Tree felling contest, 1941

Head up to the north coast of Oregon to find tree felling, dress forms, and turnips? Nope, it isn’t all about the rocky coast or spraying sea, the extension offices in Lincoln, Tillamook, and Clatsop counties support their communities by providing education on agriculture, horticulture, forestry, youth development, family & community development, fisheries, and (of course) marine science.

H. R. Hartley and turnip field

Head to Lincoln County to find our colleagues on the coast in Newport, home to both OSU’s Hatfield Marine Science Center (and the HMSC branch of our Libraries) as well as the Oregon Coast Aquarium. Lincoln County was created by the Oregon Legislative Assembly on February 20, 1893 with Toledo was picked as the temporary county seat. In 1954, the county seat moved to Newport. “The northern part of Lincoln County includes the Siletz Reservation, created by treaty in 1855. The reservation was open to non-Indian settlement between 1895 and 1925. The Siletz’s tribal status was terminated by the federal government in 1954, but became the first Oregon tribe to have their tribal status reinstated in 1977. The current reservation totals 3,666 acres (15 km²)” (Lincoln County, Oregon).

"Uncle Samme's Canners" Tillamook County, State Champions, 1919

Timber, tourism, agriculture, and turnips! In the mood for cheese to go with your surf? Tillamook County is the place to be. Named for the Tillamook, a Native American tribe living in the area in the early 19th century at the time of European American settlement, the twelfth county in Oregon was established on December 15, 1853.

Boys of Warrenton School harvesting cranberries, 1942

Near and dear to my heart, Clatsop County is at the tippy tip of the Oregon Coast. As theClatsop County Historical Society says “it is no coincidence that the place with the most spectacular scenery in the Pacific Northwest is also the place where the most important events in the history of the region have occurred.” Clatsop County, Oregon is where the largest river on the West Coast of the United States, the Columbia, meets the Pacific Ocean. “It was this river, in 1792, that Captain Robert Gray searched for and finally found on his voyages of exploration up and down the coast … this river to the west that Lewis and Clark also searched for and found on their journey across the continent in 1805.” But long before these men thought of their passage across the continent, the river was home to the Chinook, Clatsop, Kathlamet, and other people of this region.

So enjoy this set, without a single shot of the ocean!