Your eyes are not playing tricks on you: This bucolic waterfront image is not really Portland on the Willamette

…but the City of Exeter! But the resemblances between the two cities are indeed striking …. Just READ ON !!!

The PORT of PORTLAND has a ROMANTIC VISION for PORTLAND’S FUTURE …

AND FOR YOU !!!

During the Elizabethan Period, the City of Exeter sought to maintain its ancient ocean port status and secure some

competitiveness with the Cinque Ports of England, by obtaining crown permission to build a canal or channel from the bay

the Exe river -- aka Exmouth -- to the City’s inland doorstep. The River Exe had – with the slow lapse of those vibrant

medieval centuries -- been gradually silting up its own alluvium, and the mercantile community was determined not to lose

its unique corner on the English wool & wine markets. Besides that, commerce to the colonies in the New World was now

burgeoning, and Exeter was threatened with missing out on its share of the tobacco market.

After diligent petitioning, Queen Elizabeth herself granted to the tradesmen of Exeter a charter of privileges, authorizing

their formation into a “Societie of Marchaunte Adventurers of the citie of Exeter” under which the business community

of Exeter began the construction of the now famous engineering project, known world-wide simply as “The Exeter canal.”

It was a marvel of human engineering, unlike anything the world had seen before: the Exeter canal ran from Topsham on

the bay, all the way into downtown Exeter itself: a distance of some two miles – almost. It was an unprecedented 3 feet

deep and 16 feet wide, to allow all boats from these ocean-going mercantile vessels to reach the city, and even deeper draft

ocean-going vessels – some of them of great size.

And it is strongly believed that the ambitious canal did attract much ocean-going traffic. Probably anyway.

At the terminus of its heroic length, these inspired Marchaunte

Adventurers undertook the construction of a great city quay or dock

along the canal, right there in the heart of downtown Exeter, to

accommodate the great volume of the anticipated commercial traffic.

The dockside itself was equipped with devices of the latest engineering,

to speed the lading and unlading of merchant cargo. Shown at right, is

the Exeter Quay with an advance-technology boom-crane, complete

with counterweight. Or else its another mighty ship with its sails furled.

Thus equipped, members of the dockworkers guild, were also enabled to

lade and unlade vessels more rapidly, and with reduced bodily exertion

and risk of injury, and so their requests for increased shillings per diem

in pay, were of course derided. After all, it was a privilege to work in

the one port in England that was at the end of a long man-made canal.

THUS, with such a complement of modern devices Exeter was

positioned to shoulder out any and all competitors, in whatever English

port.

And the rest is history….

Above, another busy day on the

docks in Exeter, ca 1840. It may be a

longshoremen’s strike.

Pictured at left, the Exeter City

Docks today…. quiet and empty, just

like the Port of Portland …..

FACE IT. Portland is the new Exeter, and it’s role as a deep-water seaport will soon be considered a curiosity of

American commercial history, like water-power, and the whale fisheries. Young men will wonder and laugh at the quaint

idea, that it ever should have been true at all, that commercial vessels were piloted 80 miles upriver to the Portland sloughs,

well into the 21st century!! Especially when plans for a real deep-water seaport at the Port of Astoria, were being developed

in 1913!! And they will marvel at the chuckleheaded Portland sophistes, who dredged and dredged and dredged – not just

two miles, as at Exeter, but 80 miles -- while ignoring their own obvious future in an improved deep-water harbor –

downriver at Astoria.

Fortunately, in the LOST PLANS, Oregon does have this alternate vision to the near-sighted one of the Port of Portland.

It is a thoroughly engineered “opt-out provision” that was unavailable to Devon or Exeter. It is a vision that not only

corrects for a century of oversight, but gives Oregon the opportunity to create for itself – now and into the future –

The World’s FIRST THIRD MILLENIUM DEEP-WATER SEAPORT

Astoria “… is about to achieve greatness only through her own overmastering destiny.”

FINALLY …..

These images of the original diagrams for 1919

“Phase II” of the proposed expansion &

modernization of the Port of Astoria around

Smith Point, were obtained through the gracious

assistance of Clatsop County Heritage Museum,

part of the Clatsop County Historical Society

http://www.cumtux.org/ in downtown Astoria.

Please refer to the Acknowledgments at the end

of this Report.

These 1919 plans are printed on tissue thin onion

paper, and hand-tinted. Another set of these plans

can be found at the State Archives in Salem.

