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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 10, 1959)
in MAIL TRIBUNE. MeoW, Or. MonJ.y, Auf. 10, 19S9 ims f "' "' "" - - J - 1 I. "i. .1,1, u .1. . ... ,u .. t. ..i.., ,.j ,,,,., , .,..,, ... ,ii,.ip..ilp,lw ,.,,mw.v,m m i ? ' . . :.:. '.. . i ..: , . :. ' ... . - ftirsa f iirt llaiteciis Woods Silent After Flames Pass Through By ERIC WENTWORTH Mail Tribune Staff Writer A hot, dry winter has set tled -on the hills above Ash land. The ground is smothered in a grey, cheerless snow - the ashes of trees, brush and cre mated wild creatures. FLAMES SPEED THROUGH BRUSH - Tinder-dry brush and grass were principal factors in the rapid spread of '.GRAY GHOSTS OF TREES-These trees, including oaks, pmadrone, pine and fir, show how thejr were stripped of all fWafer Supply Not Threatened h IValershed Fire S2 Damage to the Ashland watershed from the week end tfire does not threaten the .water supplies of the city of Ashland, according to Carroll CBrbwn, supervisor of the Kogue River National forest. The fire which burned in rthe watershed was below the j ctiy's reservoir, he reported, and thus constitutes nn haz- ard to the supply of water as 5 such. . - However, the area below the reservoir was badly burn ed over, and because of this may cause a hazard of flood ing and heavy run-off water during bad storm conditions. Brown has contacted the regional forest service office wtp make arrangements for the immediate seeding of this area to grass "as soon as", it cools down." With luck, a good crop of grass cover "can have sprouted by the time the fall rains begin,. Brown said. Grass is less effective than trees in containing run-off, he said, but it far better than iare earth.. Grass will hold some of the moisture,- and will prevent serious . soil erosion. About seven per cent of Til S. men eligible for military .service are rejected for some sform of eye defects. About one -half of the weight of a broiler chicken is Wt between the farm and the opining room table. SMOKE. ABOVE THE PLAZA-Smoke hung This scene, from the Plaza, gives an idea heavy over Ashland all day Sunday, as the of .how close the fire came to the city, and fire moved around and -above the town. . to Lithia park in the background. the blaze Saturday and Sunday. This close-up view shows how hotly it fl&ned. foliage by the fire. All burned as badly as these were killed, A few with undamaged foliage near the top may survive. Unlike snow, the ashes tell no forest secrets. No tracks of deer or" rabbits criss-cross the grim surface. The woods are silent. No flutter of leaves greets the wind. The only leaves are an autumn orange-fingers of fire that still linger on charred snags. The flames that surged up the steep slopes, in plain sight of anxious residents and fire fighters were thorough. For acre upon acre, not a sign of green can be seen. A graveyard of black skele tons flcked with white ash, the silent grey blanket over the earth one could photo graph these, under the sky still glazed with smoke, with either black-and-white or col ored film-only the flames would look different. Smoke Cloud But the vast pillars that thrust like an . atomic cloud thousand of feet into "the air Saturday evening was a sight no words or photographs eith er, can really describe. Its flames were a brilliant pink nearly to the top, where a crown of pure white glistened in the sun. It was visible in Grants Pass, and down in California. Rogue valley residents watched in awe as it towered above them ever-higher. When night fell, flames in long lines of skirmish mount ing the ridges could be seen for many miles. Their glow was visible as far south as Montague, Calif. The large audience in Ash land's new Shakespeare festi val theater were distracted time and again as the confla gration flared and roared along the ridge on their left. Those in the audience as well as those on stage were illum ina ted-in an eerie glow. "I am fire and air; my oth er elements I give to baser life," the dying Cleopatra cried as the tragedy neared its end. Sparks and Embers Elsewhere in Ashland, resi dents played hoses on their roofs and prayed the wind would not bring cloudbursts of sparks and embers down upon them. Fighting desperately to save the city's watershed as well as beautiful Lithia park and the homes above it, for estry crews literally "fought fire with fire." They set nu merous back-fires, which leaped up the side of the Ash land creek canyon to inter cept the main blaze. . These, in the early hours of Sunday, were at times as dra matic as the major holocaust itself. When the sun rose, the hills seen from Medford were shrouded in thick smoke. It was hot Sunday, but the very lack of a breeze to ventilate backyards on the valley floor proved a deciding factor in the battle against the fire. Fire Confined The flames slopped over ridges here and there, and trudged slowly up the hill sides above Ashland. The ex plosive force that spurred them across thousands of acres in a matter of hours Saturday night appeared spent. Much of the burning was within the confines of fire lines. Crews began mopping up in some spots, playing hoses on the smouldering remains. Men who had fought on the firelines all night paused to ask for food. Today again layers of vagrant smoke hung above the holocaust scene . The air was nearly still. The hopes of we?.ry men rose as the flames subsided. Barring new winds, the fire appeared licked. . But the scorched hills re main, a grim, wintry scene. Spring for this Siberia may come in the autumn, if re seeding can get under way that soon. Kn- wing foresters fear that unless it does, ero sion from rains late in the year may further scar the hillsides. It may be years, in any case, before these hills are green again. The Passion Play has been performed in the small vil lage of Oberammergau, Ger many, once evey 10 years for 3 )Q years. BARN DESTROYED-Neighborhood children look at the site of a barn destroyed by fire Saturday as the blaze 111 BLACK AND GRAY NOTHINGNESS A hot fire leaves, ashes and charred stumps-and nothing else. This view was taken looking down over the area where the fire started, HIGH COMMAND - In charge of fighting the fire for . the U.S. forest service was Carroll Brown (center) supervisor of the Rogue River national forest. At right is Howard Hopkins, timber management officer for the forest who was in charge of many of the operations, and at right is J. Herbert Stone, Portland, regional forester for the U.S. forest service. : Stone was here for an inspection trip into the wilderness areas of the Butte Fall dis trict, but the trip was called off because of the fire. Also on the job were officials of the state department of for estry, headed by District Warden Curtis Nesheim.. ABOVE ASHLAND - The city of Ashland's downtown area can be seen - through the tracery of burned-out trees on the hills above, after the fire passed on to the south. Money Reported Taken From Ice House Here A total of $52.50 was taken from a coin nachine 'n the ice house of Valley Fuel com pany, 26 West Main st., Fri day night or early Saturday morning, Medford police were informed Saturday. Harper Ken'- Hamilton, 114 Highland dr., told police the burglar had crawled? in and out of the house, where the money was obtained in a coin box, through ice chutes. A new automatic copra dry er has been placed in opera tion at Taveuni, Fiji. lllflllilfs M o ft 1 liis MimmmtmmtmmmmmmmmmmmiiBaBmgmimtmmiKmmmmKsamMmmmmmmmmmmmamm torn i in spread toward Ashland from the Jackson Hoi Springs area, The barn was located west of the highway at Billings hilL Siililililfl above Jackson Hot Springs, left by the fire. I showing the utter desolation
