Astoria, Oregon

Yesterday Mary and I visited Astoria, Oregon which was the first settlement west of the Mississippi River and established by John Jacob Astor as a fur trading post (even though he never went there) in 1811. Among the things we saw was...

The Astoria-Megler Bridge which spans 4.1 miles across the Columbia River linking Oregon and Washington was dedicated on August 27, 1966. The bridge's main span is 1,232 feet in length, the longest continuous truss in the world. We will cross this bridge into Washington this coming Friday.


The we visited the remains of the old Hanthorn Cannery which opened in 1875 and was one of 38 canneries once operating in Astoria. It had a really neat museum. The photo was taken in the 1920's. It was the home of the famous Bumble Bee brand of tuna and salmon.


After that we went to the Columbia River Maritime Museum which does a great job of telling the history of the river. The first photo is a huge display in the main lobby identifying some of the wrecks which make up the "Graveyard of the Pacific". The second photo is of a full-size 44' Coast Guard boat affecting a rescue.




The cannery website is http://www.canneryworker.org
The Columbia River Maritime Museum website is http://www.crmm.org

All original material Copyright - Jim Jaillet 2009
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