A2
THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, MARCH 9, 2021
IN BRIEF
Two dead after crash on Highway 101
Two people were killed Saturday afternoon in a crash
on U.S. Highway 101 near Cullaby Lake Lane.
Police say Hazel Nyberg, 66, of Astoria, was heading
northbound in a Toyota Corolla at about 1 p.m. when a
pickup truck towing a large RV, driven by Donald Siglin,
76, of Banks, crossed the center divider and struck her
vehicle.
Nyberg died in the crash. Siglin was fl own to Oregon
Health & Science University Hospital in Portland, where
he was pronounced dead.
The highway was closed for several hours following
the crash while authorities conducted an investigation
and reconstruction.
Hiker falls from cliff at Hug Point
A hiker who fell more than 100 feet from a cliff Fri-
day afternoon near Hug Point State Park is reportedly
recovering.
A U.S. Coast Guard aircrew hoisted the hiker at about
5:15 p.m. and they were fl own to Sector Columbia River.
The Coast Guard said the hiker was conscious and
responsive before they were fl own to a Portland area
hospital.
An investigation found that the hiker had fallen while
walking too close to the cliff’s edge. The Portland resi-
dent sustained serious injuries.
IN BLOOM
Jonathan Williams/The Astorian
Wyden to hold town hall
for Clatsop County residents
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden will hold an online town hall
on Saturday for Clatsop County residents.
The noon event is hosted by People’s Town Hall.
Instructions to participate are available online at peo-
plestownhall.org. People can watch the town hall on
Facebook Live.
“I very much look forward to resuming the conversa-
tion with Astoria, Warrenton, Seaside, Gearhart, Cannon
Beach and all of Clatsop County to hear residents’ prior-
ities with the new Biden administration and Senate in its
fi rst weeks,” the Oregon Democrat said in a statement.
“While precautions require a temporary hold on
in-person town halls, I thank People’s Town Hall for
helping these ‘Oregon Way’ discussions to continue
online for Oregonians living and working on the North
Coast.”
As senator, Wyden has committed to holding at least
one town hall every year in each of Oregon’s 36 counties.
— The Astorian
DEATHS
March 7, 2021
In JACKSON,
Brief Oscar
James, 89, of Astoria, died
in
Astoria. Caldwell’s
Deaths
Luce-Layton Mortuary of
Astoria is in charge of the
arrangements.
March 4, 2021
RALL, Stephan Anthony,
72, of Arch Cape, died in
Seaside. Caldwell’s Funeral
& Cremation Arrange-
ment Center of Seaside is in
charge of the arrangements.
ON THE RECORD
Burglary
ing under the infl uence of
On
the
• Joshua
Henry Record
Mar- intoxicants.
shall, 36, of Seaside, was
arrested Wednesday on
Beerman Creek Road for
burglary in the second
degree and criminal tres-
pass in the second degree.
DUII
• Gabriel Coleman,
25, of Portland, was
arrested Sunday on N.W.
Warrenton Drive for driv-
• Monica Lynn Terrell,
58, was arrested Sunday on
Third Street and the Asto-
ria Riverwalk for DUII and
driving with a suspended
or revoked license.
• Casey Walter Wag-
ner, 40, of Warrenton,
was arrested Saturday on
17th Street and Exchange
Street in Astoria for DUII.
PUBLIC MEETINGS
TUESDAY
Clatsop County Planning Commission, 10 a.m., (electronic
meeting).
Sunset Empire Park and Recreation District Board of
Directors, 4:15 p.m., workshop, Bob Chisholm Community
Center, 1225 Avenue A, Seaside.
Clatsop Care Health District Board, 5 p.m., (electronic meeting).
Lewis & Clark Fire Department Board, 6 p.m., main fi re
station, 34571 U.S. Highway 101 Business.
Warrenton City Commission, 6 p.m., City Hall, 225 S. Main Ave.
Clatsop Community College Board, 6:30 p.m., (electronic
meeting).
WEDNESDAY
Clatsop Soil and Water Conservation District Board,
10 a.m., (electronic meeting).
Clatsop County Board of Commissioners, 6 p.m., (electronic
meeting).
Warrenton-Hammond School Board, 6 p.m., Warrenton
High School Library, 1700 S. Main Ave.
Astoria School District Board, 7 p.m., (electronic meeting).
THURSDAY
Seaside Civic and Convention Center Commission, 5 p.m.,
415 First Ave.
Gearhart Planning Commission and City Council, 7 p.m.,
(electronic meeting).
PUBLIC MEETINGS
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Daff odils bloom on a hillside off of 15th Street in Astoria.
