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THE ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, MAY 6, 2021
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IN ONE EAR • ELLEDA WILSON
LUCKY SURVIVOR
AROUND TOWN
A PROPOSITION
ill Nix of Underwood, Washington,
wrote in about the fate of the air-
craft carrier USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63),
which has been docked at the Puget
Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton,
Washington, since 2009.
The ship, which is 1,069 feet long,
282 feet wide, and draws 38 feet, is
now dry docked. She will be disman-
tled if she doesn’t ﬁ nd a new home. Nix
has a proposition, after reading a story
in The Astorian: He’s thinking about
the urban renewal money that might
have to be returned if not used. One use
the Astoria City Council discussed was
for the area around the Port of Astoria’s
West Mooring Basin, to complete the
Uniontown Reborn project.
“Use the monies to initiate a prime
tourist attraction to the city of Astoria,”
Nix suggested, urging Astoria to bring
the Kitty Hawk here. “I have been
advised by a staﬀ member of Washing-
ton Sen. Patty Murray any funding from
the federal government will need to be
matched by funds from local sources,”
Nix said. “Use the urban renewal mon-
ies on this project, and a match from
the federal government can take place.
“The ship can be a highly attractive
and popular tourist attraction, an eco-
nomic building block … We must con-
sider the economic impact by the pro-
spective 325,000 visitors annually, or
890 daily to Astoria.”
He used as an example what an
enormous, and lucrative, attraction the
USS Midway is in San Diego.
“I believe creation of the USS Kitty
Hawk museum and cultural event cen-
ter in the city of Astoria will be a suc-
cessful tourist attraction that will
employ many Astorians,” he explained,
“and provide considerable revenue to
Astoria, the county of Clatsop and state
of Oregon.”
Not to mention, there’s no wooden
hull to worry about.
“This project,” Nix added, “will
have tremendous beneﬁ ts to thou-
sands of people.” (bit.ly/kittydry, bit.
ly/kittystats)
Note: Nix’s full letter is here: bit.ly/
kittyltr
B
just knew the last time we went to this old park
there had to be other old items there to be found,”
Don Kelly posted on the Northwest Artifact Recov-
ery Team Facebook page (https://bit.ly/NWDiggers) on
April 26.
“When I was told that an old Chinese coin was found
there, it sparked my interest. Tons of iron at this site is
probably why no one wants to dig there. After a few
hours of garbage, out pops a 1918 Standing Liberty
quarter, which are always hard to ﬁ nd.
“I was ecstatic when I yelled out to my brother I had
found silver. As he approached me, I had a signal inches
away from the quarter when out popped a beautiful 1890
Morgan silver dollar. I was to the moon by then!
“Later I noticed a green color on back of the Morgan
dollar which tells me probably an Indian Head penny
is in that hole as well. Also found old spoons, a pen quill
and what I think was an ink bottle.
“Two interesting compacts were found, one being
ornate, and the other was like a pill or snuﬀ box with
powder inside. Also a metal ball object probably a knob
… All in all a great day for artifacts and great coinage.”
Later, Don found the Indian Head penny that had
been stuck to the Morgan dollar, which turns out to be
a rare Carson City mintage, Derrick T. Glover of the
American Numismatic Association told Don.
“Your … Morgan Dollar is a lucky survivor,” Glover
explained, “as approximately 90% of all 1890 (Carson
City) dollars were melted.”
Don’s response? “Happy dance!”
‘I
ALMOST ARTWORK
n the subject of coins and history … the copper pro-
totype of the ﬁ rst silver dollar, the “No Stars Flow-
ing Hair Dollar” pattern, struck by the U.S. Mint in 1794,
was sold by Heritage Auctions for businessman and Texas
Rangers co-chairman Bob Simpson recently for $840,000,
the Associated Press reports. Quite a coup, since the esti-
mated value was $350,000 to $500,000.
Starless coins are revered as “one-of-a-kind prototypes
for the silver examples that would follow,” Jacob Lipson,
of Heritage Auctions, explained. “Coin collecting lore
states the unique rarity was excavated from the site of the
ﬁ rst Philadelphia Mint before 1876.”
The coin is shown, courtesy of Heritage Auctions,
which says this is the only example known of this pattern.
“I think coins should be appreciated almost as art-
work,” Simpson said. “I have gotten more than enough joy
from them.”
O
ome tidbits from the May 6, 1885, and 1887 editions
of The Daily Morning Astorian:
• The Manzanita crew spied a deer swimming
across the river. A boat was lowered and the deer gath-
ered in out of the wet. He was made a pet of at once, and
a collar and other adornments were rigged up and placed
upon the frightened fawn of the forest. When oﬀ Tongue
Point he was released, and gaining the shore in safety, he
bounded lightly away …
Note: The 152-foot U.S.S. Manzanita, built in 1880,
was only the second lighthouse tender to serve on the
Paciﬁ c Coast. It was scrapped in 1944. (tinyurl.com/
manzan2)
• Moxie Nerve Food: Contains not a drop of medi-
cine, poison, stimulant or alcohol … the only harmless
and eﬀ ective nerve food known that can recover brain
and nervous exhaustion; loss of manhood; imbecility
and helplessness. It has recovered paralysis, softening
of the brain, loco motor ataxia, and insanity when caused
by nervous exhaustion … Dose, one small wineglassful
every four hours.
