Columbia River Maritime Museum

We visited a fantastic museum this morning that chronicles the history of the Columbia River: its discovery by Europeans, traditions of Native tribes living along its shores, naval history and fishing/commercial history.  We watched a video at the museum which highlighted the changes on the Columbia from a hundred years ago to now with the addition of dams. The video also documented the expertise needed to navigate the river and the bar; each requires specialized training and only a handful of men are qualified bar pilots.  We also got to tour the Lightship Columbia which was anchored 5 miles off the mouth of the river until 1970 because the coast along the Oregon side is not suitable for building a lighthouse.