THE OREGON PILING PROJECT
Submerged for over a century, these timbers are all that remains of a lesser-known chapter of the American West
Mouth of the columbia river : early 1800's
Early Arrivals
In the 1800s, waves of European immigrants — many from Scandinavia — arrived in the American west. These early settlers didn’t seek gold, but journeyed to the coast seeking water.
When they reached the West Coast, they found an abundance of sea-life that felt like home. Here, they built their lives around the sea.
The Columbia's Fishing Horses
They brought with them generations of seafaring tradition and the technique of horse seining. This method involved teams of well trained fishing horses, who guided large nets through the shallows to harvest salmon.
The First Structures
To support the horse seining operation, these men hand fell massive old growth fir timbers, hand hewn them to a narrow point, and drove them deep below sands of the Oregon Coast to serve as piling. It is these piling that served as a foundation to build on-the-water horse barns.
The horses would be brought out of their stables at low tide, go about their fishing operations, then brought back to the barn at the end of the day.
The Birth of On-the-Water Towns
As time went on and industry surged westward, what began as horse fishing outposts became much more. Fishing companies appeared, seeking to harvest and distribute these salmon across America.
With the lack of real roads & transportation to get workers from inland homes to sea; they came up with a plan.
Build entire towns on the water, right where the fishing takes place.
To do this, forests of old growth timber were fell and gathered together in great log rafts.
The rafts were sent floating down the Columbia River to support the expansion of these maritime towns.
Canneries, fish wheels, sawmills, grocery stores, schools, homes, daycares and much more — all were to be built on timber piling.
Generations were born, worked, and raised on these wooden foundations where fishing wasn’t just an occupation, but a way of life.
The Tide Reclaims All
Over time, due to overfishing, the bustling industry faded
out of existance.
Industry moved inland, the canneries closed, towns
abandoned, and the buildings slowly collapsed into the
waters that once sustained them.
All that was left; the piling.
For more than a century, these Douglas Fir pilings remained submerged - preserved by cold saltwater and
sand, mineralized, hardened and darkened through time.
200 Years Later : Recovery & Reclamation
Today, through a careful restoration effort, these timbers are being raised from the depths.
Sawn planks of piling showing the dark varied patina developed from spending the last century under water.
Sawn planks of piling showing the dark varied patina developed from spending the last century under water.
At Origin Millworks, our artisans have been entrusted to recover these pilings and transform them into architectural-grade reclaimed timber.
Each timber having witnessed the growth of America, reclaimed to live a new life in building the America of today.
Built with Shorthand