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THE ASTORIAN • THuRSdAy, FEbRuARy 3, 2022
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IN ONE EAR • ELLEDA WILSON
A HARD PROBLEM
T
he Daily Morning Astorian reported that the
176-foot long schooner Solano was driven
ashore by a storm early in the morning on Feb. 5, 1907,
about 4 miles north of Ocean Park, Washington. The
North Head lifesaving crew promptly rescued all nine
aboard.
The Grays Harbor Tug Co. was hired to have a tug
standing by once the salvers were ready to refloat the
schooner in July. But when the Solano was almost afloat
again, a hawser parted, and she fell back onto the beach,
where she stayed.
The Oregon Daily Journal of Aug. 3, 1907, offered
this summer update: “… The Solano, a four-masted sail-
ing vessel … is standing perfectly erect, embedded in
the sand …
“To the landsman, the ship seems in perfect
condition, but the captain, who is living with his family
on the wreck, realizes that a hard problem is before him
to accomplish his task in again launching his vessel into
the sea, which is his intention as soon as bad weather
sets in and the tides are high enough …”
In early December, a final attempt was made to float
the Solano, and the Grays Harbor Tugboat Co. ves-
sel Daring was supposed to be on hand to assist. High
tide came, all was ready, and the workmen waited. And
waited. The tug never arrived, and a sudden storm essen-
tially smashed the Solano to pieces.
The schooner stayed where she was, a total loss. Over
the years, she gradually sank into the sand.
RIGHT AS RAIN
DO YOU RECALL?
L
ast
week,
canoeist
Neal
Moore
was
visiting Floyd Holcom at Pier 39. Neal recently
completed an almost two-year journey traveling
waterways across the country from west to east in his
canoe, starting from Astoria, and chronicled at 22Riv-
ers.com
While his journey was successful, Neal is thinking
about two canoeists who attempted a similar venture,
leaving from Astoria on March 1, 1978 — heading for
the mouth of the Kennebec River in Maine — whose
journey had a tragic end.
“New Englanders Pete Macridis, 25, and
Timothy Black, 23, vanished … above (the) Bonne-
ville Dam on March 11, 1978,” Neal wrote. “The duo
had years of paddling and guiding experience and,
like myself, had spent a year of planning every aspect
of their journey across the nation …” Macridis (left)
and Black are pictured in a vintage Associated Press
photo.
“The AP reported westerly winds had been blowing
at about 20 to 25 mph that day. Two years ago, when I
passed this way, and had just learned of the duo’s demise
from fellow long-distance paddler and friend, Norm
Miller, I got in trouble with a westerly wind at 15 mph,
with gusts up to 20.
“I made two attempts at my journey. Once in 2018
and again in 2020. Coming through the Columbia River
Gorge was treacherous on both occasions for me. The
second time, I took video of the exact spot where the duo
of young paddlers were last seen. I reflected as I pad-
dled … on what transpired that fateful, final day of their
expedition.”
The paddlers’ canoe washed ashore on the Washing-
ton state side on March 12, about 10 miles east of the
Bonneville Dam, a newspaper report said. Their packs,
paddles, clothes and life jackets were floating offshore.
Black’s body was found on March 14; Macridis’ body
was never found. Clippings and video are at bit.ly/
GorgeMissing
“I’d like to include the duo in the book I’m work-
ing on,” Neal said, “and to meet anybody here who met
them, or chronicled their departure, would be really
great.” Does anyone recall these two canoeists’ visit to
Astoria? If so, please email ewilson@dailyastorian.com
or call 971-704-1718.
SILVIE’S MYSTERY
‘T
he monthy, winterly, summary and yearly rainfall
in Astoria is sometimes a subject of inquiry,” The
Daily Morning Astorian noted on Feb. 3, 1888.
Consequently, a table, gleaned from “official sources”
was presented with annual rainfalls over a span of four
years, from Jan. 1, 1884 to Dec. 31, 1887.
The results are as follows: 1884, 49.38 inches; 1885,
56.16 inches; 1886, 71.59 inches; and 1887, 92.09
inches. That makes an average of 67.3 inches per year
over the four-year period. The highest rainfall in any
one month was a water-logged 18.24 inches, in Janu-
ary 1887.
Based on National Oceanographic and Atmospheric
Administration data, Astoria’s annual rainfall average
from 2010 to the present is 90.4 inches, and the wettest
day during that period was on Dec. 20, 2019, when 7.2
inches fell.
Aren’t you glad you weren’t around in January
1887?
MOVING SOUTH
‘T
he humpback whale that washed ashore north of
Silver Point has been making its way south,” the
Seaside Aquarium posted on Facebook Jan. 28, along
with the photo shown. Silver Point is a bit south of Can-
non Beach.
“It is currently on the north end of Arcadia Beach (about
1 mile south of Cannon Beach). The larger bones you see
protruding from the front of the whale are its jaw bones.
