Tag Archives: Astoria

ASTORIA TO SALEM ROAD – MAGIC AHEAD OF ITS TIME?

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Cuillin smiling atop Saddle Mountain. The Astoria to Salem Road ventured around the peak – Green Mountain – in the center – Mouth of the Columbia River and Astoria lie above.

The 1840’s saw emigrants begin to make Oregon – especially the Willamette Valley – a destination of choice.  After a brief struggle, newcomers chose to make Salem the capital of the new Territory instead of Oregon City.  But Salem was definitely an inland choice.  Transportation to the sea was needed to enable easier communication with the rest of the World as opposed to a six-month jaunt across the Rockies.  As the 1850’s rolled on, the best choice of a seaport lay at the mouth of the Columbia River – enter the Astoria to Salem Road, military in purported purpose, but strategic thinking lay at the heart.

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ASTORIA’S DOUGHBOY – UNIONTOWN’S MONUMENT TO LOCAL SOLDIERS OF THE GREAT WAR

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The Astoria Soldiers Monument

DOUGHBOYS REMEMBERED

Drive on US 30 as the highway meets US 101 underneath the Oregon side of the Astoria-Megler bridge over the Columbia River and you pass a small statue of a World War I soldier.  The monument is “the Doughboy” or Astoria’s Doughboy. Doughboy refers to the nickname given to American infantrymen during the Great War. The nickname continued to refer to American soldiers until the Second World War nickname “G.I.”.

World War 1 was a major event in the country’s history. The war pushed a somewhat unwilling nation onto the international stage.  Not since the American Civil War had something like World War 1 transfixed the US. During that war, some 10% of the population of the Union served in the Federal Army.  By 1918, with 4.8 million serving in the armed forces, 4.7% of the population had served.

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