Name: Oregon Coast Highway
Brand: Laura E. Wilt
SKU: 9781467103374
Price: 24.99 USD
Availability: InStock

Oregon Coast Highway

9781467103374

$24.99

By the time the final links in the Oregon Coast Highway were made in 1936, the highway stretched 394 miles from Astoria to the border of California. It had taken 12 years to complete the construction over stretches of rugged headlands and thick forests. Early travel along the coast was difficult; what roads existed were generally unimproved and often completely impassable during the rainy winter months. In many cases, the beaches themselves served as the only means of transporting freight and passengers. When Maj. Henry Bowlby, the first Oregon State Highway engineer, outlined a proposed system of state highways in 1914, he presented the vision of a coastal highway to the Oregon State Highway Commission. The eventual construction of this highway opened access to the Willamette Valley and beyond for many formerly isolated coastal communities. It also signaled an economic shift that included the promotion of tourism and the accommodation of the flood of visitors anxious to take advantage of the spectacular vistas along the Oregon coast.

Cover image for Oregon Coast Highway, isbn: 9781467103374

Oregon's Highway 99

9781467115346

$24.99

From the Columbia River to the Siskiyou Mountains, Highway 99 traverses 300 miles of western Oregon. Big cities and small towns, the level Willamette Valley and steep hills, rich agricultural lands and tall evergreen forests, and rushing rivers all lie along its path. Arising from an early network of emigrant trails, stagecoach routes, and farm-to-market roads, the highway had developed into Oregon's major transportation corridor by the end of the 19th century. The dawn of the automobile age saw an exponential increase in traffic, creating a greater demand for improved roads; these better roads, in turn, created yet more traffic for both business and recreation. Roadside businesses, such as auto courts, restaurants, and service stations, sprang up along the highway to cater to a new type of motorist--the tourist. Today, much of Highway 99 and its predecessor, the Pacific Highway, remain in daily use.

Tillamook Rock Lighthouse

9781467128322

$23.99

Built in 1880, Oregon's Tillamook Rock Lighthouse has had the most notorious reputation of any lighthouse on the Pacific Coast of the United States. Fierce storms regularly catapulted huge boulders through the lantern, with waves that broke over its 136-foot height earning it the modern nickname "Terrible Tilly." It has been described as a pint-sized Alcatraz, and many keepers could not stand its confinement. However, there were some who actually enjoyed it and even came to love it. A rare glimpse of the more pleasant side of daily life on "the Rock" is shown in newly rediscovered historic photographs taken by the keepers who faithfully served there. This important visual legacy serves to temper the horrific view of Terrible Tilly and provides a new perspective: that perhaps an assignment to Tillamook Rock Lighthouse was not so wholly terrible after all.

Fort Stevens

9780738559339

$24.99

Fort Stevens State Park, named in honor of Gen. Isaac Ingalls Stevens, is located in Warrenton, Oregon, at the mouth of the Columbia River. In February 1862, the U.S. Congress appropriated $100,000 to build defenses against possible naval invasion. In November 1864, a detachment from Fort Canby was sent to guard the fort in case of Confederate reprisals with the reelection of President Lincoln. The historical section of the park includes remnants of the early batteries, a memorial rose garden, armaments, and a museum dedicated to the history of the fortress and the wreck of the barque Peter Iredale. Fort Stevens was the only military site in the continental United States shelled during World War II. Decommissioned after that war, the military cemetery and former military housing are located adjacent to the historical area.

USCG Air Station and Group Astoria

9780738589206

$24.99

US Coast Guard Air Station and Group Astoria was established on August 14, 1964, at Tongue Point in Astoria. It is currently located at the Warrenton-Astoria Regional Airport in Warrenton, Oregon. The group includes Air Station Astoria, the Aids to Navigation Team, Station Grays Harbor at Westport, Washington, Station Cape Disappointment in Ilwaco, Washington, and Station Tillamook Bay at Garibaldi, Oregon. They also supply support for the USCG cutter Alert (WMEC-630), USCG cutter Steadfast (WMEC-623), USCG cutter Fir (WLB-213), the National Motor Lifeboat School, the Electronic Support Detachment at Astoria, the Advanced Rescue Swimmer School, the Marine Safety Detachment, and the Advanced Helicopter Rescue School. In August 2011, the unit became USCG Sector Columbia River.

