By Jim Farrell I have an inquisitive and adventurous nature about me that sometimes–well, a lot of the time–gets me into trouble. But sometimes I stumble upon a good story! Such was the case when I began to dig around old newspapers looking for information about the Canemah shipyards that were just above the Willamette…
Category: Jim’s blog
Chief Seattle’s 1854 reply to President Franklin Pierce
In 1854, President Franklin Pierce, made an offer for a large area of Indian land and promised a “reservation” for the Indian people. Chief Seattle’s reply has been described as the most beautiful and profound statement of the environment ever made. How can you buy or sell the sky, the warmth of the land? The…
Astor’s Ship, Tonquin and the Columbia River Bar
By Jim Farrell Editor: And now the first of the story. The Columbia River Bar is reputed to be the most dangerous bar crossing in the world. After crossing, it more times than I care to count, I definitely agree. Even with the now well-marked channel, GPS, and a Coast Guard station right there, it…
Astor’s Ship Tonquin, The final voyage
By Jim Farrell Editor note: Now for the rest of the story… Just up the west coast of Vancouver Island, from Barkley Sound and just off the coast of Tofino lies Strawberry Island and what’s reputed in 2003 to be the anchor of Astor’s ship Tonquin. It was reported by the New York Times in…
Lorine (Mom) Pursley Farrell
By Jim Farrell On May 3, 2022, she would have been100 years-old, an age she wanted to achieve, but she died three and a half years ago. This lady was raised in the logging camps of the Olympic Peninsula, on the “west end”, where the only way to even reach Port Angeles, WA was by…