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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (April 14, 2017)
1B THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, APRIL 14, 2017 CONTACT US ewilson@dailyastorian.com (503) 325-3211 ext. 257 COMMUNITY FOLLOW US facebook.com/ DailyAstorian IN ONE EAR • ELLEDA WILSON TOUR THE TITANIC IN THE BEGINNING … he RMS Titanic sank 105 years ago Saturday, with more than 1,500 dying in the tragedy, including the great-grandson of Astoria’s namesake, John Jacob Astor IV. The location of the wreck was found, at a depth of about 12,800 feet, by Robert Bal- lard in 1985. Fewer than 200 people have actually seen the wreck from a submersible, but now OceanGate Inc. (www.oceangate.com) has announced the seven-week Titanic Survey Expedition: 2018. Using a state-of-the-art submersible, the Cyclops 2, and the lat- est imaging technology, the survey team will assess Titanic’s con- dition and document (but not collect) artifacts. The illustration shown of Cyclops 2 surveying the Titanic is by Andrea Gatti for OceanGate Expeditions. According to GeekWire (http://tinyurl.com/RMStour), the 2018 trip to the bottom is not only for scientists. During the expe- dition there are nine seats available for “mission specialists” (aka wealthy tourists) to tag along for an eight-day Titanic sight-seeing tour. The sale of those seats will help fund the expedition. And, Blue Marble Private (www.bluemarbleprivate.com) is offering this grand opportunity at a paltry $105,129 per person. Better start saving those pennies now. T DON’T FADE AWAY WAITING AROUND pril 12 is a significant date in Astoria’s history. Here’s why: When John Jacob Astor decided to establish an outpost at the mouth of the Columbia River after form- ing the Pacific Fur Company in 1810, he sent out two groups: one by land, and one by sea to round Cape Horn in the Tonquin, captained by Jonathan Thorn, according to The Centennial History of Oregon, 1811-1912, Volume 1 (http://tinyurl.com/tonquin1). The ship set sail Sept. 8, 1810, with a crew of 21 and 33 passengers, all connected to Astor’s trading company. After an “uneventful voyage,” the Tonquin arrived at the mouth of the Columbia, in a storm, on March 22, 1811. Capt. Thorn “now exhibited his real character as a heartless wretch and unmitigated brute,” the account says. He ordered his first mate Fox (whom he disliked) and a small crew to get into a leaking boat, in the storm, to make soundings of the Columbia bar. Fox plead for their lives to no avail; they set out in the boat and were never seen again. Two others were lost in similar attempts. The ship wound up just drifting over the bar and into Baker Bay (Washington) on March 24, 1811, and a party was sent out to find a good spot to build on. After five days ashore, no one could agree on a good location. Yes, the cantankerous Thorn was among them. Fur traders Duncan McDougal and David Stuart wanted to try the south side of the river. Thorn objected, calling it a “sporting excursion.” They left anyway, got caught in a squall, and their boat capsized. Luckily, they were rescued by some Chinook Indians. Despite the rough start, the duo finally found Point George, a perfect spot for Astor’s trad- ing post/fort. And so, on April 12, 1811, thanks to McDougal and Stuart, 12 men from the Tonquin landed at Point George and started building the fort that eventually became the city of Astoria. Now you know why April 12 is so important — it’s Astoria’s birthday. A t’s probably a good thing some lucky tourists are going to see the Titanic up close while they can, as a BBC story by Jasmin Fox- Skelly reports that the ship is disappearing, and might be gone in as little as 14 years (http://tinyurl.com/titangone). The Titanic is pictured in happier times. The discovery of the culprit started in 1991, when scientists from Nova Scotia collected some “rusticles” hanging from the ship and found them to be “teeming with life.” Finding out what kind of life took until 2010, when other scientists isolated a single previ- ously unknown bacteria species, which was named, appropriately, Halomonas titanicae. Impressive moniker aside, the little microbes — who thrive in the dark, high pressure environment several miles down on the ocean floor — are eating the iron hull and turning the ship to rust at a pretty good clip. “The iron in the 47,000-tonne vessel will end up in the ocean,” Fox-Skelly wrote, predicting a sad end for the once deemed “unsinkable” passenger liner. “Eventually, some of it will be incor- porated in the bodies of marine animals and plants. The Titanic will have been recycled.” I his is Pamela Mattson McDonald waiting at Tesla’s new Seaside charging station for her new Tesla 3 to be delivered, David Isaacs captioned the photo shown. She ordered the car last year, when they were released for presale. One is pictured, inset, courtesy of Tesla. “What’s the big deal?” the Ear wondered, at first. Actually, it’s a very big deal. For one thing, the Tesla 3 is an all-electric car, not a hybrid, which means no internal combustion engine and no driveshaft, according to TesslaCentral.com (http://tinyurl.com/ tesla3info). And, it can go 215 miles on one charge, much further than other all-electric cars. It’s fast, too. A Ford salesman told Pamela and David the Tesla 3 is faster than the Mustang Cobra — Ford’s fastest. “After look- ing up the speed,” David said, “the Tesla 3 was listed at an amaz- ing 0-60 mph in 4.4 seconds. That’s whiplash speed, 3.5Gs.” The car may be speedy, but delivery sure won’t be. Produc- tion starts sometime this year, with delivery slated for next year. It’s a long wait, but at least the West Coast is expected to get first access. “Indeed, the wait is the mystery,” David noted. Pamela must feel like a kid on Christmas Eve waiting for Santa. A very long Christmas Eve. T SAFE AND SOUND CLOSE CALL ita Smith and