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'FOURTEEN MEDFORD (OREGON) MAIL TRIBUNE
NO-CATS PURCHASED BY
Drivers Trained
For Maintenance
In Winter Weather
High Relay Stations
Need Unique Vehicles
"Operation Sno-Cat" was held
at Crater Lake National park
recently as the Pacific Telephone
and Telegraph company conduct
ed a training course for 13 em
ployees in the handling of the
lamous Mucker bno-Uat over-
siw vehicles.
The neaf-blizzard weather
during the outing was ideal for
the occasion, as three of the big
vehicles, manufactured in Med-
ford, were put through their
paces. The Sno-Cats, weighing
two tons, were purchased recent
ly for winter maintenance work.
The PT&T men taking the
training were from Portland, Eu
gene, Roseburg, Medford, Cen
tral Point, Talent and Ashland
Local Men
The Rogue Valley men includ
ed three from Medford, Walt
Black, transmissionman, 1066 El-
lendale dr.; W. J. Williams,
utransmissiyiman, route 2, box
429, and Marvin Happel, gar
age mechanic, 1002 West Four
teenth st.
Others were O. P. Van Auck-
en, transmissionman, route 1,
box 261, Central Point; Cal O.
Webber, chief transmissionman,
route 1. box 531, Talent, and
Chuck Risley, garage mechanic,
route 1, box 501-C, Ashland.
On theirshoulders will be the
responsibility of inspecting and
"maintaining the company's new
microwave relay station now lie-
FUND RAISING PROJECT Members of the Eagle Point
Future Farmers of America have installed a "mechanical
cow" as a fund raising project. The machine was installed
0 through cooperation with the Milk Producers' league. Club
officers (standing left to right) are Dick Wallace, sentinel;
Ron Hanson, treasurer; Gale Friend, president; David Wool
folk, secretary;-"and (kneeling) Tom Collette, reporter; and
Robert Hayse, vice-president. Also pictured are Nat Etzel,
instructor of agriculture at Eagle Point high school; Bob
Birling, Del Mongold and W. E. Davies, directors of the
league. ,
BRING THE KIDS
TO I.O.O.F. HALL
8:20 DEC. 20
Entertainment
SANTA CLAUS
WEE, PRESENTS
Medford Lodge No. 83
O
Say
o
to the BOY or GIRL
f the Family with a . ..
o
1 .IY1.
MEMBERSHIP
o
522 West 6th St.
3
GET SNO-CAT TRAINING
sion for Pacific Telephone and Telegraph com
pany employees in this area was conducted at
Crater Lake recently to acquaint them with
operation of a Tucker Sno-Cat, which will be
used to maintain microwave relay stations
in nearby mountains. Marvin Happel (in cab)
ing built at Siskiyou Summit,
south of Medford.
Nine Stations
It is one link in a chain of
nine such stations between Port
land and the California border,
This chain, for relaying televis
ion programs and telephone con-
Rock Indentifkafion
Class Starts Monday
A class in field identification
of rocks and minerals will begin
Monday at 8 p.m. at the Med
ford senior high school, it was
announced yesterday. R. A.
Mitchell, local chemist, will be
instructor.
About 14 persons are enrolled
in the class, and six more will
be accepted. Anyone interested
is welcome to enroll,- he said.
About 18 sessions are planned
S V.M.
Phone 2-6295
Sunday, December 18. 1955
A training ses
versations through the air, will
connect with similar systems
north and east to Seattle and
Eastern Washington, and south
to San Francisco.
Keeping the systems in good
working order will be of prime
importance, and the men respon
sible for their maintenance
might well be called "Microwave
Minute Men."
During the winter months, ac
cess to the 5,050-foot Siskiyou
summit site is difficult because
of road conditions and snow.
While work on the project is be
ing rushed to its Aug. 1 com
pletion date, prior to the politi
catoonyentions in San Francisco
men and material will daily be
making the arduous ascent to
the mountain top.
