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THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, APRIL 20, 2021
THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, APRIL 20, 2021 • B1
WATER UNDER
THE BRIDGE
COMPILED BY BOB DUKE
From the pages of Astoria’s daily newspapers
10 years ago
this week — 2011
O
ld and deteriorating is the best way to describe the
17th Street Dock, located near the Columbia River
Maritime Museum in Astoria.
T o prevent the expensive task of maintaining the wooden
dock, owned by Astoria since 1966, the city has secured
funding to replace it with a concrete and steel design.
That funding will come in the form of a $3.8 million
grant from the Oregon Department of Transportation Con-
nect Oregon III program.
The city’s $1 million match to the grant will save the city
maintenance money in the long run.
The Oregon Department of Forestry just com-
pleted building a new hose drying tower at the
Astoria district offi ce off state Highway 202. The
new tower replaces the previous aging wooden
structure and still provides the Department of For-
estry with a permanent structure for hose drying
after fi ghting fi res.
Because of the wet and cold winter in Astoria, potholes
are popping up everywhere on city streets.
But after Monday night’s City Council meeting those
will soon be taken care of, thanks to the council accepting
a bid of $20,000 from Bayview Transit Mix Inc. of Seaside
for the work.
The 17th Street Dock required repairs in 2011 after years of deterioration.
KNAPPA — Laptops today, iPads tomorrow.
The Knappa School Board gave its blessing at a
Monday night meeting for all of next year’s fresh-
men to use iPads in their classrooms, as the next
step in the district’s “one-to-one” initiative.
The change in plan will save the district close
to $23,000 next year, said Interim Superintendent
Jim Carlile.
What if The New York Times covered your birthday
party?
What if the NBC “Today Show” wanted to put your pic-
ture on the air?
What if the fi rst l ady was considering a trip your way?
More than just Astorians are taking note of the big cele-
brations this year.
The New York Times, The Seattle Times, KING 5’s
“Evening Magazine” and NBC’s “Today Show” have all
featured Astoria and the b icentennial celebration in the last
few weeks.
“The Today Show aired a piece last Saturday and it was a
story about real estate and the top fi ve places to buy a charm-
ing historic home,” said Paulette McCoy, director of the
bicentennial.
“Astoria made that list, but they mention the b icentennial
and Astoria’s history. It was great to have a mention from
them,” McCoy said.
That was not the fi rst time Astoria received mention on
the NBC morning program, however. McCoy said a few
weeks ago, a cheerleader and ambassador for Astoria, Wil-
low Bill, who has partial residence in both Astoria and New
York, held up a sign at the show, standing right behind host
Meredith Vieira.
The sign said “Happy 200th Birthday Astoria” and fea-
tured the b icentennial logo, McCoy said.
Bill has also placed hundreds of postcards for the b icen-
tennial throughout the Astoria neighborhood in Queens,
New York.
50 years ago — 1971
HAMMOND — Workers are expected to complete con-
struction of a breakwater jetty at the northwest entrance to
the Hammond boat basin early this week.
Some 10,000 tons of rock, a portion of it removed from
an old breakwater fi ll , are being put in place by W&W Log-
ging Co. trucks and heavy equipment. B asin dredging work
was done by Coast Marine Construction.
CANNON BEACH — Meeting in special ses-
sion Monday, the Cannon Beach City Council dis-
cussed plans for a proposed condominium with
developer W.F. Brenner.
The council considered possible conditions to
attach to a conditional use permit for the develop-
ment on the Grace Haven property in Tolovan a
Park, a residential zone.
Considerable discussion focused on water prob-
lems in the area, apparently caused by poor water
distribution.
Fire Chief Bruce Haskell said a serious water
situation could result if the condominium hooked
onto the present system. Brenner volunteered to
undertake certain water system improvements if
he could be repaid later.
SEASIDE — With most large grocery stores stocking
hundreds of diff erent items, it was inevitable that the com-
puter would fi nd a home between the food shelves. Seaside’s
Public Market, owned by Gene Lowe, became the eighth
retail store in Oregon to turn to the computer as a time saver
when it recently installed a Digitronics ordering machine.
It is composed of a nine-digit adding machine which is
wheeled down the store aisles; a magnetic tape onto which
all numerals are automatically recorded; and a speaker
The Port of Astoria in 2011.
