MY special thanks to those of you who have been reaing the blog. We have been averaging in each 30 days about 950 readers . In the 10 years we havebeen doing this, there have been over 34,000 readers of the blog. That is why it stays at the top of the search engine list. The countries who lead the listin readers varies from week to week. The UNites States has close to 100 per day, and the Netehrands is cosistenty in second place.Korea, Spain and Russia have all been in second place a few times. About 13 countries have been represented at times. Again my personal thanks for reading.
NOW , TODAY ON THE COLUMBIA RIVER!
Within less than a mile of where we are camped are those three rivers (TITLE). The Coweeman is directly behind the campground and a huge dike is at the back of the park about 150 feet from where we are parked. Its name comes from the Cowlitz word ko-wee-na, meaning "short one", referring to a short Indian who once lived along the river. So the Coweeman empties into the Cowitz, which empties into the Columbia all about two miles from here.
Today after that early morning trip to the Chiropractor, (Ruth is feeling much better if not 100%) we stayed in town to see Sacajawea Park in the center of Longview. A mile and a half long with a lake as its centerpiece, we drove around ot to see any birds but MALLARDS, GREAT BLUE HERON and BARN SWALLOWS were it! One of the gals (Stephanie) at the Chiro told us about some sloughs in the SE of town near the Industrial park so we headed there. (We finally secured a good map from Leah the Park manager). That is along the road where many industries are located. Here are a few of them. (These all have access to Railroads, truck shipping and the deep seaport for the Columbia River... from the sea. NIPPON DYNAWARE, WEYERHAUSER , AXIALL CORP., BPA LONGVIEW SUBSTATION, MILLENIUM BULK TERMINAL, NORPAC, (paper and pulp), and the COLUMBIA AND COWLITZ RAILROAD. There may be other butthat is what we saw between the road and the Columbia river. NORPAC produces 750,000 tons of paper annually. They state the following. "NORPAC paper is made on three world-class paper machines using
thermo-mechanical pulp (TMP) for its uncoated mechanical grades and
Kraft pulp for its newest Orca grades. In addition, the mill operates an
advanced de-inking facility that processes old newspapers, magazines
and sorted office papers into high-quality recycled fiber for paper
grades that include post-consumer waste. Sophisticated systems in the
shipping warehouse and waste recovery operations contribute to the
quality and environmental performance NORPAC customers demand."
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| One of the birding areas we viewed |
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| A huge substation of electricity to all those plants and industries. |
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| PNW recycling (metal) is huge. |
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| Along side the Columbia River is NORPAC (North Pacific Paper Co.) |
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| The Weyerhouser Co has a plant there as well. (See ship photo) |
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| More of PNC metals .A pile of ground metal. |
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| Part of the complex of heating and cooling water for Longview. |
After a lunch at Arby's (one of our favorites) we headed down WA #4 to the town of Cathlamet, an old working town on the Columbia where things were better in years gone by, but it still remains and now is, a "bedroom" community (small ) for Longview and Kelso, WA. Along the way we watched the shipping and activity on the Columbia river. Remember that we are on the RIGHT BANK ( of the river and not the well traveled left, (south) bank where Portland and Astoria are located. few facts about Cathlamet. I am sure you never heard of this town.
"From time immemorial, Cathlamet was the largest, or one of the largest, villages of Columbia River Indians west of the Cascade Mountains, and the home of the Kathlamet people.[7] "Cathlamet was sighted in 1792 by Lt. W.R. Broughton, while verifying Capt. Robert Gray’s reported discovery of the Columbia River. This village of cedar houses included 300-400 inhabitants when visited by Lewis and Clark.
The Elochoman Slough Marina is located in Cathlamet and attracts boaters and fishermen year-round. The old waterfront still boasts a busy tugboat operation and other small commercial fishing companies. (See photos) Main Street houses a historic hotel, restaurants, a grocery store, flower shop, pharmacy, two banks and other small businesses including the local newspaper, the Wahkiakum County Eagle. We did see the main street the grocery store, Hotel and Newspaper.
Chinookan language spoken by the tribe that refers to a "rocky stretch of river channel".
Films shot in Cathlamet include
Come See the Paradise (1990),
Snow Falling on Cedars (1999) and
Men of Honor (2000).
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| The Cathlamet ,WA port has seen better days |
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| We just saw this tug going down river .This is a tug terminal at Cathamet. |
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| The Julia Henson Butler Bridge into Oregon. She was elected to the State House from Cathlamet. IT is under repair at this time. |
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| By the waterfront in Cathlamet is this tavern. |
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| Headed for Japan and China is this load of logs. This "Global Saikai" is out of Panama also. I could not get the whole ship in the photo. |
Finally today we end with these photos. Have to have a few birds.
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| Baby Killdeer, looking for food (and MOM) |
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| "There's MOM now!" |
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| "Thank Goodness I can hide, I feel safe now." (look at the four legs!) |
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| One of two Anna's Hummingbirds we saw today. |
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| And here is the other Anna's. |
And to prove it, we had a mother sitting on eggs by the trailer (gravel drive) and when I approached she gave me the old "I'm hurt, come and help me" routine. Found these eggs in the gravel by the trailer. She was so accurate with the ploy that you would have thought she was going to die.
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| The eggs are in there. I'll give you ten seconds to find them. Hint: they are like the ones below. |
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| Killdeer eggs. They are members of the Plover family. |
| See ya tomorrow, we hope. |
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