“So how long does it take for a whale to decompose on
the beach? It varies, depending on the size, condition and
time of year. We documented a gray whale that washed
ashore on the north end of the Long Beach, Washing-
ton, Peninsula. It took approximately eight months for the
whale to decompose.”
I
n November 1849, with owner Capt. William Gray
at the helm, the Silvie (or Sylvie or Sylvia) de Grasse
sailed down the Columbia River with a cargo of lum-
ber bound for San Francisco, and anchored off Astoria
to await a pilot. Once the pilot came aboard, the ship
weighed anchor, but a bit prematurely, as the crew had
not yet dropped the canvas.
In no time, the ship drifted right into a ledge off
Tongue Point and got stuck. Normally, a change of tide
would make refloating possible, but Gray had so over-
loaded his ship, that when she shifted, she wedged her-
self in even tighter, and was permanently stuck. Every-
thing possible was removed, but what happened to one
item that was salvaged, a medicine chest, is still a mys-
tery. What happened to it?
Well, The Daily Morning Astorian of Feb. 3,
1900, may have the answer: “It will be remembered
that the vessel was an old New York packet, built of
live oak and locust. Considerable historic interest is
attached to her, from the fact that she was the vessel
which brought to the U.S. the first news of the French
Revolution.
“Yesterday’s Oregonian says that through the kind-
ness of Dr. O. B. Estes of Astoria, the Oregon His-
torical Society has become the custodian of the medi-
cine chest of the old ship Silvie de Grasse, which he has
owned for a number of years.
“… When (the ship was) dismantled, the chest
became the property of James A. Welch (1816–1876), a
pioneer of 1844, who built the first frame house in Asto-
ria, and whose wife, Nancy Dickerson Welch (1818-
1896), was the first American woman to become a resi-
dent of the place.
“When Welch died his son, John W. Welch (1846–
1925) fell heir to it, and he gave It to Dr. Estes. The chest
is 18 inches long by 12 inches in width and depth, and is
made of rosewood.”
The Ear has reached out to the Oregon Historical
Society to see if they do, indeed, have the missing med-
icine chest. Stay tuned.
FANTASTIC NOISE
F
un rerun: In late January 1939, Pan
American Airways flew its 74-passenger Boe-
ing Flying Boat, the largest passenger airplane ever
built, into Astoria from Seattle, landing in the river off
Tongue Point. The deafening arrival was big news, and
thousands showed up from Astoria and surrounding
communities.
According to Boeing, only 12 clippers were
made between 1938 and 1941, each having a
152-foot wing span, with a cruising speed of 184 mph.
By the end of 1939, the clippers were providing luxury
flights across the Pacific with catered gourmet meals
from top-drawer hotels, and were the aircraft “stars” of
the day.
A second clipper from Seattle landed at Tongue Point
in February 1939 and, despite the snowy, cold weather,
a significant crowd showed up to see that landing, as
well.
The photo shown was taken by 18-year-old Donald
Hemingway when he visited the World’s Fair in San
Francisco in 1939. His son, Roger Hemingway, who
sent in the photo, believes they are the same two clip-
pers that landed in Astoria.
“The noise must have been fantastic,” Roger noted,
“and the landing amazing to watch.” (In One Ear,
3/7/2014)
SO BLESSED
‘I
don’t play much,” Jimmy Wilburn Jr.,
of Rainier, said, “but I knew I had some Power-
ball tickets in my billfold, and I thought I should check
them.”
He bought the tickets in August, but didn’t get around
to checking them until Jan. 20, when he finally went to
the store where he bought them, the Alston Country
Store in Rainier, to find out if he had any winning tick-
ets. He was shocked to find out that one was a $50,000
Powerball winnner.
Wilburn had a $2 Powerball ticket that was only one
number off from hitting the $258 million jackpot for the
Aug. 14 drawing. His quick-pick numbers were 6-21-
49-65-66 with the Powerball number of 18. The winning
numbers were the same as Wilburn’s except for the 66;
the number drawn was 67.
On Jan. 21, he went to the Oregon Lottery Payment
Center in Salem to claim his prize. “I feel so blessed to
have won $50,000,” Wilburn said. “I am just fine with
this prize.”
FISH TALK
I
t’s common knowledge that whales, porpoises and
orcas communicate with various noises, so Cornell
University researchers wondered if regular old fish are
communicating, too. Consequently, they studied ray-
finned fish, which are 99% of the world’s known fish
species. Pictured, a longspine squirrelfish, courtesy of
Cornell.
The answer: Fish do talk. “… Fish are far more likely
to communicate with sound than generally thought,” a
recent study says, “and some fish have been doing this
for at least 155 million years.” The topics? Sex, food
and territory.
“Fish do everything,” researcher Aaron Rice said.
“… at this point, nothing would surprise me about fishes
and the sounds that they can make.”