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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2017
CONTACT US
Elleda Wilson | In One Ear
ewilson@dailyastorian.com
(503) 325-3211 ext. 257
COMMUNITY
NEWS FROM THE TRENCHES
cientists at Newcastle University in England received an
unpleasant surprise recently in the results of a deep sea study
(http://tinyurl.com/trenchPCB): Man-made pollutants, such as
PCBs, popular from the 1930s to the 1970s, have been found in
tiny crustaceans living at the bottom of the Mariana Trench,
which is 36,000 feet deep in some spots.
The pollutants have accumulated through the food chain all
the way to the ocean floor, so tiny amphipods at the bottom of the
trench contain a level of industrial pollution that is 10 times that
of the average earthworm. A hirondellea giga, a “voracious scav-
enger” and trench dweller that eats anything that makes its way
down to it, is pictured, courtesy of Alan Jamieson, lead author
of the study.
“The fact that we found such extraordinary levels of these pol-
lutants in one of the most remote and inaccessible habitats on
earth really brings home the long-term, devastating impact that
mankind is having on the planet,” Jamieson said. “It’s not a great
legacy that we’re leaving behind.”
S
WHO GOES THERE?
WINSHIP WAS FIRST
VAMPIRA GETS STAMPED
storia’s 1811 settlement isn’t actually the first one
west of the Rockies. More accurately, it’s the first
permanent settlement built by non-natives. According to
the Oregon Encyclopedia, Bostonian Capt. Nathan Win-
ship, who came up the Columbia River in the ship Alba-
tross, reached the lower Columbia first, in May 1810.
He soon started building a log house at Oak Point, a few
miles northeast of Clatskanie in a flat spot surrounded by
oak trees (http://tinyurl.com/capwinship).
Winship and his two brothers, Jonathan and Abiel,
planned the settlement while still in Massachusetts. While
they wanted to harvest fur, as Astor did, they also had a
higher goal: The trio wanted to set up an agricultural base,
pump up the coastal trade and, believe it or not (even back
then) beat the Russians, who were also interested in the
Columbia’s possibilites. Jonathan’s personal wish was to
plant “a Garden of Eden on these shores of the Pacific and
(make) that wilderness to blossom like the rose.”
By June 1810, the house timbers at the outpost were 10
feet high, and the Albatross crew started unloading live-
stock and planting seeds. But it was bad timing. A heavy
rain caused a flood, and soon 2 feet of water was running
over the settlement and uprooting the timbers. Time to
move.
The ship’s officers started building a new outpost at a
higher site a quarter of a mile downstream. Sadly, their
location was mightily displeasing to their neighbors. The
Chinook and Chehalis Indians let the settlers know in no
uncertain terms (musket fire is quite effective) how upset
they were that the settlers’ presence might interfere with
their centuries-old — and lucrative — trade business.
Wisdom being the better part of valor, Capt. Winship
and his crew retreated to pursue other ventures, abandon-
ing the settlement and the West Coast. However, he did
leave something behind to remember him by. It is said that
slips from the settlement’s rose garden mysteriously turned
up in Portland’s gardens when the Rose City was estab-
lished in 1851.
A
A
storian Jerry Olson sent in a photo Maila Nurmi, aka Vam-
pira, on a stamp issued in Finland recently. “As we know, she
was born in Finland, but raised in Astoria,” he wrote, “and gradu-
ated from Astoria High School, with the class of 1940.”
Sadly, the Ear could find no other information about this stamp,
but did find an image of her on a 2-cent U.S. stamp (postcard rate
from 1952-1958) on Pinterest, with no explanation or date. Anyway,
it is heartening to see an iconic Astorian honored by her homeland.
“Also of interest, Jerry noted, “is two actors who worked here
in the Astoria area, in the summer of 2008, will be walking the red
carpet at the Academy Awards presentation on Sunday. Michelle
Williams is nominated for best supporting actress in the movie
‘Manchester by the Sea.’ She was here in Astoria, filming in the
Alderbrook area, the movie ‘Wendy and Lucy’ in 2008.
