Northwest Oregon is a geographic and cultural region of the U.S. state of Oregon, composed of Clatsop, Columbia, and Tillamook counties. [1] The region encompasses the northernmost parts of the state along the lower Columbia River.
Northwest Oregon is a geographic and cultural region of the U.S. state of Oregon, composed of Clatsop, Columbia, and Tillamook counties. [1] The region encompasses the northernmost parts of the state along the lower Columbia River.
The region was inhabited for thousands of years by the Chinook and Salish peoples.
In May 1792, American explorer Robert Gray became the first European American to navigate the Columbia River, trading with the native tribes and exploring up to 15 miles upriver. [2] Gray created a chart of the lower river, a copy of which was acquired by British explorer George Vancouver. Vancouver conducted a more thorough expedition of the river, traveling as far up as Mount Hood. [3]
The Lewis and Clark Expedition, led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, sighted the Pacific Ocean for the first time on November 7, 1805, arriving two weeks later. [4] [5] The expedition faced its second bitter winter camped on the north side of the Columbia River, in a storm-wracked area. [4] Lack of food was a major factor. The elk, the party's main source of food, had retreated from their usual haunts into the mountains, and the party was now too poor to purchase enough food from neighboring tribes. [6] On November 24, 1805, the party voted to move their camp to the south side of the Columbia River near modern Astoria, Oregon. Sacagawea, and Clark's slave York, were both allowed to participate in the vote, so this may have been the first time in American history where a woman and a slave were allowed to vote in an election run by European immigrants. Indigenous people had included women previously. [7]
On the south side of the Columbia River, 2 miles (3 km) upstream on the west side of the Netul River (now Lewis and Clark River), they constructed Fort Clatsop. [4] They did this not just for shelter and protection, but also to officially establish the American presence there, with the American flag flying over the fort. [8] [9] During the winter at Fort Clatsop, Lewis committed himself to writing. He filled many pages of his journals with valuable knowledge, mostly about botany, because of the abundant growth and forests that covered that part of the continent. [10] The health of the men also became a problem, with many suffering from colds and influenza. [6]
In 1811, British explorer David Thompson, the first person known to have navigated the entire length of the Columbia River, reached the partially constructed Fort Astoria near the mouth of the river. He arrived just two months after the Pacific Fur Company's ship, the Tonquin . [11] The fort constructed by the Tonquin party established Astoria as a U.S., rather than a British, settlement. [12] It became a vital post for American exploration of the continent and was later used as an American claim in the Oregon boundary dispute with European nations. Astoria is the oldest permanently inhabited settlement established by Americans on the Pacific coast.
In 1848, the area became part of the Oregon Territory, and became part of the state of Oregon following Oregon's admission to the Union in 1859.
Northwest Oregon is bounded on the north and much of the east by the Columbia River which separates it from the state of Washington, on the west by the Pacific Ocean, and on the southeast by the rest of Oregon. The Willamette meridian marks the southeast corner. [13] Saddle Mountain, at an elevation of 3,288 feet, is the highest mountain in the region. [14] It is part of the Oregon Coast Range, which takes up most of the interior of the region.
Generally, the following three counties are considered to be part of Northwest Oregon. Sometimes, parts of Washington County are included as well.
