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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (June 3, 2016)
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, JUNE 3, 2016 COMMUNITY 1B RECLAIMED BY THE SEA PROGRESS REPORT FOR OLD TIMES’ SAKE ig dreams of creating the Atlantic City of the West Coast inspired the creation of the resort town Bayocean on a 4-mile spit on Til- lamook Bay, and by 1914, 600 lots were sold. One early buyer was Francis Drake Mitchell, Bayocean’s most enduring “true believer,” who also set up a couple of businesses there, according to a story in The Guardian (http://tinyurl.com/bayogone). The Salt Water Artiicial Surf Natatorium opened in 1914, featur- ing a 50- by 160-foot heated pool with a wave machine, balconies for spectators, bands to serenade the swimmers and a movie theater. Businesses and cottages blossomed, and Bayocean grew quickly. The photo of the natatorium shown, and many others of the town in its heady prime, plus lots of trivia tidbits, can be found at PdxHistory. com (http://tinyurl.com/histpix). The town was not without problems, however. The phone sys- tem only worked in the town itself, and originally the only ways to get there were via a yacht, also called Bayocean – crossing both the Columbia River and Tillamook Bay bars – or by means of a narrow gauge railroad, probably just as terrifying. By the time a road opened, the resort was already being reclaimed by the ocean. The residents demanded that a jetty be installed on Tillamook Bay, and even though the Army Corps of Engineers recommended two be built, the townspeople were only willing to pay for one. The jetty changed the currents, and Bayocean soon started erod- ing away. The natatorium had vanished by 1939. Houses and busi- nesses disappeared into the sea one by one. The post ofice closed March 31, 1953, and Francis Mitchell, one of the irst residents, was the last one to leave. By 1954, Bayocean was an island, and in 1960, the last remaining house fell into the ocean. Today, there’s nothing left but a few chunks of concrete, almost as if Bayocean never existed. B GETTING GOOSED e received a call from the public about a goose that had been on this dock for three days,” the Wildlife Center of the North Coast posted on its Facebook page (http://tinyurl. com/wcncFB). Volunteer Lynette Scribner arrived on the scene to capture the stranded fowl, and is pictured in a video screen shot of the rescue. But the best-laid plans of mice and men — and geese, too, apparently — often go awry, and this particular goose had a very good reason for not moving all that time. It was a decoy. As the wildlife center aptly noted: “This is the deinition of a wild goose chase!” ‘W rom The Daily Astorian, Tuesday Morning, June 6, 1899 (http://tinyurl.com/DAJune1899): • While the steamer Columbia was lying at the O.R.N. company’s dock Sunday a heavy bar of iron dropped into the ire room, striking Thomas Gilder, a ireman, on the head, and he owes it to sheer good luck and strong skull that he was not killed outright instead of being knocked unconscious ... • George H. Stillwell, irst assistant keeper at Tilla- mook Light, will go out today on the Columbine to renew his vigil on that lonely rock, which will last for the next four months, or longer if the man who comes ashore is as long getting back as he has been … Mr. Stillwell came ashore the irst of April, and should have gone back at the end of the month, but each time the Columbine was here the weather was so rough that it was impossible to make a landing on the rock. • Among other curios, Captain Richardson of the Col- umbine has the skull and beak of an unusually large alba- tross, the bird when alive measuring over 12 feet from tip to tip. • The launch El Hurd was itted up yesterday with drain pipes to the ish tank (so) … the boat, after being washed down, can be quickly pumped out instead of being emptied by the slow process of bailing, which has pre- vailed heretofore. • James Muckle, of Muckle Bros., St. Helens, was in Astoria yesterday … Mr. Muckle is one of the many log- gers who does not regret that he voted for Mr. McKinley for president (1897 to 1901). During the preceding admin- istration he could hire all the men he wanted at $1 (about $33 now) per day, but now he has to pay from $40 to $70 per month, yet the difference in the price of logs is such that he is making more money now than when he had cheap hands ... • And inally: To those who drink whiskey for pleasure; Harper Whiskey adds zest to existence. To those who drink whiskey for health’s sake: Harper Whiskey makes life worth living. Sold by Foard & Stokes Co., Astoria, Ore. F BOOBY TRAP ore from the avian front: The U.S. Coast Guard Paciic Northwest Facebook page introduced Mil- ton, the wrong-way brown booby, who made the Cut- ter Fir his home last week. He is shown in a Coast Guard photo. “Brown boobys are native to more tropical climates than the Oregon Coast, and while he came and went from the cutter off and on again since Monday (May 23), he eventually stayed aboard and rode the ship back to Astoria, Oregon, the