Once the jumble of one hundred years of Port of

Astoria history is laid out on the table and pressed

flat -- like these plans – it’s impossible not to see the harborage potential that was legitimately slated for exploitation by the

Port nearly one hundred years ago at this writing …

What we immediately recognize is the south bank of the Columbia river with the promontory of Smith Point and

the labyrinth street patterns of western Astoria, and the waterfront with the now familiar pierhead line – and the

footprint of completed Piers 1-3 – as reviewed above.

But there’s something completely unexpected shown on these drawings …

On the

The apparent EXTENSION of the

PIERHEAD line ….

And what looks like literally thousands of feet

of further development along the South

Channel, and thence doubling back around the

waterfront of Smiths Point into Young’s Bay

and up the Young’s River channel ….

COULD IT BE??

A sector -- blocks and blocks of proposed fill land to be designated “INDUSTRIAL SITES” – a significant set-aside for

railroad siding and an adjacent rail-yard; and proposed berths for additional shipbuilding …. for the Wilson

Shipbuilding Company – and other offshore property marked as “PORT OWNED.” The rail-bridge extends over Young’s

River, with a pivoting span to allow for river traffic …

AND THERE IS SOMETHING ELSE ……

Remind me: how many deep water berths are there at the Port of Portland? They number up to “SIX,” but in fact there

are only “Four,” I’m pretty sure I said; and, in fact only one of those – terminal “SIX” is a deep water berth, running

parallel with “the channel” -- meaning “Terminal SIX” in Portland is really Terminal “ONE AND ONLY”; but now that

Hanjin is leaving Port of Portland, that Terminal is now closed … meaning it is…TERMINAL “TERMINAL.”

Meanwhile, at Astoria, there is easy room for SEVEN deep-water berths at Smith Point alone.

Glancing at these ink plans on tracing paper, the developments that were already underway at Smith Point, above, have

prominence, not least because of the numerous additional sheets in the file, showing construction techniques, underwater

profiles, footprint details, building and electrical plans, etc.

But across the channel of Young’s Bay can be seen the angular line of survey work conducted out towards the South

Channel, and tracking the turns of that channel close enough to indicate the survey object: the construction of further docks

out onto the waters of Young’s Bay. A note on this apparently surveyed line confirms, it is the pierhead line for yet more

docks across this estuarial region – most of it now a mudflat. The development does not yet appear to be associated with

the Port of Astoria: the only name on the sheet attributes ownership to the “Harrriman Railroad Terminal.”

A visit to the Clatsop County Surveyor’s website http://www.co.clatsop.or.us/publicworks/page/surveyor quickly

confirms that this offshore pier-head/bulkhead line was indeed surveyed as shown – and has since been resurveyed as often

as Clatsop County policies might dictate. The print map below titled Map of Columbia Water Front Tracts, has a compass

in the lower right corner: it should be rotated 20 degreed clockwise to bring it in line with the imagery of the Lost Plans.

This map discloses a half-dozen or more private owners, many of them from prominent Astoria families, who were no

doubt anticipating development of the waterfront in the Roaring ‘20’s. Some cartography of the area indicates that one or

more of these parcels had been subdivided into blocks and lots.

The color image below that, is a screen capture, also from the Clatsop County Surveyor’s site, showing that the same pier-

head-bulkhead lines originally marked off in coordination with the 1919 Warrenton Expansion plans, remain CURRENT

survey data in Clatsop County. The three existing piers of the Port, at Smith Point, are visible, and give a clear idea of the

level of development that was prepped for improvement in 1919 A.D. -- almost 100 years ago.

Below, is the same survey data overlain on approximately the same satellite imagery, showing the Skipanon Waterway to

the left and Smith Point to the right, and Young’s Bay at center. A point of order in terms of nomenclature is appropriate

here: Young’s Bay is no longer in any real sense a bay, but it is more like a solid mud-flat, and the sedimentary buildup can

be easily seen in this photo. Nevertheless, a waiver or exemption from the 1966 Estuaries Act (I believe this is P.L. 89-

753), would probably be required to begin this work.

