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Clifton, Clatsop County, Oregon

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For other places with the same name, see Clifton, Oregon.

Clifton, Oregon
Unincorporated community
Clifton is located in Oregon
Clifton
Clifton
Location within the state of Oregon
Clifton is located in the United States
Clifton
Clifton
Clifton (the United States)
Coordinates: 46°12′39″N 123°27′48″W / 46.210957°N 123.463392°W / 46.210957; -123.463392
CountryUnited States
StateOregon
CountyClatsop
Time zoneUTC-8 (Pacific (PST))
 • Summer (DST)UTC-7 (PDT)

Clifton is an unincorporated community in Clatsop County, Oregon, United States.[1] It is located north of U.S. Route 30, about nine miles northwest of Westport on the south bank of the Columbia River.[2] It is on Clifton Channel across from Tenasillahe Island.[2]

History

Henry Harrison Hunt, an Oregon Trail pioneer of 1843, established a sawmill in the Clifton area in 1845.[3][4] By 1851 Hunt had moved on.[4] Later the site was an outpost for gillnetters.[5] In 1873 brothers James W. and Vincent Cook, pioneers of the Pacific Northwest salmon packing industry, established the second salmon cannery in Clatsop County there.[6][7][8] It is likely that settler Stephen G. Spear named his farm Clifton after the cliffs above the river before the land was owned by the Cook brothers.[6] Clifton post office was established in 1874, with Vincent Cook as the first postmaster.[6] The Astoria and South Coast Railway (later sold to the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway) was built through the area in 1898.[5][9]

The cannery employed Chinese workers, who canned the fish caught by Greek, Yugoslav, and Italian fishermen.[5] When the cannery closed in 1906, the Chinese left the town, leaving behind their bunkhouses (which no longer exist).[5] The other immigrants settled in different parts of town.[5] In its heyday, Clifton had two saloons, one with a combination skating rink and dance hall upstairs, two stores, a church, and a one-room schoolhouse.[5] The railroad tracks served as the main street.[5] In 1915 Clifton had a population of 200.[10] The dance hall burned down in 1921.[5] Clifton was not connected to U.S. 30 by road until 1937.[5] Instead, to leave town people either boated across the Columbia to Cathlamet, Washington, or took the train to Astoria or Portland.[5] In the early 20th century, there were five logging camps within three miles of Clifton and when the camps closed the loggers would move into town.[5] By 1930 all logging activity in the area had ceased.[5] Today Clifton is on the edge of the Clatsop State Forest.[2] Electricity did not reach Clifton until 1958.[5]

Decline

Author Ralph Friedman considers Clifton a "picturesque ghost town".[5] The town went into decline as the salmon runs were depleted.[5] One store closed in 1950, the other closed in 1960 and was turned into an office for the caretaker of the town, which was then owned by Bumble Bee.[5] As people moved out, the houses were dismantled for their lumber.[5] Other buildings, such as the first store and the church, fell to splinters, while some structures fell into the river.[5] The post office closed in 1966.[6] As of 1990, very few structures were left in Clifton.[5] The rail line that passes through the area is now operated by the Portland and Western Railroad (PNWR), who acquired it from the BNSF Railway.[2][9] Clifton is still a PNWR station.[11] There was renewed interest in the area in the early 2000s because of the proposed Bradwood Landing project.

References

  1. ^ "Clifton". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. November 28, 1980. Retrieved October 27, 2015.
  2. ^ a b c d Oregon Atlas & Gazetteer (7th ed.). Yarmouth, Maine: DeLorme. 2008. p. 18. ISBN 978-0-89933-347-2.
  3. ^ Flora, Stephenie. "Emigrants to Oregon in 1843". oregonpioneers.com. Retrieved March 19, 2012.
  4. ^ a b Friedman, Ralph (2002) [1993]. "Some Who Didn't Stay". The Other Side of Oregon (2nd ed.). Caldwell, Idaho: The Caxton Printers, Ltd. p. 79. ISBN 0-87004-352-8.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Friedman, Ralph (1990). In Search of Western Oregon (2nd ed.). Caldwell, Idaho: The Caxton Printers, Ltd. pp. 123–124. ISBN 0-87004-332-3.
  6. ^ a b c d McArthur, Lewis A.; McArthur, Lewis L. (2003) [1928]. Oregon Geographic Names (7th ed.). Portland, Oregon: Oregon Historical Society Press. p. 210. ISBN 978-0875952772.
  7. ^ "James W. Cook House". Archived from the original on March 30, 2014. Retrieved March 29, 2014.
  8. ^ "Clatsop County Historical Society: Chronology of Clatsop County History". Cumtux.org. Retrieved March 19, 2012.
  9. ^ a b "Lewis & Clark Explorer & the P&W Astoria Line". Abandoned Railroads of the Pacific Northwest. Retrieved March 19, 2012.
  10. ^ Friedman, Ralph (1978). "Ghost Towns of the Lower Columbia". Tracking Down Oregon. Caldwell, Idaho: The Caxton Printers, Ltd. pp. 30–34. ISBN 0-87004-257-2.
  11. ^ "Freight Tariff PNWR 9500" (PDF). Portland & Western Railroad, Inc. Retrieved March 19, 2012.
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