The daily Astorian., October 01, 2015, Image 22

A LOOK BACK
1940 ASTORIA
AT
Seventy-five years ago, in the throes of the Great Depression,
This 500-page guidebook was
produced in connection to the
American Guide Series by the New
Deal-era Federal Writers’ Project of
the Works Progress Administration.
O
Story by MATT LOVE
regon: End of the Trail was just one of
48 state and three city guidebooks
that comprised one of the most
fascinating publishing projects in
American history. The idea was to
put unemployed writers to work
by having them visit virtually every
inhabited place in the country, docu-
ment heritage, dig up the lore, and then
shape the facts and anecdotes into a novel travel guide that
hoped to motivate Americans to travel and pump some
discretionary income into a beleaguered economy. The
writers went unaccredited as a matter of editorial policy,
but later it was discovered that future luminaries such as
Saul Bellow, Studs Terkel, Richard Wright and Ralph Elli-
son were some of the writers published in the series.
One of these unemployed writers visited Astoria
and delivered some of the best writing I’ve ever read
about the city. This is classic writing that has long
been out of print without any hope of resurrection.
Until now. Just in time for the 75th anniversary of
Oregon: End of the Trail’s release.
Perhaps a visitor or local who wants to understand
the contours of new Astoria in relationship to the city
from 1940 should read excerpts from the Oregon: End
of the Trail’s chapter on Astoria, one of only 10 cities
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If you are so inclined, then here you go:
Matt Love lives in Astoria and is the author/editor of 14 books
about Oregon. They are available at coastal bookstores and
through www.nestuccaspitpress.com
12 | October 1, 2015 | coastweekend.com
ASTORIA
the federal government published Oregon: End of the Trail.
Railroad Station: 20th St. and Waterfront for Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railway.
Bus Station: 614 Duane St. for Spokane, Portland & Seattle Transportation Co.; 11th St. and
Waterfront for Oregon Motor Stages.
Airport: 3 m. SW. on US 101, bus fare 15c, taxi $1.50; no scheduled service.
City Busses: Fare 10c.
Taxis: Basic fare 25c.
Piers: River steamers, foot of 11th St., weekly trips to Portland; ocean steamers, Port Terminals,
Portway off Taylor Ave. (consult travel agencies or classified telephone directory for ocean travel).
Accommodations: Five hotels; numerous auto camps.
Information Service: Chamber of Commerce, 14th and Exchange Sts.
ASTORIA (12 alt., 10,349 pop.), named for
John Jacob Astor, is the seat of Clatsop County and
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gon country. Because of its commerce and industry
and its position at the mouth of the Columbia River,
Astoria has grown from a palisaded trading post to
an important port. Flour mills, sawmills, salmon
canneries, and grain elevators line the course of the
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vessels dock at the long wharves.
Sprawling waterfront warehouses and docks,
orderly rows of business blocks along a narrow
beach, steep declivities where houses are niched
into yellow clay banks, terraced hillsides where
Submitted photo courtesy of the Clatsop County Historical Society
This postcard photo ca. 1920 shows the Hannula Boarding House,
which was located at 937 Taylor (now Marine Drive) next to the
Finnish Mercantile in Uniontown.
9
This postcard photo taken in June 1935 shows
the Union Fisherman’s Cooperative Cannery, a
point of interest in the Oregon: End of the Trail
guidebook chapter on Astoria. After labor dis-
putes, about 200 fishermen formed the Union
Fisherman’s Cooperative Packing Co. in 1897. By
1904, theirs was the largest cannery in Astoria. It
remained a fishermen-owned business until the
late 1940s. Today, the Cannery Pier Hotel stands
on the former cannery’s 100-year-old pilings.
Submitted photo courtesy of the Clatsop County Historical Society
Submitted photo courtesy of the Clatsop County Historical Society
Right: This postcard
photo shows the Astoria
Ferry Ship Landing on
14th Street. The Inter-
state Ferry Slip was a
point of interest in the
Oregon: End of the Trail
guidebook, published
in 1940.
6
4
11
Submitted photo courtesy of the Clatsop County Historical Society
The Shark Rock Memorial was placed on Niagara Av-
enue for a Founders’ Day celebration in July 1926. In
1965 it was moved to the Columbia River Maritime
Museum.
Submitted photo
courtesy of the
Clatsop County
Historical Society
Radio Station: KAST (1370 kc.).
Motion Picture Houses: Two.
Athletics: Gyro Field, Exchange St. between 18th and 21st Sts.
Tennis: Y.M.C.A. courts, 12th and Exchange Sts.
Swimming: Ocean beaches: Clatsop Beach (25 miles long), 9 m. SW. on US 101 at Skipanon,
18 m. SW. at Gearhart, 20 m. SW. at Seaside; Cannon Beach, 30 m. SW. on US 101 and unnumbered
road. River beaches: Numerous on lower Columbia River, along US 30 and US 101; beaches vary
with level of river; inquire locally.
