COFFEE BREAK
Saturday, June 8, 2019
East Oregonian
C5
OUT OF THE VAULT
Retired rancher has narrow escape in Yukon
By RENEE STRUTHERS
East Oregonian
A Morrow County mainstay
avoided being trapped in the wilds of
Alaska in June of 1969 with a little bit
of luck and a whole lot of help.
Retired Lexington-area rancher
Orville Cutsforth had a narrow escape
in the Yukon Territory of Alaska
the second week of June in 1969 as
he was ferrying a plane to his large
gold fields at Kotzebue. He and Frank
Baldwin, the owner of the plane and a
passenger in the small craft, had just
flown over a 100-mile-long lake full
of floating ice when the motor of the
plane conked out.
“That’s when the good luck started,”
Cutsforth said in an interview with the
East Oregonian. He was faced with a
sizable mountain, but just managed to
get over it, searching for the Alaskan
Highway on the other side. The high-
way was there, and fortunately for the
pair a 7,700-foot Army emergency
landing strip also was in sight.
“Someone was really looking after
us on that trip,” Cutsforth said, shak-
ing his head.
Cutsforth landed without incident
and rolled up to a helicopter parked on
the field. The crew of men there had
leather that Cutsforth used to make a
new gasket for the plane’s motor, and
tools to complete the job.
The crew was there only because
their Native guide was late in appear-
ing. Just as Cutsforth completed his
repair job and got the plane’s motor
started, the guide arrived and within
minutes the crew had left the airstrip.
“Had anything been timed differently
we would have been in that desolate
area by ourselves,” Cutsforth said.
Cutsforth and Baldwin followed
the Alcan Highway the remaining
74 miles to Whitehorse, where they
discovered a search party had been
organized to look for them. Cutsforth
took a commercial plane to return to
Heppner, leaving the disabled plane
in Alaska. The motor of the plane
was sent to the Lexington airport for
repair. Baldwin took a commercial
flight to Kotzebue and rented a plane
to use until his was fixed.
DAYS GONE BY
100 Years Ago
From the East Oregonian
June 8-9, 1919
To raise Morrow county’s quota of
$1250 for the Salvation Army, Heppner
Elks last evening put on a ’49 dance and
carnival in the fair pavilion that was
second only to the far-famed Pendle-
ton Round-Up. Several hundred peo-
ple thronged the big pavilion until a late
hour and every known frontier method
of separating the unwary from his or her
money was employed. Mayor Vaughan
was boss bartender and helped sling
“suds” and “firewater,” kick deleted.
Postmaster Richardson dealt ‘em from
the little tin box at faro layout. Dave
McAtee wore his fingernails off raking
in the money at the roulette wheel. Les
Matlock gave the Fine Italian touch to
the “21” game and other members of the
herd just plain held up the tender feet and
relieved ‘em of the “10-buck” bills they
had not parted with at the poker tables.
50 Years Ago
From the East Oregonian
June 8-9, 1969
The possible involvement in a court
battle that could extend into years is the
reason Dow Chemical has decided to
build a $20 million plant near Dalles-
port, Wash., in preference to a Port of
Umatilla site, the Port of Umatilla man-
ager says. Walter Peters said the court
battle between Union Pacific and South-
ern Pacific railroads that could have
resulted from Interstate Commerce
Commission decisions might have
delayed construction of the Dow mag-
nesium and chlorine plant at the Uma-
tilla site two or three years, and Dow
officials said the new plant must be in
operation in 1972. Peters said the Port
of Umatilla met all 16 development
requirements set out by Dow, but it
was the possible delay that would result
from court battles that decided the loca-
tion of the plant.
