Corps of Discovery

We will be in Gig Harbor, Washington for a few more days
Next Up: Glacier National Park


This is my last post for Oregon.  We spent one day on the Oregon Coast where we learned a lot about the Lewis and Clark exploration west in the early 1800s.  President Jefferson requested that these two Captains along with several enlisted men, called the Corps of Discovery, establish the most direct water route to the Pacific.

Our first stop was in the town of Astoria.  It was near here that Lewis and Clark first saw the Pacific Ocean.  We ascended the Astoria Column which which was completed in 1976.  It tells the story of indigenous Native Americans as well as the Oregon Trail and settling of Oregon.

There was a replica of a Native American boat on the grounds.  The Native Americans taught the Corps of Discovery how to make these canoes from hollowed out logs in order to navigate the waterways to the Pacific.

Here are a couple of scenic views from the top of the column.

We also saw the cantilever suspension Astoria-Megler Bridge.  It connects Oregon and Washington and, when it was built in 1966, was the longest continuous truss bridge in the world. That is the town of Astoria in the foreground.

We took a drive into the town of Astoria, founded by John J Astor's great grandson Vincent, the oldest American settlement west of the Rocky Mountains (since it dates back to Lewis and Clark).
The Riverwalk provided some history.  Astoria was built on wooden piers over the Columbia River and was a transportation and commercial hub.  These piers supported elaborate large buildings and streets.  Two fires hit the town, one in 1883 and the other in 1922.  After the second devastating fire, landfill was used to fill in the burned out piers and create solid land on which the town was rebuilt.

Astoria has a beautiful dock and a Maritime Museum.  It is proud of its shipping history!

This interesting piece is the Peacock Pilot and guided ships safely through the Columbia River Bar for more than 30 years.  It now rests near the parking lot of the Maritime Museum.

We moved on to Fort Clatsop where the Corps of Discovery spent the winter of 1805-1806.  We learned a lot about the expedition at the Visitor's Center.

Sacagawea joined the the expedition in 1804 and also spent the winter in Fort Clatsop.

There were many hardships endured at the Fort over that winter - and so close to the Ocean! This is a replica of the Fort that housed about 40 people and where Lewis and Clark maintained a strict military routine.

Finally, we left the Fort and made our way to Cannon Beach right on the coast. We took a wonderful walk along the beach and stopped at Haystack Rock to watch the puffins.  Couldn't really capture them in the photos, but trust me, they were there.

And Johnny put his fingers in the Oregon Pacific Ocean.

We continued traveling south on 101 just to look at the Ocean.