Wanderers in Wonder

Fort Stevens built in 1863-1864 during the Civil War to discourage and Great British or Russian incursion into the United States Northwest while the nation was otherwise occupied. Fort Stevens would remain in service through the Spanish American War, WWI and WWII. It would be engaged in military action once during WWII when a Japanese sub lobbed seventeen shells at the Fort.

The Fort was built to overlook the Columbia River Bar where the mighty Columbia meets the Pacific Ocean. It is the most dangerous harbor entry in the world. Waves forty feet in height can greet ships during storms and the Bar channels are ever changing.

Mama Wapiti came to join us for lunch. Our friends Dan and Mary were with us for lunch. They joined us for a few days of hiking, kayaking conversation and good times.

The Peter Iredale, a British freighter, ran aground on the Fort Stevens beach in 1906. It is now a popular tourist attraction on the beach.

Astoria, Oregon Summer Sunday Market. The mouth of the Columbia River was discovered by Captain Gray and his crew in 1792. Lewis and Clark wintered on the south side of the mouth of the Columbia (1805-1806).

In 1811 employees of the American Fur Company established a trading post at the mouth of the Columbia and named it Astoria after the owner of the company, John Jacob Astor, ‘The Fur King’. Astoria is the oldest permanent settlement in the United States west of the Rockies.

The Astoria Column is built on the highest hill in town. Between 1885 and 1925  leaders of the community had talked on and off about building some kind of monument to their city’s history. In 1926 Vincent Astor, great grandson of John Jacob, and the Great Northern Railway became interested in the project. The column is based on the Trajan Column in Rome and was dedicated in July of 1926. There are murals which wind their way from the bottom to the top.. pristine forests and rivers, Native Americans, Captain Gray, Lewis and Clark, Great American Fur Company, Western Migration, the RR’s and Astoria as a major port city.

Peace…Wanderers in Wonder’