Rich Bergeman, Tidewaters: Looking Back Along Oregon’s Coast Range Rivers

Oct. 14, 2022 – Jan. 29, 2023
Opening Reception Friday, Oct. 14, from 4pm to 7pm

Pacific Maritime Heritage Center
333 SE Bay Blvd
Newport, OR 97365
541-265-7509

Maritime Center

Open Wed-Sun 10am-4pm

“Tidewaters” is a series of platinum/palladium prints depicting scenes along Oregon’s major estuaries captured by Corvallis photographer Rich Bergeman in the 1990s and early 2000s. The exhibit includes maps and text panels recalling the history of Native American life and early Euro-American settlement along the tidewater regions.

Using 8×10” and 5×7” cameras, Bergeman spent about 10 years exploring the lower reaches of the Columbia, Yaquina, Alsea, Siuslaw and other navigable rivers draining the Oregon Coast Range, looking for scenes that reflect the region’s early history.

Each of the river systems was home to its own distinct Native American population that was eventually disrupted in the 1800s by increasing encroachment by Euro-Americans in pursuit of the region’s fishery and forestry resources. For a time, beginning in 1855, the entire Central Coast–over one million acres from Cape Lookout to the Oregon Dunes–was a Congressionally designated Indian Reservation, but it was gradually chipped away until all that remained was the small present day tract at Siletz.

During that time new towns slowly began to take shape near the mouths of the rivers; some flourished while others disappeared altogether. Among the so-called “lost cities” were Bayocean, a Tillamook Bay resort once billed as the “Atlantic City of the West,” and Yaquina City, the ill-fated “San Francisco of the Oregon Territory.”
In keeping with the historical nature of the images, Bergeman printed them in the traditional platinum process, which dates back to the early years of photography in the 19th century and is known for its permanence and long tonal range.

A book on the exhibit that expands upon the show will be available in the museum bookstore, along with digital reprints from the show.