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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 22, 2019)
B1 THE ASTORIAN • THuRSdAy, AuguST 22, 2019 CONTACT US ewilson@dailyastorian.com (971) 704-1718 COMMUNITY FOLLOW US facebook.com/ DailyAstorian IN ONE EAR • ELLEDA WILSON IS IT ASTOR OR ASTORIA? NOT COUNTED — AT ALL rom the Friday, Aug. 22, 1890 issue of The Daily Morning Astorian: “It is now ascertained that no census enumerator was assigned to Mishawaka pre- cinct, and they have been left out entirely and were not counted at all … (and) there is quite a population which should be counted.” Long-gone Mishawaka was a farming/logging community, Liisa Penner of the Clatsop County His- torical Society explained. “J.S. Dellinger’s 1896 Asto- ria City Directory lists 40 men there, all farmers, except for one carpenter and one blacksmith.” The population was actually higher, since women and children weren’t listed. The census population numbers that are available are as follows: 1880, 46; 1890, missing; 1900, 91; 1910, 63; 1920, missing; 1930, 484; and 1940, 432. You can peruse the 12 handwritten pages of the 1940 census (one is shown) at bit.ly/1940mishawaka. The 1950 census figures aren’t being released until 2022, but it’s a safe bet the population was on a downward slide. In case you are looking for what’s left of Mishawaka, it was 38 miles southeast of Astoria, and 20 miles south of Olney by water, according to the 1888 Oregon State Gazetteer. Sheila Nolan, a volunteer at the CCHS, has a more precise location: “It would be down Highway 103 toward Jewell from U.S. Highway 26, near Elderberry Inn. Tweedle Lane would be the best landmark for Mish- awaka.” Happy hunting. F A TICKET TO MARS ince there’s been a brouhaha (again) on Facebook about whether the correct name is the Astoria Column, or the Astor Column, some clarification is needed. Was the name changed from Astor to Astoria, as many believe? First off, it’s easy to see why there’d be some con- fusion, after all Vincent Astor, Astoria founder John Jacob Astor’s great-grandson, helped fund the column. And before that, another Astor descendent, John Astor, donated indirectly by contributing to the 1911 Astoria Centennial events; surplus funds from the centennial were used for the column project. (astoriacolumn.org/history) As always with historical questions about Astoria, Liisa Penner of the Clatsop County Historical Society was con- sulted. “The original name was Astoria Column,” Liisa said, “and that is the one preferred today, as a reminder that the column memorializes not just John Jacob Astor, but Capt. Robert Gray, Lewis and Clark and others con- tributing to the development of the area.” Yet in a sampling of 50 years worth of Astoria City Directories, Liisa found that the name fluctuated back and forth between Astor and Astoria Column. “In the printed brochures and newspapers in the 1920s and 1930s,” Liisa reported, “it appears to have been Asto- ria Column. In one brochure from about the 1950s or so, it is Astor Column, and all the more recent ones say Asto- ria.” The written record being unclear was another factor in how the name confusion arose. Some time ago, the Ear asked Paula Bue at the Asto- ria Column Gift Store and Visitor’s Center which name is correct, and she agrees with Liisa. “We get this question a lot,” Paula wrote. “Technically it’s always been the Astoria Column in Astor Park. The monument was never meant to slight one explorer over another. “But many of us grew up calling the column the Astor Column, and for many decades the signage around town was quite inconsistent. Some signs said The Column, some said Astoria Column and some said Astor’s Column.” “But, nobody changed the name,” she maintained. “We’ve just made it all more official and consistent.” So now you know — to set the record straight, it’s the Asto- ria Column. S ONE MAN’S OPINION he Oregonian recently published a story, “Our 10 favorite fish and chips spots on the Oregon coast,” by Jamie Hale (bit.ly/NCfishchips). The writer does offer this caveat, mind you: “It’s important to note this isn’t a list of every good fish and chips spot on the coast, it’s sim- ply a list of some of our favorites.” Even so, the Ear wondered how North Coast fish and chips fared, and it should be noted that two Astoria spots made the list. Buoy Beer Co. (buoybeer.com) comes in at No. 9 with the puzzling comment that the place is “not explicitly known for their fish and chips.” Not “explic- itly known” to nonlocals, maybe, since one of the own- ers is Andrew Bornstein of Bornstein Seafoods. Ecola Seafoods (ecolaseafoods.com) “a Cannon Beach staple” came in at No. 6, for being “well known for serving up a fresh catch.” And, coming in at a respectable No. 5, the Bowpicker (bowpicker.com), shown in photos from the boat’s Twit- ter feed (twitter.com/Bowpicker). Touted as “perhaps Oregon’s most famous fish and chips spot,” “the fish and chips are good, but it’s the boat that makes Bowpicker so memorable.” In case you’re wondering, Luna Sea Fish House, way down the coast in Yachats, came in first. Time will tell if Mr. Hale will be forgiven. T FISHY FISH storian Ron