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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 8, 2022)
B4 THE ASTORIAN • SATURDAY, JANUARY 8, 2022 Kipling put Oregon on the map By DOUGLAS PERRY The Oregonian To the 21st-century ear, the name Rudy- ard Kipling sounds as old-fashioned and mis- conceived as his paeans to the British Empire. Yet some 120 years ago, it meant high quality, excitement. The Nobel Prize-winning author domi- nated bookshelves and literary-salon conver- sations like no one ever had, thanks to the novel “Kim,” the story collection “The Jun- gle Book” and propulsive poems that off ered timeless, manly advice. And even though Kipling was an English- man born in India, Oregon boosters enthusias- tically claimed him. The reason: the 1891 travelogue “Ameri- can Notes.” At the fi rst stop on the U.S. tour that pro- duced the book, Kipling ended up deeply unimpressed with San Francisco and its inhabitants. “I never intended to curse the peo- ple with a provincialism so vast as this,” he wrote. He’d have similar thoughts about Chi- cago: “Having seen it, I urgently desire never to see it again.” Off ered one wag upon the book’s publica- tion: “No reading between the lines is required to gather that Kipling didn’t think Britain lost much in 1776.” Yet Kipling did have quite a time in Oregon. “I have lived!” the 25-year-old author bel- lows, recounting a fi shing expedition on the Clackamas River that reached its apex when a large stretch of “living silver leaped into the air far across the water. Eleven-and-one-half pounds of fi ghting salmon!” Brent Wojahn/The Oregonian Author Rudyard Kipling reportedly caught 16 salmon near this spot on the Clackamas River. A rock wall that rises out of the water is known as Kipling Rock. The fi shing party returned to Portland, he wrote, “weeping tears of pure joy.” Kipling’s fame traversed the globe in those last years of the 19th century, and so Orego- nians reveled in his fi sh story. (Some of them even tried to improve on it. One man who was part of Kipling’s Clackamas River expedition pointed out a mistake in the published narra- tive, insisting the Englishman used a spinner for his impressive catch, not a “gaudy fl y.” It’s also now believed, by the way, that the group caught steelhead that day, not salmon.) Whatever the case, some two decades after the event, The Oregonian remained proud that a “lusty” local fi sh had “attached itself to the Kipling line, thereby winning immortality for its fi ghting qualities as well as for its habitat.” A boulder near where the catch occurred long has been known as Kipling Rock. With his recounting of the experience in print, Kipling helped stamp Oregon in the popular imagination, making clear to his many readers across the world, wrote one advocate, that a man who had “never felt the strike and seen the leap of an Oregon salmon had never really lived and was cheated of his birthright.” This was no small endorsement at a time when most Americans knew nothing about the sparsely populated state. But what are we supposed to think of Kipling himself all these years later? Not much. He’s widely derided as an Anglo nationalist, an imperialist and a racist. In 2018, students at England’s Manchester University blotted out a campus mural that featured his iconic poem “If,” replacing it with a work by Maya Angelou. That Kipling was “a prodigiously gifted writer who created works of inarguable great- ness hardly matters anymore,” The New Yorker wrote the following year. That greatness was especially inarguable during Kipling’s prime, when he was the high- est-paid — and possibly the most prolifi c — author in the land. Oscar Wilde enthused that Kipling “revealed life by fl ashes of vulgarity.” Winston Churchill, who, like Kipling, has been downgraded by historical reevalua- tion (and for many of the same reasons), pro- claimed that “no one has ever written like Kipling before.” Mark Twain said Kipling “knew more than any person I had met.” That was then. Even though the beloved “Jungle Book” continues to be reimagined by each generation (the most recent fi lm version arrived just fi ve years ago), Kipling has been considered dated for a very long time. Edmund Wilson way back in 1941 wrote that the English writer had “dropped out of modern literature.” In fact, Wilson was late to that conclusion. In 1916, when Kipling was only 50, another American critic declared that over the previ- ous decade-plus “Kipling has worked indus- triously but has produced nothing that anyone cares very much about.” And yet such was the power of his early work that Kiplingisms were familiar to almost everyone who spoke English: “East is East and West is West, and never the