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THE ASTORIAN • THuRSdAy, NOvEmbER 4, 2021
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IN ONE EAR • ELLEDA WILSON
A LONG ROAD AHEAD
AN INDEPENDENT EMPIRE?
homas Jefferson and John Jacob Astor wrote back
and forth to each other about Astor’s efforts to set-
tle the far West, beginning with Astoria, to expand his
business. Here’s a snippet from a letter from Jefferson to
Astor dated Nov. 9, 1813:
“… I learn with great pleasure the progress you have
made towards an establishment on Columbia River.
I view it as the germ of a great, free and independent
empire on that side of our continent, and that liberty
and self government spreading from that, as well as this
side, will ensure their compleat establishment over the
whole.
“It must be still more gratifying to yourself to foresee
that your name will be handed down with that of Colum-
bus and Raleigh, as the father of the establishment and
founder of such an empire.”
Note: Well, not exactly, according to OregonEncy-
clopedia.org. Astor’s grand plans for Fort Astoria being
the base for a lucrative fur trade with China got derailed
by mismanagement, the interruption of the War of 1812
and the threat of British attacks, plus conflicts with
Native Americans.
Finally, in the summer of 1813, while Wilson Price
Hunt, leader of the land expedition to Astoria, was away,
the partners of Astor’s Pacific Fur Co. at Fort Astoria
decided to abandon the post, and agreed to a buyout by
the North West Co. of Montreal. News of these happen-
ings had clearly not made it to the East Coast, and Jeffer-
son, by the time he wrote the letter.
T
ONE WALRUS, TWO WALRUSES
MOVE OVER, COLUMBUS
N
50-pound, olive ridley sea turtle was found
1 mile north of the Peter Iredale shipwreck
in Hammond,” Tiffany Boothe, of the Seaside
Aquarium, wrote. “The turtle was found by Samuel K.
Gardner.”
“Found him buried, about to be eaten by bald eagle,”
Samuel posted on his Facebook page. “Went back for
a bucket to wash him and phone service. Called emer-
gency services, and a rescue was sent.” While waiting,
Samuel was joined by Alec and Corinne Reeves, who
were walking on the beach.
“The aquarium quickly geared up to retrieve the tur-
tle, but with the incoming tide and heavy surf, it was
going to be challenging to get onto the beach,” Tiffany
explained.
“As the tide continued to come in, and the surf raged
up the beach, Samuel and Alec decided that it would be
best to get the turtle to a more secure location. Usually,
it is best not to move a sea turtle until responders arrive,
but in this case it was necessary if the turtle was going
to survive.
“Samuel and Alec carried the turtle over a mile, and
were able to meet up with the responding staff from
Seaside Aquarium.” Samuel is pictured in a photo by
Corinne.
“The turtle was quickly loaded up and taken to the
Seaside Aquarium for evaluation,” Tiffany continued.
“It was one of the most active sea turtles staff at the
aquarium had dealt with in a long time, which was an
uplifting sign.”
“Rescuers said most finds have 10% of survival,”
Samuel noted, “but he looked really healthy, and I did
(the) right thing. I named him ‘Bobby.’”
“Thirty minutes after the turtle arrived at Sea-
side Aquarium, staff was informed that not only was
the Oregon Coast Aquarium (in Newport) ready and pre-
pared to take in cold-stunned sea turtles,” Tiffany said,
“but that they had another olive ridley sea turtle en route
…”
Staff members from the Seaside Aquarium quickly
drove the turtle down to Newport. “While we are all
hopeful for the recovery and release,” Tiffany added,
“everyone involved knows that this turtle has a long
road ahead.”
‘A
autical writer Peter Marsh sent in this historical
tidbit: Move over Columbus, the Vikings settled
in North America in 1021, centuries before Columbus
“sailed the ocean blue” in 1492, according to TheGuard-
ian.com
The date was determined from timber building
remains at L’Anse aux Meadows in northern New-
foundland, Canada, employing a new dating technique
and using a solar storm as a reference. The storm in ques-
tion, which is known to have happened 993 AD, caused
a “pulse of radiation” the trees absorbed, which appears
in the tree rings.
When the trees were cut, they had a growth of 28
rings after the solar storm, or 1021. The village, which
was discovered 60 years ago, is thought to have been
active from between 990 and 1050.
Scientists knew it was Vikings who built L’Anse aux
Meadows from the kind of metal tools they found at the
site, and the type of cuts they made. Such tools were not
produced by the native peoples who lived in the area
during that time period.
Icelandic oral histories include the saga of Leif Erik-
son crossing the ocean and creating a settlement called
Vinland in North America, and the 1021 date seems to
match the stories.
“Thus it begs the question,” geoscientist and co-leader
of the settlement study Michael Dee mused, “how much
of the rest of the saga adventures are true?”
