V20 N2 They Called It the Bridge to Nowhere

the

UARTERDECK

Vol. 20 No. 2

Spring 1994

A review and newsletter from the Columbia River Maritime Museum at 1792 Marine Drive in Astoria, Oregon '''""'"""·"~" ''''''."•' "'''''""""'

The Astoria-Megler bridge is pictured near the final phase of construction, but before the roadbed was completed.

They Called it "The Bridge to Nowhere" "No more tolls! Let's burn the mortgage!" On Friday, 28 January 1994, a VIP reception was held at the Columbia River Maritime Museum to celebrate the early retirement of the construction bonds for the bridge from Astoria to Pt. Ellice, Washington. Once derisively labled "The Bridge to Nowhere," this feat of engineering has proven to be a vital transportation link for communities in the Columbia Pacific region formerly isolated by their location next to the broad expanse of the lower Columbia River.

In 1967, the first full year following its completion, approximately 419,000 vehicles crossed the bridge. A few years later the annual total was well over a million.

By 1990 it became clear that the construction bonds for the bridge would be retired ahead of schedule. As of December 1993, toll-payers had remitted $28.6 million, enough to retire the debt. On 24 December 1993, the bonds were paid off and the bridge toll was temporarily suspended. Four weeks later, free passage became permanent.

Following the January 29th reception at the Museum, Oregon State Sen. Joan Dukes paid a ceremonial last toll. Then the Astoria Clowns "blew up" the toll booth and led a jubilant procession over the bridge. The bridge today is a physical embodiment of the belief by community leaders on both sides of the river thai: their fortunes are united rather than separated by the waterway between them. Whichever way you cross it, it is in fact a bridge to somewhere that is really quite special after all.

Afterguatd

Great Republic Steams into Collections

Ward V. Cook, President Ted Natt, Vice President Richard T. Carruthers, Secretary Robley Mangold, Treasurer Alan C. Goudy, Immediate Past Pres.

Jerry L. Ostermiller, Director

Board of Trustees: Darryl Bergerson Mitch Boyce Peter Brix Allen V. Cellars Maurie D. Clark JackR. Dant Anita Decker Thomas R. Dyer Jon Englund Carl Fisher J. W. 'Bud' Forrester Walter Gadsby, Jr. Evelyn Georges James H. Gilbaugh, Jr. Alan Green, Jr. Don M. Haskell Eric 'Skip' Hauke Robert G. Hemphill W. Louis Larson Eugene Lowe John McGowan Anne Morden David M. Myers Ed Nelson, Jr. Charles Shea Roy Snell Herbert Steinmeyer William T. C. Stevens Willis Van Dusen Frank Warren

Museum Staff: Russ Bean Celerino Bebeloni Chris Bennett Linda Cheuvront Trish Custard John Davis Marietta Doney Cris Ek Lynn Gray Charlotte Jackson Steve Kann HobeKytr Lynne Leland Pat Longnecker Barbara Minard Jim Nyberg Rose Palazzo W. Hampton Scudder Mark Tolonen Justine Van Sickle Anne Witty Rachel Wynne

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The sidewheeler Great Republic on her 1867 maiden voyage, in an oil painting by Soy Sang. Gift of Bill and Rachel Young.

1993.24

In November, the Museum received a very significant donation to the collections from longtime Museum supporters Bill and Rachel Young of Lake Oswego. The Youngs' gift is a vivid and detailed Chinese oil painting of the Pacific Mail steamer Great Republic on her 1867 maiden voyage. It is a superb example of an Oriental ship portrait by an identified Chinese artist, Soy Sang.

It is quite fitting that the portrait find a home here. The Great Republic met her end on Sand Island in 1879, just a few miles from our front door. The painting is displayed in the entrance to the Navigation and Marine Safety gallery, near the shipwrecks case which contains artifacts from the wreck of the Great Republic.

Our excitement over the arrival of this important piece of artwork is undoubtedly a mere shadow of the excitement created in 1867 by the arrival of the huge sidewheeler in the Orient. At the time, the 360-foot Great Republic was the largest ocean steamship ever built in the United States, along with her Pacific Mail sister ships America, China, and Japan. She crossed the Pacific from San Francisco to Yokohama, Japan, continuing to Hong Kong, on voyages lasting about two months round trip. Passengers enjoyed comfort and elegance, the mail and cargo got through, and the steamer developed a fine reputation. But her habit of burning huge amounts of coal meant a fueling stop each way.

Thus it was that the Great Republic routinely stopped in Yokohama harbor for coaling on her way to and from Hong Kong. Her first stop there may well have been the occasion for the commissioning of this ship's portrait. The artist added an unsual and intriguing feature: in the foreground, a brightly-clad group of Japanese dignitaries stands in a longboat, hailing the brand-new American steamer. Their presence signals that this was, indeed, an occasion to celebrate.

The longboat scene also transforms the standard ship's portrait into a juxtaposition of old and new. The ancient Oriental world, newly opened to Western trade and symbolized by the traditional dress of the longboat passengers, hails the newest in Western maritime technology, trade, and transportation represented by the Great Republic.

The Youngs' gift prompts some musing about the grand circle of maritime enterprise encompassing Orient and Occident. We think of our modern world as a "small world," in which we can communicate across vast distances in the space of a micro-second. But in some ways, the world has always been a small one. The human desire to explore, to travel, to trade and communicate across vast distances culminated in a time when ships (not chips) provided the bridges between countries and cultures. The Great Republic painting documents such a bridge being built. It adds beautifully to the Museum's story of how the Columbia River region fits into the wide world of maritime history.

-Anne Witty

Maritime Museum News and Notes Training at the Museum The beginning of the year has seen the Museum serve as a busy training place.

Docent training began January 17th with over 30 participants, including Museum staff, docents and other volunteers taking part in the annual session.

This year's training focused on developing and improving the interpretive skills of both new and experienced docents, as well as staff and volunteers who deal with visitors to the Museum on a regular basis, for instance in the Museum Store.

Class topics included communication skills, thematic and informal interpretation, and interpreting for children. Additional enrichment sessions, including a special session with marine artist and maritime historian Hewitt Jackson, will be scheduled throughout the year.

