Expedition into history

The seaport hasn't changed much innearly two centuries.
ASTORIA, Ore. (AP) -- Lewis and Clark slept here.
Well, almost.
It was actually at Fort Clatsop just to the south where Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, and the 31 other members of their expedition passed the cold, rainy winter of 1805-1806.
But the little Oregon town of Astoria is expected to catch much of an expected tourism surge as vacationers follow the Lewis and Clark trail to its western end during the bicentennial celebration.
Astoria, established in 1811 as a fur-trading post and now the oldest continually inhabited white settlement west of the Rockies, was named for John Jacob Astor. Astor, America's first certified millionaire, was born in Germany but ran his fur-trading business from New York and ironically never set foot in Astoria.
Had better times
The town has seen better times, but parts of it exude a shabby self- assurance. Its population of about 10,000 has stayed pretty much the same for more than a half-century. So has Astoria itself, and therein lies much of its charm.
Scattered around the town and its surroundings are vestiges of the past, along with some additions designed to handle the surge of visitors.
A train has been commissioned to carry Lewis and Clark fans and others between Portland and Astoria four days a week.
The trip, by rail, bus or automobile, takes about two hours.
There is no commercial air service.
Public transportation takes visitors to Fort Clatsop and other attractions in Astoria and surrounding towns.
Astorians take good care of their considerable heritage. One highlight for "Clarkies," as park service workers call die-hard Lewis and Clark fans, is the replica of Fort Clatsop, built in the 1950s using drawings and descriptions from the explorers' journals.
Can't find fort site
Extensive probes by archaeologists, soil specialists and others to pinpoint the exact location of the fort have been unsuccessful, but they think the replica is close. The fort was abandoned in the spring of 1806 and eventually the forces of nature obliterated all traces of it.
The replica, run by the National Park Service, draws about 225,000 visitors a year now, and park officials are bracing for an estimated 700,000 or so more over the course of the bicentennial celebration.
The visitor center serves as a small museum and the book store has a huge selection of Lewis and Clark books, tapes and other materials for all ages and curiosity levels.
Jill Harding, chief of visitor services for the fort, said they are looking at a timed entry system to space out crowds, which are expected to peak over the summer. Visitors would arrive within a certain window and stay as long as they like.
Jan Mitchell of the local Lewis and Clark Bicentennial organizing committee said planners will look to nearby towns for extra lodging.
"We're a town of 10,000," she said. "When you get another 30,000 people in town, you notice it." But, she said, the Astoria area handled 17,000 visitors for a recent seafood and wine festival.
The area offers more than just Fort Clatsop.
What else
The Columbia River Maritime Museum, recently refurbished for $6 million, features displays of shipping and shipwreck lore, much of it built around the Columbia River bar, the "Pacific Graveyard," which has claimed more than 2,000 vessels and 700 lives since Robert Gray first sailed over it in 1792.
The museum recently acquired the old Columbia River lightship that helped guide boats over the bar for years. It also features meticulous ship models and a look at Astoria's heyday of salmon canning, sailing ships and Shanghaiing -- the practice of kidnapping unsuspecting drunks and placing them on ships as unwilling crewmen -- that peaked in the 1880s. Recorded narratives of old-timers recall the way things were. There is a research library.
"We've tried to put the river in context," said Jerry Ostermiller, who has directed the museum for 15 years.
A map of the Columbia River bar pinpoints some of the worst shipwrecks.
The town today
Astoria remains the working seaport and fishing town it has been for nearly two centuries. It boasts good restaurants, many specializing in local seafood.
A one-stop and extensive list of accommodations, restaurants and things to do is listed at www.oldoregon.com
Many of the area's signature events will be over the winter of 2005-06, to mark the bicentennial of the explorers' actual presence in the area.
Much of Astoria's charm is found in buildings from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The steep hillside leading down to where the Columbia River meets the Pacific features many Victorian homes. Some are bed-and-breakfasts. The main street is lined with locally owned businesses.
"There is no shopping center in Astoria now and there are none on the way," said John Compere, who helps run the area chamber of commerce.
The wealth of older homes, Compere said, is due in part to the town's location on a small peninsula that filled up early during the booming days of salmon canning and shipping of a century ago.
Cruise ships
Tourists already are starting to discover the town. Last year one cruise ship called. This year, 13 are booked to dock.
The hilltop Astor Column is free. The young-of-leg can climb the 160-odd steps to the top.
The Flavel House, a Victorian with Italianate touches built for banker, real estate magnate and pioneer river bar pilot Capt. George Flavel in the 1880s, is a museum now.
The waterfront offers a more rugged, blue-collar atmosphere, as well as a view across the mouth of the river to the evergreen hills of Washington a mile away. The wharf and many of the waterfront buildings rest on pilings over the river. A 1913 trolley runs along it weekends and during the summer.
Nearby Fort Stevens, which dates to the Civil War, was shelled by the Japanese in 1942. It's decommissioned now, but is open to tours and has a visitors center.
In Seaside just to the south is the salt cairn where the explorers boiled sea water for salt for their return trip.
Astoria was settled and built by immigrants. Census data from 1880 show only 13 percent of Clatsop County's 7,000 residents as being American-born.
Many were Scandinavians who came to work in the fishing industry. The Finnish heritage remains visible at still-functioning saunas and social clubs.
About 2,000 early residents were Chinese, who cleaned salmon in the dozens of canneries that stretched up the river. A skilled worker could clean 1,700 large salmon in an 11-hour day. Eventually, cleaning machines replaced the workers, and the Chinese population dwindled.
Pollution, logging, irrigation and dams all contributed to the demise of the salmon runs and the canneries. Only a couple of smaller ones remain, catering to the gourmet market.
In its heyday, Astoria had the first customs house and the first post office west of the Rockies. They, like most of the canneries, are gone.
But history buffs who simply cannot get enough can still visit the public restroom at the World War I monument. It is the first facility of its kind to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places.