Northwest connections

What a marriage proposal!

Social media/youtube at it's best! Well, pretty awesome anyway. This clip has gone viral on youtube. It's a marriage proposal of epic proportions set to a song by Bruno Mars. Filmed in Portland and, according to the story I saw on ABC News, the people in the clip are all theater people so performing is something they do. My guess is that it went viral after Bruno Mars posted something on twitter about it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_v7QrIW0zY&feature=related



Photographer to loggers

I came across photos taken of and by Darius Kinsey (1869-1945) when I was in Brookings last weekend. Born in Missouri, Kinsey was in Washington by the age of 20. His claim to fame was that he photographed logging camps and the people who worked and lived there throughout the Northwest. He also loved to photograph trains. In some circles, he was known as the Ansel Adams of logging. While he traveled the Northwest photographing loggers and their work, his wife Tabitha was at home in Sedra-Woolley, Washington where she developed the plates he returned with.

Tabitha and Darius Kinsey at their Sedro-Woolley, Washington home in early 1900. 

Vanport Flood

It was the second largest city in Oregon the morning of May 30, 1948. Before the day was over, it was totally destroyed. Vanport City, Oregon was built as housing for workers at the Kaiser Shipyards. At one time, over 40,000 people lived there. By 1948, the population was down to about 18,000. With houses standing empty, the Housing Authority of Portland opened Vanport College to attract returning veterans. After the town was destroyed, the college refused to die. It moved to downtown Portland and is now Portland State University.

Many of the returning veterans who were attracted to Vanport were African Americans. Many of those who lost their homes remember the day like it was yesterday. Most barely escaped with the clothes on their backs.

A 200 foot span of the dike holding back the Columbia River gave way at 4:05pm, washing the town away so quickly that by nightfall, Vanport was gone. Fifteen people died although by some accounts there were more whose bodies were never found. Like officials did during Hurricane Katrina, authorities told Vanport residents they were perfectly safe. "REMEMBER:

                                       DIKES ARE SAFE AT PRESENT.
                                       YOU WILL BE WARNED IF NECESSARY.
                                       YOU WILL HAVE TIME TO LEAVE.
                                       DON'T GET EXCITED."

Vanport residents, including her children, were instantly homeless following the break in the dike. People were billeted wherever a place could be found.

Vanport City, Oregon- destroyed by flooding on May 30, 1948, leaving over 18,000 people instantly homeless.

If it did nothing else, the Vanport Flood brought about changes in public housing in the Portland area.