Page A-8
Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, Ore. Wednesday, October 25, 2017
Winding Trails: by Al Hobart
Thursday, October 26, 1967
Illinois Valley News
Road Building
First there was a dull, subdued report.
This pre-shock wave, sounding like an echo
on the wrong side of the blast, was followed
immediately by a thunderous roar that jarred
the whole area, and the great rock cliff came
tumbling down in a spectacular jumble of
multi-ton chunks of rock and lesser debris.
This gigantic heap, looking like
the destruction resulting from a massive
earthquake, and covering the road with an
impenetrable-looking 20-ft.-deep barrier,
was immediately attacked by a monster
machine, one of Bill Mignot’s mighty “cats”
that handle huge rocks weighing tons the
way a juvenile expert shoots marbles.
To watch such an impressive display of
power is to witness a thrilling spectacular–
with a free ticket and a ringside seat. It’s
the most fascinating spectacle I’ve had
the privilege of enjoying this summer, and
until Bill’s road-building operation with
his fantastic machines moves farther up the
valley and out of my sight and hearing, I’m
afraid much of my time will be spent just
LIBRARY
...
Continued from A-1
Indeed the constant random
destruction occurring at the library,
schools, churches and businesses
strains both nerves and budgets
throughout the community, and
while some seek explanations for
these damages, others, like Valley
resident Karen Weber, say “most
of these criminals don’t have any
purpose.
“A lot of these vandals and
local criminals are nihilistic,” Weber
said. “And if we let them, they’ll
tear the rest of this community
apart. This town could lose all its
personality and end up looking like
a penitentiary or a military base.”
Indeed, tall cyclone fences now
encircle parts of the former county
building, the post office, and now,
the library is considering the same
tactic to keep the riff-raff out.
watching those tearing, rending, monsters at
work.
When the road was originally cut across
the face of the great hardrock cliff down the
road, the rock was found to be so resistant
that the job turned out to be more than was
bargained for. So a narrow road, formed in
part by rock fill (that was washed away in
the Big Flood, leaving us up-the-crickers
stranded for a couple of weeks) was settled
for. And over the intervening years the great
rocky mass above the roadway has looked
ominously down on us with a leering smile.
But when the big solid-rock point
saw No-nonsense Bill–who has done any
number of such tough jobs for the Forest
Service–moving in with his heavy modern
equipment, its supercilious smile quickly
changed to a worried frown.
First maneuver in the frontal attack
against the big cliff was performed by Bob
Wadleigh, at the controls of the big precision
rock-drill, an ingenious contraption powered
by compressed air which, by adding
extensions to the drill bit, can penetrate to
any desired depth. Starting at one edge of
the cliff, a series of 25 or 30 holes, 30 feet
deep and about 3 inches in diameter, were
drilled across the cliff-face a few feet above
the road level.
Later these holes were packed with
A few people had been “holed
up” behind the library, where
camping chairs and bags of cloths
were found. And evidence of
camp fires in the summertime had
neighbors pretty nervous, according
to Illinois Valley Library branch
manager Roberta Lee.
“One day we found a brief case
and a set of golf clubs and a kid’s
bicycle,” Lee said, adding that the
owners of the first two items were
located, but that she still has custody
of the bike - though if someone calls
and describes it, they can claim it.
She also said the building’s
down spouts had been kicked off
and that some thug tried to jimmy
the back door open, prompting a
county employee to add a metal
reinforcement plate to the door and
install an exterior security light -
though the very next night, the new
fixture was spray painted to block
the light.
“On a weekly basis we’ve
heavy charges of powerful blasting powder,
detonating caps inserted in each charge and
all connected together with a continuous
electric wire which led a safe distance up the
road, where it terminated in a small portable
box containing an electric generator.
Protruding from the top of the box is a hand-
operated plunger which, when suddenly
depressed, activates the generator and sends
an electric current along the wire. This
electric impulse, for all practical purposes
instantaneous, sets off all the powder
charges at once.
And that’s where we came in: The
high and mighty mass of stone, that had held
tough for a million years, gave a mighty
shudder of despair, hung for an instant
shattered and dying, then came crashing
down with a roar of final defiance to rest in
a vast jagged heap atop the road, as a last
pitiful demonstration of its hate and revenge
for the old man-made wound that had started
all the trouble in the first place.
The big bulldozer, battering away
at the huge rockpile, appearing at times to
be in danger of being crushed or swept into
the river below by tumbling boulders from
above, in a surprisingly short time had the
road cleared sufficiently to allow waiting
cars and log trucks to pass.
Back home after watching the
been battling vandalism, graffiti and
break-ins,” Lee said. “We cannot
have people continuing to cost us
thousands of dollars. It’s too much.
So we’re looking at fencing the back
to protect our air intake and propane
tank. We really don’t want to look
at a fence in the front - but the only
fencing we can afford is chain link.”
“Part of what we’re seeing are
signs of the times,” Weber added.
“But another really big part of the
trouble is this place. The poverty,
the criminal elements and the lack
of commitment to law enforcement;
all that adds up. Plus, there’s not
enough grassroots participation in
the neighborhood watch.”
Lee and Weber both talked
about strategies to end the seemingly
endless cycle of criminality that has
a grip on Cave Junction and they
both say effective solutions would
involve empowering neighborhood
watch organizer Jimmy Evans with
a real budget.
main mass of debris pushed off the road,
and trying to catch up on my homework,
occasionally I’d hear another heavy blast
from down river and have to drop everything
and hurry down to investigate. What I
usually found was Bob and brother Bud
shooting “donikers,” blasting apart the big
dangerous hanging chunks of rock left after
the big blast that could conceivably slide
down onto the road later.
In a way I’ll be glad when the
road-building operation moves away up the
canyon! I’ve got a lot of things to do here
at the cabin that just can’t be put off much
longer, but the roar of the big machines
and the fascination of watching them work
affect me the way a powerful magnet does a
footloose piece of iron.
But there’s really a limit to how
much we can allow such a distracting
influence to interfere with our homework –I
just must get these neglected chores taken
care of.
Uh – excuse me, please. I just heard
another thunderous roar down the road a
piece, and I know the boys will be expecting
me down there to help study the result
of whatever it was they did. And I know
they will appreciate my hearty approval of
whatever the result might be.
“The businesses and the city all
have to kick in more money to hire
real security,” Weber said.
“Jimmy’s got some great
ideas and he’s working harder than
anybody for our community. We
should fund him and listen to him,”
Lee said. “We must have additional
security out on our streets at night.”
Evans himself repeatedly asks
for more people to “take back their
own town” by getting involved in
the CJ Patrol.
The late Audrey Moore, a
popular community organizer
who founded Precious Dirt, a
local group that focused on soil
health by confronting the dangers
of pesticides, had a sign on her
desk that read: “I always thought
someone should do something about
this; until one day I realized, I was
someone.”
(Photo courtesy Scott Blacklidge
for the Illinois Valley News)
After repeated vandalism the
fountain at the library will be
taken down.
ALL CusTom jeweLry designs
& repAirs done in house!
Excavation
Cat Rental
Backhoe Rental
Dump Trucks
Road Construction
Demolition Work
Fill Dirt
CALL
Rock Deliveries
Crushed Shale
541-479-2424 Greenhouse Pads
Building Sites
Utility Work
NOW!
Tues - Fri 9:30 AM - 5:30 PM
sAT 10 AM - 2 PM
sun & Mon Closed
23772 redwood Highway
K erby , or
CCB#33187
541-592-4838