Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 7, 1959)
o Lro local '-Persons Offer Mi to Rosieburg Area Local and state officials in the Medford area sprang to the aid of disaster-stricken Roseburg today. Acting Gov. , Walter Pear- son, here for a meeting on higher education, declared a state of emergency and called out National Guard units be fore dawn today and then set ; out for the holocaust scene by state police car at 9:20 a jn. Medford Mayor John W. Snider w'irsd an offer of help early this morning and later flew to the scene JhimselLiy private plane. The Jackson County Red Cross chzpter prepared to as sist in relaying information on the names of the dead and injured. A Mercy Rights plane car- rying three utility mainte-. nance men and a carton of blood left early today, stop ping at Grants Pass to pick City Described By Eye Witness As in Shambles ! By ERIC W. ALLEN JR. Managing Editor, , Mail Tribune . Roseburg - The downtown area of this city is a shambles. Blocks awav from the site of last night's devastating blast, the streets are strewn with shattered glass and rubble. Merchants are busy sweeping the sidewalks and t remote anH nuttine up sheets of plywood on the fronts of their stores. The Umpqua hotel, the Post Office, the junior high school, the courthouse - none of them in the immediate blast vicinity -stand windowless. Mercy hospital, blocks away and across the Tiver, lost all the windows on the east side 'of the building. The destruction is unbeliev able. From the air, the blast area shows up like a charred scar in the middle of the city. But on the ground, one can more accurately assess the damage. For block after block, houses stand, some tilted crazixy, their chimneys blown off, their fronts shattered. No accurate estimate of the dollar damage can yet be made. It may take weeks to assess it. But . W. P. Roble, Grants Pass, deputy state fire mar shall, first shrugged his shoulders, then said: "Well, take the assessed valuation of the entire city of Roseburg, then take one-third . of it. That's about what the dam age will come to." The blast was in a high value, downtown area, of in dustrial firms and warehouses. Big Southern Pacific box cars lie tumbled like chil dren's toys. The explosion was only about a half-block from the tracks. , The axle of a truck - per haps the one where the ex plosion originated - sticks out from the wall of a mortuary building several blocks away. (Continued on Page 10) DESTRUCTION SHOWN IN DOWNTOWN up more blood and two physi cians. The local Salvation Army disaster bus also answered the call. Lt. Earle Tichenor of the Medford state police depart ment was dispatched at about 3 a.m. to assist Roseburg city police. Roseburg is in the same state police district as Medford. Medford Plate Glass com pany and Paul J. Selby of Selby Glass company answer ed a frantic call from the Douglas couaty -sheriff 's- office for glass repairmen. Medford Plate Glass sent three men and a truckload of glass, while Selby went to the scene himself. . Medford Fire Chief Gordon Barker was another local of ficial who. left for Roseburg to offer aid. - Two plane loads of Med ford policemen flew up as well. Acting Gov. Pearson, Democratic president of the state senate, was in Medford for a meeting this week end of the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Edu cation. Gov. Mark Hatfield is attending a governor's con ference in Puerto Rico. George Milligan flew the Mercy Flights, ' Inc., plane from Medford - to Roseburg early today. The three main tenance men, from California- Pacific Utilities, were needed to repair damaged gas con nections. Milligan said he was told no more blood was needed for the .injured as residents were turning out "en masse" to donate. The two doctors re turned with the planer Milli gan said, as they were re ported not needed either. The local pilot said he was im pressed with emergency or ganization of medical facili ties. He described the town's view ' from the air as a "holocaust." .. The flight to Roseburg was the first trip for the new Mercy Flights plane since it was put into service last week. The Jocal Salvation Army disaster bus was requested by Roseburg early today. Nor man Bandy drove .the bus, ac companied by Mrs. William Ricken, senior captain of the local corps. Captain Ricken, commanding officer who left this morning for Barton, Ore., was being contacted. The iocal gas utilities com pany has also, sent 18 cars and trucks, emergency supplies and about 11 men from Med ford, 5 from Grants Pass, 2, Ashland, and 4 from Klamath Falls. v . . Company officials here re ported that every meter in Roseburg would have to be checked and that work on the main lines would be required. The Medford office is operat ing today with a minimum crew, officials said. The California Oregon Power and the Pacific Tele phone and Telegraph com panies reported that no local