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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 7, 1955)
f o Fir i ..Within ; 50th Year - o T mm all (sioty's eorest fires imm cobtrol Forejjt firet tvhich erupted vi olently in Jackeon county Mon day wet being brought under control today, and fire protective agency officials were express ing a cautious optimism. All told, fires in the county have covered about 11,000 acres Most of the increase in acreage over yesterday's figure of slight- Salem (U.R) Increasing hazards in the dry forestlands of southern Oregon brought additional orders closing down logging operations in south eriDouglas, Jackson and Jose phine counties, effective last midnight. State Forester George Spaur said a rash of lightning fires, plus the danger from woods operations, bad made condi tions such that a close down until the weather changes was imperative. Closed down Zones 16 and 17 include the Douglas - Jickson - Josephine county forests. , ly less than 10,000 is due to more accurate estimates of the size of individual fires, and not to any new outbreaks. Sykes Creek Fire The biggest fire in Jackson county still was the one burning inJhe Sykes creek area north of Rogue River. Its size is now be ing figured at upwards of 6,000 acres. Ted Maul, district warden for thPstate department of forestry, flew over the fire yesterday: After the flight, the acreage es timate for the fire was revised upwards from 4,500 acres to be tween 5,000 andc6,000 acres. Forest patrol spokesmen this mornutfc said that the Sykes creek fire was changed very lit tle from yesterday. The Timber mountain fire west of Jacksonville today wag still being figured at 2,500 acres. State police halted non-essential traffic on the Jacksonville-Ap-plegate highway at 8:35 p'.m. yesterday when sightseers start ed interfering with necessary equipment traveling the route. Council Approves Signing of Pact The Medford city council last night adopted an ordinance au thorizing the city to sign a con tract with South Bear Creek Sanitary Sewer district. The signing paves the way for construction of a sewer in the district Officials of the district "previously indicated construction would start immediately after a contract was signed. Contract signing was delayed pending approval by the city of a trunk line location into the district. Earlier the city agreed to sign th contract so construc tion could start, and determine trunk line location at a later date. The signing also paves the way for installation of a sewer system at Phoenix, where resi dents recently passed a $40,000 bond issue for that purpo-e. The Phoenix system will connect with the South Bear Creek San itary district trunk sewer. City Manager Robert Duff said present city lines would carry the additional load for several years. (See Story on Page 12) Bly Surrounded on Three Sides by Fire Bly (U.R) Fires surrounded this south central Oregon com munity on three sides today but Jack Groom, assistant forester of the Fremont National Forest at Lakeview, said all the blazes were under control or nearly controlled. The fire was eight miles south west of Bly. Four miles west of the city a 1500-acre fire was still out of control but Hal Ogle, manager of the Klamath Forest Protective Association, said it appeared to be burning away from town. QBix miles east of Bly a fire burned 800 acres at Round SButte near the south fork of the SgrSgue river. Ogle said he ex pected that blaze would be con trolled " sometime today. Medford It appeared for a while that families along the highway might have to be evacuated, but at 10:10 p.m. a state policeman assigned to the area reported the fire was almost under control. Richard Krupp, chief of the Central Point Rural Fire de partment, this morning estimat ed the Blackwell hill fire at about 2,000 acres, and said it was under control unless unfore seen conditions arise. Some 10 families evacuated from the area Monday were reported moving back into their homes. The Nugget butte fire, north of Gold Hill, was controlled yester day morning, and the situation was unchanged today. It was still being listed at 100 acres. A fire burning on the middle fork of Rogue river, on U.S. For est service land, was being list ed at 160 acres this morning. Crews had lines around three sides of the blaze and were com pleting a line on the fourth side this morning. ' They hoped to have it contained today. Fire Flares Up The Sterling mountain fire, just south of Jackson county in California, flared up last night, but did not cover much addi tional acreage. Crews from Jack son county, including loggers and Mexican nationals, were re organizing their lines this mor ning and hoped, to contain the blaze today. A fire on Gardener peak in eastern Jackson county totalled about 100 acres today. Fire lines were extended around three sides of tne blaze, and crew were working to get a line around the fourth side. Rogue River National forest, which yesterday reported about 40 fires, had an additional three or four this morning in the head waters of Bessie creek, east of Medford. The fires were believed to have been started by-Mon day's lightning storm, but r ports were delayed due to ex tremely poor visibility caused by heavy smoke over the area. Diamond Lake Area A total of 23 fires was report ed in the Diamond lake area, and about 15 others were listed on the North Umpqua river, Virtually all of them were be lieved started by the same light ning storm which started 20 to 25 