Category Archives: General Pacific Northwest History

JAMES NESMITH – PIONEER TO THE SENATE – FORGOTTEN OREGON GIANT

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Final resting place of James W. Nesmith
Final resting place of James W. Nesmith

Oregon in its early days featured many folks who by today’s standards would score very low with Political Correctness points.  James Willis Nesmith falls into that category, but with some redeeming qualities.  One of Oregon’s first politicians, his time began with the Provisional Government, extending through the Territorial period well into Oregon’s early Statehood years.  A member of the so-called Salem Clique, a group of Democratically inclined politicians who were prominent in that era, Nesmith outlasted the Clique’s breakup with the Civil War, serving as one of Oregon’s senators through the war years. 

He was one of only eight Democratic senators – four Border State Democrats and four Union Democrats – to vote in favor of the 13th Amendment outlawing slavery.  He abstained from the senate vote on the 14th allowing equal rights to all citizens under the law.  Here, he was following the lead of President Andrew Johnson, a fellow Unionist.  His allegiance to his fellow Democrat would cost him in the years to come.

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REVISITING THE “CAYUSE WAR” – MURDER, REVENGE AND A NEW TERRITORY

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Print from a wood-engraving by N. Orr & Co., originally published in Frances Fuller Victor’s, The River of the West, circa 1870.

Early relationships between European newcomers and Native Americans living in the Pacific Northwest certainly went no better than in most other regions of the Americas.  European supremacy became much easier through early introduction of disease, an actual prelude in many cases to actual ethnic introductions.  Bad as the era directly before the two peoples came together face to face was, disease continued to inflict the Native populations, a factor leading directly to ill will and what became known as the “Cayuse War” in 1847.

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PILLARS OF HERCULES – NEW WORLD TWIST ON AN OLD CLASSIC

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Pillars of Hercules rise to the right of Cigar Rock.

Flying along Interstate 84, you might catch an ephemeral glance at a waterfall or two. If you know when to look.  Traffic speeds along well above the speed limit of 65 mph. The number of cars and trucks seem to exponentially increase with the years.  Pity the traveler who finds themselves stuck behind one of the giant propellors heading to the wind farms just south of the east end of the Columbia River Gorge. Road travel has come a long way since the first road was put in over 150 years ago. Basalt columns occur in many areas along the way. So, the columns and cliffs jutting up to the south of the freeway just west of the Bridal Veil exit – exit 44 – might not garner an extra glance from a speeding car.  You have just missed noting the Pillars of Hercules.

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DESCHUTES RAILROADS FEUD DEEP IN THE CANYONS

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On the old railbed of the Des Chutes Railroad with the river below.

Type in a query for ‘railroad wars’ and you will find three events under the Wikipedia entry for “railroad wars”.  The last event was the “Deschutes Railroad War”.  Of the three, this is the shortest entry.  The entry focuses on the actual building difficulties of the two Deschutes railroads erected on either side of the river.   But to really understand the real reason for the enmity between the competing rail companies, we need to go further back before the 1912 construction of the two lines.

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RAIL LAND GRANTS – PLAYING CHECKERS ON THE NORTHWESTERN MAP

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Oregon & California lands given back to the federal government include much of the BLM lands – orange. These were part of the original land grants given to the O&C Rail Road.

Looking at maps showing Federal lands of the West, you quickly notice a checkerboard arrangement incongruously drawn without seeming reason.  Certainly, no topographical purpose.  You now see the result of the rail land grants – grabs – of the 19th century.

One of Abraham Lincoln’s main planks to his 1860 presidential campaign became realized by the 1862 Pacific Railway Act.  This gave Congress the ability to grant land and low-cost loans to railway companies building lines across the West.  Lincoln’s goal was a transcontinental line to unite California and the Pacific Coast to the rest of the country.

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RAIL STATIONS OF THE NORTHWEST – MULTIPLE STATIONS BETTER THAN ONE?

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Union Station in Seattle – originally the Oregon & Washington Railroad Depot.

As rail travel in the western US continues to be a fade from the past, many people have forgotten several cities used to have more than one passenger terminal to use.  Some of the multiple rail stations have survived in other guises.  Some, simply gone.

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DEVELOPMENT – REALIGNMENT, US 101 ON EDGE OF OREGON

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Nestucca Spit - saved from realignment of US 101 by then Secretary of State Robert Straub.
Nestucca Spit – saved from realignment of US 101 by then Secretary of State Robert Straub.

US 101 is the main focus for would-be tourists to Oregon.  The Oregon coastline is truly spectacular.  The Oregon Coast Highway provides the main access for those wishing to see the magic.  Driving the length of the magnificent road gives one an excellent window into the wildness, beauty and changeability of a unique environment.

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GREAT DUNE OF KIWANDA – MAGIC ON THE OREGON COAST

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Erosion continually reshapes the landscape at Cape Kiwanda.

The Oregon Coast spans some fantastically beautiful scenery.  Driving along US 101 in the summer can be a bit frustrating at times stuck behind the travel trailers and rvs making their way north or south along the highway, but there is a reason so many are there.  People ask me what the favorite spot I have along the long coastline.  That is a lot like the question what your favorite travel place in the world is.  There are simply too many. One recent spot I discovered was the mystical charms to be discovered atop the Great Dune of Cape Kiwanda.

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THE DOUBLE NINE – PACIFIC HIGHWAY – DIVERGENCE AND WEALTH SHARING IN THE WILLAMETTE VALLEY

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Double Nine – East Side Version.

As a child, road maps drew me in. The lines on the map fascinated me, linking places I had never been to or heard of together. Numbers linked with the lines created journeys for discovery. In 1926, the federal government came up with a plan to number highways to replace names – in this case, the Pacific Highway – in order to establish an integrated system of roads throughout the country. The so-called “Federal system” did not mean the federal government built or maintained the roads. That process remained the responsibility of local and state governments. Highways simply gained numbers and signs so auto drivers could determine their location.

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PORTLAND RAIL BRIDGES – CONNECTING THE ROSE CITY TO THE WORLD

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Steel Bridge carries trains and pedestrians on the lower deck; light rail and auto traffic use the upper deck.

There are many articles – blog posts or otherwise – and even books about the bridges of Portland, Oregon.  Of the twelve bridges along the Willamette River – four more on the Columbia – little space usually covers the Burlington Northern Railroad Bridge 5.1 or the rail portion of the Steel Bridge.  If you exclude the new Tilikum Crossing Bridge, which carries light rail tracks and buses, the other rail bridges lack the grace of the St Johns or Fremont Bridges and the traffic of all of the other bridges – maybe the Steel excluded.

A recent post about the rail ferry at Kalama, Washington, some forty-five minutes north of the city, got me thinking about railroads and history.  While at first glance, both are reasonably complicated, in the case of the main rail bridges in Portland, like the ferry at Kalama, it all comes down to James J. Hill.

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