Page 4 The Portland Observer Max 30.
1990
Vanport Revisited...a special focus
Vanport Calendar, 1948: Timetable For Disaster
by P rof. M cKinley B urt
W inter 1948: Rainfall normal, weather
typically wet and dreary; Columbia River
at normal stage for season. The Hous
ing Authority of Portland (HAP) put the
population o f Vanport City at 5,295
families or 18,700 “ actual registered
tenants” , 25 percent of whom were
Black. HAP had administrative re
sponsibility for the project.
Early spring 1948: Extremely heavy
snow in the vast Columbia River Ba-
sin--ffom Idaho to Montana, to British
Columbia.
M ay 15: Weather turns unseasonably
warm and snow melts rapidly. Runoff
water floods Idaho and Washington farm
lands--heaviest surge of water since
1894.
May 22: Near Portland, the Columbia
rises and ‘ ‘cocoacolored” flood waters
carry dark chunks of debris. The tug
boat Robert Gray sinks with loss of two
crewmembers. The Housing Authority
of Portland had met two days earlier but
the minutes show no reference to any
apprehension of danger to Vanport
Tuesday m orning, May 25: Live
stock is moved from Hayden Island to
the Union stockyards in North Port
land. Columbia River was at 21.5 feet,
short circuited by the swirling waters.
The Columbia reached twenty-nine
feet and Union Station was flooded.
Harry D. Jaeger, General Manger of
Vanport City, said, “ Vanport City is
not in any foreseeable danger.” But the
water kept rising. There were power
shortages and some intentional dimin
ishing of power. PGE even “ cut off
some customers” so the city lights could
stay on.
Friday afternoon, May 28: Telephone
operators at the Vanport Administra
tion building were put on 24-hour duty.
Sleeping quarters were prepared for
main personnel. S heriffs personnel
went on 12 hour shifts.
Saturday, May 29: Increasing concern
led to a meeting at Red Cross Head
quarters where the possibility of evacu
ation was discussed. The attendees
were Red Cross representatives, HAP
officials, a representative of the Gover
nor, a county commissioner, Sheriff
Pratt, and a health department official.
It was decided that they were ill-pre
pared to handle an evacuation o f this
magnitude and another meeting was
scheduled for the following Monday
(May 31).
6.1 feel above flood stage. Water backed
into the Willamette River from the
Columbia and reached 20.8 feet, three
feet above flood stage.
Tuesday afternoon, same day: Hous
ing Authority of Portland and commer
cial operators begin 24-hour patrols of
the dikes surrounding Vanport. HAP
decided it would rely upon the Army
Corp of Engineers for evaluation of the
dike’s reliability. HAP recited its in
ventory of dike repair material and the
engineers said, “ they had nothing to
worry about.”
Friday morning, M ay 28 (copy co u r
tesy of the P ortland Today new spa
per): The headline of the May 28th
Oregonian read, ‘ ‘Portland Area Braces
for 30-foot Crest,” which meant that
the Columbia would come within three
feet of its all-time highwater mark, re
corded in 1894. Water had reached five
feet of the Steel Bridge railroad deck
and there were eighteen inches of water
over the Columbia River Highway. At
8:30 on Friday the 28th, the Morrison
Bridge was forced out of service. The
draw span was left open to lessen pres
sure against the bridge, and electric
cables just underneath the bridge were
-i-—r
. ■*
|
A sí
The Site of the original break in the railroad dike.
Sunday morning, May 30
( copy
courtesy of V anport, Oregon H istori
cal Society Press): The stage for disas
ter is firmly set when, at 4:00 a.m., a
crew of furnace repairman shoved a
message from the Housing Authority of
Portland under the door of every tenant:
" . . . flood situation has not changed
. . . barring unforeseen developments
VANPORT is safe.” However, if it
should become necessary to evacuate,
the . . . Housing Authority will give
warning at the earliest possible mo
ment by continued siren and air horn.
Sound trucks would give instructions.
Residents were told, if the warning came:
don’t panic; pack your personal be
longings and a change of clothing; turn
■ off the lights and the stove; close the
windows and lock the door. If there
were sick, elderly, or disabled persons,
the bulletin suggested that, if it were
convenient, it might be desirable for
them to leave for a few days, but to be
sure and register at the S heriffs Office
in case there was any inquiry. Finally
the message concluded:
REMEMBER
DIKES ARE SAFE AT PRESENT
A riel overview of the flood rushing thru Vanport.
YOU WILL BE WARNED IF NEC
ESSARY
YOU WILL HAVE TIME TO
LEAVE
DON’T GET EXCITED.
Sunday afternoon, M ay 30,2:00 p.m.:
Most residents assumed that there was
little danger, few had moved. A few
had evacuated sick or elderly relati v e s -
others had packed belongings into boxes,
and some had hooked up small trailers.
A few others had left during the night,
but many were away, enjoying the
Memorial Day weekend.
Sunday afternoon, M ay 30,4:17 p.m.:
That section of a railroad fill serving as
part of the protective * ‘ring dike’ ’ gave
w a y -a sudden six-foot break quickly
became 60 feet, and then 500 feet. A
wall of water 10 feet high roared through,
smashing buildings, automobiles and
utility poles. Waves of water flowed
over fleeing residents, human chains of
resc uers, washing high over stalled traf
fic and screaming Vanport residents.