On February 24th, 60 professionals in the field of interpretation from throughout the Pacific Northwest spent the afternoon in the Museum as part of a training workshop. Sponsored by the National Association for Interpretation, the workshop examined universal accessibility; making interpretive programs, media, and facilities accessible to visitors of all abilities. Workshop participants were asked to critique the Museum from the

Visitor Services Coordinator Trish Custard leads a workshop in the principles of thematic interpretation for Museum staff and volunteers.

viewpoint of different visitor groups, such as, the mobility impaired, visually impaired, children and the elderly. The insightful comments and suggestions from these interpreters provided valuable feedback for the Museum to use in future planning and development.

Community Activities Planned During May

Notice to Mariners The Annual Lower Columbia Row-In will be held Sunday, August 28, 1994.

This on-the-water event will be staged from the 17th Street pier, and a fine time is guaranteed for all! So fit out your sailboat, rowboat, canoe, kayak or other nonmotorized craft and plan to join us for a day of family fun on the water. For additional information, contact Rachel Wynne at the Museum.

April 30: PSU "Salmon Summit" at the Museum and sites in the Astoria area; final session of "Native Salmon: Science and Society" with Bill Bakke of Oregon Trout. Some spaces will be available on a first come first served basis.

Charges may apply. Call the Hobe Kytr at the Museum for further details.

May 1 and 7: "Trestle Bay and Jetty Beach." Learn about the changing landform of the South jetty and the proposal to breach the jetty at Trestle Bay, Includes hike to examine site at Ft. Stevens. Call Hobe Kytr for further details.

Thursday Noon Riverfront Walks through May. Bring a sack lunch and explore the riverfront between the Museum and 6th Street with a variety of interpreters. See what the planned riverfront walkway will be about.

May 8 -14: Historic Preservation Week. On Saturday, May 14, join John Goodenberger for walk to explore the old Astoria waterfront along the historic waterline as it was before the fill was put in. Further details pending.

May 16 - 21: ''The Taste of Astoria: A Seafood Celebration." Restaurant specials, Youngs Bay Spring Chinook promotion, Culinary Olympics, Seafood Industry Tours, Boat Tours and more. Package reservations will be available at the Greater Astoria CrabFest. Call the Chamber at 325- 6311 for further details.

May 21: Armed Forces Day and "Maritime Day." Coast Guard Open House at the Air Station and maritime events on the Museum plaza. Tour Astoria's unique and varied fleet of working vessels at the 17th Street pier, the East Mooring basin and the Port docks. Stay tuned for further details.

May 25: Annual Museum Auxiliary luncheon in the Kern Room. Don't miss it!

Quarterdeck, Vol. 20 No. 2

tlle QUARTERDECK Volume 20 No.2 The QUARTERDECK is published four times a year by the Columbia River Maritime Museum, 1792 Marine Dr, Astoria, OR 97103.

Editor, Hobe Kytr. Editorial Staff: Jerry Ostermiller, Anne Witty, Barbara Minard, Rachel Wynne, Mark Tolonen.

Photo and illustration credits: Astoria bridge, pages 1 and 6, CRMM archives; Great Republic painting, page 2, photographed by Art Chan; interpretation workshop, page 3, Jerry Ostermiller; Rolf Klep cartoon, page 4, CRMM archives; War Shipping Administration poster, page 5, from A Careless Word ... A Needless Sinking,

by Capt. Arthur R. Moore, 1983; troller pho-

tos, pages 8 and 9, Larry Johnson.

Printed at Anchor Graphics, Astoria, Oregon

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The Call Was Answered As the 50th anniversary marking the provisioning, cargo loading and unloadbetter pay, police records - the list is end of World War II draws near, it is pering. To sail this huge armada of merchant endless. Regardless of the reason for joinhaps a good time to focus our attention ships, a massive push for more manpowing the Merchant Marine, these were on a group of civilians who answered er was required. In 1940, the entire labor heroic people. Liberty and Victory ships their country's call for help and who, in force of the Merchant Marine, from ocean were not equipped with heavy armament the performance of their daily labors, liners to towboats, was about 55,000 men for defense purposes. Some of them caroften paid the ultimate sacrifice. Without and a few women who served as stewried a Navy Armed Guard to provide the help of these civilian patriots, light protection, but not all ships the United States could not have had this luxury. Convoy escorts sustained a two front war, or have were largely responsible for the come to the aid of her war-torn safety of the helpless cargo ships. and exhausted allies. That group Usually large, convoys ranged of civilians is the United States anywhere from 40 to 100 or more Merchant Marine. ships. Often, in the later years of The Merchant Marine Cadet the war and depending on the Corps was established in 1938 locality of the run, a solitary cargo with the purpose of training offiship would take its chances on cers to serve aboard U.S. merchant making a successful trip by beships. As the war in Europe escacoming a "sitting duck." lated and began to pull the United As part of an ongoing oral histoStates deeper into involvement, ry project to document the experithe corps was expanded under the ences of surviving veterans of the direction of the United States Merchant Marine during World Coast Guard, and later under the War II, the author interviewed War Shipping Administration. two volunteers at the Columbia There were three basic training River Maritime Museum who schools: Kings Point, New York; served aboard Liberty ships durPass Christian, Mississippi; and ing WWII. The interview quesSan Mateo, California. There were, tions focused on how the men however, many smaller schools dealt with the overriding element that handled the expanded numof uncertainty that was present bers of merchant seamen trainees. whenever they sailed. There was Most dealt with basic seamanship uncertainty about the stability of and lifeboat emergency procetheir hastily built ship and its dures. In response to the urgency equipment (would it stay togethof need, the wartime course was er?), and uncertainty caused by condensed into eight weeks of the knowledge that at any time a basic training with six months of German U-boat or Japanese subsea time, during which all cadets marine could send a deadly torpesigned ships' articles as Cadet do into the side. Another concern Deck Hand or Cadet Engineer. came from the air, where enemy They would then return to one of aircraft could drop a bomb or ridthe academies for nine more dle the ship with strafing gunfire. months of advanced officer trainThen there was also the worry of ing if they so chose. carrying a few thousand tons of The Merchant Marine Act of hazardous cargo, such as gasoline 1936, which had established a or ammunition. That was a gamMaritime Commission, envisioned ble even if the enemy wasn't a construction rate of fifty ships a sighted. year for ten years. This quota fell One tragic incident involving Rolf Klep cartoon in Merchant Ship Shapes, short as the country drifted further dangerous cargo occurred in 1944 Division of Naval Intelligence, 1944. into the European conflict. By within the relative safety of a San 1939, this schedule had doubled, Francisco Bay loading dock. The and in 1940 it doubled again. Early in ardesses. By June of 1943, that number Quinault Victory and the Liberty ship E. 1941, an emergency cargo ship building had increased to 85,000, and by a year A. Bryan were loading ammunition at the program was put into effect and more later it jumped to 175,000. When the war Port of Chicago located on Mare Island. than 2,700 wartime Liberty ships were was over in August of 1945, the numbers There was an estimated 10,000 tons in produced. The government built the of Merchant Marine had reached a high both ships. Suddenly, a blinding flash ships, but most of them were contracted of 250,000. shook buildings as far away as San Jose. to the private sector, where shipping The reasons for joining the Merchant A plane 7,000 feet above was struck by agents with experience and training in Marine were as many as those who shrapnel and forced to land. The town of handling cargo to ship carried the signed up, i.e. military status 4-F, too old, Port Chicago nearly a mile away was responsibility of providing insurance, too young, disabled in some respect, almost leveled. In a few seconds the two