How many piers, how many berths -- stretching from the Skipanon Waterway on the left, to Young’s River on the east --

could be constructed over Young’s Bay, to the EXISTING pier-head-bulkhead line – as surveyed in 1919, and periodically

resurveyed by Clatsop County surveyors? A dozen? I drew about a dozen small ones. However…. That may be a little

too aggressive. Let’s be more modest in our expectations …

DIMENSIONS AND TOLERANCES

The original diagrams of the 1913 development of the Smith Point Terminals, show that Pier 1 has 630 feet of frontage,

and Slip 1 is 400 feet wide, for a total of 1030 ft running along the pier-head-bulkhead line of the Columbia River Bay;

Pier 2 is 426 feet of frontage, and Slip 2 is 350 feet across, for a total of 786 ft of riverfront length; Pier 3 frontage is 550

ft, and the slip is open, but estimated at 400 ft, for a total of 950 ft. We could estimate then, and therefore generously allow

about 1,000 ft minimum for each proposed terminal or pier that might be constructed across the backfilled Young’s Bay,

along the existing pier-head-bulkhead line as currently maintained on file in the Clatsop County Surveyors office.

Using those numbers and considering the dimensions of these larger container vessels that have proved too huge to handle

at the Port of Portland, probably nine or ten terminals AT MOST running across the man-made frontage of an improved

Young’s Bay, is more realistic. Something close to that must have been in the plans for the Port of Astoria in 1919, but

the piers were never drawn or planned.

On the image above, I also drew an additional three piers west of the Skipanon, over the Tansy Creek/Alder Creek estuary

adjacent to Tansy Point – getting carried away there. Probably this shoreline area should actually be reserved for wildlife

and recreation, and preserved in association with Tansy Point archaeological sites.

A NOTE: I mentioned that these “Lost Plans” for the more complete development of the Port of Astoria at Smith Point,

are located at the Clatsop County Heritage Museum in downtown Astoria. They have been printed on a fine tracing paper,

presumably to allow overlay on other plans or maps of the area. But the unidentified draughtsman of these sheets, has gone

one better, and added a light watercolor wash to the area of the South Channel shipping lane of the Columbia, and the

waterfront off Tansy Point continuing up through Young’s Bay, to the developments at Smith Point, and also indicated what

he must have considered effectively “dry land” or mudflats in Youngs’ Bay – as of 1913.

In addition, it appears as if the watercolorist has – in his own way -- suggested three piers jutting way out in the river past

the pierhead line on the Warrenton or Young’s Bay side of the Young’s River channel. In the enlargement below, they are

here, on the left. In fact, these are just the mirror-images of the drawings for the Smith Point side of the plans: these were

folded over onto the Warrenton waterfront, and somehow left this stain. But the stain serves as a reminder, that it is

precisely here that the shipping channel turns – and that just as the Smith Point piers are naturally oriented & located to

receive ocean-going vessels moving upriver, just so, the proposed piers at Warrenton would be effective mirror images of

the Smith Point facility, and so naturally oriented and located to receive vessels travelling downriver.. to Warrenton and the

“Tansy Point Range and Turn. ” A little weird …..

WHICH BRINGS US FINALLY TO …..

The schematic diagram above, of the harbor at the mouth of the Columbia, was taken from the book mentioned in Part I of

this REPORT, P. Donan’s, Astoria, the Peerless Maritime Metropolis of the Golden Northwest (1890). It shows the

townsite of Flavel sprawling over the entire tip of the Clatsop peninsula – from the River to the sea.

Capt. Flavel was one of the first Columbia river bar pilots to operate a

fleet of tugs and pilot boats out of Astoria, beginning as early as 1851.

He became famously -- or notoriously -- successful, and eventually very

wealthy. IN the course of a few decades of work on the Columbia river

mouth, he also got to know the river channel and shoreline very, very

well, and purchased land lying along the south bank of the river

downstream from Tansy Point, along the shoreline towards present day

Warrenton.

He platted, subdivided, and sold lots for his own townsite, Flavel ….

FLAVEL.

Flavel was located on the South bank of Columbia, across Young’s Bay

from Astoria, north of where Warrenton is today. From 1890-1910,

Capt. Flvael planned and built numerous improvements at Flavel,

including a movie theatre ….. and other development representing an

expansive vision for the future of his Chief Seaport City on the

Columbia Bay and Harbor -- a vision that appeared to rival ANYTHING

that the good citizens of Astoria were contemplating.

It sounds like just another pioneering pipe-dream and get-rich-quick

scheme ….probably a mammoth boondoggle. Remember how Pacific

City, Washington had wanted to commandeer all that Customs and Port

traffic from Astoria, in 1850? Refer back to Part I. p. 7 of this Report.

Indeed the plans for Flavel City were ambitious, because Capt.

Flavel recognized what few others seemed to – that the waters of a

thousand valleys drained to, and were TRIBUTARY to this

peninsula at the mouth of the Columbia; and that the produce of a

thousand plains would find their outlet to the world, at “Flavel-

Astoria” – and nowhere else.