Used For Snow
Under ordinary weathex con
ditions jeeps and power wagons
will be used for the climb. But
when snow lies deep on the
roadway, the Snowcat will be
put to use.
The same holds true when the
system is in operation. Inspec
tion trips will be made to all
nine such stations in Oregon, 52
weeks of the year, in all kinds
of weather.
That's why the telephone com
pany obtained three of the Sno-
Cats the first ever used by
the company in Oregon and
spent a day acquainting 18 of
its employees with the weather
conditions they will meet in op
erating the tractor-treaded veh
icles.
Mobile 'Phones
For reasons of safety all veh
icles employed in maintenance
of the microwave network are
equipped with mobile tele
phones. When trips are made to
the stations under adverse wea
ther conditions, men driving in
the vehicles will be required to
report- their progress and loca
tion every 30 minutes by phone.
If contact is lost and not re
established with the vehicle in
a reasonable period of time,
telephone company officials will
start rescue operations with the
assumption help is needed.
Further ' precautions have
been taken in installing living
quarters at the relay station at
Siskiyou summit. Eating and
sleeping facilities have been pro
vided there, along with a supply
of food to last a week.
Similar provisions have been
made at stations located on Har
ness mountain south of Eugene,
and King mountain south of
Roseburg. Sno-Cats will be used
when needed to reach those sta
tions. Work on Schedule
Telephone company officials
report that work at Siskiyou
Summit and also at Baldy Moun
tain, about 11 miles southeast of
Medford, is going along on
schedule.
Construction has , been com
pleted at Siskiyou of a concrete-block
building and the
27 i-foot tower to hold four an
tennae horns. Western Electric
company employees are now on
Daily's U-Drive
Medford Airport
PT&T
iL J
'
revs up the 100-horsepower motor as (left to
right) Chuck Risley, Cal Webber, Walt Black,
W. J. Williams and O. P. Van Auken listen.
The men were given instructions in driving
the world-famous over-snow vehicles which
are manufactured in Medford. (PT&T photo)
the job installing electronic
equipment.
At Baldy Mountain, the
building is nearly completed . and
the 37V-foot antennae tower is
already finished. Equipment in
stallation by Western Electric
people will start Feb. 13. Four
two-ton antennae are to be hoist
ed atop the tower two weeks lat
er. Bids for Recapping
Tires of County
Vehicles Opened
Bids for recapping tires of
county vehicles and for purchase
of furniture in the county clerk's
Six firms bid on the recapping
job. In an unprecedented action,
the court accepted the three
lowest bids, and will split the
business between the firms
with four months of service
from each during the year.
Various Amounts
The successful bids, which
were broken down into amounts
for passenger, truck and grader
tire recapping, totaled $4,540.35
from OK Rubber Welders, $4,
911 from Hawkinson Tire Ser
vice, and $5,522.72 from Peck
Brothers. These bids are based
on a year's service, and in effect
will, total about' one-quarter of
the amounts listed.
The court indicated they plan
to study the results of the dif
ferent methods of recapping and
repairing to decide which is the
most economical ' long-range
method. A top cap, rather than
a full cap, will be tried this
year, they said.
Other Firms
Other firms bidding' were
Medford Tire Service, Older Tire
and Wheel Exchange, and Fire
stone stores, the court reported.
Medford Stationery store was
awarded a $3,605.61 contract for
new furniture. The store's bid
of $4,097.73 was reduced by al
ternative, and elimination of one
item. The court also purchased
a $275 safe for district court,
purchased on the recommenda
tion of the county clerk and the
court. -
The new furniture was order
ed to be delivered at'thesame
time the clerk's office is moving
into the new annex. , .
Other furniture' bidders were
Office Stationery and Supply
company; Jewett Office Supply,
and Medford Office Equipment
company, and Remington Rand
agency.
Monday Night at 8 p.m.
- at
MARY'S CASA
TREATS FOR THE LITTLE ONES
We heartily wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!
GET YOUR RESERVATIONS NOW FOR CHRISTMAS DAY
DINNER! OPEN at 2 P.M.
