The daily Astorian., October 15, 2019, Page 9, Image 9

THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2019 • B1
WATER UNDER
THE BRIDGE
COMPILED BY BOB DUKE
From the pages of Astoria’s daily newspapers
10 years ago
this week — 2009
I
t’s October so everything shuts down, right? Not!
The action on the North Coast was almost constant
this weekend. Blind Pilot, a Portland-based group
with strong Astoria ties, played to a large audience at the
Liberty Theater.
Saturday it was all fun and games with an October
fl avor at the Great Pumpkin Drop Off, which attracted a
solid crowd of folks to Seaside eager to see how much
damage a pumpkin dropped from a great height can
make.
Then on Sunday, thousands were bused across the
Astoria Bridge to take part in the 28th annual Great
Columbia Crossing. The 4.1 mile-long bridge is typi-
cally open to vehicle and cycle traffi c year-round, and
pedestrians are banned for safety reasons, so it was a
rare opportunity for folks to climb up the longest contin-
uous three-span through-truss bridge in the world, rising
205 feet above the Columbia River. Those who took part
either ran a 10K or walked.
For Cmdr. Brad Mynatt, recently made
captain of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Alert,
working in his new hometown of Astoria this
summer wasn’t easy.
The alert, though based in Astoria, has been
out of water and thousands of miles away since
April, leaving Mynatt somewhat unsettled.
“For a sailor the hardest part is to be without
a ship,” Mynatt said.
Alert arrived at the Coast Guard y ard in
Curtis Bay, Maryland , in early April, and since
then has undergone $7 million in major struc-
tural repairs and renovations. Equipment on
board was upgraded signifi cantly, increasing
the effi ciency and cost-effectiveness of day-to-
day operations – making the alert easier and
cheaper for its 75-person crew to maintain and
repair.
But Mynatt and his crew have kept produc-
tive as the months passed, making sure that
when alert is back on the job in December,
everything is functioning in tip-top shape for
the long trip through the Panama Canal and
back up the Pacifi c c oast.
ConnectOregon funds – Oregon Lottery dollars set
aside for transportation projects – are reshaping the way
the Port of Astoria does business.
Last year ConnectOregon II grant funds were used to
subsidize SeaPort air service from the coast to Portland.
This year – competing with only one other deep-wa-
ter port in the Port’s region – commissioners hope they’ll
be able to land a number of grants to enhance shipping
to and from Astoria.
Algae is being blamed for Warrenton’s tem-
porarily odd-tasting water.
City Manager Bob Maxfi eld told members
of the Warrenton City Commission Tuesday it
will take a few more days to deal with an algae
problem that has plagued the city’s drinking
water supply for weeks.
The water, which Warrenton sells to Gear-
hart and some other users, is safe to drink but
has had unpleasant taste, leaders said.
Runners and walkers in this year’s Great Columbia Crossing were greeted by sunny skies as they climbed and descended
the span of the Astoria Bridge crossing the Columbia River from Washington into Oregon.
50 years ago — 1969
A 25-year-old law school graduate started work today
as a planning and administrative assistant to Astoria City
Manager Dale Curry.
Fred C. Long, who graduated from Willamette
University Law School this spring, will assist Curry
in coordinating planning efforts, on special research
projects and working with various city departments as
needed.
“Planning is becoming more and more important,”
said Curry in enumerating the areas in which Long will
work. He noted the proposal to revise the city’s busi-
ness section (on which a citizens committee will start
work this Wednesday night), proposals for a new ongo-
ing ordinance, a new land-use plan, a new subdivision
code for the city, planning of a city-county government
center in Astoria and the work of the newly organized
Clatsop Intergovernmental Council.
Architect’s sketch by John Adams shows the proposed
Peter Pan Seafood, Inc. plant in Ilwaco.
Help was still needed this week in the cran-
berry harvest, according to County Agent Don
Jossy. Both scoopers and pickers are in demand.
Regular part-time assistance will be
accepted, Jossy said. The harvest is expected to
run into the middle of November, and to be suc-
cessful barring frost. Rains do not hamper har-
vest, but frost may ruin the crop.
Pvt. Elmer H. Raymond, son of Mrs. Garfi eld Ray-
mond of Jewell, was the only member of his company
of the 116th engineers to capture a Japanese prisoner in
New Guinea, according to a recent letter received from
him enclosing the above picture. Private Raymond is the
second from the left and the prisoner is propped against
the tree.
Private Raymond attended Astoria High School and
graduated from Jewell High School.
Raymond wrote his mother that he had more trouble
taking the Japanese fl ag away from the enemy soldier
than in removing his gun. The engagement in which he
took the prisoner occurred May 7 on Biak island.
Construction of a prefabricated steel build-
ing to expand facilities of the the Astoria Ply-
wood Mill is virtually fi nished this week,
according to Don Webb.
Installation of a high-speed wide-belt sander
in the 30,000 square foot building was expected
to be completed this week, according to Webb.
Peter Pan Seafood, Inc,. Seattle, in a presentation
to the Port of Ilwaco Monday night, proposed a lease
agreement with the port district property for a new
multi-purpose fresh and frozen processing seafood plant
in Ilwaco. Estimated cost of the proposed buildings was
$1.5 million.
An improved market for hemlock logs in
Japan has reversed an expected October export
slump at the Port of Astoria.
Early this month, Rees Williams, assistant
port manager, said he anticipated that only
three log ships would call at the port during the
month.
This number has climbed to 10, loading a
total 36.5 million board feet, compared to 28
million board feet shipped in October 1968.
Japanese shippers said improvement in the
market resulted from a slight drop in price of
hemlock.
The Kerr Grain Corp. offi cial managing the Port of
Astoria’s grain elevator told the port commission Tues-
day night that the joint Kerr-port operation has been suc-
cessful in its fi rst six months.
when a freight car being switched around by a Spokane,
Portland & Seattle Railway train crew crashed through
the wall of the building.
The empty car was on the end of a line of seven or
eight freight cars the engine crew was placing in posi-
tion for loading from the Pillsbury mill. The “dead man”
block at the end of the railway spur track gave way when
the cars struck the obstruction accidentally, the last car in
the line continuing on its way beyond the barrier and for
16 feet into the warehouse.
U.S. AIR BASE, England – Rep. Ranulf
Compton, R., Connecticut, said today that the
Allied high command schedule never had con-
templated completion of the European war in
1944 but the American people had been deluded
into believing victory this fall was probable.
Clatsop County soldier captures Japanese prisoner.
Dick Berger told the commissioners that some new
business has been moving through the port because of
the elevator but that the elevator must prove itself to ship-
pers and manufacturers before big things will happen.
“We’re showing a nice profi t and we’ll continue,”
said Berger.
75 years ago — 1944
A Port of Astoria warehouse adjoining the Pillsbury
mill plant was partially wrecked Monday afternoon
Twenty-two of the 61 Navy attack transport ships
being built at Kaiser’s Portland and Vancouver shipyards
have been delivered by Kaiser to the Navy at Astoria as
the upriver yards remain on their production schedule in
the face of lagging production in other U.S. yards, it was
learned today.
Congressman James Mott told one of the
largest luncheon meetings of the current polit-
ical campaign Thursday that the Congress of
the United States has come a long way from the
subservient days of 1933 to regain its indepen-
dence and dignity as a vital branch in represen-
tative government.