Posted on 10/05/2005 2:57:59 PM PDT by crazyhorse691
ASTORIA -- As state and federal fire investigators sifted through the charred remains of Fort Clatsop on Tuesday, visitors rolled down their car windows and handed rangers cash donations to help rebuild the beloved landmark. Others called or e-mailed the park offering everything from their condolences to their carpentry skills.
A fire reported about 10:30 p.m. Monday destroyed the rough-hewn log fort; no injuries were reported.
The 50-year-old structure tucked in the woods south of Astoria and east of Warrenton was a replica of the quarters where members of the Lewis and Clark Expedition spent the winter 200 years ago -- and where hundreds of thousands of Northwest schoolchildren and adults have soaked up history ever since.
Fort Clatsop National Memorial, a part of the Lewis and Clark National Historical Parks, was to be the centerpiece of next month's national Lewis and Clark Bicentennial commemoration events, a show in the planning for years and one that will go on, officials vowed. They vowed, too, that the fort will be rebuilt.
"It's heartbreaking," said Chip Jenkins, Lewis and Clark National Historical Parks superintendent, tears welling in his eyes. "This park was created . . . by volunteers, by donated materials, by donated labor. It is a homegrown park.
"It was the citizens of this community and the state of Oregon that made this a gem of a park. It makes me sad."
The cause of the fire -- or where it originated within the fort -- may not be known for days, said a spokesman for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which leads the investigation.
But the fort was cordoned off with yellow tape Tuesday as a crime scene. And investigators were looking Tuesday for what they termed a "vehicle of interest" -- a newer model, full-sized, extended-cab Chevrolet pickup that a firefighter saw leaving the park as fire crews arrived.
Through the dark and fog, officials said, the witness was uncertain of the pickup's color but thought it was dark. It had stickers "Z71" lettering on the rear fenders. The National Parks Service asked that anyone with information on the pickup or the fire contact the Oregon State Police arson hot line: 1-800-452-7888. A resident who lives near the park spotted the fire from home and was the first to report it.
Emotional response
Jenkins, the park superintendent, got a call about 30 minutes later and spent most of the night at the park. His staff arrived by 6 a.m., and many of them cried their way through the day, explaining to tourists they could tour the visitor center, where artifacts remained safe, but not the fort. That meant that, among others, one busload of senior citizens wrapping up an 18-day Elderhostel tour of Corps of Discovery sites missed out.
Investigators briefed Gov. Ted Kulongoski and state Sen. Betsy Johnson, D-Scappoose, as they toured the fire scene Tuesday afternoon.
Sun streamed through the tall hemlocks and firs that hug the 50-foot-by-50-foot fort, two rows of quarters separated by a small parade ground. Blackened logs lay heaped on the ground, and in places foamy white fire retardant hugged the fort's foundation like snowdrifts.
The half of the fort where enlisted men would have lived had collapsed completely, while the captains' quarters stood but appeared to be a charred shell with holes burned through the roof. The remaining upright posts in the stockade looked like charcoal pencils, their pointy ends sticking up.
Coast drenched
Had the fire occurred a week earlier, at the end of a long dry spell, damage to the park could have been far worse. But rain, falling hard through Monday afternoon, had drenched the north coast since late last week. On Tuesday, the sun shone, but the woodsy park felt cool and damp.
The park was open Monday but had closed for the day by the time the fire broke out.
The fort replica, based on sketches in Corps of Discovery journals, was built in 1955, a joint effort of the Clatsop County Historical Society and area service organizations.
The corps built the original Fort Clatsop from Dec. 7 to Dec. 30, 1805. Members of the expedition took shelter there through a winter that, in their journals, they frequently labeled "disagreeable." They experienced what to those unaccustomed to an Oregon Coast winter seemed like endless rain, along with freezing temperatures, snow and gale-force windstorms.
Heavy visitation
Nearly 10,000 schoolchildren visit the park each year. It gets about 250,000 annual visitors. The fort often served as a classroom for interpretive and education programs. Each room had a fireplace, and fires often were lit during ranger-led programs. At least one fireplace was in use Monday, officials confirmed.
