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Linnton, Oregon.
Image taken March 19, 2006.
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Linnton ...
Lewis and Clark and Linnton ...
Captain Clark and seven of his men journeyed through the Linnton area on April 2, 1806, as they explored the Willamette River, traveling as far as the St. Johns area. They again passed the Linnton area on April 3, 1806 as they returned back to the Columbia River. They spent the night of April 2 camped across from Linnton at the location of today's Terminal 4.
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"... high bold Shore on the Starboard Side ..."
[Clark, April 2, 1806]
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Linnton, Oregon.
Image taken January 2, 2013.
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Early Linnton ...
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Lewis and Clark passed the location of Linnton, Oregon, on April 2, 1806, and again the next day, April 3.
Linnton was laid out in 1843 by Peter H. Burnett (who would go on to become the first governor of California) and M.M. McCarver. Burnett and McCarver named their community "Linnton" after Senator Lewis Fields Linn of Missouri, who, in the 1830s was a strong supporter for American occupation of Oregon and for granting land to settlers. Senator Linn's ideas went on to become the Donation Land Act in 1850. The Linnton Post Office was established in 1889 and discontinued in 1975. Today the community of Linnton is part of the City of Portland.
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"... Linnton, another town named for Senator Linn, was laid out in 1843 by Peter Burnett of Champoeg and Morton M. McCarver of Oregon City. Burnett stated, "I have no doubt that this place will be the great commercial town of the territory." Hoping to tap trade with the Tualatin Valley, a road graded up Cornelius Pass proved impassable and their venture failed. Burnett went to California to become their first governor. An 1843 pioneer settler of Linnton, James John, moved across the river and started St. Johns in 1865. It became part of Portland in 1915, two years before Linnton joined the growing city. ..."
[End of the Oregon Trail website, 2006]
In 1914 the U.S. Board of Geographic Names made the name "Linnton" official. Other variants seen were "Linton".
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Linnton in 1940 ...
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From the Oregon State Archives "A 1940 Journey Across Oregon":
"... LINNTON, 7.9 m., a part of Portland since 1915, was founded in the 1840s by Peter H. Burnett, later, first governor of California. He visioned the tiny town as the future metropolis of the Columbia Valley but Portland drew most of the shipping trade and Linnton languished. At present it is an important industrial district of the city; large lumber shipments leave from its wharves. ..."
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Street Scenes ...
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Street scene, Linnton, Oregon.
View from car driving west on Highway 30.
Image taken October 31, 2006.
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Street scene, Linnton, Oregon.
View from car driving west on Highway 30.
Image taken January 13, 2012.
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Click image to enlarge
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Street scene, Linnton, Oregon.
View from car driving west on Highway 30.
Image taken February 4, 2012.
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- Harvey Scott, 1890 ...
- "Linton Landing Post Light" ...
- Linnton to St. Johns Ferry ...
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Harvey Scott, 1890 ...
"On the Willamette and the Columbia, numberless other points strove to become place. ... Below the present site of Portland, on the right bank of the Willamette, was St. Johns, founded by John Johns, whose brick store is still a conspicuous mark on the green slope of this beautiful little spot. At the head of Sauvies' Island was Linnton, a most ambitious point, established as early as 1844 by M.M. McCarver, with the assistance of Peter Burnett, both of whom were brainy and stalwart men, famous in early history. ... Near the mouth of the Willamette Slough was Milton, founded in 1846 by Captain Nathaniel Crosby.
On the Oregon shore opposite the lower end of Sauvies' Island where the lower mouth of the Willamette unites with the Columbia was set St. Helens on a natural site of great beauty. It was established about 1845-46 by Captain Knighton and others."
Source:
Harvey Whitefield Scott, 1890, "History of Portland, Oregon: With Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Prominent Citizens and Pioneers: D. Mason & Company, Portland.
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"Linton Landing Post Light" ...
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According to the 1895 "Lights and Fog Signals of the United States" (1895, Government Printing Office) the "Linton Landing Post Light" was a fixed red lantern on the western gable of an unpainted sawmill on the wharf at Linton, Oregon. The light was established in 1887.
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Linnton to St. Johns Ferry ...
The Linnton to St. Johns ferry began in 1905.
May 22, 1921:
"... [on the] St. Johns ferry, cross [the Willamette] to the Linnton road. The ferry is free and runs back and forth constantly, entrailing but little delay. In planning the trip it should be remembered that the second Sunday of each month is "boiler day" for the ferry, however, and it is not in operation. An excellent view is secured of the lower harbor and the splendid municipal terminals at St. Johns."
Source:
"Sunday Oregonian", May 22, 1921, courtesy Historic Oregon Newspapers Archives, Univeristy of Oregon Libraries, 2016.
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From the Journals of Lewis and Clark ...
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