A4 • Friday, November 19, 2021 | Seaside Signal | SeasideSignal.com
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Historic mural comes down for restoration, repair
SEEN FROM SEASIDE
R.J. MARX
he Native American-themed mural
alongside the Ace Hardware build-
ing on Broadway is getting a resto-
ration. Seaside’s Public Works Department
removed the 16 aluminum panels for resto-
ration by the Clatsop-Nehalem Confeder-
ated Tribes.
Earlier this year a car crashed into the
mural, creating a gaping hole, Richard
Basch, vice chairman of the tribes, said.
Other panels need general restoration after
oxidation weakening the aluminum.
“We’ve heard from so many people in
the community what a big part of the com-
munity the mural has become,” Basch said.
“People use it for history lessons. They’ve
said, ‘You’ve got to replace it. You’ve
got to put it back up.’ We’re hoping to get
enough support to be able to put it back
up.”
The tribe will need to raise about
$20,000 for the restoration.
The 60-foot mural, by artist Roger
Cooke of Sandy, was dedicated in Sep-
tember 2006, mounted on the north exte-
rior wall of what was then the Holladay
Drug Store at the corner of Broadway and
Holladay.
Cooke worked from a studio on the
Sandy River where he produced paintings,
bronzes, illustrations, murals and portraits.
His murals are on display in cities and
towns across the country. He died in 2012.
“He worked with tribes along the
Columbia watershed, Nez Perce, Uma-
tilla,” Basch said. “He took an interest in
studying the tribes along the Columbia
watershed.”
Cooke depicts scenes of the daily life of
the Clatsop and Nehalem tribes at the Sea-
side estuary with Tillamook Head in the
background. The mural brings to life his-
toric tribal members such as Tostum, Chief
of the Clatsop Tribe in the early 1800s and
Chief Tostow, the Clatsop chief among
those to sign treaties — never ratifi ed by
the U.S. Congress — with the government
in September 1851.
“The Clatsop tribe was between Colum-
bia River to Tillamook Head up to Saddle
Mountain,” Basch said.
In the treaty, which was never ratifi ed
by Congress, the Clatsops, Tillamooks and
Chinooks ceded their land — and lost their
land, Basch said. “That’s why Clatsops are
T
R.J. Marx
Seaside Public Works team removes sections of the mural on Broadway for repair.
known as a ‘terminated tribe’ and don’t
have any treaty rights. Because the treaty
was not signed, we were driven out of our
homeland.”
The Clatsop tribe scattered.
“We went north, south, east, we went
wherever we could to fi nd some kind of
a living, some kind of a job,” Basch said.
“Currently our membership is primarily in
a circle that includes Tillamook, Portland,
Vancouver. That was the intent of the gov-
ernment in not signing.”
Remaining members now form the
Clatsop-Nehalem Confederated Tribes of
Oregon.
On the left of the mural are elders of the
tribe. Among vignettes are a man carving a
canoe and children playing on the beach.
A young woman on the left side of the
mural is our daughter Charlotte, who was
16 at the time, Basch said.
“Cooke wanted to have a young tribal
member looking forward,” Basch said.
“He wanted to represent our ancestors, the
ones who are important to keep our his-
tory alive, and he also wanted a young per-
son. I thought that was a very interesting,
positive thing he thought of, he wasn’t just
an artist but a historian, a sociologist. He
really took an interest in studying the cul-
ture of tribes along the Columbia River
watershed.”
The restoration process will start with
fi nding a muralist who can restore both the
panel and the art.
In 2020, the North Coast Land Conser-
vancy announced the transfer of 18 acres
of Neawanna Point Habitat Preserve to the
Clatsop-Nehalem Confederated Tribes. It
is the fi rst property the tribes have owned
since they began to be displaced 200 years
ago and lost their land.
“That’s the only land we’ve owned
since 1851,” he said. “That’s the fi rst piece
of land we’ve owned since treaty time.”
