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About Herald and news. (Klamath Falls, Or.) 1942-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 14, 1955)
SUNDAY, AUGUST 14, 1955 Satoa . Harbor Miracle By CHARLES V. STANTON Fishermen who speak of Salmon Harbor do so with wonderment ob vious in their tone of voice. Even those who were enthusiastically el oquent still evidence their owe we ns if they had witnessed a miracle. And indeed, Salmon Har bor is a miracle; a modern mir acle of recreational development. Salmon Hnrbor is the name given ihe cove at Winchester Bay. near the mouth of the Umpqua River. It is located on the Oregon coast in Douglas County, adjacent - to Highway 101, a few miles south of Reedspoi i. Ten years ago Winchester Bay was on the jverge of becoming a ghost town. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Charles V. Stanton, editor and manager of The Roseburjr News Review, has had a prominent part in the development of Sal mon Harbor. As one of Oregon's best known conservationists, he was active in the legislative ef fort to close the Umpqua River to commercial fishing. He origi nated the idea for the Umpqua Basin Council's land acquisition committee, referred to in this article, and served as a member of that committee. He was au thor of the plan for creation of the Douglas County Parks De partment and provided the text from which the county court's order creating that department was officially drawn. He urged upon the county court and parks department the early develop ment of facilities at Salmon Harbor and has been railed upon as an adviser in subsequent im provements. Through the news- paper he has sponsored and en couraged the expansion of the Salmon Harbor sports fishery. Once it had been a thriving fish ing village. The river teemed with salmon and steclhead. Winchester Bay was the nearest port to the offshore fishing banks, find its har bor sheltered and based, at times, as many as 150 of the liny trolling vessels. But by ten years ago conditions bad changed. 6almon and steel head migrations in the Umpqua y . V -V' P'-ry yy- : . , J yy 1 f ' ' V '8 14" I ' ' ' " ' ' ' v,j River had become seriously de pleted from ovcr-fishiniy and other causes. Offshore fishing boats were becoming larger and, drawing more water, could not be berthed in the hnrbor, fot it, too had deteriorated. Siltation had filled in much of the cove until, at low water, acres of mud flats were uncovered. So, Winchester Bay appeared to be dying. A few ancient fishing boats still were tied to the rickety county dock, floating gracefully at Itigh tide and canting dangerously as their rounded bottoms rested on the stinking mud of the shallow basin during low water. A few crab boats gingerly worked iheir way out of the harbor on the slack, while, occasionally, a troller put in to unload a catch at the cannery dock. lor in 1939 there had been built a cannery and fiah-icing plant. Less than ten years later the cannery machinery was idle and rusting. The piling on which the building stood was rotting away. The structure was in use only as a fish receiving station. But various factors, seemingly unrelated, were bearing on Win chester Bay only 10 years ago. Douglas County sportsmen were fighting to close the UmpquaRiver to commercial iishinu, drawing ;upon themselves the' wrath of the ; people of Winchester Bay, who saw ;n the effort elimination of the last i vestige of their industrial life, i The Corns of Engineers was ! working diligently at a laboratory in the South on a replica of the I mouth cf the Umpqua River, in an (effort to devise a system ot jetties j which would cause the current of the river to keen its shallow bar clear of dangerous shoals. Douglas County was beginning a boom growth, as a result of its new timber industry. An organiza tion named the Umpqua Basin Conservation Council was created by delegates from each of the or ganized sports clubs. Sensing that increased population would reduce i availability of lands heretofore Under the department's super vi used for recreational purposes, the sion, a deeper boat channel and Council had as one of its primary moorage basin was dredged along objectives the acquisition for the side the old and deteriorated coun public ot picnic spots, parks, andjty dock. Materials dredged, from river access. A representative com- the mud flat were used to build mittee was named to direct the a parking area. Rest roomswerc program. j constructed, and a concrete ramp, I Of These various activated resulted in the birth of Salmon Harbor. First, the effort to close the Ump qua River to commercial fishing culminated in legislation at the 1047 session of the Oregon Legisla ture. At about the same time, the Corps of Engineers began - con' struction on a training jetty, de signed to "train" the river's cur rents into the desired