Cape Disappointment, a song for singing

September, 2020

I’d like to include just one more short blog post about fishing out past the mouth of the Columbia River and out into the Pacific Ocean. I hope you’ll enjoy this.

A friend of mine sent me the link to the song below, “Astoria Bar”. The song has nothing to do with going to a bar where one goes drinking. 🙂

Remember that the small town of Ilwaco is on the north side of the Columbia River in the State of Washington, right at the mouth of the Columbia River where it empties into the Pacific Ocean.

The town of Astoria, on the other hand, is on the south side of the Columbia River in the State of Oregon, very near the mouth of that same amazing river where it empties into the Pacifc Ocean. So sometimes the “bar” out there at the mouth of the river is called the “Astoria Bar”, hence the name of this song.

The “mighty blue river” in the song refers, of course, to the mighty Columbia River.

“When they rowed all night and fished in the morning” … back in the day, there were no engines on boats, and maybe the wind was from the wrong direction, so they rowed their small wooden boats for hours on end out to the fishing grounds, sometimes all night, out across the bar, out through those waves, out into the Pacific Ocean, to find fish to feed their families and to sell for a bit of income.

“Willapa Bay” in the song … Willapa Bay is a real bay, it’s immediately to the north of the Columbia River, just north of the North Head Lighthouse. Many of the fishermen and fisherwomen years ago lived along this protected bay, but kept their boats down in what’s now the Ilwaco area so the boats were close to the bar and close to fishing grounds. Willapa Bay is a lovely, protected, quiet, but huge bay of salt water along with numerous fresh water rivers and streams and creeks running into it, such that the bay is in truth rather brackish (a mix of salt and fresh water). Willapa Bay is large (about 24 miles north to south, only 6 miles wide at the widest and much narrower in parts of it) but the entrance to the bay off the ocean is relatively small, so the bay is very protected, very quiet, and very beautiful. The land around the bay is very much just country (with a few tourist destinations today) but basically with few homes and few roads, gorgeous trees, millions of birds and water mammals, and tons of history. On my way driving down to Cape Disappointment at the beginning of the week, and then on my way driving back home at the end of the week, I drove the small two-lane road along the edge of Willapa Bay … such peace and beauty, no wonder fishing people have lived there for so many generations, while keeping their boats near the “bar”.

Thanks for the link, Fritzi. All of you readers, please feel free to post comments on any of my blog posts with music or links to other info. It’s all super wonderful.

Turn your sound on. 🙂

Well it’s not very far to Astoria’s bar
But a very long journey it can be.
You can start at the mouth of the mighty blue river
And end at the bottom of the sea.

And the river still shines and shimmers in the light
As it did in our grandfathers’ day,
When they rowed all night and fished in the morning
And lived in Willapa Bay.

When the tide waves roll so very, very rough
So rough that you cannot stand,
It’ll drive the fish right into the nets
And the boats right into the sand.

And the river still shines and shimmers in the light
As it did in our grandfathers’ day,
When they rowed all night and fished in the morning
And lived in Willapa Bay.

In the mist and the rain, the labor and the pain,
We know what the fishing here is worth.
It is worth all the gold when they suck them from the hold
And worth all the treasure of the earth.

And the river still shines and shimmers in the light
As it did in our grandfathers’ day,
When they rowed all night and fished in the morning
And lived in Willapa Bay.

Now it’s not very far to Astoria’s bar
But a very long journey it can be.
You can start at the mouth of the mighty blue river
And end at the bottom of the sea.

And the river still shines and shimmers in the light
As it did in our grandfathers’ day,
When they rowed all night and fished in the morning
And lived in Willapa Bay.

When they rowed all night and fished in the morning
And lived in Willapa Bay.