people + place

Red Cedar, they had to reinvent traditional logging and saw-milling even to begin to feed their huge mills.

Americans. It’s a history counted in generations, not centuries, compressed and constantly reshaped, calamitous and fickle.

In the same ambIt Ious spIrIt that R.A. Long brought with him to the Pacific Northwest, this centennial celebration of a city’s founding frames that story in a larger context.

The creation of Longview, Washington, was never merely a local or regional story. This series — an ultimately, the book — considers at least three larger themes set forth in the title: Empire of Trees: America’s Planned City and the Last Frontier.

First, it truly was an Empire of Trees that greeted Long-Bell’s flatland lumbermen, used to mowing down sedate stands of southern pine. Flabbergasted and intimidated by the ridge-fulls of Douglas Fir and Western

Second, Longview truly was America’s Planned City, an experiment with echoes of Washington, D.C. and Kansas City but never before attempted on such a scale, with private money, and from scratch. However isolated Longview was, thanks to its huge ambitions and aggressive promotion, the whole world would watch its birth and development.

And third, the Pacific Northwest truly was, and is, America’s Last Frontier. Its isolated coasts and rivers were the last of the continental U.S. explored and claimed by colonizing Europeans and

In a final testament to the spirit of the founders, we’re still making it up as we go along.

A hundred years...

With a mind to the fickleness of history, and the perils of generalization, I offer you, dear and loyal readers, a couple of final comments, summarizing our reporting and offering reflections on what we’ve learned.

Thank you for your year’s worth of support, comment, and enthusiasm.

THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST TRULY WAS, AND IS, AMERICA’S LAST FRONTIER

where we’ve Been • where we’re GoInG

The Long View project pairs history with modern context. To celebrate Longview’s 100th birthday, Columbia River Reader is expanding its monthly “People+Place” feature to contrast the historical “Then” with the contemporary “Now.”

“It’s important to look back and celebrate the past,” said publisher Susan Piper, “but equally important to track the changes that make us what we are today. How close are we to the founders’ vision? What remains? What’s entirely new?”

Thanks to tremendous community support (see Partner Spotlights, page 25), the Reader will present 12 months of “People+Place Then and Now” reportage, then combine and expand these features into a commemorative book. Empire of Trees: America’s Planned City and the Last Frontier, written by Hal Calbom, with a foreword by John M. McClelland, III.

The Reader is coordinating with the Longview Centennial Committee, led by Reed Hadley, to publicize civic activities and celebrations (see Centennial Countdown, page 27) and will host a Book Launch Gala June 30, 2023.

Then And Now

1. Developing Dreams

2. Empire of Trees

3. Heavy Lifting

4. Work Force

5. Waste Not, Want Not

6. Telling Stories

7. Transport and Trade

8. Darkness and Light

11. Dreams Developing