The total population of the region is 113,084. [15]
| City | County | Population (2015) [15] |
|---|---|---|
| St. Helens | Columbia | 13,158 |
| Astoria | Clatsop | 9,626 |
| Scappoose | Columbia | 6,954 |
| Seaside | Clatsop | 6,540 |
| Warrenton | Clatsop | 5,282 |
| Tillamook | Tillamook | 4,997 |
| Vernonia | Columbia | 2,143 |
| Columbia City | Columbia | 1,958 |
| Rainier | Columbia | 1,920 |
| Clatskanie | Columbia | 1,759 |
| Cannon Beach | Clatsop | 1,702 |
| Gearhart | Clatsop | 1,524 |
| Rockaway Beach | Tillamook | 1,347 |
| Bay City | Tillamook | 1,332 |
| Garibaldi | Tillamook | 783 |
| Manzanita | Tillamook | 622 |
| Wheeler | Tillamook | 419 |
| Nehalem | Tillamook | 278 |
| Prescott | Columbia | 49 |
| Year | Democratic | Republican | Others |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 47.7% 34,817 | 48.9%35,722 | 3.4% 2,480 |
| 2016 | 41.9% 25,187 | 46.4%27,893 | 11.7% 7,005 |
| 2012 | 51.9%28,158 | 43.7% 23,705 | 4.3% 2,349 |
| 2008 | 55.0%31,163 | 41.3% 23,362 | 3.7% 2,088 |
| 2004 | 51.2%29,774 | 47.1% 27,374 | 1.8% 1,029 |
| 2000 | 48.7%24,389 | 44.1% 22,094 | 7.1% 3,562 |
| 1996 | 50.4%22,782 | 34.1% 15,423 | 15.5% 7,008 |
| 1992 | 44.1%21,038 | 27.8% 13,269 | 28.1% 13,391 |
| 1988 | 56.2%22,586 | 41.5% 16,677 | 2.3% 929 |
| 1984 | 50.0%20,732 | 49.6% 20,600 | 0.4% 166 |
| 1980 | 44.9%18,127 | 41.8% 16,870 | 13.3% 5,370 |
| 1976 | 52.7%19,151 | 42.5% 15,437 | 4.8% 1,754 |
| 1972 | 47.1%15,558 | 46.9% 15,466 | 5.9% 1,951 |
| 1968 | 51.2%15,916 | 42.7% 13,279 | 6.1% 1,881 |
| 1964 | 70.6%21,345 | 29.1% 8,830 | 0.2% 79 |
| 1960 | 52.5%16,174 | 47.3% 14,577 | 0.2% 67 |
Politically, Northwest Oregon is divided. Clatsop County leans Democratic, having not voted for a Republican in a presidential election since 1956. Columbia County is traditionally Democratic, although in 2016 it voted for a Republican (Donald Trump) for the first time since 1928. Tillamook County is more of a swing county, voting Democratic 15 times and Republican seven times since 1932. Since 1920 it has also acted as somewhat of a bellwether, voting for the national winner all but three times since then.
Northwest Oregon is represented congressionally by Representatives Suzanne Bonamici (Clatsop and Columbia) and Kurt Schrader (Tillamook), both Democrats. Most of the region is represented in the Oregon State Senate by Betsy Johnson, a Democrat; it is represented in the Oregon House of Representatives by Brad Witt and Deborah Boone, also Democrats. Southern Tillamook County is served by Senator Arnie Roblan and Representative David Gomberg, also Democrats.
Astoria is a port city and the seat of Clatsop County, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1811, Astoria is the oldest city in the state of Oregon and was the first American settlement west of the Rocky Mountains. The county is the northwest corner of Oregon, and Astoria is located on the south shore of the Columbia River, where the river flows into the Pacific Ocean. The city is named for John Jacob Astor, an investor and entrepreneur from New York City, whose American Fur Company founded Fort Astoria at the site and established a monopoly in the fur trade in the early nineteenth century. Astoria was incorporated by the Oregon Legislative Assembly on October 20, 1876.
The Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery Expedition, was the United States expedition to cross the newly acquired western portion of the country after the Louisiana Purchase. The Corps of Discovery was a select group of U.S. Army and civilian volunteers under the command of Captain Meriwether Lewis and his close friend Second Lieutenant William Clark. Clark and 30 members set out from Camp Dubois, Illinois, on May 14, 1804, met Lewis and ten other members of the group in St. Charles, Missouri, then went up the Missouri River. The expedition crossed the Continental Divide of the Americas near the Lemhi Pass, eventually coming to the Columbia River, and the Pacific Ocean in 1805. The return voyage began on March 23, 1806 at Fort Clatsop, Oregon, and ended on September 23 of the same year.
Clatsop County is one of the 36 counties in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 census, the population was 37,039. The county seat is Astoria. The county is named for the Clatsop tribe of Native Americans, who lived along the coast of the Pacific Ocean prior to European settlement.
Warrenton is a small, coastal city in Clatsop County, Oregon, United States. Named for D.K. Warren, an early settler, the town is primarily a fishing and logging community. The population was 6,277 according to the 2020 US Census. Warrenton is a less urbanized area close to the Clatsop County capital Astoria, Oregon.
Washougal is a city in Clark County, Washington, United States. The population was 17,039 as of the 2020 census.
Chinookan peoples include several groups of Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest in the United States who speak the Chinookan languages. Since at least 4000 BCE Chinookan peoples have resided along the Lower and Middle Columbia River (Wimahl) from the river's gorge downstream (west) to the river's mouth, and along adjacent portions of the coasts, from Tillamook Head of present-day Oregon in the south, north to Willapa Bay in southwest Washington. In 1805 the Lewis and Clark Expedition encountered the Chinook Tribe on the lower Columbia.
