Seeking Prosperity and Freedom on the Oregon Coast: The Bellamy Colony, Lincoln County, Oregon (1897-1899)

Bellamy is not found on the map, but if you at any time happen to be in Toledo, Lincoln Co., Oregon, you will certainly find Bellamy, providing you are looking for it."1 In this fashion, O. A. Tveitmoe, leader of the Bellamy Colony, began one of the few published accounts of this shortlived community established on Depot Creek on the Oregon Coast.The brief article appears in the February 4, 1899 issue of Industrial Freedom, a publication of the Equality community on the Puget Sound in Washington State. 2 The Bellamy Colony in Oregon lasted less than two years as a cooperative colony but its existence reflects an interesting mix of influences and interests in Bellamy by individuals somewhat outside the normal sphere in this period and in Oregon, in this case a group of mostly Norwegian settlers.Edward Bellamy's contribution to the utopian experience in America and elsewhere is predominantly seen in the two novels he wrote, Looking Backward 2000-1887 (1888) and Equality (1897), as well as the movement established by those who felt the ideal world depicted in Looking Backward could possibly be achieved.The Nationalist movement was initiated in early 1889 and lasted until the mid-1890s although most of its energy was lost or siphoned off in the elections of 1892. 3 Some individuals moved beyond the literary and educational aspects of Bellamy's ideals and sought to put into practice elements of his utopian vision, even though Bellamy himself was not an advocate of this approach to realizing his ideal society.Bellamy felt that individual communities would dilute the impact of the Nationalist program and that such communities would fail due to their smallness and isolation.4 Despite these objections from the "prophet" himself, several existing communities adopted Bellamy's ideals and a number of other cooperative communities were established, or at least planned, that would be based on the Bellamy plan.Such was the influence