The image at right is an excerpt of a map by A. Burr , an artist

employed by Sidney Dell, Capt. Flavel’s attorney, who also served

as counsel to the Flavel Land & Development Co. The image

here is provided courtesy of the Oregon Historical Society.

http://ohs.org/

The title of the map is

A Bird’s –Eye View of Oregon and Part of Washington:

the Columbia River Valley - Tributary to Flavel

This asserts a simple hydrographical fact. Note, on this map, the

position of Flavel at the mouth of the Great River of the West.

Meanwhile, the schematic map below appears in a pamphlet

entitled, Smith Point Terminal, published by the Port of Astoria in

1920, for distribution at the Seventh National Foreign Trade

Convention held in San Francisco, in May, 1920. It shows

proposed development over the entire northern shoreline of this

Clatsop Prairie, along Young’s Bay, and Tansy Point down to the

waterfront.

AND THERE’S SOMETHING MORE ….

THIS MAP SHOWS THREE DEEPWATER PIERS AT FLAVEL on the South Channel…

… three large pier facilities … for ocean-liners.

The above enlargement of the diagram from the preceding page

reveals the cruising route of the Great Northern Pacific

Steamship Co., owned by The Empire Builder, James J. Hill.

The map also shows that Hill built three deep-water terminals

on the southern bank of the Columbia, at Tansy Point and

downriver therefrom, towards Point Adams.1

The GNPS, in cooperation with the Flavel Land and

Development Co., constructed three deep-water piers along

Flavel’s waterfront at Tansy Point: the crude map shows three

piers for the docking of the GNPS ocean-liners; meanwhile,

this promotional literature confirms scheduled stops not at

ASTORIA but at “Flavel Astoria” with cruise ships

stopping every other day. The date of this schedule is 1915 –

so James J. Hill’s developments coincided with original 1913-

’18 plans for the Port of Astoria proper.

1 The map here appears to read “U.S. Treasury Reservation” – where Ft. Stevens is located.

The triple-decker cruise liners of the GNPS were not small craft.

Unfortunately, I have found no dimensions of specs in the GNPS materials, for either of the two large liners running from

San Francisco to Flavel-Astoria; but from other references, it could be estimated that the vessels were approximately

25,000 tons capacity, length of 575 ft -600 ft, with a beam of 65 feet, approx., and a gross displacement of 30-35 Tons.

What the draft would be on such a vessel I leave to the mariners to determine. The point is, they routinely tied up at Flavel

piers, directly off the main shipping channel, and apparently did so without the benefit of any dredging.

This excerpt from a U.S.C.&G.S. map of the Columbia River from Tansy Point to Tongue Point (1899) gives the soundings

of the South Channel, showing channel depths at the end of Flavel’s pier at Tansy Point to run between 40 and 50 feet –

or at least in the mid 30’s. No surprise, of course, because this is the main shipping channel, as already noted.

The same promotional brochure for the Great Northern Pacific Steamship Line, includes this map (at left) of the route

from San Francisco to the port of “Flavel-Astoria” at the mouth of the Columbia.

The mapping shown on this page, indicates that GNPS passengers boarded at San Francisco, would take the company cruise

liners only as far as ASTORIA… actually, as far as FLAVEL … and then would debark, probably on one of the three

terminals there – as shown in the sketch map introduced above – located off Tansy Point. These were deep-water piers.

As part of a grand vision to connect the interior of Washington State, at Spokane,

with the Pacific’s metropolitan hub of San Francisco, James Hill built his own piers

here at Flavel, as terminals for the great GNPS steamers. Fortunately there does exist

a panoramic photograph of these deep water terminals under construction in 1914.

The photo is captioned “Driving first piles, Hill Terminal, Flavel, Or., June 3, 1914.”

While it would not fit in this report, it can be viewed at the Library of Congress web

page here:

http://www.loc.gov/resource/pan.6a08849/

Recall that the Astoria Sanitary and Reclamation Commission had approved

development of the “Hill docks” aka the “Spokane, Portland & Seattle docks at

Flavel” at a projected cost of $120,000, at a meeting on May 20, 1914 – See, Part I,

p. 15. These are those very docks. From the vote passing the relevant authorization

until this picture was taken, it looks like three weeks elapsed. Those are some good-

sized piers, and that’s fast work – 100 years ago. Of course, there are no working

docks at all, and few waterfront facilities along this frontage today

SO….