“Viggo Mortensen is nominated for leading actor in the movie
‘Captain Fantastic.’ While here in the Astoria area, he starred in
the movie ‘The Road.’ The movie actually wrapped up here, with
the last scene shot at the beach at Fort Stevens State Park, near the
Peter Iredale.”
Vampira, who spent many years in Hollywood, is probably
smiling.
LOCAL BREVITIES
F
T
he Navajo Post Facebook page showed some intriguing
photos (two are shown) with the caption, “Bigfoot or bear
tracks? Woman captures these foot tracks outside her window
after she heard something outside in Fort Apache, Arizona.”
The photos caused quite a sensation, and a lot of comments
and arguing back and forth ensued. Is it a hoax? Just as the Ear
was inclined toward thinking yes, the woman’s niece posted
this: “LOL. Guess my aunt’s pics are going viral. LOL. I’m still
unsure what I wanna believe.” Take that as you will.
While doing a little research about the footprint, the Ear came
across a website called BigfootBase.com, that has a posting about
bigfoot screams. Yes, screams.
It seems that in 2012, on the Umatilla Indian Reservation near
Pendelton, something was shrieking and roaring and carrying on
loudly over the course of several nights, waking people up, scar-
ing them out of their socks, upsetting the dogs, etc. A tribal hous-
ing authority employee, Colleen Change, recorded the unnerving
ruckus, which you can hear at http://tinyurl.com/BFnoise.
The Ear has no idea what made the footprint or those noises,
but will happily steer clear of both Fort Apache and Pendleton.
Just in case.
rom The Daily Morning Astorian, Thursday, Feb. 27, 1890:
• As high as ten sea otters have been recently seen at a
time by the lightkeepers at Cape Foulweather, sporting in the
surf north of the cape. That place is quite a resort for this fine fur
animal, and the Indians in times gone by have secured many of
them there. They used to be plenty off Gray’s Harbor, and Hank
Blodgett and other hunters made many a hundred dollars shooting
them, but of late years those valuable animals are becoming scarce
in this vicinity.
• Manager Selig says he will have roaring fires in the theater all
today, and that the house will be warm and comfortable tonight. A
fine play will be presented, and one that deserves a good audience.
• Peter Gimre, a native of Norway, and Matt Hakala of Russia,
took out their first papers yesterday for citizenship.
• On the roadway between Uniontown and Smith’s Point a sin-
gular effect is noted where the steady sliding of the hill shoves the
houses and planking toward the river. In some places the recent
surveyor’s stakes are covered by earth and stones, and the houses
bulge alarmingly to the north.
‘I PADDLE TREES’
WHERE ARE YOU, AMELIA?
O
SAVED BY THE DRONE
ver since the devastating 2011 earthquake and tsunami the
Japanese have been working diligently to find new ways to
help save lives in a disaster. The latest tool they’ve come up with
is a special drone that’s equipped with a public speaker system
to announce instructions and directions to evacuation areas in an
emergency.
The drone has GPS and can be self-guided while it gathers
information with its cameras, and can even be used to locate vic-
tims, according to a story on CNET.com (http://tinyurl.com/drone-
help). It is pictured in a screen shot from a news video on CNET.
The drone’s trials took place recently in Tokyo. Although there
was no information about how it actually performed, it sure sounds
like a good idea.
E
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DailyAstorian
nce again, Astoria writer Peter Marsh has come up
with an interesting history-related nugget. While on
his bike ride up the Missouri River, he came across a dug-
out canoe camp set up by none other than explorer Wil-
liam Clark’s great-great-great-great-grandson (and look-
alike), Churchill Clark.
While re-enacting and retracing Lewis and Clark’s jour-
ney for the bicentennial in 2005, Churchill had an epiph-
any. “I found a new life,” he wrote on his website, www.
dugoutcanoelove.com. “I knew I wasn’t going to be truly
happy in ‘town’ anymore! I really had no idea where this
would take me … I still don’t!”
In the process, he has become totally besotted with
dugout canoes, and espouses the motto, “I paddle trees.”
He has carved several very handsome custom canoes so
far, using mainly hand tools, the occasional chain saw and
a grinder for finishing.
