THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, JANUARY 21, 2020 • B1
WATER UNDER
THE BRIDGE
COMPILED BY BOB DUKE
From the pages of Astoria’s daily newspapers
10 years ago
this week — 2010
T
he North Coast escaped serious problems during
Sunday night’s high winds, but the National
Weather Service kept its high surf advisory in
effect through 6 p.m. Tuesday as a second storm was
headed this way.
Offi cials warned residents and visitors: Be sure to
use caution along the coast this week and stay away
from beaches.
Rip currents and beach erosion are possible and jet-
ties are especially dangerous, offi cials said. “This is not
a time to be near the water.”
Fifth-graders Emma Gaeuman and Patty
Brodie went door-to-door Sunday asking their
Astoria neighbors to donate empty bottles and
cans to help Haiti recover from last week’s dev-
astating earthquake.
Three times, when their arms were full, the
girls dropped their collections off at home and
went back out again.
They only stopped collecting, Gaeuman
said, “when we couldn’t carry any more.”
On Monday, they brought their whole heap
to Astoria High School, where students in
Jenni Newton’s leadership class were sorting
donated containers, trucking them to local gro-
cery stores and cashing in their 5-cent deposit
value.
Full trash bags stacked up inside the high
school courtyard as dozens of local stopped by
to give to the cause.
The class of about 14 organized the fund-
raiser last week and accepted donated bottles
and cans all day Monday, which was a school
holiday honoring the Rev. Martin Luther King
Jr.
The proposed site of the Astoria sewage lagoon with Bumble Bee Seafoods at Pier 39 in the distance in 1970.
Port of Astoria Executive Director Jack Crider said
his agency has done its part to make sure the Red Lion
Inn can reopen in the West Mooring Basin.
The hotel closed its doors last month following a
balcony collapse that sent fi ve guests plunging into the
marina. Engineers found problems with the Port’s share
of the complex on the eastern portion of the L-shaped
hotel structure.
John Souza put on his life jacket and rubber
boots Wednesday, grabbed a razor knife and a
fl ashlight for safety, and stepped out onto the
new fl oating cover atop Astoria’s Reservoir 3.
Souza, an engineering technician with
the Astoria Public Works Department, was
demonstrating how the giant cover is inspected
and maintained. He was clearly enjoying him-
self. “It works great. Our water is so clean, I
can’t say enough good things about it.”
“It’s very, very strong,” said Souza’s col-
league Jim Hatcher. “It’s like walking on a
water bed.”
50 years ago — 1970
A spirited Astoria High School group of runners, bol-
stered by the cross-country and track team and with sev-
eral girls also competing, Saturday night broke the Ore-
gon high school 24-hour marathon record and may have
set a new national distance of 287 miles.
Given the honor of leading off the event at half-
time of Friday night’s varsity basketball game in Asto-
ria was senior Jim Mattila, one of the Metro League’s
top cross-country runners. Coming in on the anchor lap
24 hours later at halftime of Saturday night’s basketball
game was Eric Ojala, top Astoria High School miler.
He fi nished the grueling event under the watchful eyes
of Portland State University cross-country coach Ralph
Davis. His presence made it offi cial.
Engineers are continuing to study sites for a
sewage treatment lagoon in Astoria, fi nancing
of which was approved by voters last week in a
bond issue election, City Manager Dale Curry
told the city council Monday night.
Curry commented after reading a letter to
the council from the president of Bumble Bee
Seafoods, John McGowan, objecting to hav-
ing the lagoon near 39th and Lief Erikson
Drive, next to Bumble Bee’s cold storage plant.
McGowan voiced the objection on Jan. 12, the
Part of the mile-long parade of 80 loaded log trucks trucked 400,000 feet of gigantic fi r, spruce and hemlock sticks
through Seaside during the Pacifi c Logging Congress.
day before the vote on the $5 million sewe age
bond issue.
Councilman Arnold Swanson said Monday
night that the council had “accepted” last June
the sewe age study report of engineers Stevens,
Thompson & Runyan in which the engineers
recommended the 39th and Lief Erikson site
over two others, which weren’t named in the
report. Swanson said that didn’t mean that
other sites shouldn’t be examined now, but said
that if picking another site put the total project
cost above the estimated $4.9 million fi gure the
city might have to re apply for federal aid.
A full load has been signed up to travel to Lincoln
City via charter bus Thursday for a meeting to explore
ways to combat the State Highway Commission’s deci-
sion to close beaches to vehicles.
Jean Hallaux, Astoria Chamber of Commerce man-
ager who worked with Mrs. Ernest Moon of the Cannon
Beach Chamber to arrange for the bus, said 35 people
have made reservations.
Hallaux noted that many other Clatsop representa-
tives, including county commissioners, Astoria City
Manager Dale Curry and State Sen. William Holm-
strom and Rep. George Cole are scheduled to travel to
the meeting by car.
75 years ago — 1945
Death came early Saturday morning at his home
in McGowan, Washington, to Henry Silas McGowan,
78, last surviving member of a pioneer salmon pack-
ing family of the north shore. He had been ill for sev-
eral weeks.
A native of the community established by his
A charter bus of 35 people traveled to Lincoln City for a meeting on ways to combat the
State Highway Commission’s decision to close beaches to vehicles in 1970.
father and which bears his name, having been born in
McGowan on June 24, 1866, McGowan made his home
here during his entire lifetime. He received his educa-
tion in Portland and early in his youth became interested
in the canning industry which his father, P.J. McGowan,
established in 1861.
“The best district in the Portland area coun-
cil of Boy Scouts” was the title given to the
Astoria district Thursday night by G.H. Ober-
teuffer, chief scout executive of the Portland
area, when he addressed this district’s annual
dinner meeting in Grace Episcopal church.
“I don’t know any district in the entire Port-
land area that has made as much progress in
the past three years as this district,” he stressed.
WASHINGTON – The Social Security board offered
its program for “cradle-to-grave” Social Security today
in a report expected to set the pattern for President Roo-
sevelt’s forthcoming recommendations to C ongress.
Spoilage of high quality beef on the Astoria
market because of ration point values is unnec-
essary, according to David J. Lewis, ration
administrator, who commented today on cur-
rent reports that fi ner cuts of beef are glutting
the market while consumers lack ration points
for the goods.
Lewis pointed out that meat dealers have
been advised what to do in case spoilage is
threatened. They may advise their local OPA
board that meat on hand is in danger of spoil-
ing and the board will allow them to reduce
the price and point values by 25% or they may
even go so far as to reduce the price of the meat
50% and take off points entirely.
A group of runners at Astoria High School broke the Oregon high school 24-hour
marathon record in 1970.