Moving through finely appointed facilities

at Flavel, passengers then boarded cars of

Hill’s railroad – steamer trains of the

Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railroad --

to rapidly complete the additional 80 miles

to Portland.

In this REPORT, there is not the space to include another

magnificent panoramic photograph of the GNPS steamship

terminal at Flavel, and the streamlined cars of the SP&S

railroad, waiting to board passengers. It is captioned “Great

Northern Pacific Steamship Co.’s Terminals, Flavel, Ore.”

There’s just enough room for a link to the library of Congress

web page featuring it…

http://www.loc.gov/resource/pan.6a08933/

You can see in this photo the magnificent terminal building

of the GNPS, now completed, and behind it the smokestacks

of one of those two cruise-liners. Also observe the ranking

of railroad cars, suggesting numerous sets of railroad track

have been laid, and sidings proliferate. Everything is top-

grade, and brand-spanking new.

There has been intensive capital investment along this shoreline – with the expectation of a great profit in years to come.

But there was something more in Hill’s vision: it was a visionary concern for the public benefit, and for the welfare of the

community – not just profit-taking. Still today, the waterfront at Tansy Point on down to Hammond and Jetty Lagoon, is

an ideal situation for the development of deep-water port facilities – given the right vision for the regional economy.

In Part I, I estimated that there are 14,000 ft approx. of deep-water frontage from the upstream shore of Jetty Lagoon, to

Tansy Point itself. By a crude reckoning, this should be enough for 10 full size deep-water piers….

Leave a few thousand feet of this frontage aside and still there remain 10,000-11,000 ft of frontage opening on deep water,

within 2-3 miles of the open ocean – and that is easily enough for 10 deep-water piers. Onshore from the waterfront,

there is also a few miles of low, open ground ideally suited to the laying of railyard, with unlimited sidings and hundreds of

acres for commercial facilities, on a nearly unlimited scale. The original GNPS terminals, and SP&S RR terminals here

were constructed on the initiative of the Astoria Sanitary and Reclamation Commission, and in cooperation with overall

development of the south shore, including the municipal docks at the Smith Point Terminal.

AND THE RAILROAD: One other important takeaway here, is that the journey from the Flavel to Portland, was made

by rail – as for instance, is demonstrated here, again by the mapping in the promotional materials of the GNPS:

… from the February, 1922 issue of the lumber trade journal, The Timberman -- may be instructive. The map shows the

area of the Nehalem Mountains in “the Horn of Oregon,” and demarks the area where numerous private franchises – as of

about 100 years ago – were granted right-of-way for the construction of railroads: railroad to serve, primarily the logging

& timber industry. It also shows EIGHT (I believe) separate FAILED attempts by these same franchises, to complete a

railroad line through the Nehalem Mountains, connecting the Tualatin Valley with the Pacific coast or with the

debouchement of the Columbia River. ONLY ONE was successful – the P, R & N – from Banks to Wheeler, but it’s line

has been washed out, and now abandoned by the Governor’s office.

Despite the vaunted powers of the free market, only one of the lines constructed inland from the Columbia River into “the

Horn,” ever connected with the Tualatin Valley – and this line pierces the mountains upriver, near Sauvie’s Island, and

then runs back down the mountains to …Portland. To this date -- some 165 years after the Astoria Custom House was

commissioned -- no through-rail-line from Astoria (circled “ʘ” at upper left) to the Tualatin valley, at Wilkesboro for

instance ( also circled “ʘ” lower right), has ever been completed. In consequence of this, all Tualatin & inland valley

production and commerce is now first squeezed eastward to the Port of Portland for the rather circuitous “slow-boat”

voyage down the Columbia – and now, even that is threatened. Considering the historic challenge posed by this terrain,

this map can provide some insight into the potentially valuable role that the Oregon Legislature could play, in creating an

umbrella corporation with oversight responsibility for siting a commercial MAGLEV line or two, from Astoria to Portland,

and directly to the Tualatin Valley.

