Clatskanie, Oregon
Encyclopedia
Clatskanie is a city in Columbia County
, Oregon
, United States
. It was named for the Clatskanie River
, which empties into the Columbia River
within the city limits. The population was 1,528 at the 2000 census. The 2007 estimate is 1,710 residents.
Clatskanie comes from a Native American
word, Tlatskani. According to the Clatsop County
pioneer Silas B. Smith, Tlatskani was a point in the Nehalem River
that was reached from the Columbia River by way of the Youngs River
or by way of the Clatskanie River. The native inhabitants, who were not in the habit of naming streams, did not use the word Tlatskani for the streams they would follow in order to get to that point, but the white men who settled here later did apply the name to the streams.
Clatskanie is also the name of a Native American people, whose numbers dwindled from smallpox
, intermittent fever, warfare, and intermarriage until they numbered only three people in a 1910 census.
Many of Clatskanie's inhabitants are of Scandinavia
n heritage, specifically Finnish
, Swedish
, and Norwegian
.
, the city has a total area of 1.2 square miles (3.1 km²), all land.
Clatskanie is surrounded by many small unincorporated communities, including Alston, Delena, Clatskanie Heights, Inglis
, Kerry
, Marshland
, Mayger
, Quincy
, and Woodson
.
of 2000, there were 1,528 people, 608 households, and 406 families residing in the city. The population density
was 1,274.1 people per square mile (491.6/km²). There were 659 housing units at an average density of 549.5 per square mile (212.0/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 93.91% White, 0.07% African American, 1.24% Native American, 0.65% Asian, 0.26% Pacific Islander, 1.05% from other races
, and 2.81% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.34% of the population. 22.6% were of German, 10.3% Norwegian, 9.4% Finnish, 9.1% Irish
, 8.2% English
and 6.8% American
ancestry according to Census 2000. 94.0% spoke English
, 4.1% Spanish
and 1.6% Finnish
as their first language.
There were 608 households out of which 35.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.6% were married couples
living together, 12.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.1% were non-families. 27.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 15.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.47 and the average family size was 3.07.
In the city the population was spread out with 29.6% under the age of 18, 7.3% from 18 to 24, 26.0% from 25 to 44, 21.0% from 45 to 64, and 16.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 90.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 81.3 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $35,833, and the median income for a family was $48,056. Males had a median income of $41,550 versus $24,286 for females. The per capita income
for the city was $16,717. About 11.1% of families and 11.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 11.4% of those under age 18 and 12.1% of those age 65 or over.
, namely the combined Clatskanie Middle/High School
, and Clatskanie Elementary School, as well as Piercing Arrow Private School.
Columbia County, Oregon
Columbia County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oregon. It was named for the Columbia River, which forms its eastern and northern borders. As of 2010, its population was 49,351. The county seat is St. Helens.-Economy:...
, Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. It was named for the Clatskanie River
Clatskanie River
The Clatskanie River is a tributary of the Columbia River, approximately long, in northwestern Oregon in the United States. It drains a timber-producing area in the foothills of the Northern Oregon Coast Range north-northwest of Portland....
, which empties into the Columbia River
Columbia River
The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada, flows northwest and then south into the U.S. state of Washington, then turns west to form most of the border between Washington and the state...
within the city limits. The population was 1,528 at the 2000 census. The 2007 estimate is 1,710 residents.
History
According to some reports, the original name of this town when it was platted in 1884 was Bryantville. However, the post office in this location is shown as Clatskanie as early as December, 1871.Clatskanie comes from a Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
word, Tlatskani. According to the Clatsop County
Clatsop County, Oregon
Clatsop County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oregon. The county is named for the Clatsop tribe of Native Americans, who lived along the coast of the Pacific Ocean prior to European settlement. As of 2010, the population was 37,039. The county seat is Astoria.-Economy:The principal...
pioneer Silas B. Smith, Tlatskani was a point in the Nehalem River
Nehalem River
The Nehalem River is a river on the Pacific coast of northwest Oregon in the United States, approximately long. It drains part of the Northern Oregon Coast Range northwest of Portland, originating on the east side of the mountains and flowing in a loop around the north end of the range near the...
that was reached from the Columbia River by way of the Youngs River
Youngs River
The Youngs River is a tributary of the Columbia River, approximately long, in northwest Oregon in the United States. It drains part of the Northern Oregon Coast Range in the extreme northwest corner of state, entering the Columbia just upstream from its mouth.It rises in a remote section of the...
or by way of the Clatskanie River. The native inhabitants, who were not in the habit of naming streams, did not use the word Tlatskani for the streams they would follow in order to get to that point, but the white men who settled here later did apply the name to the streams.
