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THE ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, AUGUST 12, 2021
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IN ONE EAR • ELLEDA WILSON
BOTJOY BONANZA
whimsical art project will get underway on Sunday,
and continue through Aug. 20: The painting of a Bot-
joy mural on a building at the corner of 11th and Duane
streets.
Portland artist Gary Hirsch created Botjoy when he
painted his fi rst Bot on a domino back in 2010. Now he’s
done more than 57,000 domino Bots, and several murals.
He’ll be in Astoria to paint this mural, too, assisted by
more than 10 local volunteers.
“Botjoy is a global art movement designed to spread
joy, courage, love and gratitude throughout the world, one
Bot at a time,” botjoy.com, says. “Make a robot. Feel more
human. The Bots are … art objects programmed to sup-
port, recognize and celebrate humans.”
Sponsoring the mural are Candy Yiu and her hus-
band, Akshay Dua, who own the building to be painted
— as well as the Near the Pier guest house, where Hirsch
will stay while here — and Weird Sisters Monthly Artist
Micro-Grants. More volunteers are needed for Aug. 20 to
coat the anti-graffi ti paint. Interested? Email candy.yiu@
gmail.com
“The idea is to use happy robots and splash of color to
spread joy and love in Astoria, as well as bring inspiration
through art,” Candy explained.
“During this pandemic, many of us went through many
diff erent challenges, and some may still be facing them.
Something colorful, and something inspiring, may help us
all to rethink, and help all of us think what brings joy, love
and inspiration to all of us.”
A
stunning video, “The Surf of Tillamook
Rock Lighthouse,” drone footage by
Geist View on YouTube, pops up every now
and then on Facebook; this time it was posted
by Terrible Tilly’s owner, Mimi Morissette.
Screenshots are shown.
She was asked about lighthouse’s colum-
barium, which hasn’t been licensed by the
state since 1998. Several urns of ashes are still
there, including those of Morissette’s parents.
“The only thing they took away was a
sales license,” she posted, “which a new com-
pany, in the future, will be able to apply for
and obtain. It will take about $1.5 million to
restore the building back to the state the build-
ing was in …
“Tilly is currently a dedicated cemetery.
We have to replace the corroding metal in the
building with titanium, and all the urns or cel-
ebration of life vessels will be made of tita-
nium, aka the 1,000-year material.”
To see the lighthouse restored to its former
glory would make many hearts glad. Advice
from Ms. Morissette: “Don’t give up on that
dream!”
A
L
A BUMP IN THE TIDE
un rerun: Andre Hagestedt, of Oregon Coast Beach
Connection, noticed that the beach sand bends farther
out from the shore in front of Twin Rocks in Rockaway
Beach, and that there seems to be a “bump” in the water
between the rocks and the tide line.
“When the waves hit a rock or sea stack like that, they
warp around it and they lose energy,” Tom Horning,
of Horning Geosciences, explained. “So it dumps sand
directly behind the sea stack,” creating the bump.
The result is a tombolo, “a sand or gravel bar that con-
nects an island to the mainland or to another island,”
according to Dictionary. com.
“It’s pretty far out and pretty deep,” Horning said.
“Since the bar is high, at low tide it makes the shoreline
appear to stick farther out into the ocean.”
The homeowners with those extended property lines
are probably crossing their fi ngers the tax man doesn’t
notice. (In One Ear, 2/26/2016)
F
he Daily Astorian Aug. 12, 1887, edition off ered a
sarcastic but grim glimpse of crime and punishment,
Astoria-style:
“There are now six prisoners in the county jail, four
awaiting the action of the grand jury, and two doing time.
“Every attention is paid these guests, fresh fl owers are
daily brought to adorn their cells, food is specially cooked
for them and carried to their room, they are supplied with
newspapers and the most menial offi ces are performed for
them.
“Sheriff Ross has just bought two pairs of boots for
them of a peculiar and satisfactory pattern and extraordi-
nary solidity of construction.”
The story refers to the Oregon Boot, aka the Gardner
Shackle, patented in 1866 by Oregon State Penitentiary
Warden J.C. Gardner to deal with the (at the time) sub-
stantial problem of prisoner escapes.
The shackles, meant to be worn attached to the boot on
one leg, were manufactured by prisoners at the peniten-
tiary, and weighed between 5 and 28 pounds each.
“The (shackles) are ornamental as well as useful, being
nickle-plated and polished like a mirror,” the article says
… “It is certainly more economical to buy them than to
repair the jail to an extent suffi cient to prevent inmates
from breaking out, something these shackles will surely
do.”
True enough. But longtime wear caused relentless pain
and physical disabilities, often causing inmates to become
bedridden. (bit.ly/ORshackle)
T
LET THERE
BE LIGHT
BONES RETELL THE TALE
ast week, this column mentioned that ScienceNews.
com reported that the partial skeleton of a man from
the Jōmon culture was revealed to be the oldest known
victim of a shark attack, killed off the coast of Japan
some 3,000 years ago.