Note: Invented in 1884, this nostrum was not exactly
“harmless,” as it contained cocaine, which was consid-
ered beneﬁ cial at the time. This “nerve food” was also
made of a “decoction of oats ﬂ avored with sassafras
and wintergreen.” This revolting-tasting recipe has been
revised often over the years, and later became Moxie
soda, which still exists today. (bit.ly/MoxieNerve)
• Triﬂ es: Portland is trying to stop people from get-
ting on and oﬀ trains while they are in motion.
S
BY A NOSE
hen a dog gets lost, in many cases he or she can
be reunited with their owner if the dog was micro-
chipped or tagged with the owner’s information. But
what about dogs that haven’t been chipped, don’t have,
or lose, their tags? An extra form of identiﬁ cation would
certainly help.
Well, the IAMS pet food company has come up with
a new technology, NOSEiD, a biometric ID app that
identiﬁ es the dog by their nose, NewAtlas.com reports.
It works because each dog’s nose is unique.
You can download the free iOS or Android app, then
use your phone to take a close-up photo of your dog’s
nose and add a description. Both are uploaded to a cloud
server that is available to all of the app’s users.
If a dog goes missing, the owner sends an alert to the
cloud. Then, if someone sees a dog that resembles that
pet’s posted description, they can scan the dog’s nose,
ﬁ nd out who the owner is, and contact them with the
dog’s location.
So far, this technology is only available in Nashville,
Tennessee, where it is being tested. Once you install the
app, though, it will let you know when the service is
available in your area.
W
NEW VENTURE
HOPPY ENDING
he Daily Morning Astorian, in late April 1885, pro-
vided another glimpse of Capt. George Flavel’s life,
not just as a Columbia River bar pilot par excellence, but
as a man of varied interests, including being a gentleman
farmer.
“Yesterday D. C. Stewart, of Forest Grove, arrived here
from Rochester, New York, with 12 head of pure Holstein
cattle. They came over the Northern Paciﬁ c and arrived in
remarkably ﬁ ne condition,” the story says.
“There are nine heifers and three bulls, the oldest being
2 years old and running down to yearlings … Mr. Stewart
looked at the best herds of Holstein cattle in the east and
selected … the ﬁ nest from the ﬁ nest herds.
“… Mr. Stewart will take ﬁ ve of the cattle … The
remainder will be taken by Capt. George Flavel to his
farm on Clatsop Plains … (who) has great hopes for the
future of his new venture.”
A week later, in early May, the newspaper reported:
“Capt. Flavel’s blooded cattle, which are at present on the
old Williamson place, attract considerable attention. They
will doubtless thrive on his tide land farm, as they are from
Holland, which is in some respects similar to their new
home.”
Note: Flavel was a clever entrepreneur, and aside from
creating a monopoly in the bar pilot business, he had many
other interests, including selling coal from Australia and
operating a dock in Astoria.
However this is the ﬁ rst mention the Ear has seen of
his owning a farm, or of raising cattle. N o further mention
was found about whether or not the venture was a success.
Even so, when the captain died in 1893, at his Eighth
Street mansion in Astoria, he was worth $1.9 million, or
about $56 million today.
T
n Thursday, April 22, at about 10 a.m., a domestic
rabbit was located in the yard of a homeowner near
Third Street and Niagara Avenue in Astoria,” the Astoria
Police Department posted on its Facebook page (fb.me/
AstoriaPolice). “If this is your bunny, please hop to it and
contact Oﬃ cer Kevin Berry at the APD … The rabbit will
be in a foster home in the meantime.”
Happily, the very next day, Police Chief Geoﬀ Spald-
ing posted an update: “The found bunny that we reported
on yesterday … has been reunited with her owner. Clearly,
a very heartfelt reunion for this little girl.
“A big shout out to Oﬃ cer Kevin Berry for going to
great lengths to locate the owner, and being willing to tem-
porarily house the bunny until the owner could be found
…”
“Another Astoria hoppy ending,” the chief noted.
‘O
BRIDGING THE GAP
un rerun: DaNita Maunu and her husband, Aaron,
of the Vancouver, Washington, area, came to the
beach for a visit on Sunday. As they were coming oﬀ
the New Youngs Bay Bridge and heading into Astoria
to get lunch, Aaron noticed the optical illusion (pic-
tured) of the Astoria Bridge and the Northwest POINT
bus design.
“Quick, snap photos!” he said, and she did.
“Kind of cool, don’t you think?” DaNita asked. Deﬁ -
nitely. (In One Ear, 7/22/2016)
F