Oregon Country was a disputed region of the Pacific Northwest of North America in the 19th century. The region was occupied by British and French Canadian fur traders from before 1810, as well as American settlers from the mid-1830s, with its coastal areas north from the Columbia River frequented by ships from all nations engaged in the maritime fur trade, most of these from the 1790s through 1810s being Boston-based. The Oregon Treaty of 1846 ended disputed joint occupancy pursuant to the Treaty of 1818 and established the British-American boundary at the 49th parallel.
The Oregon Coast is a coastal region of the U.S. state of Oregon. It is bordered by the Pacific Ocean to its west and the Oregon Coast Range to the east, and stretches approximately 362 miles (583 km) from the California state border in the south to the Columbia River in the north. The region is not a specific geological, environmental, or political entity, and includes the Columbia River Estuary.
The Columbia River drainage basin is the drainage basin of the Columbia River in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. It covers 668,000 km2 or 258,000 sq mi. In common usage, the term often refers to a smaller area, generally the portion of the drainage basin that lies within eastern Washington.
Fort Clatsop was the encampment of the Lewis and Clark Expedition in the Oregon Country near the mouth of the Columbia River during the winter of 1805–1806. Located along the Lewis and Clark River at the north end of the Clatsop Plains approximately 5 miles (8.0 km) southwest of Astoria, the fort was the last encampment of the Corps of Discovery, before embarking on their return trip east to St. Louis.
The Clatsop is a small tribe of Chinookan-speaking Native Americans in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. In the early 19th century they inhabited an area of the northwestern coast of present-day Oregon from the mouth of the Columbia River south to Tillamook Head, Oregon.
The Clatsop Plains are an area of wetlands and sand dunes between the Northern Oregon Coast Range and Pacific Ocean in northwestern Oregon in the United States. They stretch from near the mouth of the Columbia River south to the vicinity of Tillamook Head near Seaside. The plains are drained by several coastal rivers include the Skipanon River and the Necanicum River, which flow parallel to the coast and empty into the Columbia at Youngs Bay near Astoria and into the Pacific Ocean near Seaside respectively. At the time, the Lewis and Clark expedition recorded a different river draining the plains which entered the Pacific near the current day Camp Rilea Armed Forces Training Center. Research, 200 years later in 2005, seems to have confirmed this by locating an old river channel.
Clatsop Community College (CCC) is a public community college with facilities in Astoria and Seaside, Oregon. The college's service area includes Clatsop County, portions of Columbia and Tillamook counties and Pacific and Wahkiakum counties in Washington state.
The Lewis and Clark National Historical Park, located in the vicinity of the mouth of the Columbia River, commemorates the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Administration of the park, which includes both federal and state lands, is a cooperative effort of the National Park Service and the states of Oregon and Washington. The National Historical Park was dedicated on November 12, 2004.
The Columbia District was a fur trading district in the Pacific Northwest region of British North America in the 19th century. Much of its territory overlapped with the disputed Oregon Country. It was explored by the North West Company between 1793 and 1811, and established as an operating fur district around 1810. The North West Company was absorbed into the Hudson's Bay Company in 1821 under which the Columbia District became known as the Columbia Department. The Oregon Treaty of 1846 marked the effective end of the Hudson's Bay Company's Columbia Department.
Oregon pioneer history (1806–1890) is the period in the history of Oregon Country and Oregon Territory, in the present day state of Oregon and Northwestern United States.
The history of Oregon, a U.S. state, may be considered in five eras: geologic history, inhabitation by native peoples, early exploration by Europeans, settlement by pioneers, and modern development.
Comcomly was a Native American leader of the Lower Chinook, a group of Chinookan peoples indigenous to the Pacific Northwest, who inhabited the area near Ilwaco, Washington. Concomly spoke Lower Chinook and was known for his skill with diplomacy and trade.
Clatsop Spit is a giant sand spit on the Pacific coast along U.S. Route 101 between Astoria and the north end of Tillamook Head in Clatsop County, northwest Oregon at the mouth of the Columbia River. The Clatsop Spit was formed by Columbia River sediment brought to the coast by the river flow after the last ice age ended approximately 8500 years ago and the ocean level rose. Here it was worked over and shaped by the wind and the waves until a vast and sandy plain was formed. In regular conversation, referring to Clatsop Spit usually refers to the northern end of the spit: the area that is bound by the Pacific to the west and the Columbia River to the northeast. In the past, the spit was known as Clatsop Sands.
Ovide de Montigny was a French-Canadian fur trapper active in the Pacific Northwest from 1811 to 1822.
