VOL. 1
16TH & EXCHANGE STREET, ASTORIA, OREGON 97103
N0.4
LIGHTHOUSE TENDER MANZANITA BREAKING ICE NEAR SKAMOKA WA, 1930
Navigation on the Lower Columbia has its peculiar hazards, but ice is not generally among them. That was not the case in January, 1930, when the river became completely blocked by ice during a severe cold wave which continued for seventeen days. On January 17, after a week of sub-freezing temperatures, Portland harbor was choked with ice. The Coast Guard Cutter Redwing, joined by numerous tugs, worked overtime to clear paths for commercial vessels. Downriver, the Lighthouse tenders Manzanita and Rose, stationed at Tongue Point, did their best to keep jams of ice from closing the main ship channel. Meanwhile, the landings of many small river communities below Longview had become entirely blocked by ice. In Cathlamet, Puget Island, Skamokawa, Brookfield and Altoona, residents were unable to ship their products to upriver markets, or to receive supplies and mail. Most rivercraft were frozen in at their moorings. Those
vessels that were able to venture out did so at the risk of damaging their hulls on the drifting floes, or of being trapped in an ice jam. On January 20 temperatures dropped several degrees below zero, freezing the Columbia all the way across at Wauna. Commerce on the Lower River was at a standstill. In the north bank communities the situation was growing critical. Thousands of dairy cattle were in danger of starving, and several Pillar Rock families were reported to be nearly out of food. Relief came on the 24th, when the Coast Guard icebreaker Northland arrived at the Columbia River. Aided by the Manzanita and the Rose, she got through to the isolated towns with food and supplies, then went to work opening up the main channel. The cold wave finally broke on January 27. With warmer temperatures the ice dissipated rapidly, though it was a week into February before some river landings were clear. The "Great Freeze" of 1930 had come to an end.