537 MARY ST.-For Reservations Dial 2-5349
Success of Pilot
Education Program
Told in Magazine
An article on the pilot school
project for mentally retarded
pupils in Jackson county ap
pears in the December issue of
Oregon Education magazine.
Authors of "That They May
Learn!" are Una B. Inch, assist
ant to the county school super
intendent; Karl Hayes, pilot
school instructor; and Mrs. Fran
ces Klein, in charge of special
education for Ashland schools.
Results Good
Results of the school, which
was one of several established
throughout the state in a two
year experiment, have "more
than compensated us for the spe
cial effort involved," the three
report.
"It required the cooperation
of several school districts in
volved, the rural school board,
the county school superintend
ent and the parents of the chil
dren," they said.
The class was limited to 8 to
12 year-olds and classes began
in the Phoenix Community
church with Hayes as instruc
tor. It was formed "to try to
determine if special methods
might open the door of learning
to retarded children.".
Schedule Same
Daily scehdule for the 12 chil
dren (screened from 26 appli
cants) was the same as for the
regular school. The milieu of
each child was studied, includ
ing mental age, chronological
age, IQ, social maturity and phy
sical development.
Youngsters took an important
part in all phases of the school,
including time schedules, and a
main part of their training cen
tered on learning community or
ganization. '
"This first activity welded
together the uncooperative, the
belligerent, and the withdrawn
into a group of helping class
mates worKmg togetner on a
common project," the article
continues.
Find Own Place
.Negativeness slowly .gave
way to a sincere desire to try
and to realization that there was
a definite place for each in their
community."
Other topics of the study pro
gram included language arts
program of reading, writing and
spelling; social living projects;
arithmetic and science.
The class moved to the Phoe
nix Elementary school in the fall
of 1954, .. which eventually
brought signs of adjustment to
regular classes.
Fre-vocational e x p e riences
were added to the school later
and the pupils .were taken on
field trips to various local indus
tries. "Measuring progress in basic
school subjects . . . has been dif
ficult," according to the writers,
but using available ratings, sig
nificant progress was noted in
all but two pupils, and they had
marked independence of action
Gives, Evaluation
According to Mrs. Klein, the
Phoenix school may be evalu
ated in part as follows:
"The pilot class has served
to- awaken : and stimulate new
interests and cooperation of pub
lic school teachers through the
county . School personnel and
parents are happy to realize that
at last our too-long-neglected
slow learners will have a chance
to receive that kind of educa
tional opportunities which will
build for them , attitudes, con
cepts and skills which will aid
them to fit in successfully with
the community "
Through continued legislative
support, special class work is
being carried on in the state
another two years. Jackson
county has two classes, older
children attending at Phoenix
and the younger pupils at Tal
ent. WON'T PARTICIPATE
Athens, Greece (U.R) Prime
Minister Constantin Karamanlis
said Friday night Greece will
not participate in the forthcom
ing Balkan Pact council of min
isters unless Turkey satisfies de
mands arising from the dispute
over Cyprus. .
COME TO THE
Christmas Tree
LIGHTING
and Hear the
Marian Choir
of St. Mary's School
RECEIVES CALENDAR Medford Mayor
Earl Miller is presented the first 1956 Boy
Scout calendar by Cub Scout Reed Harris of
pack 5, Fred Lorish of troop 3, and Larry Hill
of post 8. The calendars are distributed
through the Milk Producer's league, repre
Elderly Trail Couple Travel Cascades
In Summertime Back-Packing Journeys
It is unusual enough to travel
the high Cascade Crest trail that
begins near the Canadian border
and leads south through Wash
ington, Oregon and California.
It is even more unusual to
make the trek on foot, but to at
tempt the long hike over some
of the west's roughest terrain
after one has reached the age
of 70, is something of a phenom
eon. Three Years Ago
Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Watson,
of Trail, began making pack
trips three years ago. This sum
mer they took a 225 mile walk
in the Glacier Peak Primitive
area of the Cascade mountains
in Washington and continued
south on the crest trail to Ste
vens pass
They intend to start hiking
south again next summer from
where they were forced to quit
this year because of bad weather,
and eventually to traverse the
full length of the trail to where
it ends in California. Watson is
72; his wife, 70.