Golf: Astoria Golf and Country Club, 8 m. SW. just off US 101, 18 holes; greens fee $1.
Annual Events: Astoria Regatta, four days prior to Labor Day.
substantial residences rise one
of the sea that has drawn Finns,
above the other, and the tim-
Norwegians, and Swedes in
bered crests of Coxcomb Hill
such numbers that shop signs in
where the Astor Monument
the various languages are com-
points toward the sky are indi-
monplace. Finnish is usually
vidual bits of Astoria’s pattern
spoken in the stores and frater-
but by a whim of nature in fash-
nal orders and churches often
ioning the headland upon which
conduct their ceremonies in
the town is built no general view
both that language and English.
is possible except from the Co-
The steam bath, of Finnish her-
lumbia River. Yet even this van-
itage, is ritualistically observed
tage point cannot reveal the ca-
both in private homes and in
price that completely eliminated
public bath houses.
Thirteenth Street from the city
Astoria’s industry and
plan, yet permitted Bond, the
FRPPHUFH FRQVLVW FKLHÀ\ RI
second street in the alphabeti-
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Submitted photo general agriculture, and a rap-
cal arrangement that originates
at the waterfront, to wander The 500-page Oregon: End of the Trail guidebook pro- idly increasing tourist busi-
through Union town as Taylor files 10 cities in Oregon, including Astoria.
ness. Dairying is on the way to
Avenue.
becoming a $2,000,000-a-year
Not unlike the Columbia, which determined its industry, and specialized as well as general agricul-
settlement and growth, Astoria displays aspects as WXUHKDVEHHQGHYHORSHG6RPHRIWKH¿UVWFUDQEHU-
enchantingly diverse as its weather, which, accord- U\ERJVRQWKH3DFL¿F&RDVWZHUHSODQWHGQHDUE\
ing to Finnish residents, may be predicted by reading and the growing and canning of peas is proving in-
the fog on the Washington shore of the Columbia. FUHDVLQJO\SUR¿WDEOH7KHSULQFLSOHPDQXIDFWXULQJ
All glitter and brittle air in summer, all hush or foggy output includes lumber, and box shooks, salmon
mystery in autumn, and all bluster and fury during SURGXFWV ÀRXU IHUWLOL]HU FKHHVH SRZGHUHG PLON
winter storms, Astoria never lacks the characteristics DQGPHGLFLQDORLOVDQGRWKHU¿VKE\SURGXFWV
This post-
card photo
of the Asto-
ria Column
is ca. 1925
-1935. The
Column
is, unsur-
prisingly,
one of the
points of
interest on
the 1940
map of As-
toria in Or-
egon: End
of the Trail.
Submitted image
1. The SITE OF
OLD FORT ASTORIA,
15th and Exchange
Sts., is heavily
outlined in paint on
streets and side-
walks. A square laid
out diagonally to the
present city streets,
the area comprises
approximately two
city blocks. A marker
at the northwest cor-
ner of the intersec-
tion bears a diagram
of the fort, showing
its construction
and plan.
2. The SITE OF
ORIGINAL SETTLE-
MENT AT ASTORIA,
16th and Exchange
Sts., occupied by the
city hall, is marked
by a granite boulder
and bronze plaque,
placed by the
D.A.R. in 1924. Here
the thirty-three
members of the
Astor party settled
temporarily after
disembarking from
the Tonquin, while
they were building
Fort Astoria.
5. The FLAVEL MANSION
(open 9-5 weekdays), Duane St. be-
tween 7th and 8th Sts., is a striking
example of pioneer architecture.
Built of lumber freighted around
the horn, it is a two-story frame
dwelling with turret chimneys, and
a three-story tower at the north-
east corner accentuates its height.
It was erected in the early 1880’s by
a family prominent in Astoria’s civic
and cultural life. The estate deeded
the house to Clatsop County in
1936 with the stipulation that it be
used for philanthropic purposes. It
is occupied by the Clatsop County
Relief Association, the Red Cross,
and other civic agencies.
UNION-
TOWN,
Astoria’s
foreign quar-
ter, along
the western
section of
Bond Street,
has Chinese
restaurants,
Finnish
steam bath-
houses, river
union offices,
and Japa-
nese and
Scandinavian
shops.
10. SHIVELY PUBLIC
PARK, S. of reservoir at S. end
of 16th St., on an eminence
commanding a view of
Youngs Bay, Saddle Moun-
tain, and the Coast Range,
is centered by a natural
amphitheater used for public
gatherings. To the southwest
beyond Young’s Bay is the
Lewis and Clark River, which
flows past the site of Old Fort
Clatsop, the explorer’s winter
camp. In the park are the
Portals of the Past, decora-
tive columns saved from the
ruins of the Weinhard Hotel,
destroyed in the fire of 1922.
October 1, 2015 | coastweekend.com | 13