the River Song Foundation volunteers, with the help of several other individuals and local agencies, recently spent a month rescuing 17 cats from an extreme hoarding situation, and the Wildlife Center of the North Coast (www.coast- wildlife.org) rescued a bird. Three of the cats are pictured. There’s been a great deal of expense involved restoring the health of these badly neglected animals, and getting them shots and neutering — and you can help. Just go to the River Song Founda- tion’s website, http://riversongfoundation.org and donate, or mail a check to the foundation at P.O. Box 44, Hammond, OR 97121. And don’t forget, after all they’ve been through, these critters need and deserve loving forever homes, too. Interested? Call Rita at 503-861-2003. You can also call her if you know of a hoard- ing situation with animals involved, and she can give you a list of places to call for help. “This was a really unfortunate situation,” Rita explained. “It is a real shame that in most of these cases, people don’t know how to get help for the person or animals.” R DO YOU KNOW JAYDEN? n last week’s column, it was mentioned that 12 people from the Corps of Discovery, including William Clark (pictured inset), hiked from Fort Clatsop to Cannon Beach to barter or buy some whale oil and blubber from the Kil- lamuck tribe. A map of the route is shown, courtesy of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. It was a trip that was not without misadventure, includ- ing an incident that Ralph Wirfs brought to the Ear’s atten- tion. According to a journal entry for Jan. 9, 1806, Clark had a close call on the way back from Cannon Beach. (http://tinyurl.com/Jan9Clark). After purchasing three gallons of oil and 300 pounds of whale blubber, the group divided the weight up to carry back to Fort Clatsop on foot. “We … shudder at the dread- ful road on which we have to return,” Clark wrote. They came upon some Clatsop tribal members carry- ing “immense” loads of whale oil and blubber on a steep incline (Neahkahnie Mountain, most likely). As she was descending the tricky path, a woman’s load slipped off her back, and she fell near Clark — leaving her gripping the strap of the bag with one hand, and hanging onto a bush for dear life with the other. Clark “endeavored to relieve this woman by taking her load,” and was astonished to find it was “as much as I could lift, and must exceed a hundredweight (about 112 pounds).” Fortunately, her husband turned back and came up to help her, and both Clark and the woman survived the incident unscathed. Not surprisingly, that evening Clark noted that he felt “excessively fatigued.” And lucky to be alive, no doubt. I renda McKune of Warrenton was delighted when she found a black leather notebook at the Goodwill in Warrenton for 99 cents. Once she got home and started looking through it, though, she found it contained a loving journal written by a grandmother for her 2 or 3-year-old grandson, Jayden, whom she refers to as “my darling Jaydee Boo-Boo.” The first entry is dated Dec. 24, 2005. Some old photos were tucked in the book too, of children named Mary and John, dated 1962 and 1963, and a middle-aged cou- ple (shown) — Mary and John grown up, perhaps? Unfortunately, there are no last names or cities mentioned, but Jayden has an Aunt Tish and an Aunt Molly. Do you know whose journal this is? If so, please contact the Ear at ewilson@dailyastorian.com or 503-325-3211, ext. 257. Brenda wants to return the journal pages and photos to the fam- ily. “I am a real mush when it comes to this,” she said. “I just can’t imagine getting rid of something so special. I would give anything to have my past.” B LOCAL BREVITIES F rom 133 years ago, tidbits from The Daily Morning Asto- rian, Tuesday, April 15, 1884: • How the years go by! It is 19 years today since Lincoln died. • Chas. Clagg, of this city, was discharged from the state insane asylum last Saturday. • The post office name of Skookum Chuck, Washington Ter- ritory, has been changed to Centralia. The last legislature changed the name of the village from Centerville to Centralia, and now the last vestige of time-honored Skookum Chuck vanishes from view. • J. Shelton, of this place, says the Coquille, Oregon, Herald has on exhibition an egg which has a shell half soft and the other half hard, which has a protuberance, very much like a piece of rubber pipe at one end, over three inches long. The hen that laid it is doing well. COMMUNITY NOTES SATURDAY Chinook Indian Nation General Coun- cil — 10 a.m. registration, 11 a.m. meeting, Columbia River Heritage Museum, 115 Lake St. S.E., Ilwaco, Washington. Meet- ing open to all tribal members. Attendees should bring a potluck item. For questions, call the tribal office at 360-875-6670. Columbia Northwestern Model Rail- roading Club — 1 p.m., in Hammond. Group runs trains on HO-scale layout. For information, 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 SUNDAY Cannon Beach American Legion Women’s Auxiliary Breakfast — 9 to 11:30 a.m., American Legion, 1216 S. Hem- lock St., Cannon Beach. Line Dancing — 5:30 to 8 p.m., Seaside American Legion, 1315 Broad- way. For information, call 503-738- 5111. No cost; suggested $5 tip to the in- structor. For information, call 503-325-1364 or 503- 325-7960. Chair Exercises for Seniors — 9 to 9:45 a.m., Astoria Senior Center, 1111 Ex- change St. For information, call 503-325- 3231. 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. Scandinavian Workshop — 10 a.m., First Lutheran Church, 725 33rd St. Nee- dlework, hardanger, knitting, crocheting, embroidery and quilting. All are welcome. 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. MONDAY 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. Astoria Rotary Club — noon, second floor of the Astoria Elks Lodge, 453 11th St. Guests always welcome. For information, go to www.AstoriaRotary.org See NOTES, Page 2B