Sure Way
"It's just a matter of what you
really want to do," Mrs. Watson
states. "The one sure way to
get old is to think old. And this
can happen at any age.".
On their first extended hiking
trips the Watsons experimented
with burros as pack animals but
decided that the disadvantages
outweighed the advantages.
They abandoned the idea in
favor of back-packing.
The weight of their packs is,
of course, one of the most im
portant problems with which
they are faced. They eliminate
everything but the essentials
from, their pack list. " '
Carry Camp Gear
They carry sleeping bags, a
lightweight aluminum camp set
of cooking utensils from which
they have discarded the pot lids,
a small wire grill to aid in cook
ing over camp fires and a frying
pan with the handle cut off.
Since summer rain and even
snow are not uncommon on the
JOYQE and KEN
HAMNER
Extend to you the Season's Greetings, and
invite you to spend Christmas with us . . .
Sunday, December 25th.
DINING
ROOM
will be open from
11:00 a.m. till 9 p.m.
LOUNGE
Will Be Open
YOUR
' "" ..u -mill's w
high trails they carry a piece of
parachute silk treated twice with
water proofing and a 9 by 12
foot plastic painter's drop cloth
to be used as a tent with their
alpenstocks for support. The im
provised shelter weighs only ZVz
pounds.
Food From Farm
Much of the dried food they
use on their trips comes from
ttieir own farm located near
Trail. To save on the weight of
bacon the Watsons fry it first
at home and pack it with only a
little of the fat in plastic con
tainers. They carry a food sup
ply sufficient for a two week
period in the woods.
To provide elements lacking
in mountain drinking water,
which is largely melted snow,
they supplement their diet with
iodine and calcium pills.
Few Tools
For tools, they carry a short
handled hoe, a hatchet and
cniid s iinismng pole. Tne noe is
considered invaluable. They use
it to cut steps in snow, level
areas for sleeping and cooking,
digging holes for - refuse and
clearing away brush. . The little
fishing pole provides many trout
meals to supplement their diet.
Watson tries to keep the
weight of his pack down to 50
pounds and that of his wife to
30 or 35..
mo
i
GIFTWARE - IAMPS - MAPLE DEPT. - MIRRORS - PICTURES
DRAPES - HASSOCKS COSCO STOOLS AND CARTS
PEN evenings til 9 p.m. ifljOjOifcOitf
THE
HOTEL
From 11:00 a.m. Till 2:30 a.m.
CHEF: JOHN CROTTY
ii ii j mmim
5W
sented by Dick Westerberg, league manager.
The 1956 calendar is the first in 40 years
which has been dedicated to a scoutmaster.
More than 2,000 will be presented to business
firms, school rooms and Cubs, Scouts and Ex
plorers in Jackson county.
Mrs. Watson admits that she
gets tired climbing the steep
trails but adds,' "Not as tired as
get in my own house." The
difference is that on the trail a
brief rest brings a feeling of
complete refreshment.
Warned.of Accidents
People warn them of all the
things that could happen and tell
them they are crazy to take such.
chances but they say they are
never so healthy or happy as
when they are out in the big
woods. As for accidents, one of
the neighbors who was most
pessimistic about their trip this
year fell and broke her leg while
chasing a chicken off of her back
porch. o
The Watsons have two sons
and two grandchildren. They
have always lived an outdoor
life but children and daily chores
kept them tied down until three
years ago. At the present time
they are visiting relatives in
California but as soon as spring
time comSs to the high moun
tains they plan to take the Crest
trail south.
BIG STEAL -
London U.R) Thieves stole
jewelry valued at 828,000 from
the apartment of American
crooner Vic Damone and his
movie star, wife Pier Angeli
Friday night, police reported
Saturday. -
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