Mapping shipwrecks at the
Graveyard of the Pacifi c
By JAMIE HALE and
MARK GRAVES
The Oregonian
The Pacifi c Northwest
coastline has long been fraught
with danger, threatening all
who dare to set sail off its
shores. One area in particular
has become so notorious over
the centuries that it’s earned a
grim moniker all its own: the
Graveyard of the Pacifi c.
To give some sense of this
level of danger, The Orego-
nian has mapped 238 of the
most signifi cant shipwrecks
near the mouth of the Colum-
bia River and along the Oregon
and Washington state coast,
between 1725 and 2005, pulled
from one of the defi nitive texts
on the subject: “Pacifi c Grave-
yard” by James Gibbs.
The author, maritime histo-
rian and lighthouse keeper in
the Pacifi c Northwest wrote
about shipwrecks up and down
the coast. Gibbs served as a
lighthouse keeper at the Tilla-
mook Rock Lighthouse , and
built his own private light-
house, the Cleft of the Rock
Light, near Yachats. He wrote
more than a dozen books in his
career, and “Pacifi c Graveyard”
was among his best known.
The shipwrecks he tracked
down around the Columbia
River entrance resulted in at
least 535 deaths, though the toll
is likely much higher. Histori-
cal records of some shipwrecks
simply say that “all lives were
lost,” and are counted here as
one fatality for lack of better
information.
There were also many more
incidents than the map indi-
cates. The Columbia River
Maritime Museum in Astoria
estimates approximately 2,000
vessels have sunk in the area
since 1792, including many
smaller boats that wrecked at
the mouth of the Columbia.
This map shows some of the
most dramatic and deadly ship-
wrecks that occurred as settler
colonists began to arrive to the
PACIFIC GRAVEYARD
Check out the interactive maps of shipwrecks online at:
projects.oregonlive.com/shipwrecks
region in droves over the 19th
century, continuing as industry
increased shipping traffi c in the
Pacifi c Northwest the follow-
ing century.
For generations earlier, the
stormy river mouth was part of
an area populated by the Clat-
sop tribe of the Chinookan peo-
ples, a group of interconnected
indigenous communities who
lived along the lower Colum-
bia River.
EVEN TODAY,
VESSELS
ENTERING THE
MOUTH OF
THE RIVER ARE
GUIDED BY THE
COLUMBIA RIVER
BAR PILOTS, AN
ORGANIZATION
FOUNDED IN 1846
TO HELP KEEP
SHIPS AFLOAT.
The Chinook were highly
skilled at navigating the body
of water that many on its lower
stretches called wimahl, mean-
ing “big river,” using dugout
canoes carved from enormous
cedar logs. Europeans and
Americans, who fi rst entered
the river mouth in 1792, strug-
gled mightily in their mas-
sive ships, losing many lives
on their quest to expand indus-
try and white settlement to the
Pacifi c Northwest.
Over the ensuing two cen-
turies, there were many trag-
edies, much wreckage and a
The sun sets over the wreck of the Peter Iredale
at Fort Stevens State Park.
Jamie Hale/The Oregonian
fair amount of drama as ships
crashed, burned and exploded
on their way up what would
soon become the Oregon and
Washington coast.
The “graveyard” is consid-
ered to range from Tillamook
Bay in Oregon up the Washing-
ton coast to Vancouver Island,
an area that’s home to many
rocky reefs and shorelines. But
perhaps the most treacherous
area lies at the mouth of the
Columbia River.
Straddling
the
border
between Oregon and Washing-
ton, the mighty river mouth is
home to shifting sand bars, high
seas and heavy winds that com-
bine to create a nightmare for
ships entering from the ocean.
The number of annual ship-
wrecks peaked in the middle
of the 19th century, but contin-
ued to be a regular problem into
the 1960s. The advent of GPS
and its preceding technologi-
cal advancements helped mar-
itime navigation immensely,
effectively ending the age of
shipwrecks at the mouth of the
river.
That doesn’t mean the
Graveyard of the Pacifi c
became safe. Even today, ves-
sels entering the mouth of the
river are guided by the Colum-
bia River Bar Pilots, an orga-
nization founded in 1846 to
help keep ships afl oat. The U.S.
Coast Guard also stays busy
rescuing vessels in distress —
at the beginning of crabbing
season in February, rescuers
saved crews from three fi shing
boats in one day.
Although the major ship-
wreck era has passed, the
stormy, violent nature of
the Pacifi c Northwest coast
ensures that the Graveyard of
the Pacifi c remains very much
alive.