Large Cities around the Coast? (Portland, Eugene: live in, centers, agricultural)

[Bazal]

Heya,

So looking at Oregon - it's absolutely beautiful. However, I noticed there are no large cities (50,000 people +) around the coast... not sure why that is. Google tells me Coos is the largest county close to the coast with only 20,000. Is this correct? Why?

Thanks

[Silverfall]

Yes it is correct. There are no large cities because of the coastal range. That impeded growth, but now there is just nothing economically to drive growth out there.

[Lizzaa]

A suppose there are a few reasons.

The first is we have only have around 4 million in our entire state, that is basically the same number of people that live in Los Angeles, CA.

The second reason would probably be that our coasts are not easy to get to and from. Most of the Oregon Coast is remote. So this makes it unattractive to business's and for people that need jobs, the coast is not the place to find them. On the opposite end where most of our larger cities are located (Medford, Eugene, Salem, Portland) - are all off the I-5. Most of Oregon outside of the I-5 range is largely still rural (besides Bend in Eastern Oregon which is basically the only hub on the East side).

Lastly, I'm assuming you haven't been to our Coasts. They are not exactly the white sandy warm beaches of California or Florida (I've been to both). I've been there when it was over 100 degrees in the Willamette Valley (about an hours drive give or take to the coast from the Valley) and found the coast not only shockingly cold but with enough wind to give you a full body exfoliation. We have beautiful sunny lovely days on the coast, don't get me wrong, but you won't find people regularly sunbathing with a cooler and umbrella. It's cold and damp most of the year, not to mention rocky. We have brave souls who brave surf boarding but they mostly wear full body suits. We have a lot of freak waves and undertow's. You can wade in but not a lot of people swim like they do in say Hawaii.

[seashelly]

.....and we like it that way.

[texasdiver]

If you look at the map you will see that most of the population in Oregon is in the Willamette Valley which runs along I-5 from Eugene to Portland. That's where the good agricultural land is. A century ago the primary way in and out of Oregon for agricultural and forest products being exported and consumer goods being imported was up the Columbia to Portland and then down the Willamette Valley by steamship along the river and later by rail and truck on the highways. The coast mountains are steep and rugged and even today it is difficult for the highway department to keep them clear of slides during the winter. So Portland became the natural gateway to Oregon just as San Francisco was the natural gateway to northern California.

The towns along the coast never had any way to compete against Portland because there access across the mountains to the main population centers was so difficult, especially 100-150 years ago. They did develop their own local economies to some extent...dairy farming around Tillamook, fishing around Newport, and logging and mill work around Coos Bay. But those economies were naturally self-limiting and couldn't possibly support more than a small city or large town.

But transportation has always been the problem. In fact, it wasn't even until the 1930s I think that much of the coast was actually connected via US-101 which was a major engineering achievement. Before that one had to travel the coast on very torturous local winding roads and cross all the major rivers and bays via local ferries. Visit SE Alaska or coastal British Columbia and see how isolated those little coastal towns are for a flavor of what the Oregon coast was like 100 years ago.

Frankly it is no different in California. Dive up CA-1 from San Francisco to Eureka and the much of the coast is even more remote and wild than Oregon.

[eric351982]

There aren't any! Lol

[NWbyNW]

The Oregon coast is made up of mostly rocky shoreline, filled with tree's and in many areas, the Coast Range stops right at the sea. This really limited growth as well as very limited transportation opportunities. The weather is often harsh and cold with rain and wind beating in the non summer months. High surf makes pockets of the coast very popular for surfers. Even more limited pockets have sandy beaches, and this is where you will find the brunt of the tourism.

Due to these reasons, lack of transportation, jobs, weather, and other things, growth is rather limited. In small areas you will find towns clinging to the coast. Neither Washington or Oregon have large coastal cities. During peak times of the year, coastal tourist towns thrive, otherwise things are quite quiet. The biggest populated areas are in Oregon's North Coast from Cannon Beach - Seaside - Astoria. There is the Coos Bay - North Bend region. There are smaller population centers like Newport, Lincoln City, and Brookings. Economically, the areas can be depressed, more for some then others.