50 years ago — 1973

The Daily Astorian will continue to strive to be a good citizen of Astoria and editor J.W. Forrester Jr. hopes to assist in accomplishing things that need to be done for the community, Forrester told Astoria-Warrenton Area Chamber of Commerce members Friday.

Forrester outlined some of these things which appear to him on the basis of four months in the city since assuming editorship of the newspaper.

Transportation, Forrester said, seems to him to be one of the area’s grievous problems.

“The Astoria-Seaside highway, for instance, is one of the busiest stretches of road in the state, yet it is a very miserable highway,” he noted.

The lower end of Highway 30 into Astoria must be improved, Forrester said.

“I don’t know whether I’m coming or going or staying where I’m at,” a North Coast gas station owner said this morning as he looked ahead to the future.

His confusion about the present gas situation mirrors that of most North Coast residents and visitors to the area as they look to next week’s holiday season.

They are wondering the same thing as he is as they nervously eye their gas gauges.

An Astorian survey today of a number of North Coast gas station operators indicates there will be gas available somewhere along the coast, though a motorist will have to search for it and may not get all he wants.

WARRENTON — “It’s horrible,” said one city official.

“It looks like a leftover oil derrick with a tool shed on top,” said another.

The two were discussing a drawing accompanying the State Highway Department plan for remodeling the Skipanon River bridge at Harbor Street in Warrenton.

Candy mountains and gingerbread houses. Now it’s macaroni Christmas trees.

The patients and staff of Columbia Memorial Hospital have been busy decorating the halls with all sorts of goodies and the newspaper, glue and macaroni tree is just part of the cheery display throughout the two hospital units. Pearl Boyd, hobbyist in residence at the Columbia Unit, calls it “just extra beautiful.”

She should know — her whole room is filled with Christmas artifacts of every sort. Although the mountains and houses fall victim each year to hungry Yuletide gremlins, no one is suggesting the macaroni tree will follow suit.

American Metal Climax Co. hasn’t decided yet whether to challenge in court Oregon’s new aluminum plant air emission standards, which the company has said it cannot achieve at its proposed smelter in Warrenton.

The Department of Environmental Quality says it probably won’t process the company’s application for air emission permits until the company revises its application indicating it can comply with the standards or asks for a variance.

And, the Clatsop Environmental Council claims that after studying the state’s new aluminum plant standards more in-depth, it finds they aren’t as tough as the aluminum industry has insisted.

75 years ago — 1948

Collectors of Japanese glass floats — and that includes about everyone along the Pacific coast — are going to be mighty satisfied with this news from Japan.

Japanese plants are producing enough of the brightly colored balls for their fishermen. Some 400 metric tons are needed yearly by the fishermen, counting the vast number that break away and come bouncing upon Pacific beaches.

But the Japanese are not satisfied with this output of fishing net floats. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the production is off 20% due to a lack of coal.

This will curtail exports, but apparently won’t keep the balls off coastal beaches. Winds, storms and tides will see that American collectors are kept happy.

A tremendous explosion partially wrecked the Northwest Cities gas plant at Youngs Bay at 11:15 a.m. Saturday, critically burned one plant employee and threatened disruption of gas service in Astoria and the vicinity.

Forrest Salsberry, assistant gas maker at the plant, was taken to St. Mary’s Hospital with severe burns. His condition was critical. The explosion’s force blew Salsberry from the building into the river.

Exact cause of the explosion has not been determined, but employees said they had been having trouble with leaking gas caps on the generators for several days.

SEASIDE — An augmented city street crew worked steadily Wednesday to complete a 400-foot wall of brush and sandbags to curb the rebellious Necanicum River, which has been for three days cutting its bank southward toward the city sewage disposal plant.

City officials said they expect to have the temporary dike completed by Wednesday night and believed it would prevent further damage by the river, at least for the time being.

Many Astoria pedestrians, facing Tuesday morning’s glassy-slick streets and sidewalks, abandoned the upright position in favor of crawling on hands and knees or tiptoeing carefully across stretches of grass.

Car owners, convinced by bent fenders and near escapes from light poles and other fixed objects that wheeled traffic was impossible, joined the sliding pedestrians.

All arrived at their respective destinations after making perilous journeys marked by several bouncing falls. No major injuries had been reported by Tuesday afternoon.

The place name Dogpatch still clings persistently to the war-built hilltop community just outside the gates of Tongue Point Naval Station, despite naval efforts to discourage it.

Naval authorities have long looked askance at that name, which just naturally attached itself to the community soon after it was built during the war.

Some time ago, the U.S. Navy conducted a contest to pick a name for the big new housing project on the heights south of Dogpatch. At the same time, they decided to try to get a new name for Dogpatch. So, Navy Heights was picked for the big project, and Tongue Point Village for the little community.

“But,” said one resident, “everybody still calls it Dogpatch.”

Dogpatch even appeared as the official birthplace of some Navy families’ children. And Dogpatch Community Church was established. The name never won an official spot on the map, but it seems to die hard.