fires on the Cascade divide Monday between Four Mile lake and Crater lake. About 300 employees of Morri- son-Knudsen company, which is building California Oregon Pow er company projects on the North Umpqua, and some Copco employees, were helping fight the fires. No fires in Josephine county had been reported to the. state forest patrol through this mor ning. . Crater Lake National park has 19 known fires, all of which were under control this morn ing. All of the fires were listed as small. Nine more possible fires with in the park developed late yes terday or this morning, and crews were being sent to them this morning. Visibility is prac tically nil because of drift smoke. This, means the situation won't be known on the nine until crews return. Cool weather -last night at the park improved the fire situation. Mobile Unit Arrives The Medford office of the state department of forestry yesterday ordered a mobile fire weather forecasting unit from Portland, and the unit was scheduled to go into operation today. Operat ed by a two-man crew, it is ex pected to be of ' considerable help with on the scene forecasts for both state and federal land fires. , Weather forecasts of northerly winds and increased humidities were expected to provide relief for fire fighters. Northerly winds will clear out some of the smoke which has reduced visibility from from lookout stations to zero in some places. Increased humidities, with a reading of 70 per cent for six hours last night, were believed to have played an important part in keeping the fires in check. Yes terday's low was 22. County Judge Rodney Keat ing announced today that Jack son county has made men and equipment available to both state and federal forest protective agencies for use in the event of an emergency. . Stores Mil Remain Open for Shopping Until -l. f w j. vj. JLr xvy isaxw United Press Full 20 Pages FIRE'S WAKE One of five houses which were destroyed in the wake of a forest fire . in the Tolo area late Monday and yesterday is shown in the top picture. Central Point Rural Fire Protection district off icials had not determined the name of the people who lived in the house shown. The fire swept across the field behind the house and across Board Okays Change For Part of Kenwood The Jackson county school district boundary board yester day adopted a resolution grant ing a request that residents in part of Kenwood school district be annexed to Lone Pine dis trict. A petition was submitted to the board earlier requesting that the area generally north of Roberts rd. and west of Crater Lake ave. and east of Corona rd. and extending north to Cra ter . Lake highway be annexed to Lone Pine. The area does not include a row of residences boardering on the south side of Delta .Waters rd. Will Attend Lone Pine Children in the area within changed boundaries will attend Lone Pine school. Several children from the area have been attending Lone Pine school on a tuition basis from Kenwood district. The decision of the boundary board was made pending a meet ing of the school boards of dis trict 10, Lone Pine, and district 102, Kenwood, relative to dis tribution of assets and liabil ities. The boundary board took no action concerning the remainder of Kenwood district or to any area of Dewey district. Both districts are suspended districts which are required by law to be annexed to one or more sur- rounding districts which main- Leased Wire MEDFORD, OREGO tain standard schools. County Superintendent of Schools Alf B. Mekvold said the board is considering postpone ment of the disposition of Dewey district and the remainder of Kelwood until the conclusion of the current school year. Transportation Rate Increases Granted Salem U.R) The Public Util ities Commission today granted increases in transportation rates for over-the-road carriers in Ore gon and for the Portland and Eugene local cartage carriers. The revised rates were re quested to offset 1354 and 1955 hikes in labor costs. The increases amount to about 6 per cent and apply only to shipments of less than 10,000 pounds for over-the-road car riers. Household goods only were affected in Eugene local cartage. The new rate will permit car riers to maintain substantially the same relation operating ra tios which they experienced be fore the increased labor costs, Public Utilities Commissioner Charles H. Heltzel said. . Salem (U.R) Public Utilities Commissioner Charles H. Heltzel left last night for Washington, D.C., to attend the annual meet ing of public utilities commis- sioners. ' 'ft . -' i-iT'fT-f-nr inn i United Y, SEPTEMBER 7, 1955 -the road and railroad near the tree in the center of picture. Devastated area of Black well hill is shown in lower picture after the fire, which spread into the Tolo area, jumped the Rogue fiver and climbed Upper . Table Rock. The road to the left leads to a televi sion transmitter. . (Brainerd's photos) Commitment on Freeway Sought The Medford city council last night authorized City Manager Robert Duff to arrange a meet ing with Oregon State Highway Engineer R. H. Baldock in an attempt to get a commitment on the location of a proposed free way through the city. Mayor Earl Miller asked the council's permission, pointing out that uncertainties of location are delaying planned improve ments on sewer lines, water mains and streets. Duff said he would arrange an appointment with Baldock at Salem in the near future. Attend ing the conference will be Duff, Mayor Miller and Public Works Director Vernon Thorpe. Three