crews have been sent to Roseburg. : Copco reported construction crews were in the Roseburg area prior to the explosion. .. T j ROSEBURG- 54th M EDFORD 20 Pages Roseburg People Start Process of Cleaning Up City By JAMES DOYLE United Press International Roseburg (DPD The sturdy people of Roseburg have be gun the long process of clean ing up after disastrous explo sion and fire that devastated a part ' of this city of some 13,000. Although the city was in a state of emergency, it's not in a state of shock. .. The people have taken their loss and misfortune in stride. Much of the town's business district was closed to all but those persons carrying police permits. Most of the buildings have been damaged, and few have windows left. Gas lines as far as six blocks from the blast center were leaking and some areas were closed to all persons be cause of the leaking fumes. - No smoking bans have been placed on much of the disaster area. ; i But still the people steadily continue t,h e i r monumental cleanup . task. C. H. Patchett, owner of Pat's Tavern, one of the few business operating in Rose burg today pointed to deep pock marks on the hard top of his bar made by flying glass and softly exclaimed, "It's unbelievable!" "It happened real quick," Pachett said. "It was like be ing under a jet blasting off." "We have a lot fine people in this town, and they're all working real - hard to get it going again," he said. One jewelry store owner said he lost diamonds valued at $25,000 to $30,000. The diamonds and diamond rings were blown out into the street from window -how cases and mixed with shattered glass. Roseburg-flJPD-The Veterans Administration hospital on the outskirts of Roseburg escaped damage , in today's blast and offered its facilities to ' care fojr the injured.) Evergreen Bus Lines Given Approval To Resume Service for 10 Years Within Medford A 10-year franchise with Evergreen Bus Lines marking the renewal of bus service within the city limits of Med ford was approved last night by unanimous vote of the city council. L. R. Pilcher, Evergreen manager, has stated he in tends to begin operations, with one bus at first linking the east and west sides with the downtown area, on Aug. 17. But the franchise provides that fares, routes and sched ules must be approved by the city council. No such action was taken last night, and the next regular council meeting is slated for Aug. 20. The council in approving the franchise itself last night also passed an amendment of fered by Councilman Don Hansen, Ward II. providing that the company carry mini mum liability coverage of $100,000. The Woodrow lane water: BOXCARS Year MEDFORD, Economic Data On Rogue Study To Be Presented A meeting of the Rogue Basin. Flood. Control and Water Resources association will be held Thursday, Aug. 13, at 8 pin. in the circuit court '.jjppomgl Grants Pass, according to7 William Jess, president. , Henry Stewart, Portland office of U. S.' Corps of army engineers, will give the eco nomic data for all structures in the engineers' Rogue Basin study.. At previous meeting Stewart has given the people of the area three proposals for tributary structures. In these discussions the corps gave only the physical data on the suggested reservoirs, but until now all of the eco nomic data has not been re leased, y Following the Grants Pass meeting and publication of the economic data, the corps will schedule a public hearing in the Medford armory about mid-September, it was re ported. At that time all in terested groups and individ uals will have an opportunity to make a statement in re spect to the corps' findings. The public hearing, which will start at 9:30 a.m. is ex pected to' continue the entire day and into the evening. Queen Elizabeth Expecting Baby Buckingham Palace an nounced today that Queen Elizabeth expects a baby early next year. The expect ed child will be the third for the Queen and Prince Philip. The story of the an nouncement appears on page 10 of today's Mail Tribune. main project was accepted by the -council as being satisfac torily completed by R. A. Heintz Construction company, Portland. An assessment rate of $3.03 per front foot was approved, the total assess ment being $8,110.64. Another project accepted by the council was the taxi way resurfacing at Medford airport, the total cost being $12,045.01 with the federal government paying 55.92 per cent. A contract was awarded for repainting the airport ter minal building. It went to Baker Paint and Decorating company, in the amount of $3,021.35. This project in cludes the lobby, rest rooms, exterior walls and other areas. In other airport business, the council approved a prop erty lease for Steve Wilson and Max Terzenback, who re portedly plan , to . erect six Sat 11 it TUMBLED LIKE CHILDREN'S TOYS V J OREGON, FRIDAY, AUGUST 7. 1959 Hurled JMi "Well, There We Were In ThU Model Kitchen, And " . Wagon Train Camps Near Columbia River Quinton, Ore.