Astoria’s bicentennial logo in 2011.
Water fl ows once again from the Shively Fountain at its
new location in the Maritime Memorial Park in 2011.
through which the tape recorded “beeps” are transmitted to
Portland via telephone. There, the beeps are transferred onto
another tape and then fed through a computer, which pro-
duces special order forms for immediate processing.
Eliminated from the new system are the bulky 180-
page order books with rows of posted foods and numerous
check spaces. With an identifying numeral posted in front
of every store item, employees using the ordering machine
make fewer ordering mistakes and are able automatically to
check themselves against the numerals transcribed on the
machine’s visible tape.
School children and other volunteers took
part in various Earth Day observances Thursday
as streets were cleaned of litter in several places
throughout Clatsop C ounty.
Members of the Clatsop Environmental Coun-
cil were stationed at a number of area grocery
stores assisting buyers in discarding excess pack-
aging on purchased items. The council also had
petitions available regarding pollution.
75 years ago — 1946
Veterans and other prospective home builders in Astoria
are warded against the danger of “jerry-built” houses that fail
to meet minimum standards in a statement issued today by
Fire Chief Wayne Osterby.
Osterby, who also serves as building inspector, warned
that many people, seeking to circumvent high building costs,
are planning houses that will “neglect one of the most import-
ant considerations of all — fi re safety. Make fi re safety the
cornerstone of your new home and choose the local archi-
tect and builder who agree with your requirement that com-
mon sense fi re safety as well as livability be considered in
the planning of your new home,” Osterby said.
The Astoria Chamber of Commerce is mar-
shalling evidence and arguments in favor of allow-
ing the U.S. Maritime Commission to establish a
temporary moorage for 350 reserve merchant
ships in Prairie Channel and expects to present a
strong case before Capt. Albert Martinson of the
U.S. Coast Guard at a hearing on the matter in
Clatsop County Circuit Court.
The chamber is fi ghting for the temporary
moorage in the expectation that it will result in
establishment of a permanent moorage for 500 to
Bud Kenyon uses a computer at Seaside’s Public Market
in 1971.
1,000 ships in Youngs Bay, bringing a payroll of
around 1,000 people to Astoria on a permanent
basis.
The Columbia River Fishermen’s Protective
Union adopted a motion at a special meeting to
oppose establishment of temporary moorage in
Prairie Channel for anchoring surplus vessels of
the U.S. Maritime Commission.
Fishermen opposed establishment of the tem-
porary moorage for the following three reasons:
1. It would interfere with fi shing of Prairie
Channel drift by gillnetters who have cleared the
fi shing area and expended considerable sums of
money in its maintenance as a fi shing drift.
2. Location of vessels in Prairie Channel would
result in discharge of oil and other substances inju-
rious to fi sh life in an area where many down-
stream migrants from the Klaskanine and Big
Creek hatcheries frequent, in addition to the con-
gregating of downstream migrants from upriver
water.
3. Anchorage of the vessels in the fi shing drifts
would result in debris being thrown overboard
and cluttering the drift, which has been cleared at
much expense to fi shermen.
Figures recently tallied in the Clatsop C ounty C erk’s
O ffi ce reveal that voting in the pending May 17 primary
elections will be heavier than in the Jan. 11 special election
but lower than in the last primary elections of May 1944.
Republicans still top the breakdown of Clatsop registrants,
listing 1,034 more members than the Democrats.
The U.S. cruiser Astoria, veteran of the war
against Japan, will make her fi rst appearance in
the Columbia River soon. The U.S. Navy is send-
ing the cruiser to Portland for the annual Rose
Festival, according to Jesse Gard, festival head.
Gard took the matter up with U.S. Sen. Wayne
Morse, an Oregon Republican.
Eff orts will be made locally to have the cruiser,
which bears the name of this city, arrive in the
river a day before the Rose Festival and remain
overnight.
The cruiser is the second N avy cruiser to bear
the Astoria name. The fi rst was built at the Bremer-
ton, Washington, Navy yards and was launched in
the early 1930s. She sa nk early in the war near
Guadalcanal along with the U.S. cruiser Quincy,
Vincennes and the Australian cruiser Canberra.