Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
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Only Time Will Tell A century from now historians and the curiosity seekers will look back and ponder at the things that have occurred in the last year between 2019 and 2020. This recent pandemic, regardless of one’s opinion, has reshaped our generation and we have yet to see the outcome or aftermath. The one thing that comes to mind concerning some of this is when some have suggested defunding the police. In a perfect world that would be an ideal situation. In the real world the last thing we need is not having any type of police. Anarchy a...
Odd Behavior Explained In a previous article in The Wahkiakum County Eagle, I wrote about the importance of cats in the county. This story was partly inspired by the feral cats I saw at Deep River Camp and because my daughter rescued a European Shorthair cat that was already trained to use the litter box. This breed of cat is believed to have originated in Sweden and was found to be very common as well in Finland before being seen across the United States. I remember a scripture in the Bible...
Let There Be Light As a bored teenager walking down the aisles of my high school library perusing the book shelves for nothing in particular, one book caught my eye and would forever change the way I looked at light. I even asked myself why this particular book would even be in a high school library because there were no studies in this particular field of science at my school. The book was written by a very well-known theoretical physicist by the name of Albert Einstein. His book The Theory of Relativity and Other Essays was written in 1950,...
The Power of Water: Grays River Grange Landslide In some of the previous articles I have discussed the power of water and how it has affected our lives. It is more evident in Wahkiakum County every year by freshets flooding the lowlands and the numerous landslides that permeate the area. In this last month the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) has been clearing debris from a new slide on State Route 4 across from Grays River Grange #124 just west of Duffy's Irish Pub. This...
The Power of Water: Essential to Life In a previous article in Downriver Dispatches I wrote about the power of water in the sense of its ability to physically change our lifestyle through weather phenomena such as tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, etc. Water also has the power to make changes in our lives in another way. In a Harvard University article featured in Science in the News, the authors answered the question as to why water is important to life. Dehydration can occur with a loss of just...
Spokane Woman Founds Father’s Day There are many events that may have inspired the idea of Father's Day, and one was the start of the Mother's Day tradition in the first decade of the 20th century. Sonora Smart Dodd (1882-1978) is the officially recognized founder of Father’s Day. She was the main persuasive figure in the establishment of Father's Day. Her father, William Smart, raised six children by himself after the death of their mother during childbirth. This was very rare at that time. Most widowers either married again or placed the...
The Power of Water Wahkiakum and Pacific County have had their share of rain and then some with the common result of massive flooding. According to the National Weather service, those who have been residents of coastal areas understand the danger of storm surge damage. Although the tropical storms and hurricanes get named, those who experienced any of these storms are not likely to remember the names of the storms. The January, 2016, east coast blizzard had several feet of snow and the coastal waters pushed massive amounts of water and waves in...
KM Mountain Slide update Anyone who has been driving over the KM Mountain is well aware that even though the seeding process was successful, the continuous rainfall has caused the slide to move again. I have been in contact with Tamara Greenwell, the Lead Communicator for the Washington State Department of Transportation (WADOT). She communicated to me that the cleanup efforts are ongoing and going well. Each day crews are hauling out large amounts of debris. WSDOT estimated about 50,000 cubic...
Story and photos by Darrell Alexander The Covid19 virus has curtailed many people from traveling through the county. Since Phase II has begun, the governor has lifted the restrictions on restaurants in the state. Those that have reopened are using only 50 percent seating capacity in order to comply with the governor's suggested guidelines for social distancing. They are also in compliance with the Atlanta based Center for Disease Control's (CDC) suggested guidelines for social distancing. This i...
An Incentive for Having a Garden Travelling through the West end of Wahkiakum County over the last several years has given me a little insight as to why people have a garden. It is mainly to supply their family and community with a large quantity of fresh, healthy vegetables throughout the season. Having a garden can also beautify the landscape. An incentive for having a garden is that people can grow crops they prefer that are not found in the stores in this area. One reason I decided to write...
Rosburg Cemetery The Rosburg Cemetery is here today because of the gracious donation of the land by the Andresen and Johnson families in the late 19th century. Thanks to Ed Stevens from Ilwaco for mowing the lawns. American Legion Post #111 representative Dale Rose was at the cemetery last Wednesday with his son placing American flags on the graves of deceased veterans. The very first person to be buried there was Asmus Andresen on December 29, 1885. The cemetery is located on the south side of...
I noticed a sign on the door of the local barber shop in Cathlamet that the Governor had shut them down during this Covid19 pandemic. I had just taken my daughter to a dentist in Battle Ground, and the question that came to me and to others was: Why is a dentist office safer than a barber shop? This is someone violating the 6-foot rule and has his hands in your mouth. I have never seen a barber cut hair facing his customer. This intrigued me into wondering what the difference was between...
Wear a N95 Mask? A minor study concerning headaches and the N95 face-mask between healthcare providers published in U.S. Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health on PubMed.gov in 2006 looked at healthcare workers wearing N95 masks during the SARS epidemic. It suggested that the use of N95 masks may cause the healthcare workers to develop headaches and wearing them for shorter amounts of time may reduce the frequency and severity of the headaches. It was during the 2003 severe acute...
