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June 2009

Started out the month by moving to Astoria, OR. for the summer to do personal projects in landscape and nature photography.

Will be updating the page as I take images.

All rights reserved on images.

To purchase images or use rights please contact me.

 

Fishing boat crossing the Columbia river at sunrise with the Astoria-Megler bridge in the background.

 

The Astoria waterfront as the sun sets.

The Astoria Megler bridge is in the background, you

can see the river pilot boat in the foreground.

Red sky at morning.

Beautiful red sunrise with Astoria Megler bridge in the background.

 

The wreck of the Peter Iredale

The "Peter Iredale" was an oceangoing ship that was wrecked near the mouth of the Columbia River in 1906.

The Peter Iredale was built June 1890 in Maryport England by R. Ritson & Co.

 

 

Alderbrook Station in Astoria right after sunrise.

Built in 1903 to support commercial fishing in the area.

Horseback rider on Cannon Beach

Pallets on the dock in along the Astoria waterfront.

The Washington side of the river is visible in the far background.

 

Sunset at Ecola State Park with light house in the background.

Known as a great engineering feat of the late 19th century. The construction of this lighthouse took 575 days to build. After some initial worries about constructing on a rock, and with public outcry when a life was lost in the process, construction was done in secret because of the public opposition. After a long history, the light was lit for a final time in 1957. Oswald Allik, the last lighthouse keeper noted in the station log: "Farewell, Tillamook Rock Light Station" as it's final entry.

 

The Astoria Megler bridge at sunset.

Construction on the structure began in 1962. The bridge is 6.5 miles long.

 

The Union Fisherman's net loft in Astoria.

 

Sunset at Cannon Beach Oregon

The Original Cannon and the USS Schooner Shark
The U .S. Naval schooner Shark, part of the surveying fleet under Lieutenant Neil M. Howison, arrived off the mouth of the Columbia River after a 25-day passage from Honolulu, in August, 1846. John Lattie, one of the few in the area with a genuine knowledge of bar passages, was summoned to the ship to guide her into safe haven off the Astor Colony.

Trouble plagued the arrival of the ship to present-day Astoria. Anxiety over the boundary question--involving the United States and Great Britain--had started rumors among settlers that war was near and that the arrival of the Shark was a war precaution and not a survey mission. The crew members, weary from long months at sea, began deserting, and replacements were unobtainable. Hard as they tried, the officers were unable to bribe the townspeople of the Astor Colony to divulge the hiding places of the deserters.

On September 10, without taking proper precautions, the vessel weighed anchor. Crossing the bar, she struck the outlying fangs of Clatsop Spit, this time with a death-dealing blow. The waters were not calm as on her inward trek, and the ship shuddered and trembled while mounting breakers drove into her wooden hull. With her weight fastening her to the bottom, she was working on the sands.

Captain Schenck was gravely concerned. He ordered the three masts chopped down and all twelve of the ship's cannon jettisoned in an effort to get the ship off the spit. But before these acts could be carried out, the ship began to break up. All hands were ordered to the boats. During the night, the wreck was battered to pieces, parts of it drifting out over the bar. Evidently the crew did not jettison all the cannon, for a large section of the wreck came ashore in the area of present-day Arch Cape, south of Cannon Beach. Fortunately, the crew of the Shark all reached safety and were looked after by the citizens of the Astor Colony.

In October 1846, Lieutenant Howison received information through the Tillamook people that part of the ship's hull "with guns upon it," had come ashore south of Tillamook Head. The lieutenant sent Midshipman Simes to visit the location. Simes reported finding the wreckage and succeeded in "getting one cannon above the high-water mark," while two others were left buried.

Then in December 1863, mail carrier John Hobson reported seeing a cannon at present-day Arch Cape Creek. Soon after, this cannon became lost when tides buried it in sand. In June 1894, however, it was spotted once again-this time by mail carrier George Luce. With the help of his Nehalem neighbors John and Mary Gerritse and their team of horses, Luce succeeded in pulling the cannon out of the sand, after which time it stood in front of the Austin House Post Office in Arch Cape for several years.