145TH YEAR, NO. 37
ONE DOLLAR
DailyAstorian.com //
Jeff Ter Har/For The Daily Astorian
A view of the eclipse from Seaside.
‘GEEKING OUT’
Eclipse provided spectacular views, few hassles
“It’s like a busy weekend,” ODOT spokesman Lou
Torres said . “We didn’t encounter anything we couldn’t
handle.”
The Department of Transportation’s maintenance crews
and communications teams will take the next few days to
discuss what worked and didn’t work in preparation for
future large events.
“This was a great experience,” Torres said. “We’ve never
had anything like this in terms of a mass traffi c event.”
Though some agencies increased patrols and even sent
some offi cers south to aid other departments near the path
of totality, law enforcement offi cials did not report any
unusual traffi c or criminal activity.
“I think this is a reaction to over-advertising,” Cannon
Beach Police Chief Jason Schermerhorn said.
By JACK HEFFERNAN,
KATIE FRANKOWICZ and BRENNA VISSER
The Daily Astorian
P
orsche Brunzell, sporting a NASA shirt and sweat-
pants featuring drawings of galaxies, sat at the base of
the Astoria Column facing the sun. An admitted space
nerd, she had been counting down to the moment for weeks.
She fi gured the Column, just up the road from her home ,
was as good a spot as any to see the celestial event.
“I’m geeking out a bit, trying to calm down,” she said
about an hour before the solar eclipse as early morning
clouds began to fade . “The universe has to give me this.”
For Brunzell and millions of people across the United
States on Monday, the universe did just that. But the total
solar eclipse did not bring the potential downsides many
had feared. There was little traffi c gridlock and no unruly
crowds — a relief on the North Coast.
‘Eerily quiet’
Sunny skies
Estimates had roughly 1 million people coming to Ore-
gon over the weekend and Monday, temporarily — and
quickly — increasing the state’s population by nearly 25
percent. Offi cials from around the state were expecting
massive traffi c delays, including in some areas outside the
path of totality like the North Coast. But compared to ini-
tial worries, it was sunny skies for the state Department of
Transportation.
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
People begin to make their way to the Astoria Col-
umn on Monday morning hours before the solar
eclipse. Fog that was present early in the morning
drifted away, providing a clear view of the event.
Local wildland fi refi ghters were prepared for a number
of emergency scenarios that, by the time the eclipse actu-
ally arrived, had yet to happen. Instead, they saw the last
thing they had expected: Nothing.
In fact, said Neal Bond, Astoria protection unit forester
with the Oregon Department of Forestry, the eclipse week-
end was quieter than is typical for the summer. There was
even a “vacancy” sign out for Fort Stevens State Park before
the eclipse, he said, “which is fairly unheard of in August.”
See ECLIPSE, Page 4A
Eclipse watchers
marvel at totality
in John Day
Crowds gather
at Capitol to
view eclipse
A pristine view of
the cosmic dance
Moment more subdued
that many expected
By GEORGE PLAVEN
EO Media Group
By CLAIRE WITHYCOMBE
Capital Bureau
JOHN DAY — Anticipation turned to
cheers Monday morning in John Day as vis-
itors from around the world celebrated the
arrival of the total solar eclipse.
For about two minutes, the moon came
in perfect alignment with the sun, casting
an otherworldly darkness that left specta-
tors in awe. The skies remained mostly clear
throughout the morning, offering a pris-
tine view of the cosmic dance. Then, just
as quickly as it came, it was over and light
returned.
Located deep within the path of totality,
John Day played host to thousands of eclipse
SALEM — For about two minutes Mon-
day morning, Oregon’s capital went dark
during the fi rst total solar eclipse to hit the
continental U.S. since 1979.
State emergency managers and tourism
offi cials had been prepping for the big event
for about a year, though things seemed more
subdued in Salem than some had feared.
The event did draw visitors to Salem — the
fi rst of fi ve state capitals in the path of totality
— from all over the nation and the world.
The crowd front of the state capitol build-
ing sported refl ective eclipse glasses, tele-
scopes and camera equipment.
E.J. Harris/EO Media Group
Gabriel Porter, of Sandy, right, reacts to the start of the eclipse while
watching it with his twin brother, Nathan, on Monday in John Day.
See JOHN DAY, Page 4A
MORE INSIDE AND ONLINE
See photos readers submitted of the total solar eclipse
on Page 11A and online at DailyAstorian.com
See CAPITOL, Page 4A
In Astoria, an inventory of trees
Report tracks
trees found in
city parks
By KATIE
FRANKOWICZ
The Daily Astorian
Two years ago, the Astoria
Parks and Recreation Depart-
ment contemplated destroying
a giant: an iconic 150-year-old
moss-covered bigleaf maple in
Alderbrook’s Violet LaPlante
Park with an infected and rot-
ting dual trunk.
Through thinning and other
measures, the department was
able to save the tree for now,
but Parks and Recreation
Board member Jessica Schleif
said then that she hoped the
city would one day catalog
important and historic trees,
old trees that are “really spe-
cial to us in this community.”
A new tree inventory
comes close to accomplishing
this goal.
On Monday, the Asto-
ria City Council accepted a
report by ArborPro that looked
at 1,860 tree sites across the
city’s parks, recording the
size, species and condition
of individual trees. It pro-
vides a sort of roadmap for the
parks department, said Jonah
Dart-McLean , parks mainte-
nance supervisor.
“It’s a great starting
point, actually,” he told city
councilors.
He was pleasantly surprised
to fi nd that over the sprawl-
ing city park system, “we’re
fortunate to have some pretty
healthy trees.”
The city allocated $30,000
for the inventory. C ompleted
in June, the report highlights
immediate and future main-
tenance needs, said Parks
See TREES, Page 4A
Colin Murphey/The Daily Astorian
A comprehensive inventory of Astoria’s parkland trees
completed this summer will help guide future mainte-
nance decisions .