Lighthouses and Lifesaving on the Oregon Coast

9780738548876

$24.99

The Oregon Coast has been the site of shipwrecks even before Lewis and Clark's arrival in 1805. Even as the population grew, the federal government let the Oregon Coast go unguarded by lighthouses and lifesavers for decades. Economic and political pressures finally forced the government to build the first Oregon lighthouse in 1857 at the Umpqua River. The LifeSaving Service followed in 1878 with a station at the mouth of Coos Bay. Eventually, most of the harbor entrances and headlands were protected by both the Lighthouse Service and the LifeSaving Service, the precursor to today's Coast Guard. Lighthouses and Lifesaving on the Oregon Coast commemorates the true heroes who served to warn, protect, and rescue those who went to sea.

Lighthouses and Lifesaving on the Oregon Coast

Camp Rilea

9781467132305

$24.99

Camp Rilea, originally named Camp Clatsop, was founded in 1927 and soon became the Oregon National Guard's preferred training site--a claim that still holds true today. Located on the picturesque Oregon coast in the town of Warrenton, near Astoria, Camp Rilea covers 1,800 acres and includes three miles of Pacific coast beachfront. The historical photographs in this book tell a fascinating story of the important role Camp Rilea has played over time to all who have passed its gates for generations. Since the early days, Camp Rilea Armed Forces Training Center sealed its reputation as the premier regional location offering maneuver areas, facilities, and ranges supporting myriad military units, law enforcement agencies, and public safety and utility-related organizations. A valued community partner, Camp Rilea also hosts many civic and social events, including sports camps, track and field competitions, and Boy Scout gatherings. Come see what really happens "behind the dune" at Camp Rilea.

Portland Rose Festival

9780738596143

$24.99

At the end of the Lewis and Clark Exposition in 1905, the president of the Portland Street Fair and Carnival Association, E.W. Rowe, presented the idea of an annual festival to Portland mayor Harry Lane. From that idea came the first Rose Festival, called the Rose Carnival and Fiesta, held June 20-22, 1907. It was hailed as a huge success. "There is no reason in the world why Portland should not hold a rose festival every year," remarked the Oregonian on June 21. "Everyone will be happier and better all the rest of the year for the festival of roses." And indeed, that has been the case. From just a three-day event, the Rose Festival has expanded over the years to include many activities covering several months every spring and summer.

The Oregon State Fair

9780738548777

$24.99

Since the first Oregon State Fair was held on four acres along the Clackamas River in the Gladstone/Oregon City area in 1861, the fair has been the focal point of Oregon culture--a place to see and be seen and to compete against the best in the state. It has been a place of victory and a place of discovery for nearly 150 years. For many generations of Oregonians, the fair was a chance for families and friends to reunite and share the excitement of this grand, uniquely Oregon event. Today the fair's popularity continues and, for 12 days each year, transforms the fairgrounds in Salem into the fifth largest city in the state.

Building the Columbia River Highway

9781626192713

$21.99

When nine-hundred-foot ice age floods carved the Columbia River Gorge through the Cascade Mountains to the sea, little space was left for man to form a highway of his own. It took an artist-poet-engineer extraordinaire to conquer this reluctant piece of real estate and produce the nation's first scenic highway. Meet Sam Hill, the mover and shaker, and Samuel Lancaster, the polio survivor, who turned modern engineering on its ear to create a "poem in stone." Today, Oregon's historic Columbia River Highway is hidden among the trees, where it meanders past spectacular waterfalls and dramatic views. Ride along with Peg Willis as she explores the beginnings of this miracle highway and the men who created it.