Tag Archives: Willamette Valley

MONASTIC SPIRIT IN OREGON – CATHOLIC RIGOR IN THE BEAVER STATE

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Bell tower rises above the monastery chapel atop Mount Angel.
Bell tower rises above the monastery chapel atop Mount Angel.

Catholicism came to the Oregon Country as shown in an earlier post, in 1838 in response to the presence of Methodist missionaries who arrived four years prior and to a plea from local Hudson’s Bay Company employees allowed by the company to retire in Oregon with their Native American wives. The idea of monastic establishments – and here I will focus on Catholic monasteries – eventually followed though that was not well into the second half of the 19th century.

A quick aside, while most of the monastic communities are covered, there are the odd one or two missed – the small monastery just east of Eugene for several of the Discalced Carmelite Nuns. Also, one setting covered – the Grotto in northeast Portland – does include a monastery for men of the Servite Order, though since the order is a mendicant order – one who serves among the world as opposed to contemplative orders which try to isolate themselves – I am not sure of how much time those men housed here stay at home as opposed to using it more of a base to range out from.

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YAMHILL LOCKS – ALWAYS A LITTLE LATE TO THE GAME

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The walls of the Yamhill Locks remain; the dam is gone while the river still flows.
The walls of the Yamhill Locks remain; the dam is gone while the river still flows.

Three federally funded lock systems developed in Oregon with only the one at Willamette Falls remaining in some sort of functional capacity today. Cascade Canal and Lock -1878-1896 – submerged by Bonneville Dam; Dalles-Celilo Canal – 1905-1915 – lies under water from The Dalles Lock and Dam since 1956. Yamhill Locks closed in 1954. Gates and dam removed leaving the lock walls in place. The move to build the lock took over forty years. By the time of completion, time moved on, and the lock served little purpose for most of its fifty some year lifespan. 

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THE GREAT REINFORCEMENT – AMERICAN PUSH TO GAIN THE OREGON TERRITORY

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The Lausanne which carried members of the Great Reinforcement to the Oregon Country.
The Lausanne which carried members of the Great Reinforcement to the Oregon Country.

With a non-Native American population numbering in the low hundreds in the 1830s, the long-simmering struggle for control over the vast Oregon Country began its inexorable swing towards the United States.  Methodist missionaries doubled down on their numbers at their Willamette Mission sited a few miles north from today’s city of Salem along the Willamette River.  The Great Reinforcement brought fifty-one men, women and children from New York City all the way to the Hudson’s Bay Company fort at Vancouver. 

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MAGIC OF CHRISTIANITY – THE METHODIST MISSION TO OREGON

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Scene from Henry Eld Jr.'s Encampment on the banks of the Willamette with the Methodist Mission on the opposite side of the River - 1841 Oregon Territory - Yale Collection.
Scene from Henry Eld Jr.’s Encampment on the banks of the Willamette with the Methodist Mission on the opposite side of the River – 1841 Oregon Territory – Yale Collection.

Most stories – articles or books – discussing the Methodist Mission of Jason Lee to Oregon which lasted from 1834 until 1843, start with the same story.  The story of four Native Americans who came to St. Louis to ask Missouri governor William Clark – yes, the same “Clark” of the Lewis & Clark fame – for teachers to provide them with the power of white man’s religion. Of the Native Americans, three were of the Nez Percé tribe and one was a Flathead elder.  The two tribes were both neighbors and friends.  They reached St. Louis early in October 1831, soon after meeting with Governor Clark, also the superintendent of Indian Affairs.

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YELLOW STACK LINE – STEAMY HURRAH ON THE WILLAMETTE

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Yellow Stack Line's Grahamona loading at Salem.
Yellow Stack Line’s Grahamona loading at Salem.

Steamboats provided the basis of transportation for the Northwest for much of the latter part of the 19th century. Railroads and, later, truck traffic ended the golden age of river transport.  In Oregon, the Willamette Valley was welded together for much of fifty plus years by little steamboats making their way up and down the river. They braved high waters and with designs allowing for small drafts, they puffed along their way in periods of low water, as well. One of the steamboat lines coming late to the game was one of the more dramatic, made so by the yellow smoke stacks sprouting off all of their boats. This was the Yellow Stack Line.

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WILLAMETTE FALLS LOCKS – OPENING THE DOOR TO THE VALLEY

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Governor Grover transiting through Lock 3 in 1873. OHS

Willamette Landings was a book I originally read in the sixth or seventh grade a long time ago. The book details the little settlements growing along the Willamette River in the mid to late 19th century when the river served to connect the Valley to each other and the outside world. The book impressed me so much I was able to convince my parents to take a trip visiting some of the old sites, including rides on the three ferries remaining – still, today, as well – in operation crossing the river. The key to being able to use the river as a transportation artery was the development of the Willamette Falls Locks in 1873.

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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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