OPINION
4A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, AUGUST 19, 2016
Sam Hill and Woodrow Wilson:
Big parts in local history
Matt Winters Collection
A 1915 souvenir booklet for the SS Great Northern sings the praises of Warrenton, whose economy local leaders hoped would be boosted by ocean liners homeported in
the Lower Columbia.
By MATT WINTERS
EO Media Group
A
ll most of us know about the golden
age of great ocean liners comes from
James Cameron’s “Titanic,” with its
vivid depiction of stupendous luxury at the
apex of a rigid class hierarchy. It’s a good bet
that our ancestors — yours and mine on this
hard-working coastline — traveled in steer-
age rather than fi rst class.
Between emigrating and then returning
from the U.S. to visit relations in England
and Sweden, my wife’s family and mine
voyaged on the Carinthia, Georgic, Celtic,
Gripsholm, Berengaria,
Calypso, Lusitania and
others. (At least three of
these were torpedoed or
bombed by Germans in
the two world wars.) Judg-
ing by how quickly travel-
ers switched to airplanes once they became
available, crossing the Atlantic inside a rum-
bling steel hull must have been tedious and
uncomfortable. Still, if time travel offered
the option, it could be fun to experience
exactly what it was like. The Berengaria,
for example, even had its own Ritz Carlton
restaurant.
commons.wikimedia.org
The Great Northern Pacific Steamship Co. was based in Astoria before World War I.
Matt Winters Collection
A family memento reveals a long-ago al-
legiance to President Woodrow Wilson.
Cruise ships last century
Luxurious oceangoing cruise ships are
almost commonplace on the modern-day
Lower Columbia River, as we have become
a popular stop along the Pacifi c tourist route.
But now isn’t the fi rst time ocean liners
have called here. In fact, immediately before
World War I the Great Northern Pacifi c
Steam Ship Co. was headquartered in Astoria
and homeported in what is now Hammond.
The SS Great Northern and her sister ship
Northern Pacifi c were commissioned by the
Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway Co.
to carry passengers and freight between Port-
land and San Francisco via Astoria. Largely
a project of Northern Pacifi c Railroad mag-
nate James Hill and his son-in-law Sam Hill,
the two ships were among the largest Amer-
ican-manufactured ships of their time. They
could make it to San Francisco in about 25
hours, captained by A. Ahman. (A May 1915
story in Railway and Marine News credits
Ahman for his professionalism after a “disas-
trous nor’wester” knocked out the brand-
new ship’s steam steering gear, leaving it to
wallow in “mountainous seas until the wind
storm blew itself out.”
Sam Hill was a fascinating business
leader a century ago, playing an oversized
role in promoting transportation infrastruc-
ture in Washington state and Oregon. The
fact he had more success with Oregon leg-
islators and agencies is a big reason why
east-west highways along the Columbia’s
south side are so much more advanced than
those on the north shore. (As always, Wash-
’
Kjeld Enevoldsen Collection
An old postcard commemorates the maiden voyage of the SS Great Northern be-
tween Flavel (now Hammond) and San Francisco.
ington lawmakers were intensely focused
on developing Puget Sound, without atten-
tion to spare for the state’s southern tier.)
Hill’s Peace Arch on the U.S.-Canada bor-
der at Blaine and the Maryhill Museum of
Art in the Columbia River Gorge, devoted to
his wife, are other lasting memorials to his
civic-mindedness.
Warrenton and Astoria pinned big hopes
on the Northern steamships. I have a sou-
venir booklet from the Great Northern’s
offi cial maiden landing. It testifi es to what
a big deal it was — or at least how big it
wanted to be.
Wilson and the war
Warrenton’s dreams of becoming a major
West Coast port were sunk by World War
I, which the U.S. entered in April 1917, led
by President Woodrow Wilson. Among my
Grandma Bell’s things, I just recently came
across a family memento from Wilson’s
successful 1912 campaign for president.
Appearing from the outside to be just a green
satin satchel, it opens to reveal Wilson, “the
man of the hour.”
Possibly presaging this November’s elec-
tion, Wilson’s election resulted from deep
self-infl icted wounds in the Republican
Party, with ex-President Theodore Roos-
evelt feuding with his own former protégé,
William Howard Taft. With the GOP in dis-
array, Democrats took not only the White
House but both halves of Congress. Wilson
won with a 42 percent plurality of the pop-
ular vote, compared to 27 percent for Roos-
evelt and 23 percent for Taft. Locally, Clat-
sop County went for Roosevelt and Pacifi c
County for Taft. Oregon as a whole went to
Wilson and Washington to Roosevelt.
Wilson has mixed reviews as president,
being remembered more for good intentions
than achievements. His reputation is partic-
ularly weak when it comes to racial justice.
But he’ll be much honored next week as the
nation marks the centennial of the National
Park Service, which he signed into existence
on Aug. 25, 1916.
It’s interesting to think how Warrenton
and Astoria might have developed differently
if Wilson had managed to keep us out of the
war — his hand forced in part by the sink-
ing of the Lusitania. In addition to a national
park, we might have a major seaport. It
demonstrates the remote local consequences
of high-powered international relations and
presidential politics.
Matt Winters is editor and publisher of
the Chinook Observer and Coast River Busi-
ness Journal.
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