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ships, the dock, an ammunition train, a locomotive and two Coast Guard ships vanished along with 327 men.

Bob Chopping, volunteer docent at the Columbia River Maritime Museum, joined the Merchant Marine after high school graduation. Pearl Harbor had been hit shortly before this and Bob wanted to get into the war, but he had been in an accident that had severely cut his left hand, handicapping him to the point of being unable to grasp objects or even to tie his own shoes. The military refused him. Undaunted, he joined the Merchant Marine Midshipman's Corps.

His first ship after basic training was the Liberty ship Kit Carson. On his first trip the cargo was 500 soldiers with trucks and jeeps headed for Australia. The crossing of the equator ceremony was monumental! On the second trip the Kit Carson was commandeered in Hawaii by the U.S. Navy and sent to transfer munitions and heavy equipment from one South Pacific island to another. Traveling in submarine infested waters, these convoys were always "lively." The Kit Carson was to remain in the South Pacific for the next eighteen months, during which the ship's stores grew thin and the ship's crew were nearly always hungry. When the ship entered a protected harbor, the captain took a lifeboat around to all the Navy ships at anchor there and begged food for his crew. During the eighteen months that the Kit Carson was out, Bob Chopping lost forty-five pounds. Bob and his shipmates were more concerned about starvation than about being an expendable resource of the war effort.

Everyone just wanted to go home to their families.

Ben Cadman, volunteer lightship keeper at the Columbia River Maritime Museum, had always wanted to go to sea, just as his father had done and his grandfather before him. He joined the Merchant Marine instead of the Navy because the pay was better and he had plans to continue his college education later. Ben spent his wartime tour of duty in the North Atlantic during 1944 and 1945, carrying munitions and much needed relief supplies to England. The war in the Atlantic had begun to wind down by 1945, but German U-boats still plagued the shipping lanes, and convoys of from 50 to 100 ships were heavily escorted by U.S . destroyer escor ts and Canadian corvettes . Ben was lu cky, he never encountered a U-boat. Others who made that North Atlantic run weren't as lucky.

Forty convoys, with a total of more than 800 ships, 350 of which carried the U .S. flag, started out on the Murmansk run between 1941 and 1945. Of these, 97 ships

Quarterdeck, Vol. 20 No. 2

didn't make it, sunk by bombs, torpein the war effort. An estimated 600 merdoes, mines or the fu ry of the North chant seamen plus one stewardess, 55 Atlantic Ocean. The loss of life in the year old Clara Main, were captured by North Atlantic as a result of enemy the enemy and placed in prison camps; action was staggering, but many of the 64 of them died. Their stories will never men who survived such attacks later be heard, but the stories of those who died from exposure in crowded life boats survived may be. The Columbia River and rafts, or worse, from the icy cold Maritime Museum would like to help waters in which they floated helplessly. document these stories for future study.

The life-saving equipment aboard Liberty If any of our members who served their ships was not adequate enough to ensure country in the Merchant Marine during a high survival rate. The life-saving gear World War II would care to be interfound aboard most of today's fishing viewed, please let us know. Write down boats is far superior to the best equipped your story, or set up a time for an interLiberty ship of WWII. view. Setting up an appointment for a Ben Cadman, however, trusted his ship taped interview is encouraged and preand its equipment. When asked if he ever ferred, since we are not generally able felt any concern about the structural to take life histories over the telephone. integrity of the ship and its equipment If you are planning to make a trip to his answer was, "No, not really. We were Astoria, please contact us so we can set never aware of any risks - we had a job up a session. We would be honored to to do and we did it." Once though, he hear your story. The taped interview went to have a look at his next ship, would become part of our archival which was laid up in the shipyard underlibrary and oral history collection . going repairs. It had just returned from For further information contact: Oral Murmansk, where it had run into one of History Project: Merchant Marine of the huge storms for which the North World War II, Columbia River Maritime Atlantic is infamous. The ship had develMuseum, 1792 Marine Drive, Astoria, oped some very large cracks in the deck Oregon 97103. when the locomotives it had been carry- Rachel Wynne ing broke loose and rolled around the deck like proverbial loose cannon. Eventually the locomotives rolled over the side, but not without taking the ship's gun turret with them.

By the fall of 1944, the shipping agents working for the U.S. War Shipping Administration were supervising the use of more than 3,500 ships, some 20 million tons of shipping. Ships were dispatched from United States ports on an average of one every 30 minutes. These ships and the men who served on them have only recently been awarded the status of veterans by the United States government. The men and women who served in the U.S. MerRefji'.fter rtl !IOllr 11er1resl lUll!,11plo!l,ne11t Serrice Qffiee cha n t Marine have waited a long 46 years to be recognized as vetflirr ,S'ltippil~f/ .Mmiltislratioll erans of global conflict.

More than 6,300 merch an t sea m en di e d World War II War Shipping Administration poster. while doin g their jobs

''YOU BET lit IOINI BICK TO SEIi'' U. S.MERCHANT MARINE

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Going Somewhere: A Tale of Two Bridges A short time before the construction bonds for the Astoria bridge were retired, Astoria Librarian Bruce Berney passed along an article published by the Cowlitz County Historical Society in 1984 on the construction of the Longview, or Lewis and Clark, bridge in the 1920s. The two stories behind building these big bridges on the lower Columbia are in some ways interrelated, making an interesting study in comparison and contrast.

