10 years ago this week 2003

The tugboat Richard Brusco was merrily on its way to San Francisco this weekend, making its way past Newport, when crew members discovered theyd left something important behind the back of the 180-foot barge they were towing.

The discovery came after fishermen on the Buckn Ann contacted U.S. Coast Guard officers Saturday morning to report spotting part of a self-contained hull adrift in the ocean six miles northwest of the mouth of the Columbia River.

Wesly Jiroch pretty much forgot about his message in a bottle. After all, it was nearly 18 months ago that Jiroch, then in third grade, stuffed a postcard into a old glass 7-Up bottle, corked it with a No. 3 rubber stopper and surrendered it to the Pacific Ocean.

So when a package in his name arrived at John Jacob Astor Elementary School last week he though it might be from relatives. Instead, it was from two strangers in Oahu, Hawaii, who had made a discovery.

They were walking on the beach looking for shells and they found the bottle on the beach, said 11-year-old Jiroch.

Every year, students in Mark Ficks class address a postcard, write a letter and draw a picture to put into a green, 20-ounce bottle. Fick then finds a dragger, tanker captain or someone else to take the bottles out to the mouth of the Columbia where they are dropped overboard.

Most of the time we get about half back, Fick said. A lot end up on the Washington coast.

Every once in a while, bottles will make it to California or Canada, or even rarer, to Japan or the Philippines.

Jirochs bottle didnt break, and didnt sink. Instead it made it all the way to Hawaii only the third Astor bottle to do so.

Rob Holman, an oceanography professor at Oregon State university, said its pretty remarkable that Jirochs bottle made it to Oahu.

50 years ago 1963

A painting by Cleveland Rockwell, noted Northwest artist of the 19th century, has been given to the Columbia River Maritime Museum by George Kaboth, native Astorian now living in Santa Barbara, Calif.

Kaboth visited the museum recently to present the painting, which shows Youngs River and Saddle Mountain. It presumably was painted in the 1870s, as it show a sail-powered square-bowed scow of a kind used in those days for river transportation.

Rockwell, an employee of the U.S. Geodetic Survey and a Civil War soldier, came to the West Coast after the war ended, and to Oregon in 1868. He mapped the coast 50 miles south of the Columbia River, and mapped the river up to the Willamette.

Thursday nights light earthquake at 6:36 p.m. was felt by many people in the Astoria-Warrenton-Seaside area, but went unnoticed by many others.

Those who felt it said the jolt was short and light. Most people who noticed it were standing at the time. It apparently was not strong enough to rattle dishes or cause any other noticeable effect, although one or two people reported their Christmas trees rocked slightly and one said the lights blinked.

75 years ago 1938

Application for authority to organize a new state bank of Astoria, to be known as the Citizen;s Bank of Astoria, has been filed with the state banking department by a group of local citizens.

The proposed bank will have a capital stock of $50,000 with an additional paid in surplus of $10,000.

Clatsop County is outstanding in all Oregon in its management of tax-reverted lands, according to a survey of the land management problem in Oregon, recently completed and published by the state planning commission.

The report found that with few exceptions, Oregon counties are giving most of their attention to returning county-owned land to the tax rolls and have given only incidental attention to other phases of land management, the survey points out.

Several counties, possessing large acreage of tax-reverted lands, are carefully studying the best economic uses of these lands, the survey found. Among these counties Clatsop was outstanding.

CAMP SADDLE MOUNTAIN, CCC, Seaside: Between New Years Day, 1938, and New Year, 1939, a series of extensive changes has taken place at Camp Saddle Mountain.

Erection of a new educational building, 20 by 80 feet in size, shingling of all portable buildings in camp, installation of many thousands of board feet of plyboard and other projects have made the old place new.

Improvement in the company mess has been marked since a virtually complete rebuilding of the kitchen.

Appearance of the camp infirmary now compares with a metropolitan hospital. Size of the infirmary was increased, Linoleum laid on floors, plyboard placed on walls and ceiling, painting complete and attractive wall fixtures and furniture installed.

Installation of a half-mile of new waterline to supplement the existing line proved to be a major project. Improvement of the recreation hall and barbershop, building of a de-luxe canteen and completion of a spanking new clubroom in the recreation hall were other projects.

Clatsop County fell in line with other Oregon counties today in outlawing gambling devices when Sheriff Paul Kearney and District Attorney Garnet L. Green announced that midnight Saturday, Dec. 31, will be the deadline for removal of all pinball and slot machines and all kinds of punch boards.

Compiled by Bob Duke