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THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, APRIL 12, 2022
THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, APRIL 12, 2022 • B1
WATER UNDER
THE BRIDGE
COMPILED BY BOB DUKE
From the pages of Astoria’s daily newspapers
10 years ago
this week — 2012
I
t was “Flashback Day ” Friday at Ernie Aiken Field,
with shades of the 2010 state championship game.
The Scappoose Indians won that one, and they
also won Friday’s Cowapa League opener, bringing an
end to one of the league’s longest win streaks.
For the fi rst time since April 17, 2008, the Astoria
Fishermen came up short in a league game, as the Indi-
ans rallied for an exciting 3-1 win over Astoria in front
of a large crowd on a sunny day at Aiken Field.
When Cannon Beach puts on an event, it
tends to go overboard. Earth Day is a good
example.
While only one Earth Day is celebrated else-
where, in Cannon Beach, there are 12 Earth
Days, each one packed with something mean-
ingful involving the environment.
The event begins at 10 a.m. Wednesday in a
ceremony to welcome home the tufted puffi ns
to Haystack Rock. It ends on the real Earth
Day, April 22, with 108 sun salutations by yoga
participants and a presentation on local wet-
lands by naturalist and photographer Neal
Maine.
2012 — With one runner on fi rst base, a fi elding miscue on a Scappoose bunt leads to runners on second and third as
Astoria’s Ryan Johnson fi elds a late throw from fi rst. They won on the road, beating the Fishermen 3-1.
Students in the Eldon Korpela Applied Science Cen-
ter at Astoria High School did what they could to kill
the snails, which appear like tiny black specks on the
ground, invading the North Coast from New Zealand.
A group of 11, fi rst-and second-year members of
Lee Cain’s fi sheries technologies program, searched for
dead bodies of the New Zealand mud snails (Potamopy-
rgus antipodarum) in their petrie dishes last week.
As part of the United States Geological Survey study,
the students assisted two researchers from the Colum-
bia Environmental research Center in Columbia, Mis-
souri , as they tried to fi nd an eff ective way for rural fi re-
fi ghters to sterilize their equipment and kill the invasive
species using their own fi re retardant foams.
“This is part of a larger sweep of projects, partnering
with experts that work on these invasive species,” said
e cologist Holly Puglis of the USGS, who added this
was the fi rst such project she’d done with high school
students. “The whole point is we go where the invasion
is occurring. Lee is our New Zealand mud snail expert.”
Cain’s class one day exposed the snails in diff ering
concentrations of several fi re retardant materials, with
one group of snails staying immersed for between 10
and 15 minutes and the other for 45 to 60 minutes.
“Our goal is to answer the question: Would this be
an eff ective sterilization method?” said Puglis, who
added that so far she’d only measured less than a 10%
mortality.
cern of the environment on the part of some
citizens groups and s tate agencies infl uences
what decisions are made.
County offi cials and residents want to pre-
serve the special qualities of the county’s coast-
line, its beaches, its rivers, its mountains and
its woodlands. Preservation, in many cases,
means opposition to change. The view says
what we have now is good – why change it?
However, offi cials and some residents seem
concerned about attracting livable growth in
industry so the county can enlarge its tax base
and provide services for present and future
populations.
75 years ago — 1947
50 years ago — 1972
Elizabeth Bronaugh, a 5-foot-9 Seaside student, cap-
tured the Miss Clatsop County title Saturday night in
what was apparently close competition with at least two
other contestants.
Miss Bronaugh, who has blonde hair and blue eyes,
was named over Paula Andriesian, fi rst runner-up, after
lengthy deliberations by the judges.
“I thought it couldn’t happen to me. It’s great, won-
derful!” said the 17-year-old winner as she held a bou-
quet of red roses after her coronation and received con-
gratulations of friends and offi cials.
The Fort Clatsop National Memorial
reached a milestone Sunday.
The one millionth visitor to the fort, John
E. Long, of Vashon Island, Washington , visited
the national memorial and was welcomed by
p ark Superintendent Paul Haertel .
Long received a certifi cate in recognition of
his visit and a gift of books from the Fort Clat-
sop Historical Association in commemoration
of the n ational p arks c entennial.
Fort Clatsop was authorized by Congress in
1958 and is administered by the National P ark
Service of the Department of Interior. The
memorial is one of more than 280 in the park
system, which is observing its 100th anniver-
sary this year.
2012 — For some children at Seaside’s annual Community
Easter Egg Hunt, the best technique was to throw yourself
at the eggs. Sunny weather for the event at Broadway
Park brought out hundreds of children and their parents.
The National Guard will take over and
operate the USO building here as a National
Guard armory when the USO gives it up, but
wants an advisory committee named to help
the local National Guard company offi cers
map a policy for use of the structure when not
in use for armory purposes.
