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THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, MARCH 9, 2021
THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, MARCH 9, 2021 • B1
WATER UNDER
THE BRIDGE
COMPILED BY BOB DUKE
From the pages of Astoria’s daily newspapers
10 years ago
this week — 2011
I
n Japan it was a disaster.
In Hawaii, it caused serious worries.
On the North Coast, it was more like a drill —
except it was real.
Tsunami warnings — long anticipated in places from
Wheeler to Ocean Park, Washington — kicked into
motion early this morning after the earthquake hit Japan.
There were estimated hundreds dead in Japan. E mer-
gency service crews on both sides of the Columbia River
went into action.
People were evacuated in the Cannon Beach and Sea-
side areas. As reports came in for Clatsop County to
expect only 1 to 4 foot waves, offi cials relaxed a little but
still advised people to stay away from beaches, rivers,
bays and other low-lying coastal areas.
The fi rst wave hit the c ounty between 8 and 9 a.m.
More waves followed in approximately 18-minute
intervals.
It was a battle that the chief led from the
front.
Astoria fi refi ghters were called to extinguish
a fi re on board the Lady Rosemary at the East
End Mooring Basin in Astoria Friday.
The call came in at 11:50 a.m.
The report from the fi shing vessel was that
smoke was coming from the pilot house.
Because of weight limitations of the trestles at
the East End Mooring Basin, Fire Chief Lenard
Hansen, one of the fi rst to arrive, boarded the
boat with a portable water extinguisher and
knocked down the fl ames while his fi refi ghters
packed fi re equipment to the fi shing vessel.
A portable water pump was set up on the
dock to pump water from the Columbia River
for fi refi ghters to extinguish the fi re. Fire per-
sonnel used a thermal imaging camera to ver-
ify that there weren’t any hidden sources of heat.
The fi re was brought under control at approx-
imately 12:15 p.m.
WARRENTON — Time. Floating in the icy ocean off
the North Coast, having just a little extra could save your
life.
It’s a fact that’s well known to the crew who man the
U.S. Coast Guard’s new Sector Columbia River com-
mand center.
Inside, the center’s staff must make split-second deci-
sions with speed and accuracy when time lost can mean
paying the ultimate price.
“Minutes are the difference between life and death,”
said Luke Cutburth, s enior c hief o perations s pecialist and
the command center’s supervisor.
After months of working ou t of a temporary home, the
center’s staff is back at work in their new, advanced com-
mand center. The space and its design has helped quicken
response times and maximize effi ciency, saving minutes
when a moment lost could mean disaster, Cutburth said.
50 years ago — 1971
North Coast residents crowd the Astoria Column atop Coxcomb Hill, taking precautions against a tsunami caused by an
earthquake in Japan in 2011.
Travis McDonnell, a communications unit controller at the
U.S.Coast Guard Sector Columbia River command center,
sends out a radio broadcast in 2011.
Astoria driver-engineer Wade Mathews and fi refi ghters Aaron
Bielemeir and Mark McGinnis set up a portable water pump
to extinguish a fi re onboard the Lady Rosemary in 2011.
An American Metal Climax offi cial said today the
company will do some site work and test drilling this
summer at its Warrenton plant site and at the Port of Asto-
ria docks. The company said Friday it was delaying until
1972 the start of construction of an aluminum plant.
Astoria and Warrenton residents interviewed at ran-
dom on city streets Monday reacted somewhat negatively
to the announcement that the company will postpone
construction of the plant.
American Metal Climax said “environmental con-
cerns” played a large part in their decision to postpone the
plant’s construction , but general citizen reaction favored
immediate construction to alleviate the unemployment
problem in Clatsop County.
Construction of a complete cabin suitable for
erection on a beach lot could be part of an Asto-
ria High School class during the 1971 to 1972
school year.
John McRae, director of instruction, told the
Astoria s chool b oard Monday night that the
course guide for a construction Trades Program
has been developed by Chuck Raymond, Clat-
sop Intermediate Education District vocational
director, and George Huhtala, high school wood-
shop teacher. P rerequisites for entry in the pro-
gram are being developed.