Both tales begin in the 1920s. A 6-car ferry began shuttling passengers and vehicles across the Columbia between Kelso, Washington, and Rainier, Oregon in 1922. That same year, believing that shoppers could be drawn across the river to spend their money in Oregon, the Oregon legislature approved building a bridge between the two points. However, with the following year, the rapid development of the planned industrial community of Longview across the river caused Oregon backers to reverse their position. The Port of Portland and Portland's daily Oregon Journal were most vocal in the-ir opposition. Chief among proponents of the bridge was Long Bell's chief engineer Wesley Vandercook.

Original plans for the bridge called for a span with a height of 175 feet over mean low water, and piers 1000 feet apart. When Secretary of War Davis approved these plans, Portlanders demanded at least three cabinet level officers pass on the specifications. That was done, with President Coolidge signing the bill authorizing construction on 28 January 1927. Bridge opponents then insisted that the vertical lift be raised to a minimum of 185 feet and the horizontal span increased to 1,120 feet. The effect of these design changes would, in effect, be almost to double construction costs.

Undaunted, Vandercook returned to Longview on 5 November 1927 with full approval to begin construction. Jubilant, the banner headline in The Daily News shouted in triumph, "IS COMPLETE VICTORY OVER PORTLAND." The Lewis and Clark bridge was designed by Strauss Engineering of Chicago, who ten years later designed the Golden Gate bridge between San Francisco and Marin, California. It is said that Joseph Strauss loved cantilevers, originally submitting a design for the Golden Gate that looked very much like his earlier bridge at Longview. Comparisons to its more famous sibling aside, the Lewis and Clark bridge was an impressive achievement in its own right.

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Reuben Jensen photo of Astoria's "Bridge to Nowhere," ca. 1963.

At the time of its construction, it was the longest cantilever span in the United States and the highest such structure over a shipping lane anywhere in the world.

The Longview Columbia Bridge Company and its principal contractor, Bethlehem Steel Corporation, completed the span in 1930 at a cost of $5,300,000.

Among the many innovations that went into the design of the bridge was using crushed lava rock in the concrete of the road bed, which decreased the load weight by approximately 23% without affecting the structural strength.

On 29 March 1930, the new bridge was dedicated. President Hoover pushed a telegraph button in the White House to cut the ribbon. On hand for the cere-

1983.85.32

mony were Governor Roland Hartley of Washington and the Governor of Oregon, Alvin Norblad of Astoria. It seemed a new era of progress was about to unfold on the lower Columbia.

Unfortunately, like the rest of the nation, the Pacific Northwest in 1930 was in the grip of the Great Depression. The $1 toll, calculated to keep the company afloat, was out of reach for many potential bridge-crossers . A year after the dedication, the company was renamed the Longview Bridge Company and coni:rol was passed over to Bethlehem Steel as principal stockholder. Following World War II, the State of Washington stepped in to take over the bridge after several years of haphazard maintenance.

Traffic increased in the decades that followed and the dreams of the backers of the Longview bridge were more than fulfilled. The bridge became an integral link in interstate commerce. On 22 October 1965, the 50¢ toll was removed. By 1970, nearly 3-1/2 million vehicles rolled over the bridge each year.

The year 1930, which saw the completion of the Longview bridge, also marked a watershed in the effort to build a bridge across the Columbia at Astoria. In April of that year, the U.S. Senate passed, and in June, President Hoover signed a bill permitting construction of a proposed toll bridge at Astoria. In 1934, Congress even approved building the bridge as a Public Works Administration project, but funding for the estimated $6,000,000 project never was allocated. Decades of repeated efforts to get the project under way yielded little but frustration. A private offer to finance the bridge in 1941 brought protests from the Port of Portland and expressions of concern from the Navy Department that the bridge might interfere with aviation from the newly established Naval Air Station Tongue Point. Following World War II, passage of a bill pei:mitting construction of a bridge at Astoria in 1946 marked the 10th time Congress had authorized such a structure since 1930. All to no avail.

What did happen in 1946 was the takeover of Capt. Fritz Elving's Astoria North Beach Ferry Company by the State of Oregon. Beginning operations in 1921, Elving's ferry business for many years ran a profitable operation with a reputation for sailing on schedule. Financial difficulties following World War II im. pelled Merle Chessman, editor of the Astorian- Evening Budget and chairman of the Oregon State Highway Commission to urge the state to take action. The ferry fleet expanded with the addition of the new all-steel, 46-car ferry M. R. Chessman.

But, as some local wags noted, the state's ferries ran in the red and seldom sailed on time. Increasing traffic during the prosperous decade of the 1950s did little to help matters. During the busy summer season, ferry passengers often had to wait for hours to make the crossing. Others simply drove to Longview to cross the bridge.

During the 1950s, the movement for building a bridge at Astoria started gaining ground with action taken by officials in Oregon and Washington. In 1953, the Oregon State Highway Department, the Washington Toll Bridge Authority, Pacific County and the Port of Astoria established a $50,000 fund to conduct a feasibility study for building such a bridge.

Quarterdeck, Vol. 20 No. 2

The completed study estimated construction cost at $25,000,000. In 1957, the state legislatures of Oregon and Washington each appropriated $100,000 to finance construction plans.

Finally, the moment residents on both sides of the lower Columbia had been waiting for came to pass. Sponsored by state Representative Bill Holmstrom and shepherded through the Oregon Senate

by President of the Senate Dan Thiel, House Bill No. 1457 authorizing sale of $24,000,000 in construction bonds for the bridge was signed by Governor Mark Hatfield on 27 April 1961. Washington officials also had long sought to build a bridge between Astoria and Pacific County, Washington. With strong support from Governor Rosselini, the state legislature passed Chapter 209 of Washington's Session Laws for 1961, authorizing participation in the project. On 15 September 1961, the Highway Departments of the two states entered into a cooperative agreement for construction.

On the 9th of August the following year, Governor Hatfield presided over the formal groundbreaking. "The Bridge to Nowhere" was about to go somewhere.

