B1
THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, JUNE 30, 2020
THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, JUNE 30, 2020 • B1
WATER UNDER
THE BRIDGE
COMPILED BY BOB DUKE
From the pages of Astoria’s daily newspapers
10 years ago
this week — 2010
I
f the North Coast’s three chambers of commerce
were to change their slogans to “We Have It All!”
who could blame them?
Amid bright and consistent sunshine for the fi rst time
this year, the region from Cannon Beach to Oysterville,
Washington, enjoyed a couple of days where residents
and visitors alike could not complain there was nothing
to do.
The exciting boat races on Cullaby Lake attracted
scores of spectators and participants who enjoyed an
action fi lled spectacle. The Seattle Outboard Associa-
tion’s annual event featured close races and a few spills
to keep the crowd entertained.
About 70 people joined hands across the
sand at Cannon Beach Saturday during a
national “Hands Across the Sand” demonstra-
tion against offshore drilling. Demonstrations
also were planned in Seaside and Short Sand
Beach in Oswald West State Park.
ARCH CAPE — Conservation work at Texas A&M
University on the two historic cannons recovered from
the beach at Arch Cape in February 2008 is starting to
show results.
The cannons, found by teen beachcomber Miranda
Petrone while walking at Arch Cape with her father, were
recovered from the ocean shore by the Oregon Parks and
Recreation Department with help from Arch Cape offi -
cials. The cannons were heavily coated by a concretion
— a thick, hard layer of solidifi ed sand and rock — after
being buried deep on the beach for an unknown amount
of time.
It is possible the two cannons are the remnants of the
1846 wreck of the USS Shark, a U.S. Navy vessel that
sank on the Columbia Bar. Three of the Shark’s cannon
broke away from the wreck, and one was recovered from
the Arch Cape area in 1898. The other two were never
found.
The crew of the U.S. Coast Guard c ut-
ter Alert is a long way from home — the 210-
foot Astoria-based ship is now doing fi sheries
patrols off the coast of Alaska.
The diversion into unfamiliar territory is
unusual, and the cutter has not made an Alas-
kan port call in years, said Cmd r. Brad Mynatt,
the Alert’s commanding offi cer. The crew has
resupplied and trained in Kodiak and is now
underway for a Bering Sea patrol.
“Although I have had work trips to Alaska
in the past, this is my fi rst time taking the cut-
ter to Alaska,” Mynatt said.
About 70 people joined hands across the sand in Cannon Beach in 2010 during a national ‘Hands Across the Sand’
demonstration against off shore drilling.
LEFT: Nearly all concretions were removed from the cannons found in Arch Cape and the cannon barrel was separated
from the wooden base in 2010. RIGHT: The U.S. Coast Guard cutter Alert, a 210-foot medium endurance cutter, arrives in
Kodiak, Alaska, in 2010. The Alert’s crew attended the Kodiak-based North Pacifi c Regional Fisheries Training Center before
undertaking a patrol in the Bering Sea.
50 years ago — 1970
There appears to be little of the heroic in the nature
of Coast Guardsmen at Cape Disappointment motor life-
boat station.
They may perform heroic deeds daily, or perhaps
twice and thrice or more daily, but little bravo is appar-
ent to the observer, because heroism of one degree or
another is the day-by-day duty of g uardsmen at the Cape.
Each year they save many lives and recover the bod-
ies of those whose lives were beyond saving, but most of
all they tow, tow, tow.
Some 85% of the cases on which the eight Cape Dis-
appointment motor lifeboats are called while patrolling
the rugged and deceptive Columbia River B ar are of a
“routine nature” and require nothing more than a tow job
across the bar and back to the Ilwaco B oat B asin or har-
bors on the Oregon side of the river.
Boaters who run into trouble and require assistance
from the Coast Guard’s Columbia River B ar patrol
undergo an extensive inspection of their vessel and its
equipment before the Coast Guard is through with them.
