A Deeper Look: Clatsop County

Tonquin

Those who go down to the sea in ships, who do business on great waters, they see the works of the Lord, and His wonders in the deep. Psalm 107:22-24

In the North Coast region, the counties that lie along the Pacific Ocean south of the Columbia River, Clatsop is the northernmost and includes the mouth of the Columbia. While Oregon City and the surrounding areas were settled early by pioneer immigrants, Astoria has the earliest settlement by Americans with the brief establishment of Fort Astoria in 1811. This was settled by fur traders sent out by John Jacob Astor, who also sent a ship, the Tonquin, that blew up and sank further up the coast at Vancouver Island. While that disaster was the result of an attack by Native Americans, the stretch of coast from about Tillamook Bay up past Vancouver Island became known as The Graveyard of the Pacific, due to unpredictable weather and dangerous coastal features. It is thought that more than 2000 ships have been lost along that strip of coastline since the Tonquin.

Clatsop County, of course, is included in that treacherous strip of coastline. The notorious bar at the mouth of the Columbia River is said to have claimed over 700 lives and even in safer modern times a few are lost there every year.

Astoria, the county seat since 1854, sits at the mouth of the Columbia River. In addition to being the first American settlement in Oregon, it was also visited by Lewis and Clark in their Voyage of Discovery in 1805 – 06. It is a point of entry for the early settlement of Oregon.

Astoria competed with Portland in the early days to be the major shipping port in Oregon. By the late 1800’s Portland had won out, but the infamous practice of crimping was heavily practiced in both ports until steamships made the recruiting of sailors unnecessary.  Those who supplied crews to the ships used sailor’s boarding houses to lure men into debt that was paid off by shipping aboard a vessel. The sailor’s wages went to the crimp, or boarding house owner, in payment of their board and room and the men were stuck in a never-ending cycle.

This was a miserable existence for sailors, and the Columbia River area, from Astoria to Portland, became internationally notorious for those practices, which sometimes included kidnapping.

However, there was a response to crimping in both those ports. The Seaman’s Friends Society, or the Seaman’s Christian Friends Society got its start on the British waterfront in the early 1800’s, then was established as the American Seaman’s Friends Society in New York. The West Coast branches were affiliated with the New York group. Their purpose was to fight the evils of crimping and to help better the lot of the sailors by evangelization, lodging, provisions, books and reading rooms, and other help as needed. Sometimes they were able to build boarding houses as safer, more wholesome alternatives to the crimps’ houses. This happened in Portland. Astoria may or may not have had such a boarding house, but the Society was active in Astoria, providing a chaplain, meals, lodging and help as they were able.

Clatsop County

Clatsop County, while not the most populous in the state, is important to pray over as a point of entry. The Columbia River has been an avenue for commerce as well as visitors and immigrants. We can repent for the harsh activities of the crimpers and shanghaiers of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and ask the Lord to cleanse the land, as well as spiritually close doors along the points of entry into the state.

The County has a five-member Board of Commissioners and a County Manager. The Board members are Mark Kujala, Chair; Lianne Thompson, Vice-Chair; John Toyooka; Pamela Wev; and Courtney Bangs. The County Manager is Don Bohn. The County Sheriff is Matthew D. Phillips.

How do we pray for Clatsop County?

The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, than the mighty waves of the sea. Psalm 93:4

Pray for those in leadership, that they have wisdom and insight into the County’s issues.

Pray for protection of the Sheriff’s department, for discernment and wisdom as they deal with all the varieties of human behavior.

Pray for ministries to be established in the spirit of the old Seaman’s Friends Society to minister spiritual and practical help to those in need in Clatsop County.