As a result, his life is an ongoing quest to find the per-
fect trees to “help them on their transformational jour-
neys,” he wrote. “In the process, I, too, am transformed. …
This is what I call ‘Dugout Canoe Magic.’”
“He did let me have a few whacks with his adze,” Peter
recalled, “but I could see it would take months and years to
get a proper ‘carved’ native-style hull.
On Clark’s to-do list is working with “schools, tribes,
museums and historical societies,” while creating canoes
all over the country. He figures if he sells one or two of his
“functional art” dugouts a year, he can get by. But what
really drives him is this: “I just want to share the dugout
canoe love!”
“(Churchill Clark) began with the bicentennial and just
can’t stop, it seems,” Peter noted. And he’s having such a
grand time, why would he?
T
he mystery of the 1937 disappearance of Amelia Earhart
(pictured), her co-pilot Fred Noonan and her plane, a Lock-
heed Electra, while they were attempting to circumnavigate the
globe, has never been solved. But certainly not for a lack of trying.
A new mission, the Eustace Earhart Discovery Expedition,
departed from Honolulu Feb. 18 heading to the Howland Island
area, about 1,700 nautical miles southwest of Honolulu, to search
the ocean floor for her plane.
Why there? Earhart was set to make a stop on the tiny island,
which is only 1 mile wide and 2 miles long. A makeshift runway
had been created for her, and a crew and the Coast Guard ves-
sel Itasca were anxiously awaiting her arrival. But it was not to
be. They suddenly lost communication with her, and she simply
vanished.
Will this latest expedition solve the mystery? Follow the mis-
sion at http://expeditionportal.nauticos.com
COMMUNITY NOTES
SATURDAY
Sit and Stitch Group — 11 a.m. to 1
p.m., Custom Threads, 1282 Commercial
St. Knitting, crocheting and needle work. For
information, call 503-325-7780.
Columbia Northwestern Model Rail-
roading Club — 1 p.m., in Hammond.
Group runs trains on HO-scale layout. For in-
formation, call Don Carter at 503-325-0757.
Spinning Circle — 1 to 3 p.m., Astoria
Fiber Arts Academy, 1296 Duane St. Bring
a spinning wheel. For information, call 503-
325-5598 or go to http://astoriafiberarts.com
mation, call 503-738-5111. No cost; suggest-
ed $5 tip to the instructor.
Chair Exercises for Seniors — 9 to 9:45
a.m., Astoria Senior Center, 1111 Exchange
St. For information, call 503-325-3231.
Mothers of Preschoolers — 10 to
11:30 a.m., Crossroads Community
Church, 40618 Old Highway 30, Svensen.
MOPS group is a time for moms to
relax and enjoy each others’ company. For
information, call Tracy Wilson at 727-514-
1611.
Scandinavian Workshop — 10 a.m.,
First Lutheran Church, 725 33rd St. Nee-
dlework, hardanger, knitting, crocheting,
embroidery and quilting. All are welcome.
For information, call 503-325-1364 or 503-
325-7960.
Senior Lunch — 11:30 a.m., Bob
Chisholm Senior Center, 1225 Avenue A,
Seaside. Suggested donation $3 for those
older than 60; $6.75 for those younger than
60. For information, call Michelle Lewis at
503-861-4200.
SUNDAY
National Alliance on Mental Illness
(NAMI) Support Group — 2 to 3:30 p.m.,
Seaside Public Library, 1131 Broadway.
Family to Family Support Group, for any-
one with friend or loved one suffering from
a serious brain (mental) illness. For informa-
tion, contact Myra Kero at 503-738-6165, or
k7erowood@q.com, or go to www.nami.org
Line Dancing — 5:30 to 8 p.m., Seaside
American Legion, 1315 Broadway. For infor-
MONDAY
Columbia Senior Diners — 11:30 a.m.,
1111 Exchange St. Cost is $6. For informa-
tion, or to have a meal delivered, call 503-
325-9693.
Warrenton Senior Lunch Program —
noon, Warrenton Community Center, 170
S.W. Third St. Suggested donation of $5 for
seniors and $7 for those younger than 60.
For information, or to volunteer, call 503-861-
3502 Monday or Thursday.
See NOTES, Page 2B