Preservation: The Storm Takes Away...
By: Mark Boardman 04/01/2008
The Storm Takes Away…
The Oregon coast took a major blow from a massive storm last December. Towns up and down the state faced staggering damages—especially to historic structures.
Astoria was particularly hard hit. Approximately 100 out of 800 historic buildings were damaged to a total estimated at $2 million. Among them: a 1903 net drying and mending shed built over the water, which lost its entire third floor (see above photos). The Clatsop County Historical Society’s Firefighters Museum lost a chimney and had $100,000 worth of roof damage. A downtown building housing retail shops is looking at a $250,000 repair bill.
City officials have been helping owners by seeking grant funds and other financial assistance. They also delayed permits and reviews to give those owners a chance to start fixing buildings without the required paperwork. Much remains to be done—and it will be some time before the physical reminders of the storm of '07 are erased.
And the Storm Gives Back
The Oregon storms produced high surf that caused a huge amount of beach erosion—up to 17 feet of sand was lost in some areas. But that loss brought to the surface some real treasures.
At least three shipwrecks were uncovered, some dating back to the 19th century. At Arch Cape, a pair of cannon were revealed; they may have come from the USS Shark, a survey ship that wrecked in 1846 off the Columbia River bar.
The Oregon Parks and Recreation Department has not yet decided on the home for the cannon and ships.
Dealing in Dodge
Legendary cowtown Dodge City, Kansas, is betting on gambling as an economic development and tourism tool.
Voters last June approved a luxury casino to be built on the edge of town, in the hopes that it will pump a projected $80 million into the local economy and it will increase the number of visitors, currently 70,000 a year, down 30 percent from its heyday when TV’s Gunsmoke spread the city’s name far and wide.
Locals got a big shock in January, though, when engineering consultants said the city will have to ante up $33 million in infrastructure improvements. The city has not disclosed where it will get that money.
Expect three or more years to pass before the casino complex is finished.
All in all, this casino is big stakes for a town of less than 10,000 residents.
Baca in Bronze
Elfego Baca is best known for an 1884 dust-up in Reserve, New Mexico. The 19-year-old deputy arrested a carousing cowboy, whose pals decided that was a bad idea. About 80 of them cornered Baca in a house. For 36 hours, they shot more than 400 bullets through the place—none of which hit their target. Baca was more accurate. He either killed one or four of his attackers, and he also wounded a handful of others before authorities intervened.
On May 24, Baca finally gets what’s coming to him—in bronze, not lead. A full-sized statue of the man (left), by sculptor James Muir, will be unveiled in Reserve—on the site of the hut where Baca held off the cowboys in ’84. A $7.9 million museum is also planned. Backers are seeking funds for that project.
catroncounty.org
Tex History Hightails It North
For 110 years, the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) has been based in University of Texas-Austin.
This fall, the TSHA will move north to Denton and its new base, the University of North Texas. About a half dozen of its faculty specialize in Texas history—more than any other university in the state. Several of them work on the Southwestern Historical Quarterly and the Handbook of Texas Online.
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