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Old fishing station, Mayger, Oregon.
Image taken February 21, 2005.
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Mayger ...
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Mayger, Oregon, is located on the western shore of the Columbia River at River Mile (RM) 57.5, on the west flank of Green Point. Upstream is Walker Island and Rainier, Oregon. Downstream is the Oregon town of Clatskanie, and Wallace and Crims Islands. On the Washington side is Willow Grove.
Mayger was named after an early settler, Charles W. Mayger, a native of France who first arrived in Oak Point, Washington about 1865, before settling on the Oregon side of the Columbia River. The Mayger Post Office opened in 1889 and closed in 1961.
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Mayger, Oregon, from Willow Grove, Washington.
View of dock and surrounding area at Mayger, Oregon.
Image taken July 28, 2005.
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Early Mayger ...
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The U.S. Bureau of Land Management, General Land Office Records, show a Charles Mayger being issued three land titles on April 10, 1882, for nearly 400 acres of parts of T8N R3E Section 30, under the 1820 "Sale-Cash Entry".
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At Mayger dock.
Image taken February 21, 2005.
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Old Fish Station, Mayger, Oregon.
Image taken February 21, 2005.
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Remembering Wallace Island and Mayger, Oregon ...
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Email to me from Russell Kallio, now living in Alaska, who grew up
in the Clatskanie area during the 1960s through 1980s, with fond memories of Mayger and the fish station there, of Wallace Island, and of the Clatskanie, Oregon area.
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"Hi i was looking up some history on lewis and clark
and came across your pictures of the last 50 miles or
so of their journey. i must say they brought back a
flood of memories for me since i grew up hunting
fishing and trapping on the very same sloughs along
the lower cloumbia river. (i grew up in clatskanie) it
was my ol hometown altho now it has since changed. ...
mayger beach and fish station was a favorite swimming
spot, we used to jump off the roof of the fish station
into the columbia . wallace island we called pig
island because of the pigs turned loose there and they
went feral, they were quite good eating tho. nothing
like lean pork. i recall fishing for sturgeon in that
area as well as a few other secret spots along the
river bottoms. ... thanks again Russell Kallio, October 5, 2006"
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An early 1900s fishing station is located at Mayger, just downstream of Green Point.
Good views of the station can be had from across the Columbia at the park at
Willow Grove, Washington.
In the early 1900s the docks at Mayger contained net sheds and fish-buying stations.
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Old Fishing Station, Mayger, Oregon, as seen from Willow Grove, Washington.
Foggy day.
Image taken March 5, 2005.
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Old Fishing Station, Mayger, Oregon, as seen from Willow Grove, Washington, with new Boat House.
Image taken July 28, 2005.
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Looking across the Columbia River towards Stella, Washington, from Mayger, Oregon.
Image taken February 21, 2005.
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Crims Island from Mayger, Oregon.
View looking downstream from Mayger, Oregon.
Image taken February 21, 2005.
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Old Fishing Station, Mayger, Oregon, with Mount St. Helens, Washington, in the background.
Image taken February 21, 2005.
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Mount St. Helens from Mayger, Oregon.
Image taken February 21, 2005.
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Stella, Washington, from Mayger, Oregon.
Image taken February 21, 2005.
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From the Journals of Lewis and Clark ...
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Clark, November 6, 1805, first draft ...
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a cold wet morning. rain Contd. untill [blank] oClock we Set out early [from Prescott Beach, Oregon, area] & proceeded on the Corse of last night &c.
N. 50° W. 1 mile on the Lard. Side under Some high land. bold rockey
Shore
N. 60° W. 1 mile under a bold rockey Shore on the Lard Side, opsd. the
upper point of a Island [Cottonwood Island]
close under the Stard Side the high lands closeing the river on that Side [Carrolls Bluff] above river wide
N. 75° W. 12 miles to a point of high land on the Lard Side, passed two
Lodges on the Lard Side at 2 miles in a bottom, The high
land [Carrolls Bluff] leave The river on the Stard. Side.
passd. a remarkable
Knob of high land on the Stard. Side at 3 miles
Close on the Waters edge [Mount Coffin, Lewis and Clark missed the Cowlitz River mouth] — ...
passed
a Island nearest the Lard. Side at 10 mile [Walker Island] the head of a Isd. on
Std. [Fisher Island] opposit High Cliffs [Green Point, location of today's Mayger, Oregon], with Several Speces of Pine Cedars
&c. arber vita & different Species of under groth.