JENNY CLEANS UP
his column first mentioned Dutch student Boyan
Slat and his mission to clean up the Pacific Gyre,
aka the Pacific Garbage Patch, when, at 18, he founded
The Ocean Cleanup.
He’s now the CEO and 27, and the first major month-
long test of a prototype of his cleanup device, System
002, hauled in 63,000 pounds of plastic, trash and debris
in the gyre, including a refrigerator, most of which will
be recycled. He is pictured, wearing sunglasses made
from recycled ocean plastic.
System 002, or Jenny, is comprised of a half-mile
long U-shaped barrier that traps plastic and debris as the
barrier is pulled through the water slowly by two ships,
one on either end, as shown in the photo, courtesy of The
Ocean Cleanup.
The next ocean-going device in development is
System 003, which will be 1.5 miles wide. And
that’s not all. With System 003 as a blueprint, the web-
site says “the organization expects to deploy a fleet of
10 systems capable of reducing 50% of the gyre every
five years.”
T
THE NECESSARIES OF LIFE
N
ow that the winter doldrums are on the horizon, you
will need to keep yourself entertained. Well, here’s
a project from SmithsonianMag.com for you that will
also help the World Wildlife Fund and British Antarc-
tic Survey: Counting walruses.
The “Walrus From Space” project needs half a million
volunteer “walrus detectives” to count them using satel-
lite images. The goal is to assess how climate change
specifically affects the ice the Atlantic walrus and those
from the Laptev Sea in Russia depend on.
It’s very difficult to assess walrus populations using
regular methods, since they live in such remote areas,
not to mention they constantly move around on the ice.
However, satellite images can survey large tracts of
land.
Want to be a walrus detective? You can register at bit.
ly/123walrus. You’ll be doing a good deed.
GAMBLING GOONIES
ell, now that the possibility of a “The Goonies”
sequel is essentially nil after the death of director
Richard Donner, software developer Blueprint Gaming
has something for the disappointed legions of the mov-
ie’s fans: A new online slot machine game, “The Goonies
Return.”
“The original slot, inspired by the cult classic film,
proved to be an overwhelming success and continues to
attract players to this day,” Jo Purvis, of Blueprint Gam-
ing, said.
“With this new installment, we are providing fans of
‘The Goonies’ with the sequel they truly deserve, as well
as an exciting new gaming experience for players world-
wide.” Hold onto your wallet.
W
he lighthouse tender Manzanita was responsible for
getting supplies to the various offshore lighthouses,
like Tillamook Rock. Unfortunately, it abandoned a crew
on 30-acre Destruction Island, 3.5 miles off the Wash-
ington coast, according to a survivor’s tale in the Nov. 4,
1890, edition of The Daily Astorian.
Edward Richardson and 13 other men were dropped
off by the Manzanita on the desolate island in early Sep-
tember to build the foundation for a lighthouse. They
were left with some rations and a promise the Manzanita
would return in 10 days.
But the tender didn’t show up for two weeks, and
only with “a small quantity of provisions.” She was
en route to Puget Sound “to attend on the naval com-
mission.” The captain was informed they would need
more supplies within a week, but the Manzanita never
returned. By week’s end, the men were on half-rations
and digging clams. Soon all they had to eat was clams,
and some became sick.
Signal fires eventually caught local Native Ameri-
cans’ attention. They arrived in canoes, but there was
only room for two of the stranded men to go ashore.
Richardson was one of them; he intended to report the
dire straits and neglect on Destruction Island to the
authorities in Portland.
“On reaching the mainland,” Richardson recalled,
“we walked a long distance and finally reached Grays
Harbor. This we crossed in a sailboat, and then began a
foot journey arriving at North Cove (Washaway Beach,
Washington) … Here we caught the steamer for Sealand
(Nahcotta, Washingon), and from thence came here by
rail and the steamer General Canby.”
The newspaper was outraged. “If the Manzanita is
to be continued in the service of showing brass-but-
toned and epauletted officers about Puget Sound, it
might be well, for the sake of humanity, for the gov-
ernment to charter a steamer to supply the men with the
necessaries of life, who lead isolated lives in the
lighthouses.”
T
NO UFO
F
un rerun: The Ear has to admit to being disap-
pointed that there appears to be an explanation for a
local UFO sighting reported April 26 to the Mutual UFO
Network.
The observers reported seeing “enormous black
squares over the water” from the beach at Fort Stevens
that totally blocked out the Tillamook Rock Lighthouse,
then sank into the water.
But … maybe what they actually saw was what
is depicted in a photo by Diedre Feinauer: An inter-
esting optical illusion, caused by a fog bank rolling
in. Deirdre’s photo is shown; it also ran in The Daily
Astorian April 1 (please, no snarky remarks about the
date).
Heavy sigh. It was a lot more fun when it was a UFO
sighting. (In One Ear, 5/10/2013)