McRae said the idea of constructing a cabin
suitable for a beach lot had been suggested as a
major project for the students and he wanted to
get the tentative reaction of the board. He said
they would seek to obtain a loan from one or
more of the local lending institutions to fi nance
the purchase of materials, with repayment to be
made from the sale of the cabin.
Adult Student Housing, Inc. is re-advertising for bids
on its planned 100 apartment units in Astoria because of a
federal directive on construction wages.
Fred Bender, of Adult Student Housing Inc., said today
from Portland that new bids will be opened next Wednes-
day. The corporation plans to build apartment units for
Clatsop College students on property just north of the
Astoria approach to the O ld Youngs Bay Bridge. Financ-
ing is from a $1 million loan from the federal U.S. Depart-
ment of Housing and Urban Development agency.
A fi shing boat sank in the Columbia River
east of Sand Island Thursday as the result of
a storm which whipped the area with strong
winds Thursday afternoon. An old milk house
was blown off its foundations in Seaside, but lit-
tle other damage was reported.
Three Seaside men, returning from crabbing
off Seaside in their 35-foot fi shing boat, were res-
cued by the U.S. Coast Guard after their boat
split up and sank at the east end of Sand Island
early Thursday afternoon.
A building is damaged after a 1971 storm.
Boy Scout Troop 279, of Warrenton, planted 5,500 pine
trees in the Clatsop Spit area in 1971.
particularly unpleasant job but that is the job a
crew of four men and two ducks are doing along
the North Coast this winter.
They are working under what they call the
“WOBS project,” to study wave action along the
coast.
The party of four men is operating in the Asto-
ria vicinity now and will be here two or three
more days.
The project takes its name from Wave Obser-
vation, Bureau of Ships. The p urpose of the study
is to determine the nature and causes of wave
action.
The party has two ducks provided by the U.S.
A rmy. Ducks, to the uninitiated, are amphibi-
ous 2.5 ton trucks, with a seagoing body instead
of the ordinary truck body. The duck is a sturdy
craft and capable of taking a considerable beating
from the seas — as it would have to be to make
frequent trips through winter surf on the North
Coast.
PORTLAND — Herbert West, mayor of Walla Walla,
Washington, championed the development of navigation
on the upper Columbia and Snake rivers by the construc-
tion of a series of dams Monday at the forum meeting of
the Portland Chamber of Commerce. The dams, which will
provide for suitable boat and barge navigation, are to rise
at The Dalles, Arlington, John Day, Umatilla and on the
Snake River.
By a deal made yesterday, The Astorian-Bud-
get Publishing Co. will become the owner of the
Troy Laundry company property at 10th and
Duane streets. The purpose of the acquisition
is to remodel the structure to house the expand-
ing business of the newspaper and job printing
department.
In 1971, the Port of Astoria Board of Commissioners voted to
pay $42,337 in controversial back taxes on the dredge Natoma.
75 years ago — 1946
Astoria ranked 11th among Oregon cities in volume of
home building in 1945, according to fi gures issued by the
Equitable Saving & Loan Association in Portland.
Astoria had $51,000 worth of home construction in the
year marking the war’s end, out of a total of $6.1 million
worth of home construction for the state.
Cities leading Astoria included Portland, Eugene,
Salem, Medford, Klamath Falls, Grants Pass, Corvallis,
Albany, Pendleton and Coos Bay, the report indicated.
Running a “duck” a mile and a half out to sea
through the winter surf and coming back to take
sounding on the way to shore may sound like a
Members of the newspaper industry touring the north-
west as guests of the National Association of Manufacturers
displayed more intimate personal interest in Clatsop indus-
tries than many of the larger ones they had seen elsewhere.
They were concerned about what has happened to tim-
ber and what is happening to fi sh. D riving along Sunset
Highway, they inquired about the possible utilization of
land which to them formed an ulcer on the economic body
of the country.
In Astoria, the party was acquainted with the practical
problems of processing 35 million pounds of fi sh annually
by James H. Cellars , public relations offi cial of the Colum-
bia River Packers Association .
They visited freezers and other units of the company’s
installations. Late, individual members of the group were
interested in the by-product phases of the industry. They
saw important possibilities in the use of the Carruthers
new can fi lling device, the Pac-E-Lector, which has been
installed in several canneries.