June, 2021
The town of Astoria (in Oregon) is famous for a number of historic things … events, buildings, people. One of the well-known things in Astoria is the “Column”. It was man made. It’s not all that old (1926) in the over-all scheme of the world. But still, it’s well-known and lots of people take the time to go see it. Me too.
Here’s a map to show you the lay of the land. The RED star is where I’m camped at Fort Stevens State Park (yes, I know, the map shows the campground further north, but trust me, I know where I’m camped). The RED rectangle next to the word “Astoria” is the location of the Column. The Column is on the very top of the town’s highest hill … and it is a high hill! Also notice the RED oval in the middle of the Columbia River … that’s the Astoria-Megler Bridge that connects Oregon to Washington for vehicle traffic. I’ll share more about the bridge further down in this blog post.
So, I jumped in the big white truck and drove from the campground, across the Youngs Bay Bridge, then through Astoria, and then up that steep hill to the Column.
Here’s my first view of the Column …
If you look closely, you can see tiny cars and trucks parked up there.
The buildings in the photo below were right at the entrance to the property that is home to the Column. One of the buildings is an old home that has been converted into an administration building, then there’s the garage next door that houses public restrooms and garage space for property maintenance equipment. The place had flowers all around and was perfectly tidy.
After taking the photo above, I turned around 180 degrees and, looking straight into the sun, I snapped the photo below. The Column.
Here’s a link to information about the Column … https://astoriacolumn.org/. Even if all you do on that website is watch the videos and images at the top of that homepage, you’ll see some great stuff. The column is 125 feet tall. There are stairs inside the Column, 164 steps, that are ordinarily open to the public although it was closed when I was there due to COVID. I am seriously afraid of heights so that was ok with me!
In the photo above, there’s a gift shop on the left, lots of parking, and lots of trees. I saw two bald eagles soaring overhead and could hear more of them chirping somewhere nearby in the trees.
For the most part, this Column depicts the arrival and settlement and development of this area by caucasian, male, Europeans up until 1926 when this Column was built. There are only a very few images of native people on the Column, but nothing much is said about them, nor is there any recognition of contributions that were made by women, Africans, Asians. The history on the Column starts at the bottom of the Column then proceeds through time up to the top of the Column. The inscription underneath the column reads “BEFORE THE WHITE MAN CAME” (yes it’s all in capital letters), but there’s nothing there … no history at all “before the white man came”. Still, the Column was impressive, in a way, sort of. Mostly it was/is racist and misogynistic.
But to whatever extent the column is impressive, here’s a photo of the Column (below), with the big white truck in the parking lot. I do like my big white truck. 🙂
The truly wonderful parts of my visit to the Column were the stunning views from the top of that hill. Wow!
Let me share just a few photos.
First off, the Astoria-Megler bridge. In the photos here, I’m looking north to Washington. A bit of the town of Astoria in Oregon can be seen down along the water’s edge.
Opened in 1966, this bridge is the longest continuous truss bridge in North America. The bridge is about 4 miles long and carries just one lane of vehicle traffic in each direction (max speed 55 mph). It was the last section of the entire Highway 101 to be built. The cantilever-span section, the part of the bridge that’s up in the air, close to Oregon, was built to withstand 150 mph winds from the Pacific Ocean. The longest and tallest section of the cantilever part is about 1,250 feet long (about a quarter of a mile). There is about 200 feet of clearance from the water level of the river up to the bottom of the bridge for that span. This height allows the largest of all ocean-going commercial ships to pass under the bridge on their way up-river to Astoria, to Portland (Oregon), to lumber docks, oil transport docks, and other major industries and cities up the river.
I was surprised that bicycles are allowed on the bridge. On the other hand, no pedestrians are allowed! There are cameras at both ends that are monitored 24×7. However, one day a year, usually a Sunday morning in October, the bridge is host to the Great Columbia Crossing. Participants are taken by shuttle to the Washington side, the northern end of the bridge. Then the participants run or walk across the bridge to the Oregon side, the southern end. Vehicle traffic is allowed to use one lane in one direction at a time, all precisely monitored for this two-hour event.
Looking north at the Astoria-Megler Bridge is just one fantastic view from up on top of the hill where that Column is.
The photo below is looking south from the top of that very high hill into the heart of Oregon. The river in the photo is Youngs River, with Saddle Mountain in the distance.
Then I turned to my right a little bit to look southwest into a different part of Oregon. The small river flowing down from the distant trees in the photo below is called Cook Slough.
The Cook Slough is on the very left edge of the photo above. On the right side of the photo, the closest bridge is the big truck business route of Highway 101 out of Astoria. The bridge in the far distance on the very right hand edge of the photo is the continuation of that business route which eventually connects with the main part of Highway 101 near the small town of Warrenton. Most of you won’t care about all of that detail, but since I always explore the geography around my campground, I loved figuring out what I was seeing in real life (not just on a map) from such a high hill.
I jumped in the big white truck and headed down that hill, and back to my campsite for a bite of lunch. More fun stuff coming soon.