proposals have been studied for a freeway' through Medford. One would be . an ele vated freeway down Bear creek, another would by-pass the city in the vicinity of Foothills rd., and the third and most recent proposal would be a freeway running on a general line along Tripp and Cottage sts., south of Main st. and along Genessee st. north of Main st. Weather FORECAST: Variable high cloudiness and continued quite ' Smoky Thursday. Low to night 55. Hif h Thursday 85. Temp. Highest Yesterday 92 Lowest this Morning 54 Price 5c Tribune Press Full Leased Wire No. 143 Red China Reveals Plans To Release All US Captives Question of Date Holding Up Talks Washington (U.R) Red China, without saying when, has disclosed it may free all Ameri cans still held in jail or under house arrest. The question of when the pris oners will be freed is said to be the main point holding up American-Red Chinese talks at Geneva on the prisoner problem. . Ambassador U. Alexis John son, chief U.S. negotiator, is trying to get the Reds to say precisely when the Americans will get out of Red China. There is official fear that otherwise the Chinese Reds might announce to the world that they are free ing all Americans and then leave some languishing in China for many months or even years. Young Girl Included At Tuesday's session of the Geneva talks, the Reds outlined plans to issue departure permits to 12 Americans. Nine, including a 10-year-old girl, will get their permits soon. Two more will get them when applications are received. The 12th American, Charles Sidney Miner of Takoma Park, Md., will be able to leave when his business affairs are tidied up. The best official information shows that 28 Americans still are in Red China. Twenty-five, mostly priests, are in jail. Three missionaries are under house arrest, ' apparently at Foochow. Officials said there" may be one additional American of Chinese descent who wants to leave Red China. She is Mee Sem Lai, who v,.wentJfrom,- the . United States to Canton, China, in 1949. Five Weeks of Talks ' ,.r During five weeks' of talks at Geneva, Johnson has pressed for the release of all Americans believed held in Red China as of Aug. 1, the day of the first meeting. . The Communists at first refused to consider letting the imprisoned Americans go before their "sentences" or cases were completed. They said this would be a violation of Chinese sovereignty because the Ameri cans had been tried and con victed by due processes of Chi nese law. ' But they relented somewhat in announcing plans to free the 12 Americans. The State department said Tuesday that release of the nine Americans and the outlines of a plan to free three more were encouraging." It expressed the hope this was a first step toward freedom for the rest of the Americans. Light Rain Dampens Portland, West Oregon By UNITED PRESS A light drizzle dampened Portland and other, sections of Western Oregon this morning but it was so light the weather bureau did not measure it. Forecasters said the wetness did not mean that the rainy sea son had begun. High pressures west of the Cascades had drawn in a mass of moist air from the coast, they said. Last measurable rain in the Portland area was July 29. Los Angeles Notes Eighth Straight Day of Heat Wave Los Angeles (U.R) The city's killer heat wave, accomp anied by eye-searing smog, mov ed into its eighth straight day of 100-degree heat today as the death toll climbed past 80. The coroner's office reported the heat death toll stood at 82. 101 Expected Today . Blistering temperatures that have cracked almost every heat record for the city were expected to reach 101x today, and a low inversion, a weather lid clamp ed over the Los Angeles area, made County Air Pollution Con trol District officials predict a "smog alert" would be called for the second straight day. Since the heat wave started Aug. 31 the coroner's office has reported 379 "natural" deaths, about three to four times the normal amount for the period. Baseball AMERICAN Detroit . ; 4 0 Boston 7 12 3 Bunning, Foytack (3), Crist ante (5), Coleman (8) and House; Sullivan, Kinder (9) and White. Kansas City 1 1 1 New York 2 8 0 Portoearrero and Aiiroth, W. Shanti (7); Ford and Berra. NATIONAL Pittsburgh 2 7 0 Chicago 0 1 1 Friend and Shepardj Min ner and Cooper. Cyprus Conference Ends in Failure; Riots in Istanbul London (U.R) The three power conference on Cyprus ended in failure today with Brit ain, Greece and Turkey unable to get together on their conflict ing views on the future of that strategic Mediterranean island. The meeting which opened here last Monday at British in itiatice was formally "suspend ed" today, but official confer ence sources said that no date has been fixed for their resump tion. Turkish Foreign Minister Fa tin Rustu Zorlu told newsmen immediately after today's session that the talks have been "end ed." He announced he was re turning to Istanbul tomorrow with his delegation.' ' The dispute over Cyprus flar ed into anti-Greek riots in Istan bul where thousands of young Turks swarmed through the streets and burned Greek churches, houses and schools in retaliation against the bombing of the Turkish Consulate in Sa lonika. On Cyprus itself, torn recent ly by a series of terrorist at tacks, police completed the big gest terrorist hunt in history of the crown colony. Police search ed 1,400 houses for arms and for fugitives accused of killing a policeman, - The Cyprus dispute stemmed from Greek demands that inhab itants of the island