Our first stop was Astoria, Oregon. This city is situated near the mouth of the Columbia River. The mouth of the Columbia River is made treacherous by the presence of many shoals and bars, known as the Columbia River Bar. This is one of the most treacherous stretchs of water int the world. And something like 2000+ boats have sunk here. The area is known as the “Graveyard of the Pacific”.
Our first stop on our Hop-on-Hop-off tour was the ornated Victorian 1885 home of Captain George Flavel, a prominent maritime pilot and entrepreneur.
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More Flavel House
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Flavel made his fortune when he became one of
the first pilots that was able to navigate the Bar, so he was able to build a
fortune piloting boats into and out of the Columbia River. To this day, every boat coming into the
Columbia River must have a licensed Columbia River pilot aboard to assist with the
navigation. There are currently about
122 pilots licensed specifically for working the Bar. Their work is very important and dangerous
(jumping from a pilot boat onto a rolling ocean-going vessel, and visa versa,
can be dangerous). Their annual salary
(average $550,000 per year) reflects the importance of their work.
Astoria was the terminus of the Great Northern Railway. In commemoration of the railway and the Astor family’s contribution to the city, a large column was constructed at the top of a hill overlooking the Columbia. The Astoria Column was built in 1926, is 125 feet high and topped with an observation deck and has 164 steps on the interior Spiral Staircase.
The exterior was beautiful and fascinating. It is decorated with a sgraffito frieze or mural. Sgraffito is a decorative art form used often in the Mediterranean area. The frieze spials all the way to the top and depicts various historical events and Oregon scenes. If unrolled, the 7-foot wide spiral would stretch 525 feet.
The frieze was made by layering seven layers of differing colors of stucco (dark browns through light tans/creams) over the concrete tower. The artists then made the design by scratching ito the layers until getting to the color layer they wanted. The technique didn’t hold up so well in the wet, Oregon weather. The design has had to be restored a couple of times.
Paul climbed all the way to the top and got great views of the city, the river, and the surrounding mountains. The views were great.
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More Views from Astoria Column
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We were given little airplanes to throw off the top of the tower. There were a lot on the ground around the tower base.
After boarding the boat, we headed back up river for more great cruising.
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