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.
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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