in other words
august17
2017
7
The Good Ol ’ Days
By Tobie Finzel
The Total Eclipse of 1918
With the current focus on the
August 21, 2017 total eclipse across a
swath of Oregon, Vernonia Pioneer Mu-
seum Association (VPMA) Board Sec-
retary, Barbara Larsen, serendipitously
found some handwritten letters written
to Mrs. John Stofiel, once resident cura-
tor along with her husband, John, of the
Vernonia museum. One section vividly
recalled the eclipse of June 8, 1918.
Youngest of several children,
Otto Hackenberg was born in 1909 to
a German couple who had a farm about
three miles from Apiary. In a letter dated
November 24, 1976, he wrote: “Early in
1918 I was quite elated when we learned
that there was to be a total eclipse of the
sun on June 8th starting about 2:30 P.M.
standard time. Yes, 1918 was the year
daylight ‘wasting’ time got started, but
we were on the right time. That day,
while a little cloudy, it could be seen
most of the time and about 4 P.M. it was
total.
“I ran in the house to check the
time, too dark to see anything in the
house but light enough to see outside. I
ran to the chicken house to see all the
chickens on the roost; the cows came to
the barn. By the time I came back, it was
starting to come back and the sun looked
like a new moon, just before and after.
We will soon have another one, February
26, 1979, in the morning. This will be
the last total one till 2017 in the conti-
nental U.S. and that one should be total
here or not far from here.
“This is a decade of sun eclips-
es; we have had three so far in it, all
cloudy when they occurred. There will
be a small partial one in October 1977
and another one in 1984.” Otto’s inter-
ests also extended to other astronomical
occurrences. Otto was only a baby when
the spectacular close passing of Halley’s
Comet occurred in 1910. He continued
the letter by relating something a former
neighbor said when he was young: “Mr.
Bailey told me about Halley’s Comet
and told me I might live to see it. We
now have ten years more to wait. I have
seen two comets in 1957 and a real large
one in March 1971.’ Sadly, Otto passed
away in 1985, a year before the comet’s
return. The upside is that the 1986 com-
et was so much further away than it was
in 1910, it was not easily seen.
“Since this eclipse of 1918 I
have paid close attention to the alma-
nac’s planetary positions, eclipses, etc.
In Fall 1940, all five visible planets were
in the evening S.W. sky. I was told that
no one living at that time would ever live
to see that again.”
We would have liked to share
Virgil Powell’s June 8, 1918 diary entry
with his comment on the eclipse. Un-
fortunately, the 1918 diary was missing
from the collection before the Stofiels
started the monumental project of typing
up all of his diaries in the 1960s.
Let’s hope that the weather for
the eclipse next week will be clear!
From Virgil Powell’s Diary
Virgil Powell (1887-1963) was a long-
time resident whose family had a farm
in the Upper Nehalem Valley between
Natal and Pittsburg. Each year from
1906 until 1955, he kept a regular
diary of his activities. Summer was the
season for camp meetings, evangelistic
gatherings held in a tent or outdoors
and often lasting several days. Virgil
attended these every summer while he
was a young man, perhaps as much for
the social as the religious aspects.
Wednesday, August 14, 1907:
Did not do much of anything
during the day. Started down
the river at 6 and took Alice up
to camp meeting in Vernonia.
Got back home at 2:30. Had a
dandy time.
Friday, August 16: Started for
Clatskanie at 6:20 and got to
Clatskanie at 10. Stayed in C.
till 12:30. Had a dandy time,
had picture taken and mailed
some postals to Alice. Saw Allie
on my way back. Got home at
5:15. Awful hot all day.
Saturday, August 17: Did not
do much of anything. Went
up to camp meeting in the
evening. Claws also went up
with me in the buggy. Got
home about 11. Pretty hot all
day. Grange day at Natal. Got
a letter from 55131 (Note: This
was long before ZIP codes, and we can
only speculate that it may have been a
secret pen pal).
Sunday, August 18: Went
up to camp meeting about
10 and stayed all day. Had
a fine time. Played ball in
afternoon. Vernonia vs Mist,
score 25 to 26 in favor of
Vernonia. Awful hot all day.
This was the last night of camp
meeting.
Tuesday, August 20: Bound
grain all day and you bet
Washington County Photo Contest
announced via social media and e-mail
on October 6, 2017.
For more information visit:
www.swcd.net All photos must be sub-
mitted by 5:00 pm on September 30,
2017. Any photos submitted after that
date will not be eligible.
All photos must be e-mailed to:
Chantel.Huff@tualatinswcd.org
Requirements:
• Must be a photo taken in Washington
County.
• Must be your own original work.
• All photos must be in original format,
no editing or altering the original, unless
cropping out any excess background.
• Must be a recent photo taken after Jan-
uary 2017.
• Must include your first and last name,
e-mail, date the photo was taken, descrip-
tion of what is happening in the photo,
size of photo and location of the photo.
• There is a maximum of 5 entries per
person. Please fill out one entry form per
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good and tired when night
comes. Awful hot all day.
Received a postal from Allie.
Thursday, August22: Worked
in grain all day. Finished
in ash field and commenced
on the other. Sent a letter to
55131. Pretty warm all day.
Went down the river horse-back
after supper as far as Dave K.
and got home about 9.
Friday, August 23: Worked in
grain all day. Awful hot all
day. Worked after supper till
8. I certainly remember one
month ago today. Wonder if
A.G.P. does. (Note: July 23 was the
night he spent in Peterson’s barn after
an evening with Alice G. Peterson and
her family. We’ll leave speculation to
our readers.)
The Vernonia Pioneer Museum is located
at 511 E. Bridge Street and is open from
1 to 4 pm on Saturdays and Sundays (ex-
cluding holidays) all year. From June
through mid-September, the museum
is also open on Fridays from 1 – 4 pm.
There is no charge for admission but do-
nations are always welcome. Become
a member of the museum for an annual
$5 fee to receive the periodic newsletter.
We now have a page on the Vernonia
Hands on Art website, www.vernonia-
handsonart.org If you are a Facebook
user, check out the Vernonia Pioneer
Museum page. The museum volunteers
are always pleased to enlist additional
volunteers to help hold the museum open
and assist in other ways. Please stop by
and let one of the volunteers know of
your interest in helping out.
continued from page 4
photo.
• All photos must be submitted in jpeg
format and be no larger than 7200 x 9000
ppi.
• If there is anyone in the photo you must
fill out the Photo Release Form.
• All participants must fill out the Per-
mission to Reprint Form.
Questions by E-mail: Chantel.
Huff@tualatinswcd.org. Please do not
contact us about the status of entries or
judging.
Where do you read the Voice?
Show us where you
have traveled. Submit your
photo with a brief description
by email to: scott@
vernoniasvoice.com