One line would be sited for construction along existing railroad grades of the old S P & S. line used even by the GNPS

passengers to reach Portland 100 years ago. That line is in disrepair and is out of operation. It should be restored, and

doubled if possible to allow for one-way traffic on each of two tracks It runs basically at water level along the Columbia

river from Astoria to Portland, and from their connects to railroad running east up the Columbia river basin into eastern

Oregon.2

However, to eliminate the present necessity for roundabout transport, a second line -- the key improvement to maximizing

the location of Astoria, as a deep sea-port serving the entire region – should be constructed: a line seeking to transit the

Nehalem Mountains, from Astoria into the inland Tualatin Valley, by the most direct route possible – thereby eliminating

the sinuous and extravagant curves of the former SP&S route. So, such a corporation would quickly determine the best,

most direct & most feasible route from Astoria (circled “ʘ” at upper left), OVER and THROUGH the Nehalem mountains

to a proposed hub at Wilkesboro, near Banks, in the northern Tualatin Plains ( also circled “ʘ” ). From Wilkesboro, the

former terminus of the S&P line, a MAGLEV line would be built south along the old 99 W route to Corvallis and Eugene,

and points south – connecting with another MAGLEV line running from a NEW PORT at COOS BAY.

2 That this line was abandoned and fell into disrepair in the 1950’s, effectively disabling the Port of Astoria,

is further evidence of how it is, that only by hidden subsidies, has the Port of Portland kept its hold on ocean-

going commerce.

Did you manage to keep count?

It’s actually very easy to totally lose track of the sheer number of real working piers that could, potentially, be constructed

to serve deep-draught ocean-going vessels, including the latest cargo container vessels, coming straight off the shipping

channel near Astoria – and to do so with unparalleled efficiency. In addition to the THREE piers already built at Smith

Point (Pier No. 3 is not quite completed) there are FOUR more unbuilt piers shown on the Lost Plans, for a “starter set”

of ….

SEVEN piers that have been surveyed, planned, engineered, and partially built at Smith Point, to be accompanied

by a full-on railyard with a dozen or more sidings, industrial facilities, including, for instance, nautical suppliers,

boat-builders, foundries, machine shops, mechanical and electrical outfitters and suppliers, fuel depots and tanks,

and additional Port facilities rounding Smith point and running up the Young’s River channel. A floating dry-

dock of 15,000 tons was once planned for Slip 2 on Pier 2, and yet was never constructed. Such a drydock – or

two or more of them – would be perfect for new slips at Pier 6 or Pier 7. And then,,,, how about those

TEN More Piers that could be built across Young’s Bay, in the area marked on the Lost Plans as the Warrenton

waterfront. Over this alluvially over-endowed estuary, there is a continuity of the legally surveyed pier-head-

bulkhead line, out to which PIERS 1-7 are to be built, which is still active and “on-the-books” with the Clatsop

County Surveyor’s office: this line, and the complements to it, such as a bulkhead line railroad right of way which

was not discussed in the text, only represents the century-old intention to further develop this “frontage” over the

sludge-pot of Young’s Bay, and turn it into an irreplaceable working waterfront. My own rough estimates suggest

an easy 10 piers here – but at this point, maybe a more modest proposal of, say 9 Piers only should be proposed

– but just mammoth ones that will be the envy of every harbormaster on the Pacific, or around the world for that

matter, to accommodate the very biggest, deepest-draft, latest-generation of container carriers. That’s

SEVENTEEN Piers. And if that’s not enough, build another ….

TEN More Piers again at FLAVEL from just downriver at Tansy Point Archeological Heritage Site, and on

out towards Jetty lagoon. I haven’t checked the Clatsop County records to find the pier-head-bulkhead line here,

but Capt. George Flavel, who knew the Columbia Bay and Bar perhaps better than anyone -- before or since --

purchased waterfront property here for the building of his town; and later, on the same waterfront, James J. Hill

constructed three piers out toward the shipping channel, to accommodate the deep draft liners of the Great

Northern Pacific Steamship Co. that brought thousands of passengers from San Francisco to Astoria, and then

on to Portland – by rail….

For TWENTY-SEVEN total – more or less – deep-water berths laying perpendicular to the main shipping

channel in within just a few short miles of the mouth of the Columbia –in fact, all of them effectively BELOW

Astoria proper. Of course, it may not be necessary to build all of these at once. But with some encouragement

from the Oregon Legislature and perhaps the new Governor, from the Oregon business community, from the U.S.

Navy, the Coast Guard, the Army Corps of Engineers, the Columbia River Bar Pilots, the Columbia River Pilots,

the ILWU, the Astoria Chamber of Commerce and a few other organizations – including the Port of Portland –

we could started on the first SEVEN…. OR

Add THREE more for THIRTY, a nice round number, by developing a few more deep-water berths along the

upper Astoria waterfront. As I mentioned in Part I, these terminals could be constructed parallel to the shipping

channel, in order to commemorate “the Portland way” of docking …..

