The Wahkiakum County Eagle - Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891

A portion of the 140-year old Warren Cannery caved in Friday evening.

The landmark structure of Cathlamet's waterfront was built in 1869. Commercial fishermen still store nets and other gear in it.

Milt Doumit, one of the co-owners of the building, said an upper floor on the back side away from the river had crashed down to the main floor, dragging the roof and adjacent walls with it.

However, Doumit said, much of the building remains standing, and the owners hope to be able to save those portions.

"We've been rebuilding parts of it all the time," he said Monday. "We were going to do the back section this fall.

"We thought it was in pretty good shape."

Doumit said he is still unsure of what caused the collapse. On Tuesday, he said it appeared a log had lodged in the support pilings. Earlier, he said the cause could have been a post in the structure; it could have been a beam under the floor, or it could have been one of the pilings supporting the whole structure.

Doumit lives on the hill above the cannery building. He and his brother, Phil, who was visiting, heard a noise around 8 p.m. Friday and went to investigate; they saw the structure was sagging and thought they could return Saturday morning to assess and address the problem.

However, when they returned, they found the structure had collapsed even more. They shut off water to the building and called for Wahkiakum PUD to disconnect electricity lines. Later, members of the Cathlamet Fire Department deployed a floating boom along the water to keep debris or other material from floating into the river. Finally, they've roped off the site to keep visitors out in case it collapses more.

"If it doesn't go any more, we may be able to get things out," Doumit said. "We've already scheduled a crane to come in to lift the roof off in a few weeks."

Doumit runs a fish buying business at the site but has closed it until electricity has been restored. Fishermen will be unable to access nets until the building is stabilized.

Buildings to be evaluated

In the wake of the cannery collapse, Mayor George Wehrfritz formed a committee Monday to evaluate the town's older, fragile buildings for possible structural failure.

The committee will convene and decide how it wants to the approach the task, he said.

Members include town Public Works Superintendent David Vik, county Permit Coordinator and Building Inspector Chuck Beyer, past Mayor Dick Swart and Council Member Bob Rendler.