We had a nice three day weekend for Christmas at Fort Stevens State Park. This is a huge park and, at one time, it was the site of a large
Army base protecting the mouth of the Columbia river. This is also where
you go if you want to see Oregon's most visible old ship wreck. There
have been a lot of ship wrecks here, but most of them haven't left much
to see. The wreck of the Peter Iredale is famous here. Postcards with
the sun setting behind the wreck are iconic.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Iredale
More of N. Oregon Coast's Wreck of Peter Iredale Showing Than Ever
Before: Astoria / Warrenton Surprise
https://www.beachconnection.net/news/more_wreck_peter_iredale_showing_ev er_before.php
The big story here isn't the ship wreck. It's the sand.
"Columbia River jetties changed the face of the Pacific Northwest
March 24, 2010
CORVALLIS, Ore. - The construction of jetties at the entrance to the
Columbia River has dramatically changed the Pacific Ocean shoreline for
long distances north and south of them, a new study concludes, in ways
so profound that the land has yet to reach a stable equilibrium a
century after they were built.
Contrary to older theories, these jetties have overwhelmed any changes
caused by the construction of multiple dams on the Columbia River and
their influence on sediment transport, researchers say. And even though
much new land was created by jetty construction, some of it is already eroding and it's unclear exactly what the future may bring, before more stability is achieved.
Further complicating the picture is sea-level rise, increasing wave
heights and the long-term potential for subsidence of land due to a subduction zone earthquake in this region.
Creation of the jetties in the late 1800s approximately doubled the rate
of shoreline buildup compared to the period prior to their construction,
the study concluded."
That whole area, and much further south were impacted by the
jetties. Historically Seaside had a small rocky beach. It now has a big
sandy beach with a lot ot tasty razor clams living in it. Just a bit
north or there, it had a huge impact on Gearhart. Nice places that had
been close to the ocean found themselves in the middle of a new sand
dunes.
The picture in the Beach Connection article tells you a lot of the story. The part of the wreck that is a dull green is the part of the
wreck that is usually covered by sand. Historically everything in the background did not exist. The sand mound in the background has been
mostly stabilized with imported European beach grass, except in the
parking lots on top of that. Our park service is obviously using heavy equipment to remove sand from the parking lots. The last time we were
there a big portion of the parking area had been taken over by the sand.
At this point a lot of the sand that accumulated around the wreck has obviously moved inland.
Getting a better picture of the size and shape of the Peter Iredale
was interesting, but I thought the changes in the beach were more interesting. The crew were easily able to get off the wreck, but they
had to wait for low tide so they could walk to dry land, which was
probably a bit further away back then. In recent years you could easily
walk to the wreck, except during high tide. Now you can only walk to the wreck during a low tide.
The picture in this article was taken last year. At that point there
was already more of the wreck exposed than I was used to seeing.
Fort Steven's Famous Shipwreck Is Just 300 Yards From The Parking Lot
The next two articles are fun stories about the wreck.
https://www.thetravel.com/what-to-know-about-peter-iredale-shipwreck-in- fort-stevens-state-park/
5 Quirky Facts About Wreck of Peter Iredale on N. Oregon Coast
https://www.beachconnection.net/news/5 _quirky_facts_wreck_peter_iredale110123.php
"Schemers sought to steal Peter Iredale shipwreck" https://offbeatoregon.com/1208d-schemer-sought-to-sell-peter-iredale- shipwreck-for-scrap.html
I think that guy was hoping to get some money for his paper.
Stranger things have happened.
"UPI ARCHIVES AUG. 12, 1989
National recreation area could be legally mined
REEDSPORT, Ore. -- A Bellevue, Wash., company may have the legal right
to mine sand in the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area.
U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management officials said Coosand Corp. has a sand mining claim on 780 acres of dunes north of Reedsport
on the central Oregon coast.
Although the tract is located in a 32,000-acre national recreation area,
the company could mine the sand, possibly for export to glass
manufacturers in Japan.
Coosand has held the claim since 1959 and is entitled to purchase the publicly owned land under the Mining Act of 1872. That law says
ownership can be obtained for only $2.50 an acre, with proof that a
valuable deposit has been found.
Coosand attorneys said the company would be willing to negotiate a land exchange."
https://www.upi.com/Archives/1989/08/12/National-recreation-area-could- be-legally-mined/3989618897600/
We drove home through Astoria and stopped at the Columbia River
Maritime Museum. If you are interested in this subject plan to spend at
least a couple of hours there. The museum itself is huge and they have
the last Columbia river lightship on display. It returned to the museum
6 months ago after extensive renovation in Portland. We were able to
visit the engine room. During the summer on weekends you would probably
need reservations. We saw people being turned away because there wasn't
room for them.
https://www.crmm.org/
We went further east, up the Columbia river and turned south to go through Mist and Vernona, because we had never been there. This is an
area with a lot of trees and enough scattered small farms that they have
two small Grange halls in that area. The highway through there is nicely paved, but it's narrow and has a LOT of curves. I'll bet motorcyclists
love highway 47, but it's likely to be interesting when log trucks are running through there. The day after Christmas traffic was light and it
was mostly big pickups.
The weather was excellent. We had some stormy weather, but it
cleared up enough Christmas eve that we were able to enjoy a campfire.
We are able to use our heavy weather gear at times and had nice weather
at low tide, when we could walk out to the wreck.
Except for the Loons, I hope everyone has a happy new year. And I
have to mention how much I enjoyed #45's Christmas messages, after we returned to our home.
TB
In article <db5jN.65986$vFZa.34903@fx13.iad>, redydog@rye.net says...
I see you're back on google groups. damthing can't even wrap a URL
properly.
That wasn't posted through Google groups
and I had been relying on
your report that everything was formatting properly. I think I can fix
the URL wrap easily. I'm still getting used to being back on a regular
source for my feed and I haven't gotten all the fine points figured out
yet. Oh well.
TB
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