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THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, JANUARY 25, 2022
THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, JANUARY 25, 2022 • B1
WATER UNDER
THE BRIDGE
COMPILED BY BOB DUKE
From the pages of Astoria’s daily newspapers
10 years ago
this week — 2012
H
ow do members of the Astoria City Council
make the decisions they do?
How do they prioritize the never-ending list
of projects and desires of the citizens of the community?
How do they decide what the right thing is to do?
Some adults in the city may not know the answer
to these questions. But for one class at Astoria High
School, along with a few parents who came along for
the ride, Monday night was a lesson in all things Astoria.
The class is called “Historia,” a history of Astoria,
and one component was Monday night’s presentation on
how government is run.
“City Hall is not some ivory tower,” Mayor Willis
Van Dusen told the group. “We’re regular people, just
like you, who want to do what’s best for our city. We
want to be very straight forward and honest with you.
This is a real privilege tonight. We’ve got a real team
assembled here and everybody volunteered and every-
body wanted to.”
Wind and 20-foot waves pounded the rocky
outcroppings around Cape Disappointment
on Wednesday, ravaging the entrance to the
Columbia River and closing it to all ship traffi c.
For many people, this was another nasty,
storm-fi lled week that closed highways, downed
trees and drove them inside and away from the
water. For the U.S. Coast Guard, it’s been per-
fect weather in which to go and play.
Hosting the Canadian Coast Guard, Los
Angeles Fire Department and Santa Barbara
County Fire Department, the Coast Guard
showed them how swift water, surf and high-
wave rescues are executed to perfection— in up
to 20-foot seas on the Graveyard of the Pacifi c.
A 39-foot whale
washed ashore about
7 miles north of
Seaview in 2012.
The Sunset Empire Transit Center will be the fi rst
site in Astoria to get an electric vehicle charging station
added to its parking lot.
After several discussions — most in executive ses-
sion — the board of directors approved the 15-year lease
agreement Thursday with AeroVironment, Inc.
Not all were in favor of the agreement, however.
“I’m not against a charging station, but there are other
places that I think it would be better off and I don’t see
this as the best place,” said board member Carol Gearin.
“I don’t think that this is the best spot, I don’t think it’s
a good business deal. W e have no out on this lease and
we’re committing ourselves to 15 years and for that
alone. I would say it’s not a good business deal.”
High tide and high
seas combined to
make storm watching
an adventure on
Waikiki Beach near
Cape Disappointment
in 2012.
75 years ago — 1947
Jittery market conditions of the past week were still
being refl ected in Astoria downtown stores today with
ups and downs in the cost of living noted on price tags
of various commodities.
On the downward scale of prices was another 2 cent
cut in the price of fruit juices and a similar reduction on
the cost of shortening.
50 years ago — 1972
Beleaguered residents in Clatsop and Tillamook
counties continued to dig out today after last week’s
storm as offi cials of the two counties learned that at least
$2 million in federal disaster aid would be available.
Heavy rains subsided over the weekend lessening
the fl ood threat. The National Weather Service said an
inch of rain fell Saturday and Sunday but predicted some
snow showers today and Tuesday as colder air fl ows
down from Canada.
SEASIDE — U.S. Sen. Mark Hatfi eld
warned Saturday night of the dangers of pol-
luting oceans.
Addressing the annual Seaside Jaycee Dis-
tinguished Service Awards banquet, Hatfi eld
covered economic and environmental problems
peculiar to Oregon and its coastline, calling for
cooperation between the ecologists and devel-
opers in assuring a clean growth.
TILLAMOOK — Businesspeople along fl ooded
U.S. Highway 101 just north of Tillamook are calm and
resigned this week in the face of widespread damage to
buildings and equipment. Last week, the overfl owing
Wilson River caused some of the highest water in 50
years.
The summit of Wickiup Ridge, east of the
Astoria watershed, is one of the locations where
Oregon State University scientists are measur-
ing wind velocities to determine if the strong
and steady coastal winds can drive windmills to
produce supplementary electrical power.
Wind recording equipment was installed two
months ago on a tower at the Cox Cablevision
relay station on top of the 3,000-foot ridge. Pur-
A large wave smashes against the South Jetty of the
Columbia River at Fort Stevens State Park in 2012.
pose is to determine if the wind can generate
enough electricity to augment existing supplies
on an economically feasible basis.
SEASIDE — There are more than 1,800 residents
who haven’t had a good bath in nearly a month.
They are the fi sh and other marine life in the Seaside
Aquarium, where the fresh sea water supply was cut off
Jan. 1 when an ocean log apparently damaged the intake
pipe. Since then, and during fruitless eff orts to locate the
old pipeline buried some 12 feet under the sand, marine
life in the aquarium have been swimming and sitting in
the same water. It has been a murky situation.
But today, fresh and chilly ocean water is to be
pumped into the marine tanks through some 900 feet
of new pipeline installed by Jack O’Brien, owner of the
aquarium.
Telephone and power links were severed for
numerous Clatsop communities and trees bar-
ricaded several local roads as Friday night’s
southeast gale fanned up to 63-mile velocity.
At least four large vessels were waiting out-
side of the Columbia River Bar for the storm to
subside before attempting river entrance. Three
outbound vessels were riding out the storm in
the sanctuary of the quarantine anchorage off
Astoria.
Bar conditions continued to be rough this
morning as the wind dropped down to 33-mile
velocity. Ground swells at the bar were whip-
ping up foam on the bar and plunging into the
river mouth.
Anton Leander Josephson, a widely known resident
of Astoria, died Saturday evening at a local hospital fol-
lowing a brief illness. A resident of Astoria since 1902,
Josephson was a well-known fi sherman and in later years
was prominently identifi ed as a smoked salmon dealer.
The principal activities of the interim fi sher-
ies committee of the state Legislature had to do
with minimizing bad eff ects of proposed dam
projects in the Columbia and Willamette River
basins upon Columbia River fi sheries, accord-
ing to a report prepared by the committee and
scheduled for submission to the current session
of the state Legislature.
Construction of 36 to 37 new homes will be under-
taken this year on a tract of approximately 2 ½ blocks in
the east end of town by Warrenton contractors who pur-
chased the tract Wednesday from Astoria.
People were evacuated during a storm in 1972 in Tillamook.
The fi shing vessel Northgate was tied up at the Astoria
waterfront for regular maintenance following completion
of king crab fi shing season in Alaska in 1972.