THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, JULY 16, 2019 • B1
WATER UNDER
THE BRIDGE
COMPILED BY BOB DUKE
From the pages of Astoria’s daily newspapers
10 years ago
this week — 2009
ohn West fi rst set foot in Astoria on July 14, 1850.
Exactly 159 years later — on Tuesday — a memo-
rial marker was dedicated to him at Bradley State Park.
The project was spearheaded by a relative who wanted
his kin to be remembered.
West fi rst came to Oregon in 1850 after Congress passed
the Oregon Donation Land Claim Act. He claimed land
along the Columbia River in an area that would eventually
be known as Westport, a small town about 22 miles east of
Astoria.
He set up shop: farming, building, and planning. He
started the Westport post offi ce and a water-powered saw-
mill, ran a general merchandising store, and began a salmon
cannery that exported salmon all over the world. His name
lives on in the John West Salmon brand of salmon products
now owned by H.J. Heinz.
J
Congressman Brian Baird called on fellow
members of Congress to quickly pass legislation
that will fi nally restore federal recognition to the
Chinook Nation.
Baird, whose district includes Pacifi c County,
Washington, testifi ed before the House Natural
Resources Committee in favor of his bill, as did
tribal Chairman Ray Gardner.
2009 — Seaside’s Justyce Tabor, 13, skates along the metal coping that runs along the spine at the Seaside Skate N’
Ride Park.
When you’re only 13 years old and you have your own
unique skateboarding style, you must be doing something
right.
“It’s the ‘Oregon skate style’,” said Brandi Tabor, mother
of Justyce Tabor of Seaside. “Made in Oregon. It’s hers and
hers alone. A lot of other girls will do the same trick over and
over and over, because they go to the same camps and have
the same instructors.”
Apparently that’s one advantage of not going to skate-
boarding camps.
Meanwhile, the summer is Justyce Tabor’s time to shine.
Once again, the Seaside youth is traveling to West Coast
locations in Washington, Oregon, and California, winning
more tournaments, gaining new friends and improving her
skills.
The spirit for learning at the Gnat Creek
Fish Hatchery has often been dampened by the
weather.
On the North Coast, the window of dry
weather is often too short. But a new pavilion
at the Hatchery promises to extend the learning
seasons.
Garth Gale, the new hatchery manager, said
instructors and sponsors hustle to bring students
to the facility in May, before classes let out, or in
September and October.
The construction of a covered pavilion at the
hatchery — known as the watershed education
building — will allow visitors to dry off if North
Coast weather tries to outwit instructors.
1944 — Lt. Toivo Piippo, son of Mr. and Mrs. Steve Piippo, 579
Rivington Avenue, has just completed his 48th fl ying mission
over fl ak-infested Nazi installations in France, Belgium and
Holland, according to word received here this week. The
former basketball star is a graduate of Astoria High School
and was attending the University of Oregon when he entered
military service. He is a Ninth Air Force Marauder pilot and
wears the Air Medal with fi ve Oak Leaf clusters.
50 years ago — 1969
Margaret Elaine “Margie” Huhta, a pretty, dark-haired
Clatsop County girl of Finnish descent, began her reign
today as Miss Oregon after a Saturday night victory
that appeared to surprise a large Miss Oregon Pageant
audience.
The slender 20-year-old college student, daughter of
Mr. and Mrs. Alvin Huhta, of Svensen, edged statuesque
Lynn Grenz, Miss Milwaukie, in a dramatic fi nish on the
Seaside High School gymnasium stage.
Miss Huhta, who showed graceful poise in her stage
appearances, broke into tears on the stage runway as her
backers shouted their delight.
CAPE KENNEDY — With the men and
their ship working perfectly, America’s Apollo
11 astronauts hurtled through space today on a
voyage of the ages, the fi rst attempt to land men
on the moon.
PORTLAND — The new Miss Oregon came to Port-
land on Monday for a news conference and said her selec-
tion at Seaside Saturday night had made a lot of changes
in her plans.
She had expected to be a junior at the University of
Oregon in the fall. However, she will go to Atlantic City
in September for the Miss America Pageant and does not
expect to enter the university at Eugene.
A bet between fi shermen out of Warrenton
Deep Sea Fishing Charter Service as to which
boat would land the biggest fi sh drove a crew to
land a shark Tuesday.
The shark, estimated to weigh between 45
1969 — Margaret Huhta of Svensen was crowned as Miss
Oregon.
and 30 pounds, latched onto a line held by Leona
Walker of Inglewood, Calif. She was assisted
by two young men who helped land the gray
creature.
Crews of rival boats told the shark fi shermen
they didn’t have to go that far to win the bet.
ABOARD USS HORNET — The men who opened
the Moon Age returned to their home planet today,
received a chemical bath before the eyes of the world and
were hoisted aboard this carrier for a welcome from Pres-
ident Nixon.
75 years ago — 1944
Frank Snyder, skipper of the halibut fi shing boat Lei
Lani, is back in his home port of Warrenton, with a tale of
the sea lanes and ocean currents that comes near challeng-
ing belief.
While cruising some six miles off Destruction Point
south of Seattle a week ago, Snyder saw what he believed
to be a fi sherman’s yellow slicker fl oating in the water.
His curiosity changed to astonishment as he drew near the
object and discovered that it was a yellowed pillowcase
fi lled with papers and offi cial documents from the ill-fated
aircraft carrier USS Saratoga, lost nearly two years ago off
1969 — Oregon Army National Guardsmen inspect and prepare their M42 ‘Duster’ self-
propelled anti-aircraft guns to move on the fi ring line at Camp Rilea. The men are among
nearly 1,000 troopers undergoing two weeks of annual fi eld training. The guns will be
moved to a position overlooking the beach for live fi ring at aerial and surface targets.
Midway Island in the Pacifi c.
Snyder dried the soaked papers on his stove in the Lei
Lani galley and turned them over to Coast Guard author-
ities at La Push, Washington, on the Quileute Indian res-
ervation. Presumably the pillowcase fl oated across the
Pacifi c Ocean in the Japanese current.
A rush of over 200 youngsters greeted the
opening of the YMCA Red Cross “learn to swim”
campaign, according to Mrs. Gwen Craft. Swim
instructors were kept busy registering the crowd.
Of the 200, approximately 100 are beginners
and are expected to learn the rudiments of swim-
ming during this week.
The offi ce of coordinator of fi sheries has announced
that, with few exceptions, it will not approve applications
for priorities for construction of any additional fi shing ves-
sels during the remainder of the year, according to Leif
Halsan, local representative of the fi sheries coordinator.
Word from the Department of the Interior explains that
construction of fi shing vessels during the fi rst half of 1944
has been so accelerated that materials originally estimated
for the entire year have been greatly depleted.
A large part of Clatsop County’s forest lands
will be closed to other than authorized civilian
traffi c after Monday by order of the governor
as a fi re preventive measure, it was announced
today by Herb Kyle, district fi re warden at
Jewell.
The closure is the same as that placed in effect
a year ago and lifted about time of the hunting
season in later September.
1969 — A new $343,000 clubhouse building is rapidly taking shape at Astoria Golf and
Country Club on the site of the old building gutted by fi re last year.