-(DPD-The Ore gon Centennial wagon train camped near here Thursday night between the Union Pa cific railroad and the Colum bia river on property owned by Roy Phillipi of Quinton. The campsite was surround ed on two sides by archeologi cal diggings. Today the wagon train moves 19 miles to a campsite one mile west of Biggs be tween the Union Pacific rail road and Highway 30. The 20th century pioneers are slated to arrive in The Dalles Saturday morning at T" hangars in the northwest hanger area. A public hearing was called for Aug. 20 on the requested rezoning' of property along the south side of East Jackson st. between Genessee and Stark sts. from single and two family residential to lim ited commercial. This request represents an appeal from the planning commission, which previously turned it down. The council approved exe cuting an agreement with Southern Pacific railroad, whereby the city must pay an estimated $6,110 as its share of the cost of installing flash ing signals at the Fourth st. grade crossing. This in stallation is in compliance with a public utilities com mission order. Had the Clark st. grade crossing been closed, the r?iJroati would have borne the full cost of installing these signals. , which time an all-aluminum key to the city, manufactured by the Harvey Aluminum company of The Dalles will be presented to Wagonmaster Tex Serpa. Ceremonies re-enacting a meeting 100 years ago be tween Wasco Indians and a wagon train will be conduct ed Saturday morning. An Indian style dinner will be given to the Oregon caval cade Saturday evening, with Laura Thompson, wife of the late Wy-an chief Tommy Thompson, serving the 59ers. City Limits An easement for two Cali forma Oregon Power com pany poles on the Barneburg hill standpipe lot was another item approved last night. Among steps taken in var ious improvement projects were these: approving plans and specifications for paving Mira Mar ave. from Nieto way to Skyline dr., Nieto way itself, and Shannon dr. from. Nieto to Mira Mar; and for a sanitary sewer on Shannon for Rogue Valley Manor. Other steps included adopt ing plans and specifications for a storm sewer along Groveland ave., Woodlawn dr. and Highland dr., and calling for bids on this project; call ing for bids on curb, gutter and paving work for the Eighth st. extension across Bear creek; and authorizing the preparation of plans and specifications for a Rogue Val ley Estates sanitary sewer. Price 10 Cents No. 114 Paddlewheel Now In Long Orbit Around the Earth Cape Canaveral, Fla. (DPD A Paddlewheel satellite was hurled into orbit around the earth today in an effort to find answers to the problems facing - proposed shots to' Ve nus an'r Mars; The satellite, Explorer Six, was propelled into the skies at 7:23 a.m. in the nose of a huge Thor Able III rock et. Almost three hours later the National Aeronautics and Space Administration an nounced . in Washington that an orbit had been achieved. Paddle-shaped Fins The satellite, containing paddle-shaped fins .that are filled with solar cells to re charge its chemical batteries, went into a long orbit that brought it within 140 miles of the early every 11 hours. Its most distant, point from the earth was 23,000 miles. During its 11-hour flight around the earth, Explorer Six- was to reach its maximum altitude at 1 p.m. over South America and its closest point at 7:30 p.m. The 142-pound satellite was crammed with instruments for 15 major scientific experi ments. "Additional information on the progress of the experi ment will be reported after the date from the tracking stations are analyzed," NASA said. Solar Cells Are Used It said all further informa tion on remaining phases of the tests would come from NASA headquarters in Wash ington. , , The aluminum-covered arti ficial moon, nicknamed the Paddlewheel because of four paddle-shaped vanes project ing from it, was the most com prehensive scientific package the U.S. has devised a power ed to hurl into orbit around the earth. , ; Attached to the four vanes were 8,000 solar cells to re charge the satellite's chemi cal batteries during its earth circling journey. If this me thod of keeping batteries alive proves succesful, it will mean crude pictures , of the earth's supply for maintaining com munications -with space probe taking months to reach Venus and Mars. " (Continued on Page 10) WEATHER FORECAST: Fair, hot and dry through Saturday. Windy aft ernoons with low humidities. Thunderheads over mountains Saturday afternoon. Low to night 57. High Saturday 98. .Temp. Highest Yesterday . 100 Lowest this Morning 56 Our Skies. Tonight Sunset today '. 7:25 p.m. Sunrise tomorrow 5:10 a.m. Moonset tonight 9:04 p.m. First Quarter Aug. 11 At moonset tonight the tri angle of Vega, Deneb and Al tair and will be high in the east and the Milky Way will be - stretched across the sky from Cassiopeia to Sagittarius and Scorpio. Space THIS CRATER IS WHERE TRUCK EXPLODED ' Ammonium Blast Rips Area Roseburg, Ore.