2012 — Shayanne Young, a senior in the fi sheries
technology program at Astoria High School, uses a
microscope to watch for movement of New Zealand mud
snails immersed in varied concentrations of fi re retardant
chemicals. Students were testing to see if the retardant
would be an eff ective way for rural fi refi ghters to kill the
invasive snail.
million plant on schedule than to pay for unused power.
Except for the proposed American Metal Climax
aluminum reduction plant at Warrenton, there appears
to be little prospect for signifi cant expansion of heavy
industry in Clatsop County in the near future.
In fact, there is still some question as to when AMAX
will build the Warrenton plant. Herbert Clough, AMAX
primary division president, says the construction sched-
ule of the plant is under review because the aluminum
market is now poor – and has been for some time.
Clough says AMAX will still build the plant at War-
renton but that the time schedule may be delayed despite
the fact AMAX has a fi rm contract with the Bonneville
Power Administration to begin buying power Oct. 1,
1974. He says one of the evaluations the company must
make is whether it will cost them more to build the $120
The U. S. N avy has a good man in Alden Blood, 22,
bos’n mate, fi rst class, aboard the cutter Papaw.
When the Papaw arrived at Tongue Point from Van-
couver, Washington , Saturday, Blood was missing. He
had last been seen working on a lifeboat, dressed in his
pea jacket and cap. All eff orts to locate the husky mate
from San Francisco failed.
At 10 o’clock Saturday night, Mate Blood returned
to his ship, wet, hungry and leg wary. He had fallen
into the river and had some trouble reaching the Wash-
ington shore because he refused to abandon his jacket
and cap.
Blood did not identify the desolate spot he set foot
on in Washington, but there were no signs of civiliza-
tion and no fi shing boats around. He decided to return
in the quickest way possible.
Picking up a board for a paddle, he straddled a log
and headed for the Oregon shore. In crossing the river
he was unable to fl ag any boats. After getting ashore,
he had to walk to his ship.
Picture Clatsop County in 10, 20 or 30 years.
What will it be like? Will more and more tour-
ists fl ock to the ocean beaches? Will there be
sandy beaches to go to? Will the fi sh still be
here? What about the forests?
Clatsop County offi cials are making deci-
sions today infl uencing what the future will
bring even farther down the road than 30
years.
But, to a certain extent, they feel caught in
the middle with the new s tate regulations on
development on one hand and a need to enlarge
the tax base and provide employment on the
other. In addition, a comparatively new con-
1972 – The U.S. tanker Overseas Rebecca was a troubled ship Wednesday. First she went aground on Miller Sands off
Astoria and had to be shoved off by the Umpqua Navigation Co. tugs Jupiter and Bohemia, working through Knappton
Towboat. Then, she made it out to sea, en route to Pakistan with a load of grain from Kalama, Washington, but a crewman
fell and injured himself. So, the Overseas Rebecca returned to Astoria, unloaded the crewman onto the Knappton
Towboat launch, just off 10th Street last night, turned around and made another try for Pakistan.
A slide near Bradwood pushed 300 feet of railroad
track and a $40,000 shovel into the Columbia River at
10 o’clock this morning. The slide occurred in a rail-
road quarry from which the Morrison-Knudse n com-
pany is removing rock for the railroad fi ll from Tongue
Point to Astoria.
The Astoria Regatta A ssociation Tuesday
night postponed its annual election of new offi -
cers and directors when it developed that no
copy can be found of the by laws governing
conduct of elections.
Who’s polluting the Columbia River? Oregon or
Washington?
Oregon, said the Washington state pollution com-
mission in reporting a recent survey.
Washington, the Oregon state sanitary authority
reported today.
The Oregon authority expressed “amazement” at the
“sudden outburst” from the state of Washington blam-
ing Oregon’s laxity for pollution of the Columbia.
In fact, the Oregon authority said a comprehensive
investigation of both states showed slime mold was
more prevalent in Washington waters of the river than
in Oregon waters.
The board of A rmy engineers in Washing-
ton, D.C., which will act on the division engi-
neer’s favorable report on the proposed dam
at The Dalles, knows that dams kill salmon.
Members of the board, which must approve
all projects of the corps of engineers before
they are submitted to C ongress, listened for
almost two hours to the testimony presented
by the recent dam-fi ghting expedition from the
Columbia.
Among the witnesses at the fi nal hearing on
The Dalles dam were salmon packers, biolo-
gists and Indians.
Donald McKernan, chief biologist of the
Oregon fi sh commission, and Joe Craig, chief
biologist of the Washington department of
fi sheries, told the A rmy engineers that con-
struction of dams on the Columbia and Snake
rivers would cause the ultimate destruction of
salmon runs.