Astoria, Oregon: New York invests in the West by Small Town America published on 2017-10-20T22:05:49Z Fort Astoria was founded as the first permanent US settlement this side of the Rocky Mountains in 1811 by the American Fur Company, which was owned by famous New York millionaire John Jacob Astor. However, the British took control from 1813-1818 and Fort Astoria was renamed Fort George. It came back into American hands during the “Oregon Country” period, when the Brits and US shared joint occupation of the Pacific Northwest until 1846, when President James K Polk managed to secure everything between the 49th parallel and California. Genre Storytelling Comment by Small Town America @gleep-1: Thanks for the comment! Glad you enjoyed the episode. We'll be adding more soon. We actually posted the video of scaring off the sea lions on our facebook page (facebook.com/smalltownbigstory) and they show the failed whale, though we'd not seen the picture of the sea lions sunning themselves on it. Also, Hannah will be happy to know that she was right about the pronunciation of Flavel. 2017-10-23T20:12:24Z Comment by Gleep Loved the episode! A few extras for folks who have questions: If you want to know why all those films were shot in Astoria, visit the Oregon Film Museum (http://www.oregonfilmmuseum.com/). Re: sea lions: Before the port tried air dancers, they also hired some guy from Canada to bring in a mini-submarine painted to look like a killer whale. The idea was that killer whales are sea lion predators, so the sea lions would see it and flee. It didn't work out. The sub took on water and rolled over on its side. You can still find pictures online of sea lions sunning themselves on top of the sub. Hilarious. Finally, Flavel is pronounced "flu-VEL" Keep up the great work! 2017-10-21T19:09:48Z
