Talk:Vanport, Oregon

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[edit] Some Vanport survivors think article is not too accurate

...so my intention is to read Mabens book, do some more research, and rework the article. I admit that my Mother, her siblings (my maternal aunt and two uncles), my Grandmother, and a number of other family members lived in Vanport and escaped the flood. Some of them have read the article and think it paints too bleak a picture of life there, and focuses too much on the shipyard workers as the primary residents. Of all my relatives who lived there, none of the adults were actual shipyard workers, and many of them were employed in Vanport itself.

I know I can't quote them or base my edits on their undocumented experiences, so I will use documented sources.

Any thoughts or ideas? I do not want to violate NPOV, just add more accuracy.

Mmoyer 03:50, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

Hi, I don't know much about Vanport except from what I have read and what my mom has told me (she grew up in Oregon and remembers Vanport and the 1948 floods, which affected where she lived as well), but I think it is an important part of Oregon's history and applaud any efforts to make the article better. It sounds like you already understand what to do, so I would say just look for secondary sources that back up your family's accounts, go ahead and do whatever rewriting you think necessary and cite your sources, which can go in the existing reference section. Another idea, if you're up for some work, would be to interest a historian or reporter in your family's story, get their accounts published in a secondary source, then use them as references. If there are any resources at the Oregon State Library, that might be a good place to look too. (It looks like you don't live in Oregon, so I might be able to help with that, if need be.) BTW, according to this, the in-use ({{underconstruction}}) template is supposed to be removed after 2 hours of editing inactivity, just so you know. Happy editing! Katr67 17:07, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

You might also wish to read Margaret Crawford's "Daily Life on the Home Front" in the book World War II and the American Dream: How Wartime Building Changed a Nation, edited by Donald Albrecht. This artical has some great material on Vanport and its relationship to the Kaiser Oregonship facility.Tetyler 03:08, 10 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Vanport's location

I'm confused about how the location of Vanport is described in this article (and the Portland, OR article). It says Vanport was "located in Multnomah County, Oregon between the contemporary Portland city boundary and the Columbia River." Since I don't know where the contemporary Portland city boundary was, I still don't know where Vanport was. Was it at Delta Park? Or what?

Sylvia A 06:47, 19 December 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for pointing that out. I believe it was where Portland International Speedway is now, near Delta Park. Katr67 15:25, 19 December 2006 (UTC)
The current City of Portland boundary includes all of the Delta Park area and most of Hayden Island (commonly known as Jantzen Beach). At the time of Vanport's existance, Portland went as far north as the Columbia Slough in places. The city of Vanport was bounded by the Columbia Slough on the South, the Columbia River on the North, and roughly where Union Avenue (present day MLK Jr. Blvd.) is on the East. I don't remember the exact West boundary (I did a school report on this WAY back), but it did include the current location of the Auto racetrack, the Expo Center, and the now wetland site where the KGW towers stood until a few years ago. The main way out to Portland was via the bridge at Denver Ave, which was the Main N/S highway in Oregon at the time (US 99W). The bridge is in the same spot now, just North of Paul Bunyan. Bryan2000 04:18, 25 December 2006 (UTC)
I guess that should be a lesson to me: when I dashed off the original article -- for the simple reason that I believed Wikipedia needed this article -- I wrote the problematical description of Vanport's location because I didn't have the precise information at hand where Portland's northern boundary lay. (However, had I waited until I found that information, the article might never have been written.) I've tried to improve my standards since. -- llywrch 02:45, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

Statement of Harold Gillis, Jan. 15, 2007

I lived in the Kenton neighborhood of Portland, as a young kid, at the time of the flood. Kenton is the most northerly part of Portland. Vanport was built by Henry Keiser during the 2d world war to house all the workers who built ships at the Keiser shipyards in Vancouver, Washington and the Swan Island facility in Portland. During the war, Vanport was Oregon's 2d largest city. But after the end of the war in 1945 many people left due to the closing of the shipyards (which, as I remember, built transport ships).

I was a caddy at Columbia Edgewater golf course, and rode my bike to the course each day during the summer. The course was east of Vanport some distance. Denver Ave. was the main road between north Portland and Vancouver. On the day of the flood I did not go to the golf course because some of the fairways had water on them, and the course was closed. The course was up river several miles. The radio reported the breaking of the dike, and scores of people were entering the Kenton neighborhood from Vanport, often with just the clothes on their backs. Most of them were negros, and were treated badly by the locals. I rode my bike down to the flood area, and Vanport was quickly becoming flooded with water. Repeated that the following day and saw the plywood houses floating away.

As an aside, there was a great amusement park between Vanport and the bridge over the Columbia River. It was called Jantzen Beach. Much of it was under water.

Vanport was not rebuilt. And some later time (I don't remember when), it became a race track.

[edit] Number of deaths

The beginning of this article states that there were 15 deaths. It later on goes to say 16. Which? Search4Lancer 04:06, 25 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Source

Clark v. United States, (13 F.R.D. 342) is a federal case involving claims after the flood which contains a lot of details on the housing project, levies, and the flood. It would be available online through legal sites or at your local law library. Aboutmovies (talk) 09:43, 18 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] PIR = old Vanport's streets?

I know that Portland International Raceway lies on the grounds of what was Vanport, but doesn't it actually use some of the old Vanport streets? I think I remember reading this somewhere (and that they may have not even re-paved them at first) and you can see the outline of the northern half of the modern race track in Image:Aerial view of vanport flooded.jpg. Jason McHuff (talk) 09:28, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

For starters, [1] and [2]. I'm going to try and add the info (e.g. miracle city) and a coordinates template soon. Jason McHuff (talk) 09:39, 9 January 2008 (UTC)