Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 10, 2019)
THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2019 • B1 WATER UNDER THE BRIDGE COMPILED BY BOB DUKE From the pages of Astoria’s daily newspapers 10 years ago this week — 2009 S tate Rep. Brad Witt believes the Port of Astoria has awakened “a big, sleeping giant” by leasing the industrial property at North Tongue Point. It’s the kind of giant that will deliver the kind of “good, decent, family-wage jobs that keep local peo- ple tied to the local community,” he said. Many local leaders are hoping he is right. At the open house at the 30-acre facility Saturday, Witt and many other politicians spoke to a crowd of about 50 people, praising the Port of Astoria for rec- ognizing the underutilized site as a potential eco- nomic engine and sliding into the drivers seat. Starting Nov. 1, the Port became a landlord at North Tongue Point, which is home to fi ve fi n- ger piers, 140,000 square feet of warehouse space inside two old U.S. Navy hangers, open tarmac and access to the Portland and Western Railroad. There are about a dozen tenants subleasing por- tions of the site already, and several other busi- nesses are waiting to mov e in. The Red Lion Hotel in Astoria has closed its doors for at least four months after fi nd- ing “pretty big defects” in the structural integrity of its building in the Port of Asto- ria’s West Mooring B asin, according to a company spokeswoman. During a storm last month, one of the hotel’s decks collapsed and sent fi ve guests into the water below. The hotel closed all of its balconies immediately following the incident and had them all inspected, according to Red Lion spokeswoman Pat Stryker. The inspection turned up some prob- lems with the structures supporting the balconies, she said, “and we didn’t want to take any chances.” CANNON BEACH – Volunteers who educate visitors about the tide pools at the base of Haystack Rock stayed busy this year. They made at least 77,579 contacts with people who sought information about the sea creatures, birds and environment sur- rounding Haystack Rock. The statistics were compiled over 178 days on the beach, where 80 volunteers spent 2,132 hours educating people about the 235-foot monolith. 50 years ago — 1969 A 2-mile loop road around the site of major buildings for the $142 million Northwest Aluminum Co. plant to be built in Warrenton was completed this week by Cascade Construction Co. Salem, road contractor. The company applied lime to stabilize the road sur- face, base rock and oil. The road project took about two months. Harold Hare, project engineer for the plant construc- tion, said today that no further work at the site is in pros- pect until Northwest Aluminum offi cials decide whether to begin construction this winter. Francis Schneyder snaps a photo of an ice formation at the base of Youngs River Falls in 2009. Spray from the falls combined with the freezing weather coated plants with ice. A picture of the Port of Ilwaco as a major sport fi shing center with limited commercial development on the side was painted in bold strokes for the Port of Ilwaco Commissioners at their meeting Monday afternoon. The view into the future came from Fred- erick W. Tucker, fi nancial analyst for the Seat- tle fi rm of R.W. Beck and Associates, analytical and consulting engineers. The importance of the port to sport and commercial fi shermen was stressed by Tucker in his informal verbal presentation to the com- missioners, indicating what the consultants had learned since they began their project in September. “The main asset of the Port of Ilwaco is its closeness to the mouth of the Columbia River and the fi shing grounds just off the coast,” Tucker said. Tucker went on to predict that “Everything looks good for an expansion.” Seven men soon to embark on a storybook adventure arrived Monday afternoon in Astoria aboard the 46-foot catamaran Golden Key. They and three other men hope to leave about Dec. 23 on a leisurely cruise down the Pacifi c Coast through the Panama Canal to the east coast of Honduras in search of sunken treasure and lost Mayan cities. East met w est this morning when the 180- foot Cactus arrived from Rhode Island to take over buoy tending duties in the Columbia River area. Forty-nine men, under command of Lt. Cmdr. Robert Elkins, brought the diesel-pow- ered Cactus around the country and through the Panama Canal. The journey took nearly a month, including brief stops in Panama and at Los Angeles for repair of electronic gear. Up to 3 feet of water was in the downtown business stem of Cannon Beach at start of high tide at 1:12 p.m. t oday, according to reports. Evacuation of downtown residents at Cannon Beach began today on orders from Civil Defense Sheriff Carl B. Bondietti. “The worst is yet to come, we have an hour of unpre- dictable weather ahead of us,” the sheriff said. He was stationed at the county jail manning the civil defense emergency radio net. Elk Creek was causing the fl ooding. A highlight of the sixth war loan drive in Astoria was the personal salesmanship of 3 1/2 year-old Phillip Marcus Steinbock, pictured, in 1944. The little boy is shown in the war bond setting which decorated the window of Jo-Vels shoe store which his father managed. The constellations of winter and Geminid meteor shower in 2009. 75 years ago — 1944 A U.S. sailor, Donald Watson Christensen, drove his car up on the rising span of the Young’s Bay B ridge Thursday night, jumped a 4-foot and widening opening to the other side, and proceeded down the span’s south- ern slope and on to Seaside. Christensen was fi ned $500 and paid $4.50 costs in Astoria’s justice court Friday, on a charge of reckless driving fi led against him by state police. Len Lowry, bridge tender, said he had lowered the barriers and the bridge was on the rise when he heard a crash as Christensen’s car plowed through the span barrier on the north side. Lowry said he rushed to stop the bridge’s rise, and the car leaped the opening when it was about 4 feet across. The car slithered down the other side, banged through the other barrier, and proceeded to Seaside. Lowry said that in another few seconds the span would have been far too wide to allow passage of a car. Navy search planes from Clatsop air- port ranged over the ocean at Seaside from 9:30 p.m. to midnight Monday dropping fl ares in an attempt to locate a plane which a Seaside police offi cer reported he had seen drop into the sea. A check of A rmy and N avy fi elds in the northwest revealed no plane missing, however. A C oast G uard boat also joined the search and the display of lights caused considerable fl urry among Seasiders. It was thought possible a falling star in the clear skies might have caused the alarm. The wind was tamed down to a mere 70 mph in the Columbia G orge at Crown Point today – a breeze com- pared with yesterday’s zippy 135 miles – but it was still no place to wear a wide-brimmed straw hat. An increase in valuation of more than $30,000 for city of Astoria-owned real estate during the past 18 months is revealed in a report today on fi le in City Manager Brewer Billie’s offi ce. Present value of city property, exclusive of motorized equipment, is $246,558. 75, accord- ing to the survey just completed for the conve- nience of insurance company offi cials in com- parison with $213,238 in July 1942. Tapiola P ark building improvements listed at more than $13,000 accounted for nearly half of the valuation increase of city owned property. With the arrival here Thursday of the USS Lavaca, Oregon Shipbuilding Corp. offi cially ended its AP-5 attack transport series, the fi rst shipyard in the nation to complete a major transport building program. The Lavaca left the shipyard Thursday afternoon as the climax of a celebration on the outfi tting dock, and the vessel made a quick and successful run to Astoria, more than meeting all tests and trials.