Two other researchers immediately took exception to
the claim, ScienceNews.com notes, saying that their fi nd,
the partial remains of a Peruvian teenager, whose skel-
eton was excavated in 1976, is actually the oldest known
shark attack victim at 6,000 years old, according to radio-
carbon dating.
The young man’s left leg was missing, and his right hip
and arm bones were covered with deep bite marks. Also
in the grave were “a seashell, a large, fl at rock and several
ropes, one with elaborate knots and a tassel at one end.”
As to which claim will be accepted by the scientifi c
world as the oldest, the scholarly battle lines have been
drawn. “We were unaware of their claim until now,” the
leader of the Jōmon excavation team said, “but are keen to
speak to them about it in more detail.”
GETTING THE BOOT
TILLY’S DREAM
little lighthouse history: During the
month of January, in 1881, the Til-
lamook Rock Lighthouse, aka Terrible
Tilly, was offi cially completed at a cost
of $123,493 (almost $3.3 million now).
Getting to that point was no easy feat.
The basalt rock, about 100 feet high, and
1.2 miles out at sea, wasn’t exactly wel-
coming to visitors. In June 1879, after
several previous attempts failed, con-
struction superintendent H. S. Wheeler
managed to get onto the rock to take a
survey, but because of the diffi culty
landing, all he could bring was his mea-
suring tape.
In September 1879, lighthouse
builder John R. Trewavas, who was
there to attempt another survey of the
rock, jumped from a small boat, but
when he landed on the rock, he slipped,
fell, got hit by a wave and was washed
out to sea. He was never seen again.
After Trewavas’ death, locals weren’t
clamoring to work on Tillamook Rock,
so the construction supervisor, Charles
A. Ballantyne, had to hire an out-of-
town crew. He sequestered them in
Washington before the work started, so
they wouldn’t hear local gossip.
Finally, construction began in Octo-
ber 1879. Ballantyne landed men and
gear by using a rope pulley between the
top of the rock and a ship’s mast. The
crew lived in wooden shacks on the
slopes of the rock, enduring bitter winter
weather, even being stranded once.
It took until May 1880 to blast off the
top 30 feet of the rock to form a level
surface. In June, massive derricks were
built to bring up the basalt blocks from
a Portland quarry (for the walls of the
lighthouse), along with equipment and
supplies, and even the Fresnel lens.
On Jan. 3, 1881, while the lighthouse
was still under construction, the Lupa-
tia ran aground on Tillamook Head, kill-
ing everyone aboard except the crew’s
dog. The disaster reinforced the need for
a lighthouse, and the crew hastened to
complete the construction in three weeks
to prevent a repeat of Lupatia’s tragic
fate.
On Jan. 21, 1881, the lighthouse’s
beacon shined for the fi rst time. Seven-
ty-seven years later Tilly’s job was done,
and on Sept. 1, 1957, the light went out.
(bit.ly/nrhptilly, bit.ly/oetilly)
A
A DIFFICULTY
n un-neighborly snippet from The Daily Astorian,
Aug. 12, 1883:
“Word came yesterday afternoon that a man named
Smith had been shot at Brookfi eld, Washington Terri-
tory, and was in a dying condition. Two physicians who
had been sent for went on a special boat and yesterday eve-
ning returned with the wounded man …”
Brookfi eld (1873-1957) was a cannery town in Wah-
kiakum County, roughly between Pillar Rock and
Skamokawa, accessible only by boat. Most of its residents
were cannery workers or fi shermen, among them Ashley
and Smith, who “had some diffi culty for some time.”
The resolution to this “diffi culty” was at “about seven
o’clock yesterday morning, with Ashley meeting Smith on
the road, and shooting him, the load of buckshot striking
him in the right hip, infl icting a terrible wound.
“Smith was brought to the the hospital immediately
upon his arrival here, and some 15 buckshot were picked
out of his fl esh. The chances are that he will get over it.”
(Brookfi eld image courtesy of Chinook Observer/Irene
Martin Collection)
A
GONE ASTRAY
wo of the Columbia River Maritime Museum Mini-
boat Program’s little sailing vessels, launched in July,
have gone astray, according to the program’s Facebook page.
Built by students as part of an exchange program with
students in Japan, the S/V Second Wind and the S/V Des-
tiny (pictured) were destined for the Land of the Rising
Sun, and sailed over 400 nautical miles down the West
Coast. It was hoped they would catch the trade winds that
would take them out across the Pacifi c Ocean.
Instead, the second wind wound up in Half Moon Bay,
California, and has been picked up by the Harbor Patrol.
The Destiny came ashore at Sonoma Coast State Park in
California, where she was rescued from the beach by U.S.
Coast Guard Station Bodega Bay. She will be relaunched
from the cutter Aspen out of San Francisco Bay later this
month. Their travels can be tracked at bit.ly/CrmmMini
Fair winds and following seas to you, little boats.
T