T he C olumbia P ress
8
Rocking down the highway
Rocks headed to
major construction
project in Ilwaco
B y C indy y ingst
The Columbia Press
“There will always be rocks in
the road ahead of us,” philosopher
Friedrich Nietzsche once wrote.
If you’ve been driving around
Warrenton lately, there’s a good
chance they’ve been in front of you,
too.
As many as 40 truckloads of rocks
are making their way through town
each day.
They’re headed to the North Jet-
ty in Ilwaco, where the Army Corps
of Engineers has begun a massive
restabilization project.
But where have the rocks been?
“We started out hauling rocks
from our brake quarry in Youngs
River near the falls,” said Mike
Sarin, president of Big River Con-
struction.
In mid-July, the rocks began ar-
riving at Warrenton Fiber/Nygaard
Logging on Northwest 13th Street.
They’re coming in by barge from
the Bellingham, Wash., area.
Big River is working as a sub-con-
tractor for J.E. McAmis, a heavy
civil marine contractor from Chico,
Calif., which won the jetty restabi-
lization contract.
Eight to 10 Big River tractor-trail-
ers are making four to five rock
hauls a day from Warrenton to Il-
waco. The rocks weigh 6 to 30 tons
each, which is why some trucks car-
ry only one boulder and others may
have up to four.
“It’s a good job,” Sarin said. “It’s
a little bit outside of what we nor-
mally do as far as hauling for hire
for someone else. But we are doing
Above: A Big River Exca-
vating employee checks
his load outside Nygaard
Logging before heading to
the highway.
Left: Four rocks rest on the
back of a big rig making its
way down Northwest War-
renton Drive.
Cindy Yingst/The Columbia Press
the same thing out of our quarries.
It’s a good project for us.”
The 17-year-old Big River Construc-
tion is the largest excavating contrac-
tor in Clatsop County and has 50 em-
ployees.
The company also does heavy civil
engineering work as well as commer-
cial site work and excavating. Some
of their projects include site/fill work
and utilities for Astoria Ford, install-
ing lines at the Wauna Mill and mov-
ing 150,000 yards of dirt for the As-
toria Sports Complex.
Both North and South jetties were
built between 1885 and 1939 to make
passage safer for vessels entering the
Columbia River from the ocean.
The North Jetty project is expected
to be complete near the end of 2019.
Artsy intentions? Apply for Arts Council seat
Applications are being sought for
three openings on the Clatsop County
Arts Council.
The volunteer citizen committee’s
mission is to support, promote and ad-
vocate for the arts in Clatsop County.
Membership is open to county resi-
dents or property owners, or those who
own a business or rent studio space in
the county.
Then South Jetty reconstruction
will begin and go through 2023.
“The jetties are regularly pounded
by Pacific Ocean waves between 10
and 20 feet high, with winter storms
bringing extreme waves in excess of
30 feet,” the Army Corps wrote in
its notes about the project. “Over
the years, many areas of each jet-
ty were severely damaged by these
waves. Increased storm activity and
the loss of the shoaling sand upon
which the jetties are built have tak-
en a toll on the structural integrity
of the jetties.”
Should a major storm breach a
critical section, sand could be depos-
ited into the navigation channel, po-
tentially shutting down commercial
shipping, according to the agency.
Applications are available online at
www.co.clatsop.or.us, at the Clatsop
County Manager’s Office at 800 Ex-
change St., Suite 410, Astoria or by call-
ing 503-325-1000. The appointment
will be made by the Board of County
Commissioners. Deadline is Sept. 7.
August 24, 2018
This weekend
Company sponsors
Strongman Challenge
Lifting Large, a Warrenton-based
weightlifting supply company, is
sponsoring the second annual Co-
lumbia River Strongman Challenge
on Aug. 25.
Local men and women will com-
pete in five weight classes at the
company’s headquarters, 150 N.E.
Fifth St. The contest starts at 9:30
a.m.
Events include a fat-bar deadlift
for maximum weight, a farmer’s
walk for time with weights up to
400 pounds, a weighted sled pull
with 2-inch rope hand-over-hand.
The contest is open to anyone 16
and older.
For more information or to find
an entry form, go online to liftin-
glarge.com/CRS.
Hammond basin
soon will go to city
The Army Corps of Engineers seeks
public comment on plans to transfer
the Hammond Boat Basin to the city
of Warrenton.
After the transfer, the city assumes
full responsibility for operating and
maintaining the channel and break-
water.
City officials, who support the idea
and have been working on the transfer
for several years, see it as an oppor-
tunity to increase business and recre-
ation at the marina and to have better
control over its management.
Those wanting to comment should
review two documents, the environ-
mental assessment and the finding of
no significant impact statement.
Both can be found in the corps’ dig-
ital library on the website at nwp.
usace.army.mil/notices/permit-ap-
plication.
Submit comments to the corps by
Sept. 6 by email to suzanne.hill@
usace.army.mil or by mail to Su-
zanne Hill, U.S. Army Corps of En-
gineers, P.O. Box 2946, Portland
OR 97208.