Sunday afternoon, M ay 30,6:00 p.m.:
A floating apartment crashes into one
of Vanport’s two radio towers, toppling
it to the ground. The last of dozens of
“ Rose City Transit Company” buses
deposit survivors “ Up on Interstate” at
the east end of Vanport (The “ Denver
Avenue Fill"). Rescue operations are
hampered by throngs of sightseers on
surrounding roads. By 9:00 p.m. it is
determined that all survivors have been
rescued, but at 9:30 p.m. the Denver
Avenue Fill collapses, sending a Port
land General Electric Company emer
gency truck and its driver beneath the
flood. Red Cross and National Guard
set up shelters, serving food and pro
viding shelter. Individual Portland
residents, rising to the occasion, did the
same, irrespective of race.
Aftermath: For years there was raging
controversy over exactly how many
lives were lost-and who was respon
sible; the Housing Authority of Port
land, the Corps of Engineers, or the
railroad company that built the fill which
served as a dike. Despite much litiga
tion, no agency was held responsible
for the lives that were lost (eighteen by
official estimate-hundreds by tenants
estimates), or the tens of millions of
dollars in personal property lost by the
residents.
The American Red Cross: The Role They Played
On Sunday afternoon May 30th at
4:12 P.M. a call was relayed to Disaster
Vice-Chairman E.A. Valentine that the
Dike had broke and water from Smith
Cake was pouring into Vanport in waves.
Thus, the emergency efforts already
in stage were launched. Actually, the
Food Sub-committee went into opera
tion at 1:00 P.M. Sunday. Realizing
that the first item of Food Necessity
would be bread, two bakeries in Port
land turned out 15,000 loaves within
four hours. The Vanport Emergency
Canteen went into 24 hour operation to
accommodate the vast food supply.
Groceries were supplied by stores in
Portland and outlets throughout the state.
Transportation
Transportation was provided by the
National Guard units and a Men’s Motor
Corps was organized to relieve the
W omen’s Motor Corp’s and drove 48
hours over the weekend.
The Shelter Committee, though new
to their jobs were former Red Cross
workers with admirably, transporting
over 28,000 evacuees from Vanport
Medical and nursing was staffed by a
well trained chairman who during World
War II was the Medical Director of Of
fice of Civilian Defense (O.C.D). The
medical rescue squad manned the first
aid medical cart and provided emer
gency medical coverage along with the
Sheriff and salvage crews at the scene
for more than two weeks, dispensing
drinking water and assisting the County
Coroner.
Clothing
Clothing was issued from an already
well stocked Chapter House. An out
standing job was performed by the
Clothing Committee who prepared a
price list of over 300 items of clothing
to be used as a guide for those issuing
emergency requisitions from the Audi
torium.
the members o f the Disaster Com
mittee on unusual devotion to duty
during the early days o f the disaster
and on your continuing supervision
o f the flood relief activities.
This proud record again renews
our faith in the importance and effi
ciency o f our Red Cross.
Sincerely,
Basil O'Connor
Housing
In addition to the many locations for
emergency housing, a number of hotels
were checked for availability and ap
proximately 30 that accepted African
Americans were asked to reserve space.
The Portland Housing Authority indi
cated that they had 400 family units
available but most were reserved for
whites. The units were in need of repair
and were not clean a«: thev were not ex
pected to be used. Also providing
emergency housing were the Portland
Airbase, facilities at Swan Island,
Vancouver Barracks, and churches, as
well as Portland Area schools.
On June 21,1948, less than one month
after the Vanport flood, Mr. Basil
O ’Connor, then president to the Ameri
can National Red Cross forwarded a
letter to the Disaster Committee Chair
man of The Portland-Multnomah County
Chapter of the American Red Cross.
The letter read as follows:
The reputation fo r efficiency
earned by the volunteers o f the Port
land-Multnomah Chapter in the recent
floods is an exceptionally good one.
The excellence o f this service is par
ticularly pleasing when one consid
ers the unusual conditions surround
ing the destruction o f the Vanport
Housing Area.
An important part o f a successful
volunteer program is the leadership.
In Portland, the direction has been
o f the best f congratulate you and
It should be noted that the Portland-
Multnomah Chapter of the American
Red Cross played a significant role in
overcoming obstacles of logistics and
racism to help victims of the Vanport
Flood. Housing was a major issue as
most Hotels had a policy of not accept
ing African Americans, and while many
white victims of the flood were ac
cepted into temporary quarters, the same
did not hold true for people of color.
Were it not for the relentless efforts
of the Local Chapter of the American
Red Cross, the disaster would have
been more severe for African Ameri
cans.
The April, 1978, edition of the For
mer Publication “ Portland Today”
poised a question to Oregonians: “ The
Flood wiped away Vanport City but did
it wash away our sins?
’ 1
M rs. Lizzie Phillips and her children, Cleaven and Ester M av
were among many thousands evacuated from Vanport Thev were
under Red Cross care at the Portland A rm ory.
Red Cross Volunteer Comforts two toddlers at Emergency Red
Cross Center.