The contract for the bridge originally went to Delong Corporation of New York. However, in 1963, serious flaws were discovered in two concrete piers poured under 70 feet of water. Litigation over the matter took the next 13 years to resolve, eventually resulting in a judgment in favor of the State of Oregon.

Building the bridge substructure was turned over to Raymond International, Inc., of New York. The superstructure contract went to U.S Steel, with other contracting work provided by a number of other firms. As in the case of building the Longview bridge some 30 years before, prodigious efforts and immense quantities of materials were necessary to complete the job. The center span over the shipping channel is 1,232 feet long, which together with its adjoining 616foot end spans constitutes the longest continuous truss in the United States.

Clearance above mean low water is a minimum of 193 feet adjacent to the concrete supporting piers, rising to 206 feet at center span. The shipping channel is 1,070 feet between the timber piling fenders surrounding the piers. The viaduct section north of the shipping channel is 11,200 feet long, riding 25 feet above the often dry Desdemona Sands.

Approaching the north channel, the span rises to 49 feet over mean low water, with a channel width of 335 feet. At this location the concrete piers are the deepest of the entire structure, extending 85 feet

below mean sea level. The piers are supported by piling driven another 51 feet into the river bed, for a total of 136 feet.

The bridge is a total of 21,800 feet long, spanning 4.1 miles of the Columbia River between Astoria and Pt. Ellice.

Completion of the Astoria-Megler bridge in 1966 closed the last gap in U.S. Highway 101 between Tijuana, Mexico, and Olympia, Washington. Quietly, on the 29th of July, the bridge was openedto one-way traffic. Also that day, ferry service was discontinued after 45 years of plying the Columbia's waters. First to cross the new bridge were two Astoria Clown Cars, leading a cavalcade of twenty vehicles, sirens blaring. (Maybe not so quiet, after all.) Next to cross was Astoria Mayor Harry Steinbock, long an ardent supporter of building the bridge. Many of those first-comers later experienced a letdown of sorts. Scrap metal from construction flattened tires, and bridge-green spraypaint drifted onto crossing vehicles, but a sweep with an electromagnet and a bit of wiping up in the days that followed seem to have solved these difficulties.

The bridge was dedicated Saturday, 26 August 1966, as a climax for the annual Astoria Regatta. Governor Hatfield and Washington Governor Dan Evans presided, along with the chairmen of their state highway departments, Glenn Jackson of Oregon and Elmer Huntley of Washington. The M. R. Chessman returned to duty for the day, carrying 2659 pedestrians out for a view from the river. The old Astoria railway depot, closed since 1952, hosted a 15-car excursion train from Portland.

Some 9,400 cars crossed the bridge that day before the $1,50 toll went into effect at midnight.

Now the toll is gone and traffic over the bridge in either direction is literally free to pass. Pessimistic predictions in the 1950s that it would take 45 years and heavy state subsidies to pay off construction costs for a bridge at Astoria were, to say the least, somewhat in error.

Suggested Further Reading "Courage on the Columbia: The Lewis and Clark Bridge," Cowliz Historical Quarterly, Vol. XXVI, No. 1, Spring 1984. ''The Astoria-Megler Bridge ... A Dream Come True," by former Washington State Senator Robert C. Bradley, in The Sou'wester, the quarterly of the Pacific County Historical Society, Vo!. XXVI, Nos. 2-3, Summer-Autumn 1991.

"Bridge Testimony to Dedication" and "Astorians Rejoiced Over Span," by Vera Gault, weekly columns published in The Daily Astorian on July 17 and 24, 1987.

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The Wandering Fleet: The West Coast Troll Fishery

by Larry Johnson Salmon trolling, by recreational anglers off Monterey, California, began as early as 1893. Commercial trolling came into being around 1913 after the invention of the sea-going gasoline engine. Many of the first salmon trollers were gillnetters avoiding the closed season on the Columbia River. In 1916, The Chinook Observer noted that a troller "with small capital can make his way and his living outside, free from blustering elements and tax-eating enactments of our refined but predatory civilization."

Today salmon trollers range from Alaska to central California, working out of several ports along the coast. Small troll fleets of three to ten boats form close-knit communities, maintaining close ties that go beyond their professional concerns. These fleets, or "running groups," even have their own coded language, so they can exchange information on the radio without giving anything away to competing fleets. Using "clean" fishing methods that have changed little since the early 1900s, trollers fish selectively, carrying on a proud heritage that is less than a century old.

In a half-hour documentary video, entitled The Wandering Fleet, we hope to explore the history of the West Coast troll fishery. Oral history interviews are being conducted with a number of fish-

ermen who remember the heyday of the fishery in the Twenties. Current fishing practices will be videotaped and old photos will be reproduced to show the continuity of the industry over time.

Stories of breakdowns at sea and other adventures will be combined with dialogue about the evolution of the boats and gear, about friendships and family relationships within running groups, about wild port towns, superstitions, food and the fishing way of life. The Wandering Fleet will bring to its audience a sense of the community among troll fishers, both men and women, and will serve as an important cultural document for the future.

The Wandering Fleet will be produced by the Lower Columbia Oral Heritage Project through the support of Oregon State University Extension/Sea Grant under the direction of Jim Bergeron. The project follows upon the award-winning documentary Work Is Our Joy: The Story of the Columbia River Gillnetter, which recently was aired on Oregon Public Broadcasting. An advisory panel of fishermen and scholars will assure the accuracy of our portrayal of the troll fishery.

The Wandering Fleet will be distributed to schools, libraries and community groups, and will be available to the public for home viewing.

Individuals and organizations interested in contributing to the production of this documentary can do so through the Oregon State University Foundation. For further information, please contact Jim Bergeron at the Marine Extension office in Astoria, (503) 325-8027.

Trollers interviewed to date include: Ingvald Ask, Seattle; Roger Bailey, Seattle; Alfred Berthelson, Cannon Beach; Robert Engbloom, Astoria; Keane and Helen Gau, Port Angeles; David Grauberger, Port Angeles; Roy Gunnari, Coos Bay; Jake Harper, Coos Bay; John Hill, Astoria; Arnold Hockema, Coos Bay; James Kindred, Astoria; Ralph Lammi, Astoria; Rudy Lovvold, Astoria; Art Mather, Astoria; Hugh McNeil, Bandon; Kay and David Peters, Port Angeles; James Suomela, Astoria.