N. 80° W. 2 miles under a high clift on the Lard Side [Green Point, location of today's Mayger Island] the lower point of the Island on Stard. [Fisher Island] opposit those hills are Covered thickly
...
N. 88° W. 5 miles to a high Clift a little below an old village in the Stard.
bend [possibly Bunker Hill, the location of today's Stella, Washington] and opposit an old village on a Lard. point of a handsom & extensive bottom [Beaver Slough/Clatskanie River bottom].
passed a Island in the middle of
the river 3 miles long and one wide [Crims Island], passed a Small Island Close on the Stard. Side [Gull Island] & a lower point of a former Isld. below which the lands high & with Clifts to the river Stard. Side
S. 45° W. 5 miles under a Clift of verry high land on the Stard. side [possibly the Oak Point and Eagle Cliff area] wind
high a head. ...
S. 50° W. 1 mile under a high rockey Hill of pine.
The Indians leave us, Steep assent, Som Clifts
S. 75° W. 1 mile under a high hill with a bold rocky Shore, high assent
river about 1 mile wide
West 1 mile under a high Steep hill bold rockey Shore, Encampd
under the hill on Stones [near Cape Horn of Wahkiakum County]
Scercely land Sufficent between the
hills and river Clear of the tide for us to lie. Cloudy & rain all
wet and disagreeable. this evening made large fires on the
Stones and dried our bedding.
...
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Clark, November 6, 1805 ...
A cool wet raney morning we Set out [from their camp at Prescott Beach] early at 4 miles pass 2 Lodges of Indians in a Small bottom on the Lard Side I believe those Indians to be travelers. opposit is <the head of a long narrow Island close under the Starboard Side [Cottonwood Island], back of this Island two Creeks fall in about 6 miles apart,>
[Cowlitz River delta, Longview, Washington. Today the "two Creeks" are the Cowlitz River and Coal Creek Slough.]
and appear to head in the high hilley countrey to the N. E. opposit <this long Island is 2 others one Small and about the middle of the river> the other larger and nearly opposit its lower point [today the location of Walker Island and Lord Island complex], and opposit a high clift of Black rocks [Green Point, location of Mayger, Oregon] on the Lard. Side at 14 miles;
...
here the hills leave the river on the Lard. Side, a butifull open and extensive bottom [Clatskanie River delta] in which there is an old Village, one also on the Stard. Side a little above both of which are abandened by all their inhabitents except Two Small dogs nearly Starved, and an unreasonable portion of flees—
The Hills and mountains are covered with Sever kinds of Pine—
...
Some willow on the waters edge, passed an Island 3 miles long and one mile wide [Crims Island], <one> close under the Stard. Side below the <long narrow Island> below which the Stard Hills are verry from the river bank and Continues high and rugid on that Side all day,
...
[Lewis and Clark pass, but do not mention today's Germany Creek, Abernethy Creek, and Mill Creek]
we came too to Dine on the long narrow Island [Crims Island] found the woods So thick with under groth that the hunters could not get any distance into the Isld.
...
river about one mile wide hills high and Steep on the Std. [cliffs of Oak Point] no place for several Miles suffcently large and leavil for our camp we at length Landed at a place [Eagle Cliff and Cape Horn, Wahkiakum County] which by moveing the Stones we made a place Sufficently large for the party to lie leavil on the Smaller Stones Clear of the Tide Cloudy with rain all day we are all wet and disagreeable, had large fires made on the Stone and dried our bedding and Kill the flees, which collected in our blankets at every old village we encamped near
I had like to have forgotten a verry remarkable Knob [Mount Coffin, Longview, Washington, now destroyed] riseing from the edge of the water to about 80 feet high, and about 200 paces around at its Base and Situated <on the long narrow Island> [Longview, Washington area, the Cowlitz River delta]
above and nearly opposit to the 2 Lodges we passed to day, it is Some distance from the high land & in a low part of the Island [Cowlitz River delta]
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