75 years ago
August 23, 1943
Harbor fishermen are sharing in the tuna bonanza off the Washington and Oregon coasts, buyers said, with some 95 tons delivered in Aberdeen, Hoquiam and at Westport during the past several days. The Harbor fishing fleet today was off the coast on another foray which is expected to swell the season catch.
The Paragon Packing company in Hoquiam topped the buying with 87 ½ tons which netted fishermen from 20 boats more than $28,000.
August 24, 1943
Fred E. Hampson, former Aberdeen World sports editor and known to thousands of Harbor newspaper readers as “Knute,” has achieved the goal of most newspapermen — to become a foreign correspondent.
Hampson, a member of the Portland Associated Press bureau for the past several years, has received orders to report by airplane to Honolulu and from there will be sent out to cover some phases of the war in the South Pacific. He will not learn of the field he is to cover until he arrives at Honolulu.
For 12 years, starting in August, 1925, Fred Hampson’s “Going the Rounds” was a feature of the World sport page. And gradually he extended his writings to other fields in the paper until he was covering many of the “big” local stories of the day.
50 years ago
August 23, 1968
The first cargo of imported steel to be unloaded at a Grays Harbor dock will arrive at Terminal 4 Sunday in a cargo ship with many modern features hailed as unique by persons close to the shipping trade.
The steel, imported from Japan, is being purchased by Lamb-Grays Harbor and Western Steel & Supply. Lamb is getting 1,500 tons of the 1,750 tons to be unloaded.
The Star Billabong, the vessel carrying the thick-plated steel, is equipped with a 25-ton gantry crane, also known as a manck loader and is fitted for transporting heavy and extra-large lifts. According the Port of Grays Harbor Manager E.W. Clockson only about 20 ships are equipped with this type of crane and the Star Billabong is the first of these to sail into Grays Harbor.
August 24, 1968
The Smoke Shop Cafe, 207 E. Heron in Aberdeen, is advertising two complete steak dinners including crab cocktail, baked potato, salad, garlic bread and coffee for $5.
25 years ago
August 23, 1993
Climbing aboard their small boat while the morning fog still hangs heavy over the water, the crew sets out to do their day’s work: harvesting crabs.
But instead of crab pots, they use baggies. And instead of tossing their catch into boiling water, they just count, measure and toss the crabs back into the Harbor.
Working under contract to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, a group of Grays Harbor College students, supervised by science instructor Jim Phipps, go out to the tideflats four days each month during the summer to gather crab samples from the oyster shell havens the Corps placed in the Harbor.
The oyster shells create a habitat where crabs can flourish without being nibbled up by predators.
August 24, 1993
Federal regulation of cable TV rates hits the Twin Harbors next month.
In the Aberdeen-Hoquiam area, the bill for the expanded basic service package (that’s the 15 channels on basic service plus 16 others including CNN, MTV, Lifetime, ESPN and VH-1) will increase by $1.41 a month to $20.48.
The cost for basic service, will decrease 9 cents a month to $9.91.
Compiled from the archives of The Daily World by Karen Barkstrom
