sponsor a 10 - 40 ton jetty stone
CROWD FUNDING CAMPAIGN EXCLUSIVE OFFER
Sponsor a 10 to 40 ton jetty stone placed on the rebuilt South Jetty at the Columbia River. You will receive a certificate verifying the serial number and specific location of your stone.
THANK YOU!
will your company lead the way?
CORPORATE SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
PRESERVE HISTORY.
HONOR OUR RIVER.
LEAVE A LEGACY.
Corporate sponsorships are a critical part of funding this project. Please call us for more details.
THANK YOU!
please share your personal story
The story about the jetty system and the Columbia River is fascinating for sure, but the real success of this project will depend greatly upon finding personal stories to include in a documentary that will add character and personality. This could include you or your relatives personal stories about crossing the Bar, fishing, or even involvement in original jetty construction work. Our ability to discover and document these personal stories related to this topic will be crucial to this being more than just another documentary. Can you help us?
Randall Sullivan, author of Graveyard of the Pacific, provided his testimony about the Columbia River bar for our trailer. Randall lives in Gearhart Oregon and has authored numerous books over his award winning career. The topic of his latest book relates to our documentary and we highly recommend it for your reading enjoyment and further understanding of the Columbia River Bar.
WHY TAME THE MOUTH?
The Columbia River drainage basin includes seven US states and British Columbia yet the entire river flows through a narrow two mile wide mouth at the jettys. By comparison the Mississippi River's mouth is 87 miles wide. This restricted flow of the Columbia River at its mouth presents huge navigational challenges for shipping and commerce.
Due to the treacherous bar where the Columbia River and the Pacific Ocean meet, shipwrecks were a more common occurence until the jettys were constructed. Since 1792 these challenging conditions have caused close to two thousand shipwrecks in and around the mouth of the Columbia River. These disasters included the loss of over 700 lives as well as massive losses of cargo.
The original construction of the jettys and using bar pilots allowed for commerce to grow. Now each day ten ships safely transit the Bar accounting for over 24 billion dollars worth of commerce each year. This is safely accomplished by the teamwork of the ship Captains, Bar and River Pilots, Coast Guard, and others.
OUR project & Objectives
We are Joe Foss, Jeff Holt, and Gary Kobes who currently make up the "Taming the Mouth" project team created to promote the production of a feature length documentary telling the story of the Columbia River Jetty system, its history, its construction, and its critical role in our region and America's commerce. This is a story that most Americans and even most Washingtonians and Oregonians know little about. We are lifelong Pacific Northwest residents and fascinated by our unique and interesting regional history. We are amateur historians, videographers, video editors, who believe that our combined passion and perseverance will lead to this important story being told.
The Taming the Mouth team’s Objective is to tell the story of the building of the Columbia River Jetty System. This story will span the period of 1880 through the present and will cover the initial motivation and planning, the fifty-year initial construction period, the enormous task of ongoing maintenance, and today’s economic activities that are supported by the jetty system. We will tell the story in a video format, in a manner that is both entertaining as well as educational. We will investigate a range of actions covering self-production through finding an established producer. Choosing a particular production method will determine other critical aspects of the project like financing and distribution.
Scope
As we continue our research we are realizing that many additional elements come into play that may need to be included in this story. So far these additional elements could include the following:
- Geological history of the creation of the Columbia River
- History of ships beginning to enter the Columbia River
- Personal stories, personal stories, and more personal stories
- The untold shipwrecks that make up the "Graveyard of the Pacific",
- History of the Columbia River Bar Pilots
- Coast Guard involvement in saving lives on the Columbia Bar
- History of the jetty system created to allow for much safer passage from the Pacific into the Columbia River
- Current rebuild of the jetty system
Which elements to include or not to include will ultimately be determined by the direction our various resources lead us.
Contact Us
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS
Joe Foss, Gary Kobes, & Jeff Holt info@tamingthemouth.com
