6A • October 12, 2018 • Seaside Signal • seasidesignal.com
A RETURN TO 1806 WITH EXPEDITION’S SALT MAKERS
Living historians
take Seaside back
in time
By R.J. Marx
Seaside Signal
EVE MARX
“You are now entering
1806,” the sign in Seaside’s
Cove announced on Saturday,
where interpreters from the
Pacific Northwest Living His-
torians shared the legacy of the
Lewis and Clark expedition
into Seaside.
According to historian John
Orthmann, the encampment
existed in Seaside for several
months, all in the quest for salt.
The expedition had kegs of
salt when they were sent out of
St. Louis in May 1804, Orth-
mann said. But by the time they
arrived at Fort Clatsop a year-
and-a-half later, supplies were
depleted.
“They found that in the wet
weather they had a hard time
preserving their meat,” Orth-
mann explained. “Sometimes
they would send a hunter out
and he’d kill an elk. But by the
time they got back, it was spoil-
ing. They really needed the salt
to preserve the meat.”
Five members of the Corps
of Discovery traveled on foot
from Fort Clatsop to Seaside,
which had everything they
needed: sea water, plenty of
rock, timber for making fires
and fresh-water streams nearby.
The quest for salt is re-enact-
ed in Seaside.
R.J. MARX
EVE MARX
A tribute to the salt makers who wintered in Seaside in 1805-06 by intepreters from the Pacific Northwest Living Historians.
The detachment made salt
by boiling water for nearly two
months, enduring wet winter
weather, before collecting all
the salt they made and return-
ing to Fort Clatsop.
Two-hundred-twelve years
later, the historians, attired in
frontier fashion, demonstrated
the transport of buckets of sea
water, the boiling process, and
then the scraping of salt.
“Gallons and gallons of wa-
ter for just a little bit of salt,”
Orthmann said.
Orthmann played the role of
Kentucky-born Joseph Field,
considered to be among the
best shots and hunters in the
Corps of Discovery.
Other interpreters played
the roles of Private William
Werner, Private Alexander Wil-
lard and Private Thomas How-
ard, among others.
Did any members of the ex-
pedition remain in Oregon?
“They didn’t stay,” Orth-
mann said. “They did not like
the rain.”
Foundation meeting
When the annual salt mak-
ers event lost funding due to
cuts in the National Park Ser-
vice budget in 2015, the Ore-
gon chapter of the foundation
sought and won a grant to re-
vive the program, according
to Seaside Museum and His-
torical Society president Steve
Wright.
The event kicks off the six-
day national conference of the
50th annual meeting of the
Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage
Foundation, through Oct. 10 in
Astoria.
Along with the Oregon
chapter of the foundation and
the Seaside Museum, event
Historians camped out in
Seaside in a two-day re-en-
actment of the 1806 salt
makers.
participants and supporters
included the Clatsop County
work crew, Oregon Parks and
Recreation Department, Tides
by the Sea, which provided
rooms, and the Seaside Depart-
ment of Public Works which
provided a front-end loader to
build up the fire pit, Orthmann
said.
Wright said the museum
hopes to bring back the event to
Seaside every year.
How railways helped build the jetties
By Rebecca Herren
Seaside Signal
EVE MARX
Angela Braaten, group facilitator for Seaside Providence
and Allison Whisenhunt, Seaside Providence social work
supervisor are excited to offer survivors of intimate part-
ner violence a new healing from trauma support group at
Seaside Providence Hospital.
Support group
aids victims
Trauma from Page 1A
The Harbor has a health
and care grant allowing them
to reach out to survivors in
healthcare settings. “Starting
this support group is the first
step to doing that,” Lewis
said.
“We know that after tell-
ing a trusted family mem-
ber or friend, survivors of
domestic violence are most
likely to tell a medical pro-
vider, a counselor, or clergy.”
She said developing
strong partnerships with
medical providers such as
Seaside Providence Hospital
has enabled the Harbor to
serve more survivors. “For
many people in a IPV rela-
tionship, visiting their doctor
may be the only time they
can get away from the abuser
in their life.”
Seeking Safety is an evi-
dence-based model focusing
on clients interested in creat-
ing safety in their lives.
The curriculum takes sur-
vival coping skills victims
have already developed from
experiencing trauma, and
teaching them how to build
on those skills to develop
better coping skills to use in
their daily lives.
“The Harbor served over
1,500 clients in Clatsop
County in 2017,” Lewis said.
“We know there are more
survivors we can serve in a
medical setting.”
Angela Braaten is a li-
censed social worker and
group facilitator at Seaside
Providence Hospital. Allison
Whisenhunt is also a licensed
social worker and social work
supervisor at the hospital.
The Seeking Safety group
will meet at Seaside Provi-
dence Hospital once a week
for about an hour, Braaten
said. Participants must be
female and at least 18 years
old.
The group provides sup-
port to individuals healing
from trauma.
“We work with develop-
ing coping skills and tech-
niques to handle the effects
of trauma, Braaten said. “ It’s
open to any female experi-
encing IPV trauma whether
in the past or present.”
The curriculum instructs
survivors how to recognize
tools they already have to
cope more safely.
“This is not a group where
people come and talk about
their trauma,” Lewis said.
“We do talk about how the
trauma has impacted the per-
son’s life.”
The group is limited to 8
to 10 people and there are 24
sessions, but regular atten-
dance isn’t mandatory.
“People can come and
go,” Whisenhunt said. “It’s
an open invitation.”
