December 15, 2017 | Cannon Beach Gazette | cannonbeachgazette.com • 5A
The day the Christmas trees landed
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W
ith the holidays in full swing,
the Cannon Beach History
Center and Museum is not
immune to the gobs of decorations,
sparkling lights, and celebratory tunes.
This time of year can be dark, cold, and
wet. Although, at this very moment the
sun is shining and it’s what one might call,
“sweater weather.”
The museum’s annual holiday get
together will take place on Saturday, Dec.
23. As part of this event we will have an
adult story time at 4 p.m. The story I will
be sharing is that of the SS Mauna Ala,
also known as the Christmas Ship. This
story was put together from a collection of
oral histories, historic documents, and ar-
tifacts from the Oregon Military Museum.
The story begins on a dreary De-
cember morning. The SS Mauna Ala, a
Matson line freighter, was on its way to
Pearl Harbor to deliver Christmas supplies
to the troops stationed there. According
to cargo records, the ship carried some
60,000 Christmas trees, 10,000 turkeys,
3,000 chickens, giant tins of Almond
Roca and much more.
Unfortunately, the day was Dec. 7,
1941. That morning, a swarm of over
300 Japanese warplanes descended upon
the U.S. Naval base at Pearl Harbor. The
surprise attack cost the lives of many
American soldiers and civilians, sunk
ships and damaged buildings. It was the
shocking event that drew the country into
World War II.
Meanwhile, the SS Mauna Ala, was or-
dered to reroute to Oregon. Because of the
surprising attack on the Naval Station at
Pearl Harbor blackouts and radio silence
had been enacted along the western coast-
line — including Oregon. The captain
of the SS Mauna Ala reached Astoria at
night and was unaware of the blackout.
According to documents the ship was also
ordered to maintain radio silence.
Even the best ship captains require a
bar pilot to steer their ships through the
Columbia River bar. The mouth of the
Columbia River is considered to be one
of the most dangerous in the world, even
under the best circumstances. A dark night
in December without navigational aids
new owners
c hris and s hary
s chauermann
15
CANNON BEACH HISTORY CENTER AND MUSEUM
di s c o u nt o n a ny c o u nt erto p i ns ta llat i o n
( good
didn’t make for an easy entry, so the SS
Mauna Ala ran aground. Thankfully, the
entire crew survived.
Not only the crew survived, but a few
mornings later some of the supplies of the
SS Mauna Ala began to wash ashore.
Veteran Carl Kostol remembered that,
Dec. 10 1941 they heard of an emergency
at Camp Clatsop — now known as Camp
Rilea.
“An officers’ meeting was called by
the Regimental CO for E and F Compa-
nies,” Kostol said. “The Regimental CO
told them a convoy was coming down
from the Gulf of Alaska — a suspected in-
vasion. Clatsop Beach was the most likely
site for this. So they all went out carrying
a full load of ammunition.”
Like other Americans, those who
lived on the Oregon coast were startled
by the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
The fear that the Pacific Coast might be
the next target was very real for all who
lived here. “We all know,” the Tillamook
Headlight-Herald wrote on Dec. 25, 1941,
“that the coastal area is the first line of
defense.”
So the thought, event the rumor of
soldiers landing on Oregon’s shores was
taken very seriously. Thankfully, instead
of a ship full of soldiers, something a bit
more festive had washed up.
Roy Brasfield remembered that, “when
war was declared training was inter-
rupted; that night the unit headed for the
Longview Bridge on the Columbia River.
They were there for a few days when they
received a panic message from Seaside
— a ship was unloading men on the
beach. The ‘men’ unloading were actually
Christmas trees.”
The storm cut off
power for a week
By Brenna Visser
Cannon Beach Gazette
101, no one could enter or
exit the town. Only one-third
of all police officers and pub-
lic works employee lived in
town, which only added to
the difficulty of organizing
emergency services and re-
pairs.
“There was a sense of iso-
lation. All the landlines down,
cell towers down. No one had
a way to communicate with
us. That was scary,” he said.
Mays remembers posting
flyers on bulletin boards as
a way to communicate with
people, and staying in city
hall to answer questions peo-
ple had about the power.
From a city perspective,
there were many lessons
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SS Mauna Ala, the “Christmas tree ship.”
FLOORING
With fully loaded weapons at the
ready, Kostol remembered, “They were on
post all night but there was not (an) inva-
sion. A ship ran aground, a Christmas ship
headed for Hawaii that had to turn back.
Its cargo of Christmas trees started rolling
in and some got shot at.” He added, “A
case of steaks also washed ashore, as well
as a case of Almond Roca candy.”
In the light of day, the “paratroopers”
morphed in several thousand trees, turkey
and chicken carcasses, cases of steak,
and tins of Almond Roca. The military
declared the contents of the SS Mauna
Ala “open salvage.” The food and trees
were gathered up by those stationed at
Fort Stevens and Camp Clatsop and were
cooked up for all to enjoy. Some of those
stationed there were even able to send
pounds of food, candy, and other items
that washed up home. News spread pretty
quickly, as this kind of news is apt to do,
and soon beachcombers were milling
around the beaches collecting Christmas
goodies.
Leland “Bud” Lewis remembers
collected meat, butter, salt, and candy
from the shore and an article from the
Honolulu, Hawaii bulletin of the Alexan-
der and Baldwin stated that, “some Army
communications soldiers were observed
frying sections of chicken with their mess
gear on the beach.
I hope that you can join all of us at the
Cannon Beach History Center and Muse-
um on Saturday, Dec. 23. Not only will I
share this story at 4 p.m., but we will have
face painting with Meagan Sokol from 1
to 3 p.m., a story time for kids at noon,
and arts and crafts most of the day. Not to
mention a tasty hot chocolate bar.
Memories from the Great Coastal Gale
In 2007, the Great Coast-
al Gale ripped through North
Coast communities, leaving
people without power days
and the streets filled with de-
bris.
Cannon Beach was no
exception. While the storm
brought many challenges,
many of the residents who
lived through it all mentioned
one resource of which there
was no shortage: resiliency.
“We realized we must real-
ly depend on ourselves,” said
Rich Mays, who was Cannon
Beach city manager at the
time. “There are people who
are supposed to help, but we
had to look out for ourselves.
It’s an attitude of resilience
that has lasted until now.”
During the first three days
of the storm, all communica-
tion was cut off, Mays said.
Due to flooding on Highway
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% m e nt i o n c o de “423 gat e way 2” fo r a
learned, said Jay Raskin, who
was mayor at the time.
“The biggest takeaway
was that the city needed a
truly multi-hazard emergency
response plan. Our emergency
response had been geared for a
Cascadia earthquake and tsu-
nami with the idea if we pre-
pared for that we would cover
the other hazards,” Raskin
said. “The storm taught us
that different hazards require
different responses.”
In response, the city ended
up investing in more gener-
ators, as well as doing more
outreach to prepare and re-
cruit more shelter staging ar-
eas and volunteers.
The storm brought out
the best in people, as restau-
rants donated their food to
help feed people, our coun-
ty neighbors along Highway
26, who were loggers, used
their equipment to help clear
Highway 26 to help us get
reconnected to the rest of
the state, among many oth-
er examples,” he said. “The
setting up the shelter by the
Community Church helped
teach us what was needed to
set up and run shelters and
benefited from the many vol-
unteers.”
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