cutter’s home port,” the post reports. “Once safely in Astoria, a member of the Wildlife Cen- ter of the North Coast was able to safely take Milton into the center’s care. Milton will be looked after while plans are made to transfer him back to California and more nor- mal climates for the bird …” Incidentally, the wildlife cen- ter suspects Milton is actually a Mildred. As the Coast Guard post duly noted, “It seems that when lost at sea, even the birds know whom to turn to for help!” M ooking for something unusual to do on a summer weekend? Check out Oregon Coast Railriders, owned by Kim and Anita Metlin, and pedal your way in a recumbent light-weight aluminum framed railriding vehicle from Bay City to Tillamook. The 11-mile round trip takes about two hours, and is on an inac- tive portion of the Port of Tillamook Bay Rail Road tracks. That’s right, there are no trains to worry about. You’ll get a close-up view of coastal areas that are off the beaten path, literally, crossing the Kilchis and Wilson rivers, numerous sloughs, passing dairy farms, and observing wildlife where wildlife would least expect to observe you. Interested? Check out how to get tickets at http://ocrailriders.com GOOD THINGS COME IN SMALL PACKAGES he tiny house trend keeps growing, and an innova- tive example of the diminu- tive architectural style was fea- tured on Inahabitat.com (http:// tinyurl.com/tinygoround). The house in question, which is in Portland, is named 359 because it rests on a turntable that rotates 359 degrees. Why not 360? So the utility and water lines don’t get tangled. The house is pictured, cour- tesy of designer/owner Benjamin Kaiser and PATH Architec- ture Inc. By rotating, 359 can take advantage of as much sun- light as possible. It can easily be turned manually, and even two children can do it. The tiny house is only 144 square feet, but features a high ceil- ing, living area, kitchen, bathroom and bedroom loft, accessed by a staircase. A composting toilet and solar panels can be added to go off grid, and the PATH website (www.architecturepath.com) proclaims only a “garden hose hook-up” is needed and 359 is “ready to go.” T ‘IT IS THE SPIRIT OF THE SOLDIER’ n Sunday morning, CBS News featured North Coasters Rex and Keiko Ziak in a segment called “The lags of their fathers” (http://tinyurl. com/cbsziaks). The couple run the nonproit Obon Soci- ety (http://obonsociety.org) — named after a Japanese festi- val that honors the spirit of the dead — which returns Japanese wartime lags to the families of their original owners. The cou- ple are pictured in a photo from their website. The lags, known as Yosegaki Hinamaru, were carried into battle by Japanese soldiers for good luck. Covered with writ- ten best wishes from family and friends, the lags were valuable keepsakes to their owners, and to the American soldiers who took them as trophies of war. Many of the lags that made their way to the U.S. wound up tucked away and forgotten. Now, several decades later, the fam- ilies who are left with these lags from another era are wonder- ing how to make things right, and reunite them with their Japa- nese families. Helping families get their lags back has become a spiritual endeavor for the Ziaks. “This is not the lag; it is the spirit of the soldier,” Keiko pointed out. “We are wishing he can ind a way to ind his family in Japan.” So far, about 60 lags have been returned, and the Ziaks are researching about 100 more, all at their own expense. “It’s just a very important thing to do,” Keiko said. “When we started out, we thought we were just helping Jap- anese families receive heirlooms,” Rex observed. “Then, as this progressed, we realized that we were connecting these families and providing closure and healing on both sides.” O RIDE THE RAILS L reg Newenhof (pictured inset) of City Lumber bought the Capt. George Conrad Flavel home (pictured) on 15th Street, about a year ago, and has made quite a bit of progress in its restoration. A recent blog posting (http://citylumber.com/blog) provides the complete list of accomplishments, which is extensive, as well as the photos shown. Here are just a few of the highlights: attic and basement cleaned out; new cedar roof and stainless gutters; restored chimneys; new water and electrical service and sewer connection; new furnace; repaired and re-glazed windows; and over a dozen front porch balusters milled out and installed. “On the negative side, the house has been broken into twice, with minor damage and some property loss,” the blog reports. “Greg found a couple of people in the kitchen one day. They came in through the closed door just to take a look around. When told the house was private property, they replied ‘the steps looked safe, and we are tourists.’ They were asked to leave. (And) an interesting afternoon was spent getting a transient and his prop- erty off the front porch.” In the meantime Greg hopes people will refrain from going onto the property without permission, as it’s a safety and liabil- ity issue. So when can everyone get a close-up look? Perhaps as soon as August. Stay tuned. G