channel. The Umpqua Basin Conservation Coun cil's land acquisition committee found itself with an unexpectedly big problem on its hands. In exploring recreational pros pects, the committee found that a sports fishery, chiefly local in character, needed protection at Winchester Bay. It was a com paratively small fishery, but It could be destroyed entirely should commercialization or the bay front prohibit access to the water. The committee prevailed upon Ihe county cojrt to purchase a 25-foot strip around the entire water front and to obtain all ri parian rights, thus preserving for all time the public's right of ac cess. ' . The group also had obtained through donations and purchase additional properties elsewhere. The county court had set aside tome county-owned lands for park purposes at the request of the com mittee. Jt was evident that some thing had to be done to put these properties under management. The county court requested rec ommendations from the committee, which drew up an outline for a county parks department. This de partment, with a board of direc tors and a paid supervisor, was created by the county court in 1949, the first such department in Oregon. Because of the impairment ol Winchester Bay's economy by elim ination of commercial fishing in (hp river, the Parks Department was urged, as one of Us first tasks. to build sports fishing facilities at that place HERALD AND NEWS, KLAMATH FALLS. OREGON Coast for use in loading and unloading Ikllia, ADD MUllb tlV bllU WUICI edge. The effect was immediate and astounding.. Completed in time for the 1940 season's fishing, the new facilities were used by 18,107 ang lers who caugilt 58,053 pounds of .salmon, according to Oregon Game commission records. But disaster lay ahead disas ter that was to prove a blessing in disguise. The Corps of Engineers had com pleted its training Jetty, in 1951 ihere came a severe storm from the southwest. Heavy waves beat into the river from the ocean. The new jetty confined them to the river channel. They raced upstream until they hit the bank opposite Winchester Bay. then turned, with great force, across the stieam and into the cove. The county's flimsy dock was ripped out. The parking area was damaged. Debris was tossed into the moorage basin. Many areas of the beach were washed away. A row ol trees ws uprooted. Houses were undermined, while residents and Coast Guardsmen worked frantically to save the vil lage. Study Slated For Pollution Possible crop and livestock dam age from industrial fumes is sched uled soon for nationwide study with funds provided by federal legisla tion, reports F. E. Price, dean and director of agriculture at Oregon State College. v Public Law 159 authorizes1 a yearly appropriation not to exceed S5 million Uie next five years to conduct research on eliminating or reducing air pollution. Because of the effects of air pol lution upon human health, the ba sic authority for carrying out this College To Study Milk Protein Rate Growing consumer preference for high protein foods Is prompting a study of all major dairy breerii In Oreeon for possible inheritance of herds to produce high protein milk. Amounts of protein, sugar, min-i erals and other components of milk delivered to Oregon's key cmsum- Ing market will be studied this j year by Orcgdh Slate Collcsc dairy scientists under $5,000 grant from the Oregon dairy products commission. Dr. O. A. Richardson, who will head the project, says samples of milk mainly Grade A will be taken from bulk tanks that de liver to dairy plants In an at tempt to trace milk composition to dairy herds. Previous studies have shown marked differences in milk com position among breeds and Indi vidual animals within breedi. Dairy breeders are now hoping to up-grade milk In general by breeding more quality production inlo herds. Testa will be for fat and non-fat solids, protein. cal - cium, phosphorus, sugar and ccr - tain vitamins. opment i A plea for emergency aid went IIU lilt! tUipfl Ul XUUKMKZUrS J3UI U1C Engineers had no money, The County Court and the Port m umpqua ncgan stuctyuig the problem. An engineering, firm, Cornell. Howiana. Hayes ana ivier- rifield, Corvallis, was employed to !ind answers. Their resultant study proposed steps to prevent a rcoc currance of storm damage, coupled with slcp-by-stcp development of recreational facilities. The County Court and Port Com mission jointly budgeted $153,000 which was used in the construction of a 3. 