USNS Observation Island

The USNS Observation Island is a Missile Range Instrumentation Ship, used in the testing of U.S. missile systems, and to monitor other countries to ensure treaty compliance. It was originally launched in 1953 as the merchant ship Empire State Mariner and operated by the United States Lines for the Military Sea Transportation Service, before being transferred to the United States Navy for use in ballistic missile development in 1956 and renamed USS Observation Island, after an island in Florida's Lake Okeechobee. The Observation Island was the first naval ship to have a fully integrated Fleet Ballistic Missile System with the installation of the Polaris missile system in the late 1950s. Decommissioned by the U.S. Navy in 1972, the Observation Island was transferred to the Military Sealift Command in 1977 at the request of the United States Air Force Technical Applications Center for use as a tracking ship. Still owned by the U.S. Navy, its USNS prefix indicates that it is mostly crewed by civilians.

Views of Rainier in May 1999

I took these pictures of Rainier, Oregon, on May 16, 1999. First is a picture of Canada geese at Rainier Riverfront Park.

Here are the same geese taking off. The Columbia River and the Port of Longview are in the background.

And, here are the geese in flight. Longview Fibre is in the background.

As I recall, this man was trying to fly a kite at Rainier Riverfront Park, without much success. He also had a small dog with him.

Here is the beach at Rainier Riverfront Park, with the Lewis & Clark Bridge over the Columbia River in the background.

The Columbia River was quite smooth that day. A log raft was tied up near the mouth of Fox Creek, which was still in a culvert at this time.

A single motorboat was out on the Columbia.

Here is another picture of the motorboat.

This large boat was on a trailer parked at the west end of A Street, which at the time ended just past the post office and did not continue past Rainier Riverfront Park.

This is Fox Creek flowing by Rainier Elementary School. This section of the creek had been in a culvert until it was daylighted after the flood of 1996. It had taken a couple years for the plants to establish themselves and make the creek look natural. This view is looking upstream from where the creek went back into the culvert under C Street.

This view of Fox Creek is looking downstream from approximately where the culvert originally started. The new entrance to the culvert is under the rocks in the background just below the street.

This view of Fox Creek is looking upstream from approximately where the old culvert started. This section of the creek was never in a culvert.