Larry Johnson is the award winning producer of Work Is Our Joy, as well as Remembering Uniontown and Steam Whistle Logging for the Clatsop County Historical Society. His recent work has taken him to Montana and Idaho to produce the audio/visual components of Sacred Encounters, an exhibit about the impact of Jesuit missionaries on the Salish-speaking peoples of the Northern Rockies and the Plateau.

John Hill = Astoria

The Hill brothers are long-time Astoria trollers of almost legendary standing.

8

A good fisherman, he's a highliner. You had to fish hard and you had to go out there. You can't listen to news and hear that, oh, some says there's no fish, no use going out there. You got to go out there anyhow.

I don't know names, but I can remember one kid real well. I used to hear he was a good fisherman, a good boat puller. He got a boat, he bought a boat. But he couldn't make it. He'd go in port. he'd say, oh, there's nothing out there, no use going out. But you can't do that. You got to look.

I like the ocean. I enjoyed it. It was never really work to me. Even if long days and long hours., I just love the sea. Then you come in, blowing. In a day you're all ready to take off again. I like the ocean. · The one thing i;,, too - when you're fishing, big thing is your own boss.

Nobody tells you what to do. You do as you please, but you know you're going to have to do it, but you do it as you want to do it. I love the ocean.

I have to tell you a tuna story. This is true. I don't know if it's happened to anybody else. We were off from San Francisco. It was real nice weather. I woke up in the morning, I went over side. There was tuna all around the boat. It was still dark, kind of just before daylight. I said, what the heck am I going to do now? Do I have to start up and start circling? I said, no I can't do that, they'll disappear. So I went into the stern and start throwing over foe tuna line with a jig on the end. Fish took it right away. I pulled in 21 fish without moving. They were all big lunkers, too, and they w ere kind of hard to land. When you 're moving it's easier to land a fish. If the boat is still it's harder. Bu t I got 21 fish, big fish. I never heard of any one else doing that.

Alfred Berthelson - Cannon Beach My dad came over on a sailing ship. He jumped ship in Astoria in 1903. He got into the fishing business, so he was one of the pioneers in it.

In those days the fishing was a lot different than it is now . They had open boats and you didn't have much shelter.

You had to wear clothes to keep warm.

They had sheepskin coats with raw sheepskin inside and a big sheepskin collar. When my dad started, he was into all the fisheries. He trolled and he was one of the pioneers in the crab fishing area. His first experiences trolling were in those open boats - that's all they had.

They went out around the bar where they'd fish. The lures that they used were just a piece of brass they hit with a hammer on the end to bend it over so it would flop a little in the water and put a hook on it and a line. They had one line, that's all, and one spoon tied to the oars.

I think my dad, if I remember right he told me the first day he ever went trolling on the North spit in August they had around 1200 pounds of big salmon. There was a lot of fish around in those days and big August runs . They had a river trolling season for the commercials in August on the big tules.

The first time my dad Jet me go trolling alone was when I was 14 years old, in the river, though. You get three big tules on the line, why, you've got something to pull in, I'll tell you. One going one way and one going the other way. But you

Alfred Berthelson is a second generation Columbia River troller.

seemed to get them. Of course, some get away. They don't all stay on the hooks.

You lose lots of fish, but I'm sure they swim on and go on up the river.

It was a lot of fun in those days - I don't know, it was different. In later years, you had everything to do for you, all the electronics gear. You've got power gurdies to pull them in. About all you do now is go out and run the boat, but in those days, why, you had to run the boat

and do everything. There was no automatic pilots. They had kind of a stick put into the tiller and you stood with that in between your knees. When you stood there for many days at a time with that, your knees would get sore. And they'd put sponge rubber or wrap them with rags in your knees so you could stand there all day in those double-end boats and steer with your knees, because that's the only way with no automatic pilots.

Keane and Helen Gau - Port Angeles Keane: Our first boat was a 40-foot wooden sailboat, adequate quarters for the family, minimal quarters for fish, but at that time we day-fished and sold our product every night, and the family had plenty of room on board. All the kids say it was a wonderful way to grow up. We progressed from there and our expertise became better, to the point where we needed a better boat, so we got our second boat, ·the Bluejacket, a SO-foot steel ketch, and fished it for a number of years, and then took off and went cruising in the South Pacific.

Helen: All the youngsters were raised

Keane and Helen Gau left other careers to raise a family on a trolling boat.

Quarterdeck, Vol. 20 No. 2

on the boat. Bob was five weeks old when he started. Lorraine was 5 and Gracie was 8 when we started. They were all part of our crew. We just never considered it a job. We've always considered it a lifestyle and a wonderful style of life for our family.

9

Correspondence: The Seining Grounds Revisited In the summer of 1938 I worked on what I recall was the Taylor Sands seining ground, east of Tongue Point. I worked for a fellow named Chet Smith who was a friend of my parents.

While I worked in the chest-high waders referred to in Cecil Moberg's story, I did not work in the water as he did. If you look at the photo on page 5, you will note a large skiff holding the seine. In order to get the net from the water into the skiff, three men stood at the skiff's stern and pulled the net in my hand. One man pulled in the corkline, one the leadline, and one the net itself or the web as we referred to it.

Doing this job called for almost superhuman effort, at least when you first started and weren't in the best physical shape. Pulling in that water-soaked web was particularly hard.

We stayed on the sands, in a bunkhouse built on pilings, from Sunday night until Saturday. At the end of that first week I would have quit I was so exhausted - but I didn't because I needed the money for my sophomore year at college.

By the end of the second week I was in better shape and before long I could pull that web all day.

- Don Goodall Dunedin, Florida

Congratulations on an outstanding review of the Columbia River seine fishing in your Fall-Winter issue of the Quarterdeck. It brought back great memories of my days working at the CRP A Elmore cannery; Ollie Strand the plant superintendent, Harold Heaton the oil plant foreman, and a great crew. I was night shift foreman in the oil plant in 1936, but had opportunities to visit the seine operations on Desdemona Sands and also upriver near Altoona where there was a small cannery and receiving station. Another cannery was located at Ellsworth, Washington, east of Vancouver, from which we received tips for oil making. We also used eggs, backbones/heads to produce a food grade oil added to the pack to offset the color changes; i.e., spring red oil was used to color the pale fall fish and pale fall oil put in the spring pack to level out the oil content and color of the pack.

Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of the seine operations, but always wished I'd had a movie of that most interesting and exciting method of fishing.

Sometimes they would get. five tons, then only five steelhead 2 feet long! Luck of the game! I recall it said that some nets were 750 fathoms, or 4500 feet long - set out by good sized tugs, but the horse activities set the pace.

I noted, too, with great interest the photo by Rolf Klep. Rolf was with us in what we called the Astoria Volunteers and in your files are Rolf's photographs of our efforts to recover the bodies from the SS Iowa that sank off the end of the North jetty in the big storm of 1936, with the loss of all hands.

But, back to seining, sorry I didn't meet Cecil Moberg (those men were busy!). It is great he was able to record the history and preserve the heritage. I've made several copies of your article to give to my old friends to support my tall tales of the industry. Happily, other parts are preserved in the Museum, as those days are long gone.

Best wishes for continued success in all your efforts.

- James Jensen San Mateo Califronia P.S. I made a bet of $10.00 with Hans Pqasma (spelling?) that we would never see a bridge across the Columbia River in our lifetime! I still owe it to him and will pay, but where is he? Hopefully, he doesn't want interest at 6% for the 58 years, that would come to (10)(1.06) to the 58th power or $295 compounded. He would probably get $285 worth of satisfaction in knowing his projection was correct!

New Members - October 1- December 31, 1993 FAMILY

INDIVIDUAL

. Richard L. Bergeron Muriel Bruning Floyd Hansen Daniel S. Hawken Marie McLauclan R. Jonathan Meigs Bart Oja Robert D. Ross Curt Schneider Edward W. Smith Ilse D. Spang Jane L. Worley

HaejungAn Sy! Behrman Doris & Joseph Brant Michael & Pat Capper John & Bonnie Capper Bud Clark Mr. & Mrs. Floyd A. Crouch, Jr. Patricia & Buddy Custard John & Marilyn Ducich Chris & Mimo Ecker & Family Molly Elliott Randy & Linda Flodquist Robert Gannaway Steve & Suzi Gerttula Don & Grace Goodall

Tilzer W. Hargreaves John & Micky Keiter Peter & Bridget Kolb Arthur & Dorothy McLain Mr. & Mrs. Ward Paldanius Constance Paulitz Mr. & Mrs. James A. Reiger & Family Eugene & Pat Roach Mr. & Mrs. Leroy W. Steinmann Gary & Bernadine Thurman Mel Wachs Dennis & Kris McElroy Weber Janet N. & Thomas E. Wright John Wubben Michael Yourkowski

SUPPORTING

Clatsop I?roperties, Inc. Mr. & Mrs. William R. Kales Leslie A. Sandberg Ron & Gayle Timmerman Leslie B. Wheeler Bill & Rachel Young SUSTAINING

Mr. & Mrs. Herman M. Haggren Horace Harrison, Jr. Richard F. Hudson Captain Robert W. Johnson

Increased Memberships - October 1 - December 31, 1993 FAMILY

SUPPORTING

SUSTAINING

Captain William P. Connolly ~ob Finzer Captain Alf P. Hammon Mr. & Mrs. G. E. Wright

Fred & Susan Borg Earl Hansen Lowell & Sue Marsh Mr. & Mrs. Wallace Preble Robert W. Roehm Lonn & Edith Taylor

Frank Bauman Clean Services Mr. & Mrs. Fred W. Fields Captain & Mrs. Paul Jackson

Johnson Oil Company Mr. & Mrs. C. H. Skinner, Jr. Charles J. Thompson Dr. & Mrs. David I. Williams

Memorial Donations - October 1 - December 31, 1993 WAINO ANDERSON Ida E. Lundgren Adelma Saari MARGARET L. ANDERSON Marilyn J. Anderson Mr. & Mrs. Arthur E. Johanson Sven & Viola Lund WILLIAM MARTIN BAISLEY Hope Moberg & Family Helen Sorkki FRANK BAKER Dick & M. E. Olsen HENRY ARTHUR 'HANK' BEWERSOORFF Mr. & Mrs. William R. King MRS. JOSEPH T. BISHOP Mr. & Mrs. Robert M. Fletcher CAPTAIN JOSEPH T. BISHOP Mr. & Mrs. Robert M. Fletcher PETER F. BUTLER Dorothy G. Butler HAROLD N. CHRISTENSEN Gladys Haglund Duncan I Mr. & Mrs. Harold C. Hendriksen Trygve & Aini Duoos Ernest & Lorna Kairala Mr. & Mrs. Arthur E. Johanson Ethel M. Berry Howard & Mary Lovvold Bob & Bernice Paschall JOHN COLLINS Donald V. Riswick LUCY CORKILL Charles & Nellie Hansen CAPTAIN JACK DART & lTOL DART HEATH Theodore & Leonora Dart Graham CAPTAIN ROBERT 0 .

ELSENSOHN Captain & Mrs. Joseph Bruneau Yergen & Meyer, CPA's Mr. & Mrs. Nicholas D. Zafiratos ERIC H. FEASEY, SR. David & Pat Hallin CHARLES M. GUSTAFSON Mr. & Mrs. Melvin Hjorten Paula T. Morrow Mr. & Mrs. Ernest E. Brown Mr. & Mrs. Arthur E. Johanson Robert & Mary Oja Mr. & Mrs. Richard C. Paulsen

Quarterdeck, Vol . 20 No. 2

ANNA HENDERSON Mr. & Mrs. Robert Roeser Mr. & Mrs. Fred L. Bacigalupi Margaret Farley Mr. & Mrs. Nicholas D. Zafiratos Elsa Simonsen Marva Jean Frisbie Mabel Herold Mr. & Mrs. Norman Saarheim Max & Roma Bigby Althea Peterson Ellen K. Sanford Arthur & Helen Stromsness Roy & Gertrude Kinnunen Elvie Wuori P. L. & Bonnie Barnet Trudy M. Glein Mr. & Mrs. Arthur E. Johanson Dorothy A. Teinson ImpiAspen Robert & Bernice Cordiner Carol Bakanen John & Elfi Nordgren Arlee Huhtala Gib & Linda Williamson Margaret Morrison Mr. & Mrs. Glenn Larson Martha Johanson Selma Peterson Linda K. Niemelin Eleanor A. Kaser Ruth Maki Sylvia Mowrey Al & Verna Davis Donald & Patricia Bauer HONEYMAN FAMILY MEMORIAL Mrs. A. Alan Honeyman ARTHUR C. JOHNSON Ernest & Lorna Kairala Georgia Maki & Hank Ramvick Torvo KIVISTO Paul & Rena Reimers

