picnic area
Rainbow Falls State Park also has several 1930's WPA sturdily built cabins, still in excellent shape and very much in use.
On the recommendation of our campground host, we take the trail along the banks of the Chehalis River. Since the rainy season hasn't yet started, the water flow is low making the river look more like a creek. There's a cross nailed to a tree by a small waterfall. According to a park ranger, Lindsey was a local girl around 13 yo when she fell into the river during a devastating flood and drown. She was well loved by the community and is still missed.
The peaceful side of the Chehalis River
It's hard to believe anyone could drown in this river, but a video of the Chehalis in flood shows a totally different side of this river.
The next morning we are off to Alaskan Camper in Winlock WA. Peter is considering trading our Sprinter van in for a 4x4 truck with a camper so we can explore more remote places. I joke that we would then have the capacity to get lost even better than we do now. The most attractive feature of this camper is it telescopes up and down to provide a more aerodynamic profile when the truck is in motion. When telescoped up, it provides a livable hard sided camper which is useful in bear country.
Kudos, Marti, for even attempting to "run the bar." Had I been fighting for the Japanese, I would have been a bit apprehensive when approached by my "Lotsa luck, sailor" flag.
Additional note on the Japanese Lucky Flags, in the beginning of the war they were all made out of pure silk, but as the war dragged on and resources become harder to come by, the flags were made of cotton. Imagine how the latter cotton flag recipients felt.
PS Another note about WWII silk mementos, American pilots on Europe bombing runs often carried silk maps (sturdy & light) in case they got shot down in enemy territory and had to find their way back to safety. I think my Dad had one and I would love to find it, but have just about given up.
Kudos, Marti, for even attempting to "run the bar." Had I been fighting for the Japanese, I would have been a bit apprehensive when approached by my "Lotsa luck, sailor" flag.
ReplyDeleteAdditional note on the Japanese Lucky Flags, in the beginning of the war they were all made out of pure silk, but as the war dragged on and resources become harder to come by, the flags were made of cotton. Imagine how the latter cotton flag recipients felt.
DeletePS Another note about WWII silk mementos, American pilots on Europe bombing runs often carried silk maps (sturdy & light) in case they got shot down in enemy territory and had to find their way back to safety. I think my Dad had one and I would love to find it, but have just about given up.
Delete