July 16th, a beautiful day so we decided to hop on the car and head to Astoria, along the Columbia River. Astoria is a maritime town, surrounded by natural beauty, and claims a heritage as a center of fur trading, fishing and logging. Nestled against the hills along the Columbia River, Astoria's numerous Victorian homes overlook the town named for the early fur trader, John Jacob Astor. Rich in colorful history - including the arrival of Capt. Robert Gray in 1792 and the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1805. This is the oldest settlement west of the Rockies.
The city of Astoria sits lies mostly upriver from milepost 0 on Highway 101.
Highway 101 from Astoria to the California state line is part of our national scenic heritage. Mile 0 in Oregon is the southern end of the Astoria-Megler Bridge. Over 4 miles long, this bridge is the longest continuous three-span, through-truss bridge in the world. Construction began in 1962 and was completed in 1966. This bridge completed Highway 101 and made it an unbroken link between the Canadian and Mexican borders.
From here we travelled south to Warrenton. We stopped to see the Ship-wreck Peter Iredale. The Peter Iredale was a four masted steel barque sailing vessel that ran ashore October 25, 1906 on the Oregon Coast en route to the Columbia River. It was abandoned on Clatsop Spit near Fort Stevens in Warrenton, about four miles south of the Columbia River channel. Wreckage is still visible, making is a popular tourist attraction as one of the most accessible shipwrecks of the Graveyard of the Pacific.
We also stopped at Fort Stevens, the United States' major defense for the mouth of the Columbia River from the Civil War until the end of WWII. Fort Stevens is the only military installation on the continental United States to have been fired upon by an enemy since the war of 1812. On June 21, 1942, a Japanese submarine surfaced just south of Battery Russell (part of the fort). According to the Japanese War History
Office 17 rounds were fired beginning at 11:00pm. Much to the disappointment of the soldiers on duty, all batteries were ordered to remain silent. Lack of personnel on duty, poor technology to targeting and calculations that the submarine was out of range are among the speculations as to why Fort Stevens did not return fire. Failing to provoke a conflict, the Japanese submarine charted a new course to patrol off the Aleutian Islands.Another fun day of sight seeing in the area. We are staying at Cannon Beach, Oregon, I will more on that and photos later..... That is all for now.... Candy
