Oregon pavilion (Fort Clatsop)

[worldfairs]

[worldfairs]

A reproduction of Fort Clatsop, the first building erected by white men at the mouth of the Columbia River.

[worldfairs]

THE OREGON BUILDING

Fort Clatsop, which has been reproduced as Oregon’s State building, is closely allied with the history of the Louisiana Purchase, the one hundredth anniversary of which the Exposition celebrates. Lewis and Clark, whose explorations of the northwestern territory followed its acquisition by the United States, constructed the original Fort Clatsop in the winter of 1805. Its site was on a bluff overlooking what is now the City of Astoria. From this fortification the pathfinders directed their expeditions which resulted in the development of a vast wilderness. Occupying a site directly back of the great Cascade Gardens and near tire beautiful Art Palace, the quaint old fort, built of logs brought from Oregon forests, and surrounded by a stockade suggestive of the perilous days of the frontier, commands the attention of all visitors. The structure and its surroundings have been reproduced as nearly like the original as was possible and the effect is most impressive because of the rusticity of the architecture, which is forcibly contrasted with the modern structural creations on every side. Relics of early days in the far West and curios of pioneer expeditions have been used in furnishing the building.