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Pacific Railroad

Saturday, February 27th, 2010

Pacific Railroad

The Pacific Northwest in the Mid 1800s to Early 1900s

The Pacific Northwest consists of Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia and is defined by regions of culture and architecture. Long before 1850, about 10,000 years ago to be more specific, Indians lived a hunting-gathering life-style. One of the three identified types of Indians was the Coastal Indians who sported two types of structures: the Chinook house and the Alaskan house. The Alaskan house was, of course, built just north of the Pacific Northwest. Indians saw the land as sacred whereas the white people who came to America and transformed the landscape into farming saw the land as a utility. This Utilitarian outlook was, perhaps, derived from the bible, a misleading document that seems to justify the destruction of the planet.

Before the time of the railroad Captain Cook initiated maritime fur trading without permanently settling. Then in the early 19th century permanent pods were established including the Hudson Bay Company. After 1834 missions were organized in order to convert the Indians to Christianity. The nature of the Methodist Church is of domination, whether it be over land or over people. Agriculture was the culture in Oregon but in Washington and British Columbia trees were the most important resource and was the basis of the economy. Cities in California such as San Francisco were built out of lumber from Seattle and Victoria.

The Oregon Territory (Oregon and Washington) had a Donation Land Law in order to get people to come to the area and develop the land. In an agreement to occupy land for a minimum of four years, 320 acres were given to each person or 640 acres per married couple. The Donation Land Act was credited with bringing 30,000 people into Oregon before its expiration in 1855 but was criticized for having unnecessarily isolated early pioneers. Portland was helped in the beginning by the Willamette and Columbia Rivers, which provided waterways for boats to transport people and goods.

It’s believed that familiar things in new places make people comfortable. The settlers of Portland brought with them the house types and designs they were used to and comfortable with. The New England salt box, the Mid-Atlantic Type House, the Scottish House Type, and the Southern House Types all made an appearance in the early days of Portland. Andrew Jackson Dowling had a fondness for the picturesque style and tried to develop a national taste and so gothic architecture became popular. Dowling even preferred “picturesque” (or gothic) over “beautiful.”

Ben Holladay (controller of the Oregon Steamship Company) completed the beginning phase of the Oregon and California Railroad line in 1872 that spanned from Portland all the way to Roseburg (located in the southwestern part of Oregon.) Henry Villard who started construction of a railroad along the south bank of the Columbia was aiming to get the region connected nationally as opposed to Holladay’s desire to strengthen trade up and down the Pacific Coast. In 1883 Villard, who had gained control of the Northern Pacific, was responsible for the first transcontinental connection to the Pacific Northwest. In the 1880’s and 1890s Richardsonian Romanesque architecture dominated building styles because eastern railroad companies promoted such construction.

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