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THE ASTORIAN • THuRSdAy, AuguST 22, 2019
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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