Street roots., September 12, 2014, Page 4, Image 4

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street roots
Sept. 12, 2014
P H O T O B Y D IE G O D IA Z
Life on the Willamette River means navigating an unconventional free-floating society within a Superfund site
BY EM ILY GREEN
an old beat-up boat in a dilapidated back yard
while in route to see a doctor for his
ach day Sean Morgan wakes up just as
herniated discs. He thought about offeritig to
the light of morning creeps into view — trade the yard’s owner some labor on the
a habit he picked up from years of
property in exchange for the vessel. He
working as a concrete finisher. He turns on couldn’t find the location of the boat again
his stove, boils water in a teakettle and then
after his appointment, but the idea stuck with
pours it into a French press with three
him. Eventually, he landed a two-month gig
scoops of grounds. He sips his toffee while
and earned enough money to fund his move.
he listens to NPR’s Morning Edition and
He bought his first boat for $900 and “set
makes a to-do list. After this ritual, however,
hook” in a marina by Hayden Island on the
Morgan’s typical day ceases to bear any
Columbia River.
resemblance to ordinary. Because Morgan,
Morgan didn’t stay in the marina for long.
partly out of necessity and partly for the
After two months he had acquired two more
sheer sake of adventure, lives on a makeshift
boats: a 15-foot open-bow and a 22-foot motor-
island of boats in a secluded cove on the
fess powerboat. In July 2012, Morgan took his
Willamette River.
maiden voyage down the Columbia toward
Morgan, 48, has an amiable air about him.
Kelly Point and on to downtown Portland
He gestures with his hands as he
along the Willamette — with all three boats
enthusiastically recounts his experiences on
tied together. He didn’t hoist his sails, but
the Willamette and doesn’t miss an
used a 10-horsepower engine to power his
opportunity to crack a witty joke. He looks
fleet. He remembers nearly colliding with a
like a man tempered by the elements — tall,
houseboat that day as residents inside looked
tan arid fit, with tousled curls and soft blue
on in riwe with jaws dropped as he jumped
eyes that peer out from an ingenuous and
orifo their deck and diverted his boats by "
weathered face.
pushing the downed mast of the sailboat away
Prior to 2012, Morgan had never set foot
from their plexiglass railing.
on a sailboat But after reading “Sailing
Morgan quickly fell in love with what he
Fundamentals: The Official Learn-to-Sail
calls “the adventure” of living on the fiver.
Manual of the American Sailing Association
“The first time I sailed was one of the most
and the United States Coast Guard A u x ilia ry ,”
rewarding days of my life,” says Morgan.
he purchased a 24-foot Buccaneer and took to Three months after the houseboat incident,
the river. Life on land had become too much,
he was traveling up the river to OMSI
and the idea of letting it all go was as much
without enough gas to make it the 11 miles
an adventurous impulse as it was a solution.
he had to travel to get there. “I think: I can
After several bouts with homelessness in the
do this. I shut off the motor, and as, soon as I
late 2000s, Morgan was renting a one-
did I felt a calmnesscome over me because it
bedroom apartment in downtown Portland for was just the wind and the rushing current
$650 a month.
and the water making a Splashing sound
“I was sweating bullets trying to makerent
against the boats. I was going slowly with the
every month,” he remembers. After decades
wind it was amazing *; it works! I mean,
of manual labor, his back had given out and
they’ve been sailing for 10,000 years, but I
he was trying to get by selling computer parts haven’t,” he says.
and working odd jobs.
The first dozen, times he sailed, it was with
The idea of living on the river first
all three boats secured together with diagonal
presented itself to Morgan when he spotted
tension lines. “They call me an adm ir al
STAFF W RITER
E
because I’m in control of more than two
boats,” he jokes.
After moving between docks and inlets on
the river for a while, Morgan set hook in a
deceivingly picturesque cove, where he’s
. been living for the past year. Willamette Cove,
just south of Cathedral Park, is easy to access
by foot, bicycle and boat, provided signs
warning of lead contamination don’t turn you
away. A closed, metal park gate covered in
graffiti blocks cars from entering at the end
of Nortfr Edgewater Street, and two small
signs posted high up on an old utility pole to
its left warn that the 27-acre natural area is
closed due to contamination. Farther down
the hill and over the railroad tracks, there are
a series of trails winding through sparsely
forested land that lead to the cove.
Surrounded by cottonwood, poplar and
pine trees and lined with soft sand, the
U-shaped inlet on the Willamette is serene
and secluded. A few cement blocks dot the
edge of the beach and wooden posts breach
the water’s surface, serving as reminders of
the site’s p a s ti
ince the early 1900s, the cove has served
as a location for a plywood mill, a barrel­
making plant, a shipbuilding facility and a dry
dock for ship maintenance. Years of industry
left the area so contaminated with mercury,
*
lead, PCBs and dioxin that it’s been deemed
by health authorities as unsafe for public use.
While this all took place before environmental
reporting requirements, it’s believed that
companies that operated there released
chemicals into the water and on the shore.
The last remaining buildings in the cove were
demolished by the early 1980s.
Clean up efforts near the cove have
included the removal of 127 tons of oil-ridden
soil, and a portion of the beach itself has
S
See MORGAN, page 5
Willamette Speaks
Storytelling events
are free to the
public.
Saturday, Sept. 20
Slabtown Festival
4 to 6 p.m. Sat.
McMenamin’s Pool
& Tavern
1716 NW 23rd
Ave.
Sunday, Nov.16
4-6 p.m.
Linnton Community
Center
10614 NW
St. Helens RcL
Speakers will
include Sean
Morgan; Ray
Guimary, who
grew up playing on
log rafts in St.
Johns and worked
on the waterfront;
and a Native
American
storyteller.