B1
THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2022
THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2022 • B1
WATER UNDER
THE BRIDGE
COMPILED BY BOB DUKE
From the pages of Astoria’s daily newspapers
10 years ago
this week – 2012
W
hen he moved to Astoria in 1965, Larry Lock-
ett said, his monicker became “the transfer
student.” Even after countless academic and
athletic milestones for Astoria High School, Lockett said
he remained the transfer student in photo captions for
The Daily Astorian.
Lockett, principal of Astoria High School since 2000,
said he’s proud of gaining local status after all those
years . He will retire in June and return in a volunteer
role to help the school, the district, the city and county
in any way he can.
Astoria is mulling the possibility of fl ipping
the switch by turning off 250 street lights in
order to save money on the city’s utility bill.
As part of the City Council’s goals, which
include exploring energy savings options, Ken
Cook, Public Works d irector , and his staff have
evaluated the streetlight system. T he city rec-
ommended to the council Tuesday night that
the number of streetlights be reduced from 895
to 645.
The money saved — estimated to be $36,000
per year — would go toward street paving, a
real need in the city.
At two public meetings on Friday, North Coast fi shing
interests and environmental representatives voiced con-
cerns that placing renewable energy devices, such as wind
turbines or wave buoys within a 3 ½ mile expanse of the
ocean, could disrupt fi shing routes and wildlife habitat.
More than 100 people showed up at Friday’s two
meetings of the Ocean Policy Advisory Council working
group at Camp Rilea and Cannon Beach, representing a
surge of interest in the state’s public planning process.
Astoria High School Principal Larry Lockett, center, listens in on a discussion by Astoria School District teachers, including
Jenni Newton, left, during an in-service day in 2012.
50 years ago – 1972
Some 185 men were back to work this morning on
the docks at the Port of Astoria as the West Coast dock
tie-up was fi nally at an end.
Eleven longshore gangs of around 15 men each were
loading logs on three ships and grain on a barge. Three
more ships were at anchor this morning in the Columbia
River waiting to load logs.
Button up your overcoats, winter isn’t over
yet along the N orth C oast . There is even the
possibility of some white stuff falling later
Wednesday or Thursday.
A cold air mass is moving south from Can-
ada and could cause lower temperatures and
some snow, at least around the 1,800-foot eleva-
tions, within the next 48 hours.
Barring unforeseen diffi culties, the s tate Highway
Division hopes to complete this week a project to ward
off erosion at the Peter Iredale parking lot at Fort Stevens .
The project involves sinking steel pilings at the west
end of the parking lot, according to Eldon Everton,
maintenance engineer for the s tate Highway Division.
Logs and sand will be placed behind the pilings, he
said, which will create a vertical drop-off and build up
the sand bank.
Under a new long-range plan adopted by the
s tate Highway Commission, bicycle trails will
emanate from Astoria south along the Oregon
C oast and east along the Columbia River to
Multnomah Falls.
The plan will take many years to complete.
Gary Johansen says he is “walking on eggs these
days.”
Walking on eggs, trying to appease both environ-
mental groups and s tate agencies as he digs out of tons
of rock deposited on his farm on Big Creek during the
mid-January storms.
Despite his problems, he can still smile about his pre-
dicament and the power of Big Creek. He stood on about
2 feet of rock and silt and talked about the situation.
He said he owns some 130 acres of farmland on both
sides of Big C reek just below the washed-out Big Creek
bridge on Old Highway 30.
He says 15 or 16 acres were almost completely cov-
ered with rock and silt as a result of the storm. In addi-
tion, rock washed down from above and raised the creek
bed to dangerous levels.
75 years ago — 1947
Fish cannery workers will seek a 40-hour week, wage
Fog blankets part of Astoria and the Columbia River in 1972.
Astoria fi refi ghter Rob Weidman scales a ladder to check
the chimney fl ue at a home in Astoria after crews were
called to a chimney fi re in 2012.
The Iris, a 180-foot U.S. Coast Guard buoy tender, is seen
in 1972.
increases and will promote a coast-wide wage and work-
ing condition agreement, it was announced today by
Henry Niemela, fi shermen’s union secretary.
All shore workers of the fi shing industry of the W est
C oast had representatives at a conference in Seattle
where the 1947 wage program was outlined. Union offi -
cials from Alaska and Canada participated.
Niemela said that fi sh handlers’ wages in Asto-
Work at the Port of Astoria in 1972.
ria were sub-normal, below those paid at other coast
points, such as Eureka, California, Seattle and Aberdeen,
Washington.
The Canadian scale, he reported, was low, but at pres-
ent the Canadian dollar has more wallop than the Amer-
ican dollar.
Local cannery workers wage scale runs from 98 cents
an hour to $1.35 an hour.
Niemela said that Chinese cannery labor is still under
the contract system and receive less pay than white
workers in Canada.
Heavily laden with ties for Shanghai, the for-
mer steam schooner Whitney Olson, now sail-
ing under the Panamanian fl ag and renamed
Catherine II, has sprung two serious leaks and
is having rudder trouble about 60 miles north-
west of the Columbia River.
The skipper of the 1,558-ton vessel called his
agents advising them that he was proceeding to
the Columbia River.
At noon today the U.S. Coast Guard cut-
ter Onondaga, still uncertain as to the exact
location of the steam schooner, headed out to
sea, determined to fi nd the crippled ship by
radar.
Piles of gravel are seen at Big Creek in 1972.