City of Astoria and Clatsop County business records, 1866-1928

Correspondence, invoices, notices, requisitions, bonds, receipts, articles, ballot, and report card related to business in early Astoria and Clatsop County, Oregon. Included are the 1866 election results when about 500 Americans and former British colonists lived in Clatsop County, the organization and funding of schools, installing jail cells into the court house, building bridges, paying for the County Poorhouse, burying the dead from shipwrecks, permits from liquor stores, steamship travel, saloons, and dances for Astoria, Seaside, Westport, and other area towns.

Invoices in this collection demonstrate the growth of bridges, roads, and the steamship industry during the late 19th century. These invoices include bridge materials such as drift bolts, timber, and cast iron. One specific project documented in the collection is the Big Creek Bridge. There are invoices for various steamships including the Steamship John L. Stephens which was one of the largest steamers on the Columbia River.

There are also invoices detailing contract work with various haulers to dump sawdust as fill dirt. Astoria was raised off the marshy ground by these pilings. This, along with the fact that most of the town was made of wood, contributed to frequent fires. Two major fires in 1883 and 1922 gutted the downtown area and destroyed hundreds of structures.

Certain documents in this collection mention the Astoria Poorhouse and its inhabitants including Scandinavian, Italian, and Irish immigrants. These documents reflect the growth of immigrants in the late 19th century in Astoria as people moved for fishing jobs. Chinese immigrants soon made up 22% of Astoria's population by the late 19th century and mainly worked in canneries.