A welcome pole at the site will be
carved by Guy Capoeman, now chairman
of the Quinault Indian Nation. In 2016,
Capoeman designed the sculpture along the
bank of Ecola Creek in Cannon Beach at
the edge of Ne Cus’ Park. The logs for the
new welcome pole at the habitat preserve,
along with one to be sited at the entrance
to Seaside High School, were donated by
Weyerhaeuser and sit by the highway road-
side waiting for carving.
“We are taking it step by step,” Basch
said. “We’re pulling together a plan. The
fi rst step is to bring water to the property.
With the mural and other projects, the wel-
coming poles and community involvement,
we have to be strategic about what we put
on our plate.”
R.J. Marx
The mural along Broadway.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Flags should be fl own in
Seaside on Veterans Day
We have been here in our RV for
awhile. We come here often because we
love it here. This time we were so dis-
appointed to see no fl ags out on Veter-
ans Day, in fact appalled is more like it!
I had read that the big fl ag at the turn-
around and there was no fl ag. Not at City
Hall or Chamber of Commerce.
In fact the only one we saw at all was
the Seaside Civic and Convention Center
and it was not at half staff .
I realize it was wet and windy but that
never stopped our military heroes! This
city government and businesses should
be ashamed!
Your proclamation was an insult with
no fl ags fl ying! Just plain insulting to our
heroes! Shame shame!
Lynn Lantham
Lebanon, OR
PUBLIC MEETINGS
Contact local agencies for
latest meeting information and
attendance guidelines.
MONDAY, NOV. 22
Seaside City Council, 7 p.m.,
cityofseaside.us.
TUESDAY, NOV. 23
Sunset Empire Park and Rec-
reation District, 5:15 p.m., Bob
Chisholm Community Center.
Seaside Airport Advisory Com-
mittee, 6 p.m., 989 Broadway.
MONDAY, NOV. 29
Seaside City Council and Plan-
ning Commission workshop,
vacation rentals, 6 p.m., 989
Broadway.
TUESDAY, NOV. 30
Gearhart City Council, special
meeting, 6:30 p.m., cityofgear-
hart.com.
CIRCULATION
MANAGER
Shannon Arlint
ADVERTISING
SALES MANAGER
Sarah Silver-
Tecza
PUBLISHER
EDITOR
Kari Borgen
R.J. Marx
WEDNESDAY, DEC. 1
First Ave.
Seaside Improvement Commis-
sion, 6 p.m., 989 Broadway.
MONDAY, DEC. 13
Gearhart City Council, 7 p.m.,
cityofgearhart.com.
THURSDAY, DEC. 2
Seaside Parks Advisory Com-
mittee, 6 p.m., 989 Broadway.
TUESDAY, DEC. 7
Seaside Community Center
Commission, 10 a.m., 1225
Avenue A.
Seaside Library Board of Direc-
tors, 4:30 p.m., 1131 Broadway
St.
WEDNESDAY, DEC. 15
Seaside Tourism Advisory Com-
mittee, 3 p.m., 989 Broadway.
TUESDAY, DEC. 21
Seaside School District, 6 p.m.,
seaside.k12.or.us/meetings.
Seaside Planning Commis-
sion, 6 p.m., work session, 989
Broadway.
MONDAY, DEC. 27
Seaside City Council, 7 p.m.,
cityofseaside.us.
THURSDAY, DEC. 9
Sunset Empire Park and Rec-
reation District, 5:15 p.m., Bob
Chisholm Community Center.
Seaside Civic and Convention
Center Commission, 5 p.m., 415
CONTRIBUTING
WRITERS
John D. Bruijn
Skyler Archibald
Joshua Heineman
Katherine Lacaze
Esther Moberg
Carl Earl
Seaside City Council, 7 p.m.,
cityofseaside.us.
Seaside Planning Commis-
sion, 6 p.m., work session, 989
Broadway.
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MANAGER
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