Oregon City Day 3

[olivermoss]

I had so much to say about Day 2, I forgot to point out that these factories is where the Leverage episode The Last Dam Job was filmed. And hey all of OG Leverage is on youtube now so I can link it. Some of it is filmed inside the factories, but starting at about 34:25, it's all a different view of the same places I am shooting. A really good view, damn I wish I could get access. But, the hydro plant there is actually still running. It's one of the oldest still working power plants in the world.

Old metal coal company sign embedded in a tree:


There are a lot of small hikes I wanted to do in the area, but I kinda wanted to get back to Portland and my indoor shower. Also, I had to check out of the room and didn't want to hike with my computer on my back. So, I went for a short ramble. I kinda wanted to check out the Amtrak station for the area, just a silly little thing to go see. Oregon City's station is a whistlestop, the trains only stop if there is a ticked passenger for that station. But, it's got an actual station building because this was supposed to be the big city for the entire region. So I go and see that the station building is now a brewpub. And I didn't know? I seriously considered staying until they opened, but I'd had a beer the previous day so I just kept wandering. But, next time station-turned-brewpub, next time.

I then saw shapes that looked like the frames of covered wagons. I went over to see the End of the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center. So, I kind of hate covered wagon imagery because most colonists came by settler train and we just pretend it was pioneers who can't go back, are now trapped and must go on once they've started blah blah blah. So I went in very leery. Turns out the center nearly closed during covid, but they got some major grants and are in the middle of a project to redo the center showing the actual history, bring in indigenous and other voices, update the language and more. It's on a good piece of land and they grow crops using heirloom seeds. The current center does address the impact of Black exclusion laws, but the lady told me they are going to do a much better job of it in the remodel.

Also, the center has a pet chicken:


I don't know when/if the Willamette Falls redo project is going to pick up steam, but the area has two major projects that are expected to bring in tourists and address the colonization aspect of the area. Could be really interesting. But, uh, they really, really need to do something about how people drive through there. Even the most car-loving tourist expects to walk around the downtown with it's historic buildings, tons of cafes, bars serving solid menus of bar food and surprising amount of tattoo parlors for such a small area.

And cute thrift stores:


I mentioned the problem in my 2018 post as well. I am not shy about asserting my pedestrian rights, but I am also not an idiot an just don't fuck with some of the intersections there.

Comments

[grrlpup]

So glad to hear this about the interpretive center! I poked around Oregon City maybe fifteen? years ago and found the "we love white pioneers" vibe creepy. (Although I appreciated the chance to see a real Carnegie library in operation; they have since expanded but looks like the original building is still incorporated.) I'll try again when renovations and the Willamette Falls project have progressed!

[james]

I agree - my partner and I prefer to go to a place we want to visit, and just walk everywhere. Or take public transit if it's an option. I refuse to drive in unfamiliar cities because that's how you kill people. Best is taking the train to the town and just not even bringing the car.

[oracne]

What a beautiful chicken picture!

[olivermoss]

Thanks!

[olivermoss]

There's a lot to see on foot here and a very nice downtown. I wouldn't want to drive in that kind of crazy traffic even if I did drive.

[olivermoss]

Yeah, Oregon City is an intense place. The plan was use the falls to create the industrial center of a white ethno-state and now about half that area, and a main reason people visit, is owned by local tribes.

I didn't visit the library, but I will on a future visit.

[mistressofmuses]

The sign embedded in the tree is cool!

And such a photogenic chicken!

The future plans for the interpretive center sound really interesting. I hope they're able to do all that they hope to.

Ugh, the safety as a pedestrian really sounds terrible, though.

[olivermoss]

Yeah, I like the area enough that I've thought of moving down there more than once, but there is a serious problem with the masses of trucks and SUVs flowing through. Like, consumer trucks not work trucks.

[mistressofmuses]

Turns out we *did* drive through there on our trip to Oregon in 2018, though I'm fairly sure we did not stop. I found my crappy, blurry, off-center, from-the-moving-car pics of the elevator, ha.

But ugh. There are way too many places where drivers seem willing to risk pedestrian lives, which I know you just encountered. It sucks for anyplace to be so bad by that metric that it impacts how much you want to live or even visit there.

[olivermoss]

I think Oregon City is a place a lot of people drive through to get elsewhere, possibly because the roads were set up for Oregon City to be the main hub and it's just not, not in the least.

Yeah, horrible drivers are everywhere but there it's a really intense problem.

[mistressofmuses]

It's interesting to have a place like that - that was intended to be a hub, and has some of the infrastructure still in place for that, like being such a major crossroads - but just didn't end up that way.

People are not nearly aware enough of the fact that they're piloting death machines. It sucks that it's so magnified there. Probably because it IS such a common area for people to go through, but isn't their destination, so they just rush on through.