You see, that in Astoria-Flavel, we here in Oregon are undeniably in possession of matchless harbor, with

unsurpassed potential for becoming one of the greatest harbors and ports on the Pacific …

Astoria “… is about to achieve greatness only through her own overmastering destiny.”

I almost forgot ….

How many? It’s not exactly clear at this point … a few maybe. Two? Three?

Of course, there’s a lot of alluvial deposition built-up there …. Gosh.

I mean, you’ll probably need to dig it out.

Like, to get a dredge or something down there. I think …. I think maybe there’s one working up at Exeter.

INDEED -- WHAT HAPPENED ? One has to ask, how – if Astoria does indeed have such utterly unsurpassed

potential as a deep-water sea-port -- how is it that the Port facilities collapsed to such a level, and how has it remained for

so long under-developed, having given place to Portland?

I’m not an engineer – but I believe I’m alone in early warning of this imminent & necessary shift.

These are my opinions: the first and immediate step to take is to completely restore, refurbish and freshly equip the existing

Three Terminals at the Port of Astoria, and repair and reconnect the defunct conventional rail-line linking them along the

Columbia South shore to Portland. This old SP&S rail line, now owned by the P&W RR and the City of Astoria, is – I

understand -- interrupted or derelict beyond Wauna to the west, and used for car storage. It should be completely

refurbished. A second parallel line should be laid, enabling one way traffic on each of two lines – although space for this

is tight. Presumably much track will have to relaid, and ties replaced, both on the line itself, and at the Port. These lines

will soon have to be upgraded to magnetic levitation (MAGLEV) lines.

The object must be to render shipments into and out of Portland as efficient and reliable as possible. Portland is the center

of Oregon’s business and manufacturing enterprises, and will remain so, of course. The Port of Portland will also remain

in operation handling all sort of cargo that does not need to travel by deep-draft container vessel, such as grain and other

fungible goods, and lumber. But the Port facility has seen the end of its dominance on the Columbia watershed.

An emergency fund for this work should be established by the Oregon legislature, a fund of at least $250 M – or the

equivalent to the amount squandered by Governor Kitzhaber, in his contract with Oracle. Make it double or nothing: since

some dredging and other improvements under the water-line will also be necessary, including cleaning out Port of Astoria’s

the Slip no 2 at Pier 3, which was never completed. Initial port construction costs were $4M in 1915, which, is almost $1B

in today’s dollars, adjusted for inflation. So to allocate $500M to refurbish this facility to 21st C. standards, is not

unreasonable -- with work to be completed within a year. This is a prudent investment of public funds -- every dollar

invested in the Port of Astoria NOW will yield limitless future returns for the regional and Oregon economies.

The Lost Plans indicate to our generation where the Port of Astoria was almost 100 years ago, ca. 1915: that is, in other

words, far, far ahead of where we are now, in 2015. It’s clear that Oregonians must now get “Back to the Future” our

grandfathers were once on the verge of creating through development here. Therefore, when budgeting for this project, the

total LACK of funding and support for the Port of Astoria over the intervening last CENTURY, has to be considered; as

likewise the hundreds of millions of dollars invested – shortsightedly as it turns out -- in the maintenance of the shipping

channel to the Port of Portland, and public funds invested in short-term improvements there. The last dredging project

concluded in 2010, at a cost of $285 M. Was that public money well-spent? Money invested into Astoria will be.

It’s important to get the existing three-pronged facility at Astoria WORKING first, before more piers are begun. The

existing port of Astoria has to become a sort of proving ground and training ground for determining precisely how, any

possible future development should be staged, and then placed into construction. In this way, many trained professional

eyes – port operators, crane operators, warehousemen, longshoremen, river pilots, bar pilots, civil engineers, Army Corps

engineers, etc. -- can began to observe Terminals 1-3 in full daily operation, and in doing so, contribute to an actual

practical dialogue on particulars of future improvements at the port. Then, in 2017, begin expansion to a full seven

terminals, and develop plans for transiting the Nehalem Mountains with MAGLEV lines from Astoria to Wilkesboro.