-flJPD-A truck loaded with six tons of explo sive chemicals and dynamite blew up here early today, devastating about eight full blocks and damaging nearly every building in the downtown part of this city of 13,000. Police Chief Vernon Murdock said there were 11 dead. The coroner, Dr. C. H. Babbitt, said nine bodies had been counted and that the death toll probably would be twice that. At least 50 persons were injured. The truck belonged to the Pacific Powder company of Seattle. Officials there said it contained four tons of solid ammonium nitrate fertilizer and two tons of dynamite. Blows Up Ship . The ammonium nitrate was the same type of chtmical wnicn Diew up in a snip in ing Dbi deaths. ; --jr --; Property loss was expected to run into the mUlioni of dollars, v' - - ..--v-V -" :::v -' . I -. , Roibura-(UPD-Th. following is the -list of injured In the Roseburg blast and fire requiring hospitalisation: At Mercy hospilaf: Flossy Van Blaricon. Harold Bailey, Martha Ver gold, Marshall Bailey, Lyle Wescott, Sandra Simmons, Cleo Hiati, Vera Washington. Pat Sullivan and Sonia Patton. Chief Murdock said a four-block area from Douglas to Lane sts., running north and south, and two blocks,' from Stephens to Parrott sts., running east and west, wtf the hardest. hit. ' . .. ' . , "That was pretty well leveled and what was left standing was gutted by fire." - . Murdock said many business establishments were destroy ed. Seven or eight houses near the blast scene also were lost and at least 30 damaged severely, he said. ' "I would say the entire downtown area has damage to buildings," the chief added. Truck Parked for Might ' The truck was parked for the night near a building supply company, it blew up after firm. The truck driver, George was reported to have been injured by flying glass while stay ing at a nearby hotel. State Police Lt, Howard Bennlnghoff said Rutherford had received permission from the Gerritsen Building Supply company to park his truck near their ware house and had checked the truck at midnight. The fire alarm was turned in at 1:15 a.m. . One of the victims was identified as Assistant Fire Chief Roy McFarland. Another was a man named Harry Car michael. A police officer, Donald Desues, about 34, was reported missing. " Another victim, identified shortly before noon, was Den nis Tandey, about 18, Roseburg. i The blast tore a hole 50 feet across and 10 to 15 feet deep. The hole was filled with -three or four feet of water from broken mains. ' . ' . . ' Murdock said an area of three blocks by three blocks was burned out by the fire. . Like Bombed Out Area The police chief said the destroyed businesses included three or four automobile agencies, service stations, garages, a soft drink plant, the Gerritsen Supply company, the Farm ers Cooperative" Building and others. Firemen managed to keep two propane tanks located near the disaster area from - exploding. They had ordered a seven-square block area evacuated as a precaution. The area near the center of the blast looked as if it had been bombed out. The explosion occurred about three blocks west of the main downtown business section as firemen and police arrived to answer the alarm. , Dave Coron, news editor of radio station KRXL, rushed to the scene and saw two persons lying in the street. "Both were till alive but were bleeding badly," he said. "There were hot wires down iJl over the place." . : The blast broke windows up to at least a mile away. State of Emergency v , Business in this southwest Oregon lumber center was at a standstill today. The National Guard was called out and a state of emergency declared. V Fire departments from Eugene and Springfield, 75 miles to the north, were called to help. The fires finally were con tained after a pre-dawn battle break. Cars parked near the blast of twisted metal. The Red Cross -set up emergency facilities at the National Guard Armory and at the Douglas County Fairgrounds across the Umpqua river from the disaster area. Out of Bed Bill Brubacker, announcer he lived about five blocks away and the explosion knocked him out of bed. I looked up and saw a mushrooming flame. I ran down to the fire. There was debris scattered all over the street. I saw one body - a boy of about 18 or 19.. He must have been' dead." - i Fire departments from the neighboring communities of Myrtle Creek, Sutherlin and Winston also were called in. In addiitioi to National Guardsmen, state and city police and sheriff's deputies patrolled the streets. At the height of the fire flames, lighted the skies for miles around. , . (Continued on Page 10) . .. - i Downtown Early Today ism at xexas uty, rex., result a fire broke out in the supply Rutherford, 47, Chehalis, Wash.. that lasted until after day site were nothing but pieces at radio station KRXL, said . "A
