Tag Archives: Clatsop County

WATERS FALLING IN THE RAIN FORESTS OF THE LOWER COLUMBIA

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Last wintery look at Beaver Falls.
Late wintery view at Beaver Falls, one of the most magnificent found in the Lower Columbia.

Waterfalls abound throughout the State of Oregon, especially in the western hills. Abundant rains fall throughout the forests filling streams cascading over lava cliffs. To catch these falls at their height means an off-season journey. Summer season can mean little or no rain for a month or more at a time making the falls seem much tamer than when they are at their fullest. Here, a small collection of waterfalls taken from the area around the Lower Columbia. This area gets pelted with rains out of summer. Astoria averages 86 inches of rain a year – Portland, by contrast, averages a mere 36 inches.

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TURN OF THE CENTURY COURTHOUSES OF CHARLES BURGGRAF

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The former courthouse of Douglas County designed by Charles Burggraf – 1891

COUNTY COURTHOUSES OF OREGON

Of Oregon’s thirty-six counties, nine featured courthouses designed by Charles Burggraf at the turn of the 19th century.  Burggraf was an Oregon-based architect and German immigrant.  Three of those nine are still in use today, with two still operating as county courthouses while the other is a museum.

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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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