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WEDNESDAY EDITION
❘ SEPTEMBER 16, 2015
Siuslaw News
P.O. Box 10
Florence, OR 97439
RYAN CRONK , EDITOR
❘ 541-902-3520 ❘
EDITOR @ THESIUSLAWNEWS . COM
Opinion
1 2 5 T H A N N I V E R S A R Y F L A S H B A C K
1890 ❙
T
T HE W EST
™
F LORENCE T IMES
™
T HE S IUSLAW O AR
™
T HE S IUSLAW N EWS
™
S IUSLAW N EWS
❙ 2015
his year marks Siuslaw News’ quasquicentennial, our 125th anniversary, a remarkable achievement for any business in a small
community like Florence. To commemorate this milestone, throughout the year we’ll feature some of the town’s history as origi-
nally published in the newspaper, including historic articles and photos from more than a century ago. —Editor
CLEVER WORK JOB ON SIUSLAW BRIDGE
O RIGINALLY P UBLISHED S EPT . 13, 1935
T HE S IUSLAW O AR , V OL . 8, N O . 15
A unique piece of work was done on
our bridge Monday. Concrete had to be
taken from the mixer at Glenada to pour
a big seal on the Florence side.
The seal is a thickness of six feet or
more and 40 feet down below high water.
This slush of concrete is dumped into a
cofferdam which has been driven full of
piling. No water is pumped out. The
slush fills all the gaps down there and
hardens almost as quickly as it would in
your outdoor yard, although deep down
in the river bed.
How to get this concrete slush across
the river and not disturb the ferry service
or sea going commerce was solved by
using two derricks. One hoisted a full
yard of concrete from the Glenada side,
where the miniature railroad ends, car
and all, onto a scow. A derrick on the
Florence side picked up the concrete and
dumped it though the big funnel into the
great depth.
Starting early in the morning, this first
seal was finished shortly after 10 o’clock
at night. Always two hoppers of concrete
were taken in each scow load.
In a few days, this, the last of the big
cofferdams, will be pumped out and the
piling sawed off within a few feet of the
concrete seal. Wooden forms will be made
to hold the concrete pier as it is built up
to the roadbed.
A way has been solved to permit ocean-
going traffic through the bridge construc-
tion without materially delaying either
the building of the bridge or commerce.
More about this later.
However, bridge work gets on nerves of
some oldtimers.
This business of building a bridge is
annoying people with its noise.
Pap Reesman says that one bridge will
be enough, and Dan Hawley says that it
will take two bridges to supply visitors to
his sand hills.
However, this may be that the town is
envying Mike Hogan and his close prox-
imity to the mass of standards and steel
that is springing up almost in his door
hard.
Hogan wants quiet and that is why he
moved to Florence five years ago.
Pile drivers have disturbed him. Steel
hammers are in the offing. Right at his
door both.
“It takes a man of courage to live in a
town like this,” Hogan said.
Hawley still bets $100, or any part of
it, that Hogan won’t move, despite the
racket. ™
NEIGHBORS
Just a resurrected gas pump — Part III
B OB J ACKSON
N EIGHBORHOOD C ORRESPONDENT
For the Siuslaw News
T
his 10-foot-tall, bright
yellow and red gas
pump now standing
by my garage door on the
west side of the Greentrees
retirement community is a
vanishing vestige of a time
when motoring was exciting
and all the gas stations
played on this love of speed
and daring. Everyone it
seemed wanted to get the dri-
ver’s attention.
There was Mobil with its
flying horse (of course it was
red). Texaco had Fire Chief
and Sky Chief gas, and Tide
Water promoted its winged
Flying A.
At the turn of the century, a
man named Arthur Gilmore
had moved to California and
started a dairy herd. He was
drilling to find more water
for his milk cows, when not
unlike something from the
Beverly Hillbillies TV show,
he struck oil instead! By
1905 the cows were gone and
the Gilmore Oil Company
was born.
In 1918, the next Gilmore
generation took over. Soon,
motorists all up and down the
West Coast were filling up
with Gilmore gas. Gilmore’s
independent oil company
became the largest on the
coast. Blue-Green gas and
the famous “Red Lion” start-
ed appearing everywhere.
The clear glass globe atop the
pumps let the color of the gas
be seen.
At one time, there were
over 3,500 Gilmore stations
in three states, and Gilmore
was sponsoring yellow and
PHOTO COURTESY OF BOB JACKSON
red midget race cars that
were proudly displaying the
familiar charging red lion.