Every boat towed to port by the motor lifeboats is
boarded, either at the Cape station or at whatever boat
basin on the Washington or Oregon side of the river to
which it is towed.
Lots of tourists but they’re not spending so
much money.
That seems to be the picture at the beginning
of July as Clatsop County plays host to out-of-
area travelers.
Carol McCallister reports more persons
are stopping in at the state Travel Information
Offi ce by the Astoria Bridge this year than last
to ask about attractions in the area.
Motel operator Carl Labiske, in Astoria,
reports his business running below last year’s
and Astoria restaurant operator Pete Antoniou
said business is clearly “slow” this summer.
And yet the Columbia River Maritime
Museum reports more than 100 persons com-
ing through daily, and Ranger Paul Haertel at
the Fort Clatsop National Memorial says the
number of persons through the site of the Lewis
and Clark winter fort is up by 25% over 1969.
The Angora Hiking Club will observe it s 50th anni-
versary with a celebration at 8 p.m. Friday in Shively
Community Hall, Shively Park, and a climb of Saddle
Mountain the next day.
The Saddle Mountain climb will commemorate the
club’s inception at the summit of that mountain July 4,
1920.
“The Angora Club has always been small in mem-
bership but large in work and deeds,” writes Mrs. Axel
Ramvick, club historian, in reviewing the half-century
of the organization’s life.
75 years ago — 1945
The cost of battle in money and men was dia-
grammed starkly for Astorians Saturday night on Gyro
Field by veteran infantrymen who re lived a concen-
A U.S. Coast Guard motor lifeboat from Cape Disappointment assists a gasless 16-foot ‘Kicker’ in 1970.
Eleven Canadian students and two adult supervisors
sailed these canoes 1,260 miles down the Columbia River
in 19 ½ days, arriving in Astoria in 1970.
Teri Lynne Bowers prepares to become the youngest
person in the United States to solo a helicopter in 1970.
The Seaside High School senior made her fl ight on her
16th birthday.
trated fraction of the war that is “hell and infantry.”
The doughboys dug into the dirt of the city’s football
fi eld and made it a grim scene of battle for 5,000 spec-
tators, fi ring 3,400 rounds of blank ammunition.
“Tonight the setting is a football fi eld in Astoria,”
said the loudspeakers. “Last Tuesday it was a barren
island in the Pacifi c. Tomorrow it will be Tokyo ...
A fi ghting infantryman does the toughest work of the
war and it’s high time that people appreciate it.”
“Sure, sure, come and sit down with us,
we’re just having breakfast. What’ll you
have? Hey, Gracie, this is the press — what
did you say your name was? We’re glad to see
you, aren’t we, Gracie?”
And that, you may believe me, was the
way George Burns, radio star of the team of
Burns and Allen, greeted us Monday noon
over at the Hotel Astoria coffee shop, when
we dropped in on them in line of duty, of
course.
If there had been any question about the
identity of Mr. and Mrs. Burns, which inci-
dentally there wasn’t, it would have been
quickly dispelled when we entered Austin’s
dining room. The table with the youngsters
cluttered about with their autograph books
was a cinch to be where the radio stars were.
It’s probably an old story to George and
Gracie, this business of autographs and meet-
ing the representatives of the newspapers,
but neither of them let on by word and ges-
ture that they weren’t having the time of their
lives and really enjoying the experience.
Plans for the big crow shoot up in Browns-
mead Sunday are complete, according to Clatsop
County Rod and Gun Club offi cials and a commit-
tee of Brownsmead grange members. Albert Barendse
is the spokesman for the farmers, and Angus Walker
for the gun clubbers, and under their direction the
fi nal plans for the “battle” are being worked out here
today.
Members of the gun club will meet here at 7
o’clock Sunday morning in the Safeway parking lot
across the street from the C ity H all where transporta-
tion will be provided to the shooting grounds, accord-
ing to Walker. Competing teams will be organized
when the gun club members arrive at the Brownsmead
district and generally have expressed a willingness to
cooperate with the local shotgun enthusiasts.