PORTLAND'S MARITIME HISTORY (IMAGES OF AMERICA)
Chapters in Portland's Maritime History:
1. The Steamers
The Columbia River is some 2,000 miles long, making it the second longest river
in the United States. In 1805, the well-known explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark put their canoes into the Columbia. Portland, Oregon, is located on the Willamette River, approximately 10 miles upstream from the Willamette's confluence with the Columbia River. By 1842, the sound of a steam whistle resounded across the water framing the power of the mighty rivers. Steamers offered one of the most efficient means of transportation for those traveling in the Pacific Northwest region. As more people came to explore and settle in the Portland area, many steamboats worked on both the Columbia and Willamette rivers.
2. Commercial Shipping
The Portland Harbor has the biggest wheat export in the United States and 3rd
largest in the world. The Port of Portland is also the third largest auto import gateway
in the country. Freight along the Columbia River in Portland also draws cargo from
east of the Mississippi, making the Port of Portland the nation’s second largest corn export center. Portland is even the most important bulk mineral port on the West
Coast. As it was when it began over a hundred years ago, Portland is now one of the largest export tonnage port hubs in the United States, thanks to the ships that come and go on her rivers.
3. The Liberty and Victory Ships of World War II
During World War II many emergency shipyards were generated to build for the
war. Created in February of 1942, the United States War Shipping Administration
made its first priority to warrant the design of war ships that came to be known as the Victory class. By 1941, the Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation was established in
Portland to build and repair both Liberty and Victory ships. Over 1000 of these
vessels were built there from 1941 to 1945.
4. Sunken Ships in Portland
As more people came to Portland along both the Columbia and Willamette Rivers, more hardships happened on the water. Steamboats on the Columbia River system were destroyed for a lot of reasons, including striking rocks, logs or snags. Sometimes a fire on the boat, a boiler explosion, or puncture or crushing by ice could shatter the hull. Ships had the same risks and scenarios. Collisions occurred between boats most often near landings and some without serious loss.
5. The Fred Devine Diving and Salvage Company
The Fred Devine Diving and Salvage Company (FDDS) has been a leader in diving and construction for nearly a century. The present day corporation grew from a diving company started by Fred Devine in the Swan Island Lagoon in Portland in 1913. They specialize in both heavy and light marine salvage, wreck removal, high capacity and heavy oil pumping, underwater inspections of vessels and structures, underwater repair, environmental dredging and sampling, receiving and delivery of ship stores. The star of their company is the vessel, the Salvage Chief, specially designed to operate under conditions common on the Pacific Northwest coasts
and Alaska.
6. Early Recreational Boating and Fishing
A clean and clear Willamette River is the pride of Portlanders who fish, paddle,
sail, pleasure-boat, swim, enjoy nature, and explore its waters. The Willamette is a
major tributary of the Columbia River, accounting for 12 – 15 percent of the
Columbia’s flow. The Willamette’s primary downstream segment is 187 miles long,
lying wholly in northwestern Oregon. Between 1879 and 1885, the Willamette River
was mapped by Cleveland S. Rockwell, a topographical engineer and cartographer
for the U. S. Coast Guard and Geodetic Survey. Soon boating became a popular
pastime as well as fishing. Fish in the Willamette River Basin includes 31 native
species consisting of cutthroat, bull, and rainbow trout, several species of salmon, sucker, minnow, sculpin, lamprey, sturgeon, stickleback, and many others.
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