Ola F. Labiske Mr. & Mrs. Ken Lampi Wade & Karen Larson Walt Larson SamH. Lee Dewey & Janet Maxson Mr. & Mrs. W.B. Montgomery Toivo & Shirley Mustonen Paul & Rena Reimers Marie Sarampaa Richard & Ellen Skipper Harold Strasser Arnold & Mary Tolonen Mr. & Mrs. Wayne Tolonen Mr. & Mrs. John R. Warila Walter & Dolores Schade TerryDuoos Gladys Haglund Duncan Grace & Kelly Larson Mr. & Mrs. Clarence 0. Dreyer GORDON G. LARSON Evelyn H. Hill CAMERON ALLEN LARSON Florence Wrenn LORRAINE M. LEAHY Clara E. Miles ~arry & Jean Petersen SADA E. THOMSEN LENTS Paul & Rena Reimers PAULINE S. MARINCOVICH Howard Jollie PAULINE MCCALLUM Dorothy G. Butler CAPTAIN w. G. McCALLlJ1v1 Dorothy G. Cutler BURTON ARTHUR MILLER Nellie Hansen ALDEN PEDAR MILLER Sandra Ramsdell

CARL LABISKE EUGENE 5. MOORE Norman & Idamae Forney Mr. & Mrs. Arvi W. Ostrom Mr. & Mrs. Jack Brunner MABLE E. OLSON Marva Jean Frisbie Mr. & Mrs. Arthur E. Johanson Mr. & Mrs. A. C. Manners Mr. & Mrs. William R. King JALMER 'JAY' OREN Armas & Thelma Niskanen Donald V. Riswick The Darrell Standages J. Dan Webster WILLIAM C. PALMBERG, SR. Mr. & Mrs. James A. Doig Florence Wrenn 0. W. & Louise Beasley Larry & Jean Petersen Mr. & Mrs. Kenneth Carlstrom Mr. & Mrs. Roland E. Larson Mr. & Mrs. Heinz J. Fick Toivo & Shirley Mustonen Mr. & Mrs. Don Fisher Mr. & Mrs. Eugene Knutsen Emmy Oren G. John Haglund EDWARD L. PELDO Mr. & Mrs. Palmer Henningsen Ernest & Lorna Kairala Mr. & Mrs. Richard K. Jackson Greg & Nellie Johanson

MARTHA PHILLIPS Herman & MaryLou Haggren FLOYD S. ROBERTS Mr. & Mrs. Peter G . Wascher MONTE C. RODIN David & Pat Hallin LLOYD J. ROWLEY Marion & Arnold Swanson RANCE DAVID SoPKO Bill & Madonna Pitman LAWSON STEVENSON D. E. & Doris Link Mr. & Mrs. Andrew D. Carlson Albin & Janice !hander John & Alice Codd Merrill & Rita Ginn Sylvia Nelson Helen Sorkki Gil Kamara Alf & Randi Olsen Armas & Thelma Niskanen Herman & MaryLou Haggren LEILA SVENSON Grace & Kelly Larson ADALINE SVENSON Mr. & Mrs. Ernest Brown BETTYTAKKO Vera Pearson Don & Joan Webb LEONARD THOMPSON George & Helen Blinco LAJ.JREL E. UNDERHILL Bill & Madonna Pitman

Special Memorials MR. & MRS. PETER J. BRIX CHRISTMAS DONATION Mr. & Mrs. Ed Beall

Donations Mr. & Mrs. Ernest Brown Mr. & Mrs. Richard Carruthers Ward Cook Jack Dant Richard & Geraldine Fettig J. W. Forrester Alan Goudy Alan Green Peter Koerner Rob Mangold David M. Myers Patricia North William T. C. Stevens Frank M . Warren Wheeler Foundation

11

Artist's Work Shows the Variety of Puget Sound Marine watercolors by Vashon Island artist Michael Spakowsky are currently on display in the Museum's Kern Room, providing a colorful view of the maritime scene around Puget Sound. The show will run through June 15th.

Museum members and visitors are cordially invited to come and enjoy Mr. Spakowsky's wide variety of works. He portrays working waterfronts, tugboats, historic vessels, fishing boats, and simple skiffs in an easy, flowing style born of a lifelong familiarity with the ways of the water. Michael Spakowsky has lived and painted on Vashon Island for most of his life. He has sailed, fished commercially, and built boats on and around Puget Sound, lending a deep knowledge of all things nautical to his watercolors of the area.

The twenty-seven original works on display were loaned by private collectors Lorelei and Manfred Scharig of Seattle. Although the original watercolors are not for sale, the Museum Store has four selected prints of Mr. Spakowsky's work available for purchase. His work has been featured on the Foss calendar and in several Northwest galleries.

Marine Art Sails Into View June 25th Anyone who has ever longed to capture the elusive appearance of a ship silhouetted against the shore, anyone who has ever set brush to canvas, can well appreciate all it takes to bring marine subjects to life as works of art. Technical skill and creativity help, but above all, marine art involves a feeling for ships, the sea, and the shoreside environment.

The sense of neverending motion, the light on the water, the textures of wood and steel, the sweeping lines of boats all come together in the time honored tradition of marine art. And some of the best contemporary West Coast marine works are coming to the Museum this summer.

On June 25th, the Museum will open what promises to be a splendid show by West Coast members of the American Society of Marine Artists - some of the finest marine painters in the country. Selected works will be exhibited through October 23rd in the Great Hall and the Kern Room.

Museum Trustee,Bill Stevens, himself an accomplished marin·e artist, is the current President of the American Society of Marine Artists. He is organizing the show with the help of Curator Anne Witty, and has invited over 80 artist members of the A.S.M.A. from Oregon, Washington, California and Alaska to submit works for consideration. The show will be juried. Plan to join us this summer for a special reception to honor the participating artists. Details will be published in the next Quarterdeck.

COLUMBIA RIVER MARITIME MUSEUM 1792 MARINE DRIVE ASTORIA, OREGON 97103

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