25 Years Ago
From the East Oregonian
June 8-9, 1994
A decision is expected this week on
whether James Elmore, 17, will stand
trial as an adult on a charge of attempted
murder relating to a stabbing in down-
town Pendleton. Elmore will appear
before Judge Richard Courson at a
“waiver of jurisdiction” hearing Friday
in Juvenile Court. Courson will decide
if Elmore should remain in the juve-
nile system or if he should be tried as
an adult. Elmore is accused of stabbing
Manual Melendrez, 21, in the chest on
March 12 at Southwest Frazer Avenue
and Eighth Street. Witnesses led police
to the suspect.
THIS DAY IN HISTORY
On June 8, 1968, author-
ities announced the capture
in London of James Earl
Ray, the suspected assas-
sin of civil rights leader Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr.
In 1845, Andrew Jack-
son, seventh president of the
United States, died in Nash-
ville, Tennessee.
In 1920, the Republi-
can National Convention
opened in Chicago; its del-
egates ended up nominat-
ing Warren G. Harding for
president.
In 1939, Britain’s King
George VI and his consort,
Queen Elizabeth, arrived
in Washington, D.C., where
they were received at the
White House by President
Franklin D. Roosevelt.
In 1966, a merger was
announced between the
National and American
Football Leagues, to take
effect in 1970.
In 1978, a jury in Clark
County, Nevada, ruled the
so-called “Mormon will,”
purportedly written by the
late billionaire Howard
Hughes, was a forgery.
In 1995, U.S. Marines
rescued Capt. Scott O’Grady,
whose F-16C fighter jet had
been shot down by Bosnian
Serbs on June 2. Mickey
Mantle received a liver
transplant at a Dallas hos-
pital; however, the baseball
great died two months later.
In 1998, the National
Rifle Association elected
actor Charlton Heston to be
its president.
Thought for Today:
“Don’t talk about what you
have done or what you are
going to do.” — President
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826).
Universal Crossword
Edited by David Steinberg June 8, 2019
ACROSS
1 ___-frutti
6 Ave. relative
10 P.D. alerts
14 It’ll make you cry
15 Caramel candy brand
16 Laze around
17 Trio times three
18 Actor Morales
19 Kamchatka’s Risk
continent
20 *Where Romans can
still be found?
23 1998 Masters winner
Mark
26 Encroachments
27 *Final moments of a
game
30 Jannings in old films
31 Piercing locale
32 Misery
33 Pathetic, as an excuse
34 Local law, briefly
36 Bandstand box
39
42
44
45
48
50
51
54
55
56
60
61
62
63
64
65
Lav, in London
“Non” opposite
Stratagem
*Tenured one, typically
Guacamole ingredient
“Volunteers?”
*Rhapsodizing
Inter ___
Skin care brand
Accra’s country
Common Swedish
boy’s name
Tahoe or Titicaca
Orchestra output
Sub substitute?
Teetotalers
Fruit sometimes
dipped in toffee
DOWN
1 Whole bunch
2 Lively card game
3 Plating choice
4 Little piggy’s tip
5 Hospital trainee
6 Cy Young winner
Saberhagen
7 Fail to prevail
8 Big name in pickles
9 Advice to a
procrastinator
10 Dessert menu phrase
11 Pretend to be
12 Venetian ___
13 Wood strips
21 Hourly pay
22 River of Pisa
23 Has a mortgage, say
24 Bear with cold
porridge
25 City west of Tulsa
28 “Paulo” or “Tome”
lead-in
29 ___-prone (likely to
mess up)
35 Batman and Robin, e.g.
36 Besides
“NIGHT LIGHT” By Victor Fleming
sudoku answers
37 Orb suggested by
the starred answers’
starts
38 Pile to be burned
39 “Lucky” crime boss
40 Heroine in “The Good
Earth”
41 Cigarette brand with a
rhyming name
43 “___ first you don’t ...”
44 Prep mentally
45 More shrewd
46 Cottonwood, for one
47 It’s hard to figure out
48 Flooded
49 Tire protrusion
52 Like wines aged in
barrels
53 They’re on snails’
stalks
57 Nile snake
58 Zero, at the World
Cup
59 Whiz