“Our mission is to support
the vulnerable,” Braaten said.
“And to help people develop
healthy coping skills to man-
age their situation.”
Seeking Safety meets at
Seaside Providence Hospital
on Thursdays from 5:30 to
7:30 p.m. The group meets
in Education Rooms A or B.
The hospital is located at 725
S. Wahanna Road in Seaside.
Enrollment is open and
participants are welcome to
join at any time as long as
they have a referral. For those
without a vehicle or money
for cab fare, funds and re-
sources are available to help
with transportation.
For more information,
contact amy@harbornw.org,
503-325-5735, or angela.
braaten@providence.org,
503-717-7419.
A channel system that
would reshape the mouth of
the Columbia River took 55
years to complete. It was a
daunting and perilous job for
those who took on the task,
according to self-described
history buff Gary Kobes, who
led a presentation on “Rails
in the Surf: Reshaping the
Mouth of the Columbia Riv-
er” as his topic for the open-
ing season of History and
Hops held in September.
Kobes explained that the
massive engineering sys-
tem consisted of three rub-
ble-mound jetties: North
Jetty, South Jetty and Jetty
A. The purpose was to make
passage safer for ships transit-
ing between the Pacific Ocean
and the Columbia River since
Portland was a major embar-
kation point for many of the
regions’ products such as lum-
ber, wheat and livestock —
politically and economically.
The South Jetty project
was conceived in the early
1880s, 15-years after the com-
pletion of the Transcontinen-
tal Railroad and 18-years after
the end of the Civil War.
In 1839, the mouth of the
river was 6.5-miles wide, cre-
ating difficult circumstances
to transit ships in and out of
the river. “It was trial and er-
ror from a navigation stand-
point,” Kobes said.
A solution was proposed
for an 8,000-foot-long pile
dike, eight miles wide. This
concept was soon abandoned
in favor of a rubble-mound
training jetty. A rubble-mound
is a tramway trestle along
the desired line of the jetty.
Fascine mats are placed on
the ocean’s floor to prevent
erosion then covered with
rock until piled to the correct
height, Kobes explained.
By the 1840s, an influx of
people began arriving from
the Oregon Trail, he said.
In 1850, the Oregon terri-
tory population was 11,500. It
had grown to 750,000 people
by 1890, and by the time the
jetty project was completed
in 1940, the population had
increased to more than three
million people.
“That was less than a peri-
od of 60 to 70 years where the
population increased, making
it a pretty phenomenal growth
spurt,” Kobes said. “There
was tremendous growth go-
ing on in the northwest at that
time and it manifested itself
as the people who populated
the area started to use timber,
which was used locally and
also exported.”
With both the influx of set-
tlers and an increase in ship-
ping, pressure mounted on
congress to act.
CLATSOP COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY
“The Mastodon” was used for the building of the jetties.
CLATSOP COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY
REBECCA HERREN
Connie and Gary Kobes at History and Hops in Seaside.
Trestle work from the build-
ing of the jetties.
The jetty project spanned
a period from 1885 to 1940,
and though the best turn-of-
the-century technology of the
era was used, Kobes said, it
was not enough for construc-
tion to continue during the
winter.
Due to extreme storms of
high wind velocity, the work
was hazardous. Men regularly
experienced heavy wave ac-
tion; pounded by ocean waves
rising up to 20-feet high, and
in excess of 30-feet high in
winter.
Derricks to lift the rock
onto the rail cars and trestles
to move the rail cars were
built.
Stones were quarried out
of Fischer’s Quarry in Van-
couver and barged to Astoria.
The ultra-hardness of Colum-
bia basalt made it the perfect
stone for this type of con-
struction as it can withstand
violent storms and turbulent
waves. Overall, 2.2 million
tons of stone was used to build
the South Jetty, while nearly 3
million tons of stone was used
to build the North Jetty.
ing the bar saw the wreck and
sent a message to the U.S.
Lifesaving Service at Point
Adams where a man from the
station ran to notify the jetty
construction office.
“As luck would have it, lo-
comotive No. 4 had been fired
up for yard work and was
ready to go,” Connie Kobes
said. Four men took the train
out on the trestle and saw the
First Mate clutching a small
boy. Three more survivors
were spotted: Capt. Bender,
his wife and the cook. The
rest of the ship’s crew was on
the far side of the 200-foot
breach.
With more personnel and
equipment, the train returned
and fired a rescue line over to
the survivors and one by one
rescued the remaining seven
people. The Admiral had been
washed ashore on Peacock
Split and all rescue attempts
were thwarted by heavy
waves. “This was perhaps the
only time in history where
a locomotive went to sea to
come to the aid of a ship in
distress,” Connie said.
Since completion, the jet-
ties have caused build-out and
accumulation of new beach in
both directions, while oth-
er parts have shown signs of
erosion. Years of violent wave
action have caused damage to
each jetty. Increased activity
and the loss of shoaling sand
underneath have also taken a
toll on their structural integ-
rity.
While no one could imag-
ine the significant effect the
jetties would have on the
landscape of the mouth of the
Columbia River, no one can
disprove that the jetty project
was an ongoing engineering
experiment that ultimately
succeeded.
Incredible rescue
During construction of
the South Jetty, an incredible
rescue was made involving a
schooner, its crew and a train.
The schooner Admiral met
with foul weather and ran into
the westward most portion of
the South Jetty extension Jan.
13, 1912. Another ship cross-