An advisory panel should also be established, I believe, so that initial phases of Port development may enjoy the benefit

of the expertise of all those divergent disciplines and industries that must participate in such a facility, for it to function at

peak efficiency. Incorporation of the perspectives of numerous such experts, will enable planning at a revived Port of

Astoria, to anticipate many problems of a material or technical nature, long before they otherwise occur. Captains of the

Oregon manufacturing industries, especially those who depend on heavy lifting and who are primary importers and

exporters, should be included. I would suggest men such as Bill Furman, President of the Greenbrier Corporation, which

owns Gunderson Inc., and Cory Yraguen, President of the Oregon Iron Works, and others who must have a comparable

business knowledge of Portland importing and exporting, and know the critical importance of reliable deliveries and

shipments. Consider for instance, Mark Donegan, CEO of Precision Cast Parts, or Conrad Winkler, President and CEO

of EVRAZ North America. Or Mac and Brad Callison at MACRO Manufacturing, Inc. These leading manufacturers

provide key products critical to the health of American industry, and thus the general economy.

Other advisors are equally crucial, especially men like Capt. Paul Amos, President of COLRIP; Mike Weston, business

director at the Port of Astoria, Gary Lewin, Administrative Pilot of the Columbia Bar Pilots, and Capt. Thron Riggs; also

Col. Jose L Aguilar, District Engineer for the Army Corps of Engineers, the ILWU representative, etc. etc. etc.

THIS REPORT represents the author’s independent & ongoing research on the Lower Columbia River, and in Astoria,

etc. going back as far as 2008. That many years of largely solo archival research and field work has resulted in the

idiosyncratic and unconventional research product before you. In that regard, it almost goes without saying that the

opinions, proposals and conjectures herein, are mine alone, as are any and all errors. Nevertheless:

Over the course of those 6-7 years, I have had assistance in locating documents from many quarters. I should first

acknowledge the collection of the Oregon Historical Society http://ohs.org/ and its dedicated archivists, including C. A.

Geoffrey Wexler and Scott Brown, not only for help accessing materials in the OHS collection, but for regularly providing

their valuable insights and recommendations. Thanks and acknowledgments to OHS volunteer Kathryn Notson, who is like

a walking encyclopedia on the history of railroading development – failed and otherwise -- in Oregon. Acknowledgements

are also due to the helpful staff at the State Archive in Salem. http://sos.oregon.gov/archives/Pages/default.aspx

The collection of the Clatsop County Heritage Museum, at Astoria, under the direction of Archivist Liisa Penner, was

invaluable, as was the assistance of her excellent staff. http://www.cumtux.org/ Also thanks to Clatsop County Historical

Society marketing & business director, Sam Rascoe for the chance to image some one-of-a-kind maps of Astoria in the

CCHS offices. Thanks to Mike Weston, Business Director at the Port of Astoria, http://www.portofastoria.com/ and to to

Vance Swenson, Clatsop County Surveyor, http://www.co.clatsop.or.us/publicworks/page/surveyor

Special thanks to Pacific University, http://www.pacificu.edu/ and to the PU Library http://www.pacificu.edu/libraries

librarians & library staff, for ongoing access to the government documents stacks, and for liberally providing computer

terminal time, both on this and similar projects. Thanks also to the Forest Grove City Library http://www.forestgrove-

or.gov/city-hall/library/library.html#!univmusicians for assistance with my never-ending stream of requests for I-L-L

materials – many of which are represented in this report.

I have not had the chance to consult with anyone in the management of the Port of Portland, and so offer my apologies for

any short-shrift given to the Port’s important ongoing operations on behalf of the regional economy.

As I said, all errors in this report are my own, as are all opinions expressed.

Thanks to Capt. Paul Amos, President of the Columbia River Pilots http://colrip.com/ -- the amazing river pilots whose

advanced skills and steady hands keep the freighters coming to Portland. I had the advantage over the last few years, of a

number of interview w/ Capt Amos on river-related subjects – especially channel dredging and dredge-tail depositions --

when the idea of the Port of Astoria was the farthest thing from my mind. Thanks likewise to Capt. Thron Riggs at

Columbia River Bar Pilots, http://columbiariverbarpilots.com/ for his time, insights and expertise. COLRIP, CBPA and

everyone else involved, can rest assured that this was never came up in our interviews; nevertheless, I hope that this Report

may prove to be in the best interest of all the intrepid pilots on the magnificent Lower Columbia River.

Special thanks are due to Stephen Dow Beckham, Prof. Emer. of History at Lewis & Clark College, and in my opinion the

don of Oregon historians. Prof Beckham did not see, review, comment on, or criticize this particular production, so he is

in no way responsible for it or its numerous shortcoming and outright mistakes – much less my own unconventional musings.

However, no one I know has a keener understanding for the panorama of Oregon history, a deeper dedication to the

development of historiography in Oregon, or a warmer passion to share his learning with others.

Dated: March 9, 2015

Roch Steinbach

President

http://www.sym-zonia.com/