In December 2002, during an historical reenactment, fires burned in one fireplace for about 72 hours straight, Jenkins said. Heat transferred through nails and scorched wood in the fort. Since then, Jenkins said, the park has limited the duration of fires and implemented a strict procedure for dousing embers at the end of the day. Advertisement
Last year, Jenkins said, workers removed the fort's old fireplaces and rebuilt them to make them safer.
Michael Foster of Astoria, president of the Fort Clatsop Historical Association, who had his first job at the park in the summer of 1958, said he felt sick when he heard news of the fire Tuesday morning.
"It's more than just logs," he said. "This is American history."
But Foster, a stickler for history, was philosophical. "There was no fort here when Lewis and Clark arrived here," he said. "There can be no fort here for the bicentennial."
National response
Jenkins said he'd heard Tuesday from congressmen, senators and the National Parks Service headquarters in Washington, D.C., and was reassured that funds to rebuild Fort Clatsop would be made available -- perhaps, given what's known today, into a more accurate replica of the original.
"It is painful that we won't be able to have the Corps of Discovery commemoration in the fort," Jenkins said. "But people will be able to come out to the site."
The Nov. 11-15 events at a variety of sites along the Oregon and Washington coasts will go on as planned.
Katy Muldoon: 503-221-8526; katymuldoon@news.oregonian.com
Sounds like an interesting place to visit. I'm currently reading the Lewis and Clarke journals (abbrev.) Hopefully it will get rebuilt. I would like to go.
They could kick our asses any day.
Ditto.
I have been to Ft. Clatsop many times...whenever we would make the trek from Western Washington, ,down to California, via Rt 101, we would always stop at Ft. Clatsop, walk through the buildings, listen to the talks, walk around the grounds, and just try to soak up the history of the place, and understand how important the Corps of Discovery was...
It is so very sad to hear about this fire...am optimistic about the rebuilding of this fine historic site, and hope that the future will see more and more visitors to this grand site of American History...
People talk about what a test of fortitude it is to hike the Appalachian trail....these guys would have laughed.
Interesting that a possible eco terrorist fled in a full size Chevy.
Lewis and Clark related ping
Built circa 1955 AND destroyed in 2005.
Interesting to consider what has changed in this country over those fifty years.
Cool...neat..."we got 'funds' up the yingyang".
While I detest the damage done by a-hole anarchists, why the "public funds", which now cover every possible calamity on earth.
Just catch the bastards that did this, punish them to the FULL extent of the law and throw away the keys!.... OK??....
BTW, has any of these terrorists ever been caught and prosecuted TO THE FULL EXTENT OF THE LAW?...Let me know if you know of even one case. Thanks.
FMCDH(BITS)
Yet another one of my childhood roadtrip memories bites the dust.... sad.
I have to wnder why more of the eco/peta/ terrorists who have their own websites calling for the breaking of law aren't frikkin behind bars?
What's the deal with that?
FMCDH(BITS)
A lot of their sites are monitored by the authorities. Heck, I daily visit about 4 or 5 of them for info(thats how I found out about Mother Shehan's wed. night plans to stage the spur of the moment Crawford sit in.) But, there are just too many sites to effectively monitor them all and besides that freedom of speech thing gives them a pretty wide latitude, especially in Oregon(which has pushed the limits on free speech so far that sex industries are the only businesses moving into Oregon)In short, they have to physically act upon their plans before any real attempt is made to apprehend them.
In short, they have to physically act upon their plans before any real attempt is made to apprehend them.
I thought some of these groups had already taken "credit" for certain "terrorism".
I just find it hard to believe that the all the frikkin law enforcement agencies in this country can't track these people down. I'm very wary about the "law enforcement" in our Republic. Seems like they can arrest me or you for not wearing a mandated seat belt.....but no one can get to the scum that commit these atrocities against humankind.
I find it sad yet laughable.
If you want a capsule view I hold, just go to my FR profile.
FReegards,
FMCDH(BITS)
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