Exploring The Columbia-Pacific Region
A journey of discovery, adventure, and ever-changing landscapes
The powerful Pacific Ocean meets the mighty Columbia River and a unique confluence of American history unfolds.
The broad, fog shrouded, elusive and dangerous Columbia River entrance yielded to 18th Century maritime and continental explorers after disappointed discoverers failed in their early attempts to locate the fabled Northwest Passage. Eventually uncovered by Captain Robert Gray in 1792, traders sought refuge within the river’s mouth and began trading with the ancient resident Chinook with goods from Boston, England and China for food and furs.
In 1788 English fur trader John Meares piloted the ship Felice Adventurer in search of the mouth of the river. He ultimately gave up his search and named the prominent rock cliff north of the entrance “Cape Disappointment,” Cape “D” still guards the Columbia River entrance with two prominent lighthouses.
The trickle of early Euro American traders developed into a flood after the Lewis and Clark Expedition’s cross continental expedition in 1805 concluded as they achieved President Jefferson’s mission to find “those waters communicating with the Pacific.”
Today the Columbia-Pacific Region does not disappoint. A visitor can stand beneath the Cape “D” Lighthouse or from the adjacent Civil War era Fort Canby, in Washington, and look south to Oregon and to towards Adams Point and the Civil War era Fort Stevens and the sandy beaches that give way to the rocky Ecola Head. Slightly east is the languid Young’s River estuary where Lewis and Clark’s Fort Clatsop lies in heavy timber. Upriver is the immense sweep of the lower Columbia River Estuary and notably, the Astor Column – standing sentential above Astoria and John Jacob Astor’s empire dream on the south shore of the river and the former site of Fort George. Just five miles across the river, on the heavy timbered north bank is Chinook Point, is the site of Station Camp where Lewis and Clark achieved Jefferson’s Mission, the location of the Spanish American War era Fort Columbia, and the ancient Chinook villages and trade sites.
As the visitor looks west to the unbroken Pacific, they will see trade ships that navigate across the perilous entrance, piloted across the dangerous waters that have claimed hundreds of vessels, foundering, wrecked and scattered 30 miles north and south on the coast. This dangerous portage is known as the “Graveyard of the Pacific,” and the US Coast Guard lifesaving crews still train and stand ready, as they have for over 150 years, as survivors stagger ashore or are rescued by life saving crews and residents from the small coastal communities whose names evoke the environment: Cannon Beach, Seaside, Seaview, and Ocean Park.
The many communities along the beaches and Columbia River reflect Chinook names: Skamakowa, Ilwaco, Nahcotta, Chinook, Klipsan, Clatskanie, Cathlamet, and the names of pioneer settlers: Warrenton, Astoria, Gearhart, Westport, and Brownsmead. The early pioneers and settlers began to harvest nature’s bounty of salmon, oysters and timber. They built mills and canneries near water to ship products. The maritime economy is still a significant part of the local economy and both remnants of this past can be seen alongside the current industry of today. Cultural tourism and emerging recreational opportunities are represented by the Lewis and Clark National Historical Park –the Nation’s newest National Park – as well as by the historic communities, canneries and historic structures that still stand. The cultural landscape also remains and includes habitat areas managed by the Willapa National Wildlife Refuge Complex as well as the many state park and recreation lands on both sides of the Columbia.
A broad coalition of community leaders from Pacific County Washington and Clatsop County, Oregon are requesting that Congress fund a feasibility study for a Columbia-Pacific National Heritage Area. This study will inventory the historical assets and provide a report to congress on the national significance of the Columbia-Pacific region.
Download a Word doc of this White Paper.
