The waterfront in Astoria has it all — seafood, fishing, marine supply, shipping, Port of Astoria, Bar Pilots, River Pilots, beer, beer and more beer, and vestiges of the cannery past.
Excellent way to see the waterfront is to take the Riverwalk Trolley.
You can still see vestiges of the past, when several canneries operated on the piers.
Warehousing work.
People not only work on the waterfront, they work above the waterfront doing work on the Astoria-Megler Bridge. They are somewhat protected, but sometimes not – there are times you can see workers dangle from the bridge!
Fishhawk Fisheries. What’s stacked and piled out front varies from day to day.
Pacifick Distillery, also owned by Fishhawk Fisheries.
Beer brewing and warehousing for Ft. George, Buoy Beer and Astoria Brewing. What you can see varies day-to-day, depending on whether warehouse doors are open or closed, trucks are being loaded, etc. When you see the size of these operations you realize beer is big business for Astoria.
Ships and boats of all sorts are always moving on the Columbia as part of the working waterfront. On any given day you may see cargo ships, cruise ships, fishing vessels, military ships, and boats for the River and Bar Pilots that help the commercial vessels move.
Port of Astoria.
Englund Marine and Industrial.
You may see indications of large commercial fishing or seafood harvesting operations.
Ocean Beauty Seafood.
Water treatment is part of the infrastructure of the city of Astoria.
Lightship Columbia (now retired).
Acknowledging the danger to people who do this work.
Recognition of people working the waterfront.
Waterfront operations can change in a minute, as they did when dock pilings failed, causing the collapse of the ceiling on Buoy Beer. There have been fires, decimating multiple businesses in a matter of hours.
It is not unusual to see large cranes, at the Port of Astoria, docked on the waterfront, or on the river.
© 2024 Carol Merwin, All Rights Reserved. Images may not be used without permission.