This is substantially the story of Astoria's settlement and growth, both in wealth and population. It remains now to trace the influence of its main industry, salmon packing, in determining its social conditions. In Astoria foreigners and native born of foreign parentage form the great majority of inhabitants. Representatives from almost every part of the world live in Astoria, the principal nationalities, however, being Norwegians, Swedes, Danes, and Finns. The Finns form a greater part of our population than any other nationality.
During the first thirty years after the real growth of the city began the population was almost exclusively American, but with the advent of the fishing industry came the hardy fishermen and sailors of northwestern Europe who found here an opportunity to carry on their customary avocations with the assurance of profitable returns for their labors. During the first few years of the salmon business a great number of fishermen came from other states, so that Astoria had a floating population of nearly two thousand during the summer months. They were a free and easy set who made money and spent it without reserve, the saloons getting a large share of their earnings. As a result saloons flourished, carrying with them their many kindred evils, and Astoria became a rough place. The foreigners who in more recent years have engaged in fishing are, as a class, sober and industrious, and home builders. Gradually these adopted citizens have displaced the transient fishermen, until now the term fisherman is no longer synonymous with rowdy, but rather indicate a hardy, industrious citizen of foreign birth. In Upper Astoria and Alderbrook the people are mostly Scandinavians, or descendants of this race. In Union or Finn town, as the name implies, the people are almost exclusively Finns. They are progressive and almost to a man own their own homes, not shacks or hovels, but well built, roomy houses. These people, as well as the Scandinavians, come from a country where the public school system is well established, and are zealous in the cause of the public schools of this city. A year ago the people of Union town attended the annual school meeting almost in a body, and succeeded in carrying through a measure and voting a tax for the construction of a school building in the west end of the city, at the same time offering to donate a considerable part of the necessary labor. The present Taylor school building is the result of these efforts.
In the last city election, out of a total of eleven hundred names registered, nearly six hundred were of foreign birth. Of this number one hundred and seventy were natives of Finland, eighty-seven of Sweden, seventy-two of Norway, sixty-four of Germany, and forty of Denmark. The Finns are very clannish, which accounts for their almost exclusive Finnish settlement in West Astoria. It is their custom to send for their relatives in their own country as soon as they have earned the necessary money. In this way the foreign born population is steadily increasing. They do not appear to be a speculative class, but seem content to work hard, secure a home and save something from their yearly earnings though a few cooperative companies have been formed for the purpose of packing salmon.
The struggle for material advancement in the way of developing resources, securing a railroad, and other enterprises has not been greatly aided by the foreign population. Since the coming of these foreign-born citizens the fishing element is no longer regarded as a rough class of people, but rather as the sober, working class of the city. During the winter months most of the fishermen are employed carpentering, street building, as workers in the mills and factories or engaged in knitting nets and preparing gear for the next season.
Astoria at the present day is a cosmopolitan city of about ten thousand inhabitants, composed largely of foreigners. As in earlier times fishing is the main industry, though the rapidly growing lumber industry bids fair soon to surpass it in importance. At the present time there are only seven canneries in operation in Astoria, but the cold storage business has assumed large proportions during the past two years. Astoria now possesses an excellent water system, a thorough school system, consisting of six grammar schools and a high school, all together accommodating about fifteen hundred children and employing thirty-one teachers. Trade with the surrounding country has increased very rapidly during the last few years, but Astoria has been but little benefited by the increased export trade from the Columbia as most of the cargoes are shipped direct from Portland. During the ninety-two years of its existence Astoria has grown from a small fur-trading station to the second city in size in the State. While its growth has been apparently slow, it has kept pace with the development of Oregon and the Northwest as a whole.
ALFRED A. CLEVELAND.
A PIONEER CAPTAIN OF INDUSTRY IN OREGON.
Note.—The material from which this paper has been prepared was derived from the following sources: manuscript account of "Woolen Mill," the "Journey to Washington," and the "Cargo of Wheat to Liverpool," written by Mr. Watt and loaned to the author by Mr. S. A. Clark, of Washington, D. C., in whose possession it has been. A series of articles in the Oregonian in 1881, by Mr. S. A. Clark, describing the journeys across the country and other incidents, obtained from manuscript and from conversations with Mr. Watt, with whom Mr. Clark was on most intimate terms; a paper containing recollections of his brother's life and incidents by Ahio Watt, of Portland; conversations with the widow and daughter of Mr. Watt, who are now living at Forest Grove, Oregon.
A unique place in the industrial history of Oregon must be given to Joseph Watt, the first to undertake the manufacture of woolen goods on the Pacific coast and the first to send a cargo of wheat to the market at Liverpool, both of which acts mark the beginning of important industrial and commercial policies in the history of Oregon.