10 years ago this week — 2014

Before Sunday’s rain came, the snow provided some opportunities for different outdoor activities on the North Coast, although the fun side of the weather was balanced out by chilly temperatures and sometimes dangerous driving conditions.

Unlike fossils or other natural records, ice that was frozen hundreds of thousands of years ago cataloged everything going on in the Earth’s atmosphere.

That very cold history is showing scientists that greenhouse gas levels in the Earth’s atmosphere have never been this high in the last 1 million years.

Julia Rosen spoke about ice cores and the Earth’s climate Monday night at a Columbia Forum event held at the Columbia Memorial Hospital.

Rosen, a doctoral candidate at Oregon State University, spent two of her summers in Greenland helping with the extraction of very old ice that she has been studying in the Oregon State University Ice Core Laboratory. Rosen has been analyzing the samples of ice for her dissertation on greenhouse gas records.

“Here we have this archive that just continuously records everything that happens for 120,000 years,” she said about Greenland’s layers of ice. “That is invaluable to us as scientists to understand the variations.”

KNAPPA — With a winter storm brooding over the north, organizers of the 17th annual Knappa Schools Foundation auction and prime rib dinner wondered how many people would show to shell out the dollars for the school’s students.

But through the snow and ice — over the phone — local bidders on Saturday raised more than $84,000 to support their schools and graduating seniors with scholarships.

“Tonight, as at every auction night at Knappa, is so important, and little snow and a little ice shouldn’t break the … giving streak,” said state Sen. Betsy Johnson.

She was trapped by snow and ice in her hometown of Scappoose and spoke to the microphone through the cellphone of Shawn Teevin, the owner of Teevin Bros., who officiates the auction each year.

Johnson was continuing her annual plea for donations, and by the end, Johnson drew $31,500 out of the crowd, including her own commitment, compared with about $29,000 the previous year.

He’s almost reached 30 years in the U.S. Coast Guard: his assignment as commander of Sector Columbia River ends June 23, and his eldest son just started as a Coast Guard aviator at Station North Bend.

Capt. Bruce Jones has several reasons to retire this summer after handing command of Sector Columbia River off to Capt. Dan Travers, chief of incident command in the Coast Guard’s 17th District out of Juneau, Alaska.

“Linda and I decided within a year of moving here that this is where we wanted to stay, especially after a dozen moves over 30 years,” said Jones, who’s been renting during his three-year assignment, but recently purchased a house near the Columbia River.

He inherited the sector 10 months after it came into existence, taking over for former Capt. Doug Kaup, who also retired in Astoria. In 2010, the Coast Guard moved leadership of the area’s units from Portland to Astoria.

“I think our people do a marvelous job of overcoming the challenges of our large geographical area,” said Jones about the sector. It includes 33 ports and 420 nautical miles of coastline and 465 miles of navigable rivers (the Columbia, Willamette and Snake River systems) from the Pacific Ocean to Idaho.

50 years ago — 1974

Shortly after Peter Iredale went aground on Clatsop Beach in October 1906, Albin Anderson made the quick decision any red-blooded 14-year-old boy on his way to school might be expected to make: he played hooky.

Who could blame the youngster, who now is 82, for responding to the urgent call of the life-saving station only a quarter of a mile away? “I heard the station’s bell ringing violently early that morning,” said Anderson, “and I just took off to find out what happened.”

“It didn’t take long to make the decision,” he recalled with a chuckle. “Hooky was a pretty serious offense, too. Teachers didn’t hesitate to use the switch. And when you got home, your parents give it to you some more. But the way the bell was a-ringin’, I knew something was up.”

He and a buddy scampered off to the beach and arrived at the site of the wreck just as the last three men were being brought ashore.

“Over the years, there’s been a lot of misstatements about the wreck,” said Anderson, a retired maritime engineer who now takes care of the engines at the Lightship Columbia.

“That storm the night of the wreck wasn’t nearly as bad as everyone said. Sure, winds got up to 50 mph — but that wasn’t anything unusual,” he said.

Another misconception is in the method used to remove the men from the ship, he said.

“Some accounts say they were brought ashore by lifeboats, but that just isn’t so,” claimed Anderson. “A little cannon fired a projectile with a line out over the rigging, and then the line was fastened securely to the ship.”

On the shore, the other end was tied to a dead man – a log buried in the sand. Then, using a tripod and block and tackle, the line was drawn very tight and they hooked a breeches buoy on it and the men were brought ashore.

A breeches buoy is a seat, “almost like putting on a pair of shorts,” Anderson explained.

“Fact is,” he grinned, “I remember as one fellow was coming ashore, a swell hit him and gave him a good dousing.”

The singularity of an occasion such as a shipwreck probably saved the young Anderson from stinging reprimand when he returned to school.

“It so happened we got off easily because later on that day the whole school came out to see it.”

SEASIDE — Ever wonder what beachcombers find on deserted beaches that are freshly washed by a storm-tossed sea?

Visitors to Seaside’s sixth annual Beachcomber Festival tonight and this weekend at the Seaside Convention Center may find out as more than 150 amateur and professional beachcombers display their treasures.

Called by some the best beachcomber show on the West Coast, the three-day affair will feature the best of glass floats, bottle collections, driftwood art and just plain old weird items collected by Northwest beachcombers.

Beachcombers will be competing for trophies in nine adult and three juvenile categories.

75 years ago — 1949

Pillar Rock, Brookfield and other nearby north shore communities got their first groceries in a week on Tuesday when the new New England Fish Co. company launch W.B.l Starr threaded its among ice floes to the Pillar Rock cannery dock.

Meanwhile, Coast Guard cutters on Wednesday battered their way through ice-strewn waters of the Columbia to carry groceries to Mr. and Mrs. William Johnson, icebound on Kaboth Sands, in the Columbia, and to carry hay to two or more horses on ice-blocked Farrell’s island above Pillar Rock.

No supplies had reached the 100 to 150 people of Pillar Rock and its neighboring villages of west Wahkiakum County. Since the launch, Imperial quit running due to ice last week.

The Starr, its bows guarded by sheet iron and its decks piled with food, made the run successfully Tuesday afternoon. At the same time, the Imperial broke out of the ice at Cathlamet for its first run downriver to Astoria in a week.

Two “short change artists,” who specialize in confusing cashiers and escaping with more money than they should, were reported in this area Tuesday night.

The “artists” reportedly tried one of their tricks at Hansen’s Cafe on Tuesday night. The trick consisted of one man trying to change a $10 bill for 10 ones. Then the other man would confuse a busy cashier and get a $20 bill for the 10 ones.

The men who tried the trick were recognized by waitresses, who remembered their appearance here about two years ago. The artists made an escape, but city police were notified.

Astoria merchants will stage a “Spring Festival” style show Friday evening, March 18, in the Armory, the merchants committee of the Astoria-Warrenton Chamber of Commerce announced following a meeting Thursday.

The show will be produced by the Anchor Club, with the merchants filling the Armory with style displays and providing entertainment. Prizes will be given away.

Malcolm Edwards, a local grower, today said 39 Pacific oyster growers, representing 95% of the Washington state industry, were desirous of removing their operations from the jurisdiction of the state department of fisheries.

Edwards said the group had adopted a resolution canceling customary biennial appropriations for oyster research laboratories, biological work and administration of reserve lands.

The resolution said the group believed the oystermen could “attain greater efficiency by handling our own problems and paying our own way.”