twain shall meet” … “You’re a better man than I am, Gunga Din!” … “If you can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two imposters just the same” … “A woman is only a woman, but a good cigar is a smoke.” Classifieds Searching for Employees? PLACE YOUR JOB POSTING HERE Special Includes: • 2 Weeks in Print & Online • Logo Included • Facebook Boost • Featured Advertising Call at 503-325-3211 or email: classifieds@dailyastorian.com BUDGE TAD $ P lace yo u r ad to d ay |w w w .d ailyasto rian .co m 55 gallon steel drums with removable lids, $25 each. 971-704-1727 Let your pockets “jingle” with extra cash from The Daily Astorian classifieds. GARAGE SALES w w w .d ailyasto rian .co m Warrenton Community Yard Sale January 7th, 8th, 9th 10am-4pm daily Lots of treasures! Pacific Grange 90475 Highway 101, Warrenton GARAGE SALE SELL YOUR VEHICLE HERE! SEASON IS HERE! If it Drives or Floats... ONLY $ 25 $ 49.95 ys for 3 da Call 800.781.3214 to advertise today! classifieds@dailyastorian.com 607 Plexes Cozy clean one bedroom/ one bath duplex in Astoria. Heats w/propane fireplace. Deck, w/d, garbage/recycle included. ABSOLUTELY NO PETS OR SMOKING. $750 (503) 338-8086 A small town newspaper with a global outlook 651 Help Wanted ADVERTISE TODAY 800.781.3214 classifieds@dailyastorian.com If it doesn’t sell in two weeks We will give you two weeks for FREE! 651 Help Wanted TEEN ADVOCACY COALITION COORDINATOR Part Time MA or LPN needed for our fast paced clinic to provide patient care services, under the direction of the provider and/or physician. Days include every other Sat & Sun, 12 hours per day. For an Application, please go to www.willapaharborhospital.com or contact Dustie Franks dfranks@willapa.net EOE. SPECIALTY SERVICES W E URGE YOU TO PATRONIZE THE LOCAL Now hiring! U.S. Bank is seeking a client relationship consultant banker with customer service and sales experience in Astoria and Cannon Beach, Oregon. In this role, you’ll build relationships with customers, address their banking needs and recommend financial solutions based on their unique goals. Apply at usbank.com/careers and search job number 2021- 0058196 and 2021-0060564. An equal opportunity employer/disability/veteran. PROFESSIONALS ADVERTISING IN T HE A STORIAN S PECIALTY S ERVICES . T O PLACE YOUR S PECIALTY S ERVICES AD , CALL 325-3211. The full job description including essential functions, minimum/preferred qualifications, and employment requirements is available at pacificcountytac.org. Pay $40k to 50k DOE. Please submit a cover letter and resume to the Teen Advocacy Board at Position is open until filled. RN, CNA & HUC’s needed with acute care experience, ER & Med/Surg. Days, nights, weekends & holidays will vary & must have a WA license. For an Application, please go to www.willapaharborhospital.com or contact Dustie Franks dfranks@willapa.net EOE. Fulltime Position Tillamook Works Coordinator Compensation: $44,356.89 -$49,924.08 D.O.E. Excellent Benefits, Full Employer Paid PERS Contact Briar Smith (503) 842-8222, ext.1022 briarsmith@tillamookbaycc. edu www.dailyastorian.com MT or MLT full time Go. Do. Full time MLT/MT needed, Day/Evening Shift, Rotate Weekends and On Call. Previous Micro and hospital experience required. Must have current MA Phlebotomist Certification. coastweekend.com www.willapaharborhospital.com dining • the arts • music shopping • museums • classes • movies gardening • news • blogs • more Do you want to give back to your community and help serve the youth of North Pacific County? We have the job for you! Apply today to be the next Coordinator for Teen Advocacy Coalition. pacificcountytacboard@gmail.com. Nursing Positions Open One of the Pacific Northwest’s great small newspapers 651 Help Wanted For an Application, please go to or contact Dustie Franks dfranks@willapa.net EOE. Details and application packet available at: https://tillamookbaycc.edu/ about-tbcc/human-resources/ TBCC is an equal opportunity educator and employer. SHOP LOCAL! Check the Business Directory daily to utilize the local professionals advertising in The Astorian. To place an ad in our Business Directory, call 503-325-3211. GOLF GAME gone to pot? Sell those old clubs with a classified ad. Fulltime Position Executive Assistant to the College President and Board Compensation: $44,356 ($22.27/hour) - $48,469 ($24.33/hour) DOE Excellent Benefits, Full Employer Paid PERS Contact Briar Smith (503) 842-8222, ext.1022 briarsmith@tillamookbaycc. edu Details and application packet available at: https://tillamookbaycc.edu/ about-tbcc/human-resources/ TBCC is an equal opportunity educator and employer. Planning to move? Sell those items you can’t take with you with a classified ad in The Astorian!