The legacy of death, discrimination, and displacement in an area never suited for a city, lives forever in Portland’s history. 🧵 3 of 3

Vanport became home to some 40,000 people. The lowest point of Vanport City was about fifteen feet below the water level in the river. In the 1948 flood, more than 15,000 people were instantly without a home as the river poured into the basin and former wetlands. 🧵 2 of 3

Early developers sought to bring railroads to the area, creating berms and dikes and earthen walls to keep the water out when infill wasn’t enough to produce the desired land. The Cut makes it way through here, off of Columbia Blvd. 🧵 3 of 3

The largest, Ramsey Lake, was filled and now is the Rivergate Industrial District in N Portland at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia Rivers. In addition to lakes and wetlands, the area has the 18-mile Columbia Slough that connects the Blue Lake region with the Willamette River. 🧵 2 of 3

The Columbia Lowlands were an ancient place of vast lakes and wetlands before European settlers arrived. Like the lakes along the Willamette River, industrialists sought to tame the area and bring it under their control.  Of the three main lakes, Smith and Bybee exist. 🧵 1 of 3

Well before that Peter Guild's homestead was located there and many small farms, including a Chinese farming village. And before that it was a place where Balch Creek made its way through forested canyons and tumbled into Guild’s Lake that was connected to the tidal, seasonal cycles of the river.

The city planners believe the best jobs, are not those of farmer or fisherperson, but of a person who stocks warehouse shelves at $15 per hour without benefits or a union. Some business leaders have said in public meetings that these are good jobs for BIPOC Portlanders. Shame on them.

Remember the path to quick wealth is to seize land on the cheap. When the War was over, most of the farms were sold or stolen. Some farms were saved by neighbors, but mostly the once fertile land was claimed by a post-war industrial society, systemic prejudices, zoning changes, and ghways.

When did growing, gathering, and producing food in the North Reach stop being a core component of the economy? Agriculture is a category worth tracking in Portland’s economic reports instead of the quantity “shovel-ready land” available to be paved and made barren.

Why did the Market Gardens and Orchards tended by the Japanese farmers along Columbia Blvd disappear? Where are the farms of Skyline Blvd and the Chinese farms that lined Guild’s Lake? When did growing, gathering, and producing food in the North Reach stop being a core component of the economy?