In Remembrance of Edwin Warren Wirkkala I barely knew Ed Wirkkala, but I did have the honor of speaking with him on several occasions and I was able to interview him at the 9th Annual Loggers' Reunion at the Appelo Archives Center in Naselle. This was a wonderful experience for all who attended, not only for the memories that were shared, but also for a glimpse into the past by then 95 year old Ed Wirkkala. He was part of a time when men went through the school of hard knocks to learn their...
Astoria-Megler Bridge The mouth of the Columbia River was a devious and dangerous place for early explorers. Most exploring the west coast couldn't see it at all, and many who did find it were cautious to enter. Robert Gray successfully navigated the river in 1792. He named it after his ship, Columbia. Although the Columbia River was discovered, it remained a tough place to settle. A small band of American settlers tried to establish a town 40 miles upriver in 1810, but were rapidly discouraged...
Life Is Good! Many years ago while living in Oklahoma and playing music for a local church, one of the parishioners asked me if I would share a song at his wedding. I wrote a song specifically for that wedding entitled, "You Don't Know What You've Got until It's Gone." With all that has been happening in the world and here at home locally, part of our world has changed and is gone and new things are taking place. For me, my life has not changed that much because I don't go out that much anyway....
Best Friends Reunited While I had my feet up on my desk reclining in my office chair in deep thought about nothing in particular with my eyes focused on Krsto Novoselic's painting of three ships on the horizon, I was abruptly brought out of my reverie by excitement coming from the living room. The room was dimly lit, and I could barely see that my daughter was holding something in her arms. I was surprised to see her holding a little black and tan Chihuahua. She brought this little precious,...
New SR4 Slide update As a citizen of the county I have had the pleasure of traveling and viewing the sights of the county. It is difficult in the rainy season that begins in November and continues through May. This is the period of time that most landslides occur. Many of you, the readers of The Wahkiakum County Eagle, may be surprised to see that the slide on SR4 has slid again a little, and many of you readers have shown a concern as to when this work project on the KM Mountain will be...
Getting Rid of Boredom As the days go quickly by and the virus that has kept us home is making its way across the world, we shelter ourselves for protection of ourselves and our loved ones. We start to think of different ways to fight the boredom of being isolated for so long with nowhere to go and nothing to entertain us. Some will find some solace in watching the television, surfing the internet, reading The Wahkiakum County Eagle and countless other things. At least you can start a garden...
Silly Things People Say This article is dedicated to the faithful readers of The Wahkiakum County Eagle who have a sense of humor; as for the rest I have no idea what to tell you. I am writing slowly because I understand some of you can’t read fast. All the isolation because of the virus has many people talking to themselves. I talk to myself all the time and some might find that a bit irritating; however, when I do talk to myself my conversations are really quite lively. The real but modest irritation for me is when I call myself and the p...
Sanity check The outbreak of the corona virus has left many with some fears that are unfounded and at times silly. This virus is a serious threat to everyone, but it would be wise to get the facts straight before making assumptions and creating a panic where there should not be one. While in a grocery store recently, I commented to a man that I had heard that Corona beer sales have dropped because of the virus. I thought it was a joke and so did he. When I said it, another man behind us began laughing hysterically. He looked at us and said...
The Importance of Cats in Wahkiakum County In the United States, cats are a more popular house pet than a dog. There are nearly 90 million domesticated cats in about 34 percent of U.S. homes. It has taken quite some time for researchers to put together just when and where cats became domesticated. The archaeological record should have answered the question; however, wild cats and domesticated cats have unusually similar skeletons, complicating things. Evidence came from the island of Cyprus in...
SR 4 Slide Update Tamara Greenwell, the lead communicator for the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT), communicated to me that the cleanup efforts are ongoing and going well. She indicated that each day crews are hauling out large amounts of debris. They posted a new video showing the cleanup progress on YouTube: https://youtu.be/wsoQv--7AG5o. WSDOT estimated about 50,000 cubic yards of rocks, soil and dirt slid off KM Mountain on January 23. This is sufficient debris to fill...
Oneida Is Gone but Not Forgotten Oneida Road and the few residents that live there today is a visible reminder of a once thriving community that became a ghost town nearly a century ago. The Columbia River, Grays River, and Deep River were the main highways for the early settlers who settled in what was to be called Oneida. They were mainly from Sweden and Finland and they cleared the land and built their homes. As these first pioneer families, who had relatives in the east, began to flourish, it became necessary to have a school and a post...
Oneida Road As a relatively new person to the county by local standards, it has been my pleasure to travel the different roads in the area. I have seen some of the maintenance needs on Eden Valley Road, Hull Creek Road, and Shannon Road. They all have their needs, but the one that really stuck out in my mind was Oneida Road. Not that this road was any different, but there were so many spots on Oneida Road that are dangerous to oncoming traffic because the road is not wide enough. The road has...