Incidentally, Gilmore had
built the first midget race car
track in the United States.
Gilmore hired flamboyant
barnstorming and air-racing
pilot Col. Roscoe Turner,
who had broken the land
speed record and received the
DFC (distinguished flying
cross) to crisscross the nation
in a flashy yellow and red
Gilmore airplane. His co-
pilot, Gilmore the flying lion,
logged thousands of air miles
with him.
The journeys are chroni-
cled in the Smithsonian Air
and Space Museum in
Washington, D.C.
Gilmore continued to
sponsor winning Indy racers,
and a car with a land-speed
record of 369.8 mph (pow-
ered with Gilmore gas, of
course).
The Gilmore lion, who
eventually had become too
big and dangerous to be fly-
ing as a co-pilot — well, he
died in 1952 — he was pre-
served by a taxidermist and is
now on display in the
Smithsonian.
It is thought that the first
stations opened in 1923.
During World War II, gas
rationing and military priori-
ties spelled the end of red
lion gas. The final Gilmore
station closed about the same
time the war was ending in
1945.
Over these many years, I
have been blessed both by
serendipity and stubborn
stick-to-itiveness; however,
without the perseverance and
genius of Elliot Crable and
the many close friends and
neighbors like Sheldon
Glenzer, Patrick McKee and
Norm Stone who volunteered
to help, right here in
Greentrees, this old gas
pump, this symbol of a van-
ished era would not even
exist today.
L ETTERS P OLICY
Siuslaw News welcomes letters to the
editor concerning issues affecting the
Florence area and Lane County. Emailed
letters are preferred. Handwritten or typed
letters must be signed.
All letters should be limited to about 300
words and must include the writer’s full
name, address and phone number for ver-
ification. Letters are subject to editing for
length, grammar and clarity.
Publication of any letter is not guaran-
teed and depends on space available and
the volume of letters received. Libelous
and anonymous letters as well as poetry
will not be published. All submissions
become the property of Siuslaw News and
will not be returned.
Write to:
Editor@TheSiuslawNews.com
USPS# 497-660 Copyright 2015 © Siuslaw News
John Bartlett
Jenna Bartlett
Ryan Cronk
Susan Gutierrez
Cathy Dietz
Ron Annis
Jeremy Gentry
Publisher, ext. 327
General Manager, ext. 318
Editor, ext. 313
Advertising Director, ext. 326
Office Supervisor, ext. 312
Production Supervisor
Press Manager
DEADLINES:
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1 p.m.; Display ads, Thursday noon; Boxed and display classified ads, Wednesday 5 p.m. Soundings, Tuesday 5 p.m.
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WHERE TO WRITE
Published every Wednesday and Saturday at 148 Maple St. in Florence, Lane County, Oregon. A member of the National
Newspaper Association and Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association. Periodicals postage paid at Florence, Ore.
Postmaster, send address changes to: Siuslaw News, P.O. Box 10, Florence, OR 97439; phone 541-997-3441; fax
541-997-7979. All press releases may be sent to PressReleases@TheSiuslawNews.com.
Pres. Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington, D.C. 20500
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
FAX: 202-456-2461
TTY/TDD Comments: 202-456-6213
www.whitehouse.gov
Gov. Kate Brown
160 State Capitol
900 Court St.
Salem, OR 97301-4047
Governor’s Citizens’ Rep.
Message Line 503-378-4582
www.oregon.gov/gov
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden
221 Dirksen Senate Office Bldg
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-5244
541-431-0229
www.wyden.senate.gov
FAX: 503-986-1080
Email:
Sen.ArnieRoblan@state.or.us
U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley
313 Hart Senate Office Bldg
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-3753/FAX: 202-228-3997
541-465-6750
State Rep. Caddy McKeown
(Dist. 9)
900 Court St. NE
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1409
Email:
rep.caddymckeown@state.or.us
U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio (4th Dist.)
2134 Rayburn HOB
Washington, DC 20515
202-225-6416/ 800-944-9603
541-269-2609/ 541-465-6732
www.defazio.house.gov
State Sen. Arnie Roblan (Dist. 5)
900 Court St. NE - S-417
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1705
West Lane County Commissioner
Jay Bozievich
125 E. Eighth St.
Eugene, OR 97401
541-682-4203
FAX: 541-682-4616
Email:
Jay.Bozievich@co.lane.or.us