000-foot breakwater to pro tect the beach from further wash ing, reconstruction of the moorage basin, replacement of the dock with floats, restoration of the parking area and rebuilding of Shore Boule vard. It was apreed that the county and port district should be repaid from revenues at the sports fish ery so a managed operation, under the name of Salmon Harbor, was set up by the County Parks De partment, i Increasing use of the facilities, however, so congested the opera tion, that additional improvements became necessary. . legislation is vested In the depart ment of health, education and wel fare. The department will work with oilier lederal, state, local and private agencies. OSC and Oregon air pollution control officials will confer soon on possible research problems that might be undertaken In Oregon with funds from the federal grant, Price stated. The OSC agricultural experiment station, he added, has well-qualified staff members to en gage in such research. Agricultural chemists aud horticulturists at the college have conducted extensive research into related problems in recent years. As passed by Congress, the bill recognizes the control of air pol lution as a primary responsibility of state and local governments. The role of the federal govern ment will be limited to conducting research and providing technical services and financial aid to agen cies and individuals concerned with air pollution research and control. Tillamook Fair Features Forestry Tillamook Collnly Fair will fea ture forestry as their theme for Ihe 30th annual fair to be held Au gust 17-20. It was announced today by fair officials. Tillamook Is known as the land ol cheese, trees and ocean breere. The forestry theme will recognize one of the county's major Indus tries. The royal court for this year's fair will be made up of six 4-H Forestry Club nirls. These glrl were so Interested in forestry that they organized a 4-11 Forestry Club early tins spring. : Each princess will be sponsored : bv a local timber operator. The 1 queen ill be selected Thursday ni?ht. SALMON HARBOR TODAY looks like 4hit.' Ths top picture ihows (he county-port district built breakwater separating the harbor from the main channel of the Umpqua River. Moorage basin at left is newest Unit in development. The older basin is shown at far right. Proof that the fishing is good is furnished by Governor Paul Patterson, shown here with a big one he hooked shortly after the dedication ceremonies on July 9. Shown with the governor are, at left, Col. J. U. Moorehead, corps of engineers, and Howard Hinsdale, owner of ths yacht "Judy." At the right is shown the floating dock and some of the private and commercial ves sels in the new moorage basin. In addition to privately owned pleasure craft, charter boats make regular trips carrying passengers over the bar for trolling or mooching in the ocean out side rivers mouth. Ihe bottom drawing Bay area as it will look upon completion. In 1P54-55 the County Court and Port of Umpqua again pooled re sources and spent an additional $77,000 (o build Uie second unit specified on the master plan. This unit consists of approximately 1U acres of additional moorage space. with floating dock, an about 13 acres ol parking area. Completion ol the second unit was celebrated Ir.st July t), with Governor Paul Patterson as the principal speaker. A third and fourth unit remain to be constructed, which will, on Ihe completed plan, add about 25 acres of waterway and 30 acres of land, all to be reclaimed from Ihe existing mud flat. -.sr a--or 1 wls s"sv 1 v a n r& If ' rm tAiy ' f if left velvet boy's cap $3.98 center fluffy felt cop 3.98 right high lustre felt beret $3.98 VISIT OUR CAMPUS AND CAREER CORNER ANO SEE THE WHOLE EXCITING COLLECTION. shows the ultimate The county and port now have urrested $250. 000 at Salmon Har. bor, while private investments have been made In excess of 175, uou. Today, with deeper water avail able, Salmon Harbor's commercial fishing fleci numbers about 50 boats, with from 75 to ICO In the harbor at times. More than 25 charter boats operate during the season to take anglers over the bar. About 400 sport craft utilize the facilities throughout the sea son from June through October. The cannery building has been renovated and tho machinery Is being restored for use. Equipment has been installed to service sports mid commercial craft. Fish arc ac campus or career, a pretty hat is a fashion must our hat campus will assure your fashion success wherever you are headed. An ex citinq new collection of Campus and Ca reer fashions is waiting tor you. PAGE SEVEN development of the Winchester Photos by Paul Jenkins cepted and iced for market. Bot tom fish are purchased and pro cessed for mink, feect Motels, restaurant?, tackle shops and numerous other businesses have developed. Last vear. the Game Commission reports. Salmon Hrfrbor was visited by 21. 860 nnglcrs. They caught 20.- 175 salmon 6.2B2 cmnooKs and 13,013 silvcrsldcs. Total weight was 212,88o pounds. No record was made of tho striped bass, ling cod, bl.ick hass, halibut, flounder, sole and olher fish taken by anglers, Salmon Harbor truly is a mod ern miracle producing wonderment and awe fsr those who observe Its growth. if V to imyiiiwui'.wi