Foss sent in two photos of a mystery fish, found dead on the bank of Astoria’s Mill Pond. “It’s about three inches and thick as my fin- ger he noted. You might recall that the Mill Pond development is built on the former site of a large plywood factory, which closed in 1989, leaving a toxic mess behind. Declared a Brownfield in 1994, it took four years and $1.4 million to clean up the area to prepare it for devel- opment, including “cleaning, treating and discharging 57,000 gallons of clean water back into the pond.” (bit. ly/millfish) Stormwater runs off into the pond, and there’s a short waterway that connects the pond to the Colum- bia River. Whether the pond water is fresh or brackish is debatable, but either way, that’s one peculiar-looking fish. Ron calls it a “PrehistoricMillPondUglyFish!” Any- one know this fishy fish’s real name? A eel like going to Mars? Well, you can’t, but at least your name can, on NASA’s Mars 2020 Rover, which is being launched July 17, 2020, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Rover is expected to land on Mars on Feb. 18, 2021, in Jezero Crater, and film and collect data and samples for at least one Mars year (about 687 Earth days). Interested in figuratively going along? Just submit your name at bit.ly/utomars before 11:59 ET Sept. 30. You’re in good company, or lots of it, any- way — as of Tuesday afternoon, 8,591,937 names are flying along. F ANOTHER ASTORIA UNREGRETTABLE WONDER NO MORE ondering about all those crab shells on the beaches? The Seaside Aquarium has the answer. Aside from ocean upwellings — when sediment from the bottom gets tossed onto beaches — the large amount of shells on the beach is caused by molting, when crabs out- grow their shells and shed them to grow a new one. Photos of crab molts are shown, courtesy of Seaside Aquarium. “While some (of the crab) are dead, a majority of the crab shells are just molts,” the aquarium explained about the mess on the beach. “… Some crabs do die while molt- ing. When crabs molt they leave their gills and eye sock- ets, making them appear more like dead crabs than molts. “Molting begins with a secretion of hormones from the female crab, after which both female and male crabs fast. Surviving off of its fat reserves, a crab will absorb as much calcium from its shell as possible, which aids in the devel- opment of the crab’s new shell. “When the crab is ready to evacuate its old shell, a frac- ture opens along the underside of the back, and the crab lit- erally backs out of its shell. The crab’s new shell — which was developing while the crab was fasting — is soft and flexible. The crab expands its new shell by filling its body cavity with water.” Now defenseless, the crab buries itself in the sand until the shell hardens (several days) then starts feeding again to restore fat and replace water with muscle. As the crab grows, the cycle repeats. And … “adult crab populations tend to molt simulta- neously, with the females molting in the spring and males molting in the summer.” Now you know. W ecently there was an article title posted on MaritimeMatters.com that was an eye-catcher: “ASTORIA And The Sea Of Cortez!” by Peter Knego. Astoria turned out to be the MV Astoria, an old-fash- ioned 550-passenger cruise ship with an intriguing his- tory. Originally named Stockholm, she was built in 1948 by the Swedish American Line. The Stockholm rose to fame (or infamy) when she hit and sank the Italian ocean liner Andrea Doria off Nantucket Island, Massachu- setts, in 1956, killing 46 passengers. Despite the run-in, she sailed on as the Stockholm until 1960. But, after six more name changes, she became the Astoria in 2015, and is now operated by Cruise & Mar- itime Voyages (bit.ly/AstoriaCortez), who provided the photo. Of note: The Stockholm’s bell has been found in the Andrea Doria wreckage debris, and is back on the liner. By the way, Astoria’s sister ship is the 600-passenger Astor. Knego believes they are both named after John Jacob Astor — as are so many other things, including, of course, our fair city. As Knego wryly observed: “Mr. Astor sure got around!” R hat not to do in a kayak: Andrew Hooper (@home- withthehoopers) and Josh Bastyr (@steeringsouth) made the news recently while kayaking in Alaska near Spencer Glacier. When they heard cracking noises, the pair unwisely decided to stick around to see if the glacier would calve. It did. “... I got hit with a couple of pieces of ice, I’ve got a knot on my hand, I got hit in the ribs with a piece of ice,” an excited Hooper said in a video, taken right after explod- ing ice blew straight at the pair (bit.ly/icykayak). “I’m completely soaked.” Both screen shots shown are courtesy of Andrew Hooper. The iceberg crashing into the water below “created a good 8- 10- 12-foot wave that was headed straight for us. So we both turned the boats around and paddled as quick as we could to try to ride the wave out, and luckily every- thing turned out OK. So no regrets!” “To say we are lucky to be alive is an understatement,” he noted, more somberly, later. “We learned our lesson, and will give glaciers the space they deserve next time we are out exploring.” W