some 250 miles east of the Greek island of Rhodes and 35 miles south of Turkey be allowed to deter mine their own future. ' Greece believes the 400,000 Greek residents of Cyprus will vote overwhelmingly for union with Greece. Turkey fears for the Turkish minoritv of inn 00(1 I on the island anH wants to main- tain the status quo. Britain offered a compromise self-government plan for Cyprus but it ran into stubborn resis tance from both Turkey and Greece. i The British plan would give Cyprus self-government in a new constitution with firm safe guards for the Turkish minority, but Britain would handle foreign affairs and defense. Singmaster Appointed To Equalization Board Ed Singmaster, Ashland In surance man, has been named to the county board of equaliza tion, it was announced today by County Judge Rodney Keating. He succeeds Ralph Cook, Med ford rancher and pear grower. who resigned recently. Oregon law provides that the board of equalization in each county shall consist of the coun ty judge, of the senior member of the county budget commit' tee, and a third member appoint ed - by the other two. Arnold Bohnert, Central Point, is the budget committeeman on the board. Mortuaries in the city were jam med. . Today's minimum was 71 at 6:32 a.m. and the mercury be gan climbing more slowly than in the previous week of the heat wave. By 9 a.m. the high was only 81. Longest Hot Spell On successive days, starting last Wednesday, the tempera tures have hit highs of 101, 110, 108, 103, 101, 100 and 102. The high of 110 is an all-time high for the city. A high of 100 or more today would make this the city's long est hot spell of about 100-degree temperatures. Yesterday's 102, the seventh day of 100-degree heat, equalled the heat streak in 1939 here. Temperatures in this year's siege, however, exceeded those in 1939. 9 o'clock No Reason Given To Believe Town Will Be Evacuated Estimated 100,000 Acres Blackened Yreka An estimated 100.009 acres of Siskiyou county had been blackened by forest fires up to late this morning. The big gest blaze, known as the -Haystack fire, has swept over 65,000 acres and is still raging out of control. o The Haystack fire had burned to within five air miles of Yreka at 11 a.m. today, but Klamath San Francisco (U.R) A roaring forest fire which threatened to destroy the famed General Grant Grove of giant Redwoods 50 miles east of Fresno, was checked today within a half mile of the big trees that . have survived for 5000 years. National forest . officials said "there is absolutely no reason to believe the town will be evacuated." They emphasized there is no immediate danger to theoCity. Residents To Be Alerted However, residents of Yreka were to be alerted this afternoon if spot fires should break out from falling sparks. Civil De fense agency and the city fire department also have been alerted. Only 15 miles of the Haystack fire line is being held, and Z2 miles are still open. National forest officials explained that this means there are no men on 32 miles of the fire line, and the only .efforts possible in these areas are back fires. Backfires have been started in the south perimeter, burning toward the center of the fire, and on the west perimeter. More back fires will be started this afternoon on the north side. The area along the Klamath river is "controlled to date" with back, fires set last night. No Reported Injuries The west side of the fire, from. McKinney creek. to Indian creek:, and down Indian creek to Scott ' valley is listed as partially con trolled with fire breaks in the southern area. Forest officials' saie) there have been no reported injuries of any type, and no major losses of im provements. Some cabins and summer homes in isolated areas have burned. A total of seven fires are burn- in8 on the Klamath National for- est. Some 2,300 men are on the fire lines, and another 258 are working in service crews behind the lines. The situation on the other fires looked like this: West Vrider Creek Control led and mopping up. Six Mile Ridge 800 acres un controlled. Serious fire condi tions with high winds and low humidity. Trying to hold the Six Mile drainage. Taylor Creek 800 acres un controlled. Very rugged terrain and high winds. East Fork-Happy Camp area 600 acres controlled and mop ping up. Hays Creek-Scott River area 600 acres with 20 per cent in for est and 80 per cent in open land. Poor possibility to hold fire in area. Sterling Mountain 880 acres, with five miles of held line, and one mile open line. Partially con trolled. Two .small fires in the Sterling mountain area control led and mopping up. Third Polio Patient Reported in County A,35-year-old Spokane, Wash., man i in Ashland General hos pital with paralystic poliomyel itis, Dr. A. Erin Merkel, Jack son county health officer, said today. Dr. Merkel said the Washing ton man was visiting relatives in Ashland and was in The hos pital a day before his case was diagnosed as polio. Prior to com ing to Ashland, he visited rela tives in an area in Idaho where polio was prevalent, Dr. Merkel said. Dr. Merkel said he man has not been in Jackson county long enough to contact polio here, and although the county is reporting the case to state health officials. the case probably will be allocat ed to another contact area. The case is the third reported in Jackson county this year. Earlier a Ukiah, Calif., youth was diagnosed as having polio which was contacted elsewhere, and a local youth was diagnosed as having non-paralytic polio. Tonight
