75 years ago

August 8, 1944

Two soupfin liver hauls valued at nearly $45,000 were unloaded at the Lars Anderson fish bar at Westport Sunday, officials announced today. The hauls, totalling approximately nine tons, were delivered by the Resolute and the Masonic.

Officials of the Ice Delivery company said today their freezing and storage plant is working at capacity, handling the incoming catches of fish from various harbor companies. The plant is operating on a double shift.

August 9, 1944

The installation of parking meters in downtown Aberdeen is on the agenda for discussion when the city council meets tonight, Mayor Walter Foelkner said.

It has been proposed that Aberdeen install penny and nickel meters from G to I street on Heron, Wishkah and Market streets as a means of traffic regulation. This particular type meter provides 12 minutes parking for a penny, 60 minutes for a nickel, Up to five nickels can be paid at a time.

50 years ago

August 8, 1969

Despite the death of 13 or 14 of the 29 sea otters transported from Alaska to the Washington coast a week ago, State Game Department officials are hopeful the rest will survive and breed.

Officials blame the shock of the otters’ capture and the long trip to this state for the high mortality rate. They said otters are “not physically strong … and go into shock pretty easily.”

The rare marine mammals were put into the ocean at Point Grenville, about 25 miles north of here, where there once was a large native sea otter population. They were wiped out by fur hunters.

August 9, 1969

Saturday, no newspaper published

25 years ago

August 8, 1994

A rooftop restaurant, convention center and fiber-optic access to the “information super-highway” are part of a plan to renovate the Becker Building, a landmark in downtown Aberdeen.

The building’s owners have hired consultants to develop a feasibility study, a business plan and to attract investors for a top-to-bottom makeover.

Built in 1926 for $300,000 by retired merchant Frank Becker, the building is Aberdeen’s tallest with seven stories sitting unshakeably atop 672 pilings. On top of that, Becker built a penthouse taking up half the rooftop where he and his wife lived “high and secure … far removed from the clamor and confusion” below, according to news accounts shortly after the building was opened.

August 9, 1994

When three teen-age boys disappeared during a boat trip one January evening more than 80 years ago, Harbor resident turned out in force to help search for them. When their bodies were discovered a few weeks later, the town wept with the families.

The boys — Harry Sanborn, Loren Cogdill and James Burrows — were marooned on a sandspit in Campbell Slough when their boat floated away. They apparently drowned while trying to swim ashore.

Recently Eli Harvey and his 14-year-old daughter, Lynette, were out for a summer bike ride when they decided to go up to Sunset Memorial Park. They wandered into the older area, where they found graves overgrown and tombstones overturned, including the boys’ tombstone.

Harvey wants to organize a work party to restore the area — finding lost graves and cleaning up around them to show the respect he thinks they warrant.

“Everybody who’s buried there had a part in what’s here today,” Harvey said.

Compiled from the archives of The Daily World by Karen Barkstrom