Clatskanie is also the name of a Native American people, whose numbers dwindled from smallpox
Smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...
, intermittent fever, warfare, and intermarriage until they numbered only three people in a 1910 census.
Many of Clatskanie's inhabitants are of Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
n heritage, specifically Finnish
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
, Swedish
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, and Norwegian
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
.
Geography
According to the United States Census BureauUnited States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...
, the city has a total area of 1.2 square miles (3.1 km²), all land.
Clatskanie is surrounded by many small unincorporated communities, including Alston, Delena, Clatskanie Heights, Inglis
Inglis, Oregon
Inglis is an unincorporated community in Columbia County, Oregon, United States. Inglis post office was established on September 30, 1902, and was named after the first postmaster, John E. Inglis. The post office closed in 1910, then reopened in 1914, finally closing in 1918. The railroad station...
, Kerry
Kerry, Oregon
Kerry is an unincorporated community in Columbia County, Oregon, United States, located about 30 miles east of Astoria. It was founded to extend the Columbia & Nehalem River Railroad and named in 1912 by lumberman Albert S. Kerry. In the 1920s it had about 200 inhabitants. Its post office opened...
, Marshland
Marshland, Oregon
Marshland, formerly known as Skunk Cabbage Flat, is an unincorporated community in Columbia County, Oregon, United States. It was settled by Z.B. Bryant in 1862. Its post office was established around 1873. It closed in 1960. As of July 2007, Marshland's population is 462 and the population density...
, Mayger
Mayger, Oregon
Mayger is an unincorporated community in Columbia County, Oregon, United States. Fishing is important to Mayger. It was originally the site of Frenchman Charles Mayger's Mayger Logging Company, which he sold in 1886 to William F. Slaughter. Mayger's post office was established three years later and...
, Quincy
Quincy, Oregon
Quincy is an unincorporated community in Columbia County, in the far north of Oregon, United States. It is located along U.S. Route 30.- References :...
, and Woodson
Woodson, Oregon
Woodson is an unincorporated community in Columbia County, Oregon, United States. It is located on U.S. Route 30 seven miles west of Clatskanie and three miles east of Westport, on Westport Slough, a tributary of the Columbia River...
.
Demographics
As of the censusCensus
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
of 2000, there were 1,528 people, 608 households, and 406 families residing in the city. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
was 1,274.1 people per square mile (491.6/km²). There were 659 housing units at an average density of 549.5 per square mile (212.0/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 93.91% White, 0.07% African American, 1.24% Native American, 0.65% Asian, 0.26% Pacific Islander, 1.05% from other races
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, and 2.81% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.34% of the population. 22.6% were of German, 10.3% Norwegian, 9.4% Finnish, 9.1% Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
, 8.2% English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
and 6.8% American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
ancestry according to Census 2000. 94.0% spoke English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, 4.1% Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
and 1.6% Finnish
Finnish language
Finnish is the language spoken by the majority of the population in Finland Primarily for use by restaurant menus and by ethnic Finns outside Finland. It is one of the two official languages of Finland and an official minority language in Sweden. In Sweden, both standard Finnish and Meänkieli, a...
as their first language.
There were 608 households out of which 35.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.6% were married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
living together, 12.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.1% were non-families. 27.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 15.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.47 and the average family size was 3.07.
In the city the population was spread out with 29.6% under the age of 18, 7.3% from 18 to 24, 26.0% from 25 to 44, 21.0% from 45 to 64, and 16.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 90.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 81.3 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $35,833, and the median income for a family was $48,056. Males had a median income of $41,550 versus $24,286 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...
for the city was $16,717. About 11.1% of families and 11.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 11.4% of those under age 18 and 12.1% of those age 65 or over.
Education
Clatskanie is served by the two public schools of Clatskanie School DistrictClatskanie School District
The Clatskanie School District is a two-school public school district in Columbia County, Oregon, United States. It serves the city of Clatskanie and the surrounding area.-Demographics:...
, namely the combined Clatskanie Middle/High School
Clatskanie Middle/High School
Clatskanie Middle/High School is a public school in Clatskanie, Oregon, United States that serves both middle school- and high school-age students. The current building opened in 1949 and now houses 462 students...
, and Clatskanie Elementary School, as well as Piercing Arrow Private School.
External links
- City of Clatskanie, Oregon (official website)