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About The Blue Mountain eagle. (John Day, Or.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 14, 2019)
NEWS MyEagleNews.com Wednesday, August 14, 2019 A3 The Eagle/Richard Hanners From left, Cody and Sam Rausch of Prairie City helped Smokey Bear celebrate his 75th birthday at Chester’s Thirftway in John Day on Aug. 9. Smokey Bear, a forest fire icon, turns 75 By Richard Hanners Blue Mountain Eagle Many children across the U.S. are familiar with a story of Smokey Bear — that is, the story of the orphan cub found wander- ing near a fire line in the Capitan Mountains of New Mexico in spring 1950 — but that’s not when the story actually began. The Eagle/Richard Hanners Canyon City Public Works Director Les Percy, right, and two Grant County employees, Zane Rookstool, left, and Tyrell Sharp, work on the Inland Street bridge abutment Aug. 8. Inland Street bridge project underway Living icon Lifting bridge aimed at preventing problems during flooding The Eagle/Richard Hanners Ellaine Dunn of Long Creek helped Smokey Bear celebrate his 75th birthday at Chester’s Thirftway in John Day on Aug. 9. Wartime Advertising Council coined the slogan “Remember ... only YOU can prevent forest fires.” The slogan was officially amended to replace “for- est fires” with “wildfires” in 2001. By 1952, Smokey Bear had attracted so much commercial interest Con- gress passed the Smokey Bear Act to remove the character from the pub- lic domain and place it under the Secretary of Agriculture. That same year, Steve Nelson and Jack Rollins wrote a popular anthem about Smokey Bear. Nel- son had already written the hit song “Frosty the Snowman.” To maintain the rhythm of their new song, Nelson and Roll- ins added “the” between “Smokey” and “Bear,” and for many Americans from then on, the fire pre- vention icon came to be called “Smokey the Bear,” which is not correct. Real story Birthday parties But that’s the story of the orphan cub that became the living symbol for an icon who was “cre- ated” in 1944. The story of the original Smokey Bear began two years ear- lier when characters from Disney’s full-length ani- mated motion picture “Bambi” were loaned to the government for its fire prevention public service campaign. The Forest Service authorized the creation of Smokey Bear on Aug. 9, 1944, which is considered his official birthday. In the campaign’s first poster, artist Albert Staehle depicted Smokey wearing jeans and a campaign hat pouring a bucket of water on a campfire. Under- neath the message read, “Smokey says – Care will prevent 9 out of 10 woods fires!” Three years later, the Smokey was honored on his 40th birthday in 1984 with a U.S. post- age stamp. In a commer- cial for his 50th birth- day, forest animals threw a surprise birthday party for Smokey, but when he appeared blindfolded, he smelled the smoke from the candles and acciden- tally smashed his cake with his shovel. For his 75th birthday this year, the National Zoo presented an outdoor exhibit with 14 posters and numerous archival photo- graphs of the orphan bear in front of Smokey Bear’s original habitat. A 6-foot- tall statue of his cartoon persona was placed at the entrance. Smokey Bear showed up at Chester’s Thriftway in John Day on Aug. 9, his birthday, courtesy of the Grant-Harney County Fire Prevention Co-Op. By Richard Hanners Blue Mountain Eagle Work has begun on repairing and upgrading the Inland Street bridge in Canyon City, with the goal of lifting the bridge about 2 feet higher to protect it from spring floods. A large crane was tem- porarily “borrowed” from the torrefaction project construction site at Mal- heur Lumber Co. on Aug. 7. Using an I-beam frame, the bridge was lifted and set on concrete Jersey bar- riers so work can proceed on the bridge abutments. The 27-foot long two- lane bridge, which is con- structed of large creosote timbers, sustained impacts by passing logs when Can- yon Creek reached flood stage in April without sig- nificant damage. An engi- neer inspected the bridge after the creek level dropped. The Inland Street bridge is needed to pro- vide access for residents at the north end of Hum- bolt Street and to bus stu- dents to Humbolt Elemen- tary School. Past rough estimates to raise Inland Street bridge have typically topped $1 million, but Canyon City Mayor Steve Fischer pre- sented the court with an engineer’s estimate for the job at only $76,500. This included engineering, bid assistance, oversight, con- struction contingency as well as legal and adminis- trative costs. The Grant County Court agreed at their July 24 meeting to split out- of-pocket construction expenses for the bridge project with Canyon City. The upgraded bridge could be ready for traffic by Oct. 1, Fischer told the court. Fischer told the Eagle the concrete abutments will be raised about 2 feet The Eagle/Richard Hanners The concrete abutments for the Inland Street bridge will be raised about 2 feet higher to allow more streamflow during spring floods. The Eagle/Richard Hanners A crane borrowed from the torrefaction project site was used to lift the Inland Street bridge off the existing abutments Aug. 7 so repairs can be made and the bridge can be set about 2 feet higher. on the east side and less on the west side, as the bridge was set at an angle in the past. When completed this time, the bridge will be level, he said. A ramp will be needed on the east side to bring Inland Street up to the bridge’s new height. The ramp will be constructed of compacted rock and gravel. A continuous layer of blacktop will then be run up the ramp and across the bridge, he said. During county court discussion July 24, the court agreed to help Can- yon City by providing gravel, heavy equipment and labor from its road department. On Aug. 8, Canyon City Public Works Director Les Percy was seen working on the bridge abutments with two work- ers from the county road department. The pedestrian crossing that was attached to the Inland Street bridge was removed during the April flooding to prevent it from being torn loose and sent hurtling downstream. The pedestrian bridge was part of the Pros- pector Trail, which was constructed along Can- yon Creek using funding from the sale of a house donated by Wells Fargo in 2010. The goal was to provide the safe route for schoolchildren. The Grant County Resource Enhancement Action Team was the fiscal agent for the $50,000 trail project. Fischer said he has talked to Grant School District 3 Superintendent Bret Uptmor about restor- ing the pedestrian bridge once the other work is done. 133909 Michael B. DesJardin Dentistry, PC Preventive, Restorative & Endodontics New Patients Welcome! Monday - Thursday 7am- 6pm Friday 8am - 5pm 208 NW Canton John Day 541-575-2725 mbddental@live.com michaelbdesjardinmd.com Mendy Sharpe FNP Apppointments available 133923 In New Mexico, fire- fighters at the scene hoped the cub’s mother would return, but confronted by a raging firestorm heading their way, about 30 fire- fighters lay face down on a rockslide for an hour as the fire burned past them. The little cub had climbed a tree to escape the fire, but the tree went up in flames and the bear’s paws and hind legs were badly burned. A fish and game ranger helped get the cub on a plane to Santa Fe, where its burns were treated and bandaged. News about the cub was eventually picked up by national media. The bear cub was transported to the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., where he became the living sym- bol of Smokey Bear — until then an imaginary icon dedicated to conser- vation and wildfire pre- vention publicity. According to the Forest Service, Smokey received so many letters he needed his own ZIP Code. When he died in 1976, Smokey was returned to his home and buried at the Smokey Bear Historical Park in Capitan, New Mexico. The Wall Street Jour- nal, Washington Post and New York Times pub- lished obituaries for him. 541-523-6377 541-963-6577 541-573-6377 541-576-2160 125481
