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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 12, 1961)
MEDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE, MEDFORD, ORE. Huge Fireball Explodes Over Pacific Northwest of Eureka r SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1961 By PHIL F. BROGAN Pacific Northwest Director. - American Meteor Society Bend - (Special) -.A huge, tailless fireball that bored into the earth's atmosphere high over southern Oregon on Sun day, Jan. 15, at 10:20 p.m., exploded in a shower, of "lava tears" over the Pacific ocean slgihtly northwest of Eureka, ' Calif. ; Tills is the conclusion of the , American Meteor, society, ob servers of which have studied reports from scores of persons who , traced the big meteor over parts of its course and watched its fiery disintegra tion over the ocean. i Observations indicate ' the object,, described by some as being as large as a moon at full phase, entered the earth's atmosphere at a steep angle over the Umpqua region. flamed across southern Ore gon and . exploded over close to the ocean horizon. Widely Observed - The meteor was widely ob served in southern ' Oregon 1,508 Visit Museum in January, Report Shows Jacksonville A total of 1,508 persons visited the Jack sonville museum last month to ' boost the total attendance isnce July 10, 1950, to 407 597. The January tally repro- ' scnted an inorease of some 3.17 visitors compared to January, 1960. Museum .guests were from : 31 states, as well as from. Can ada, Colombia, South Ameri- - ca, England, Sweden, Finland The Netherlands, Israel, and .. India. Gifts and loans ta the collec tor s place included a large, framed picture of Capt. Wil liam Kelly, along with his cap, sash, and epaulets. Rod ney Keating, his grandson. now living in Ashland,, pre sented the items in view of the forthcoming , Civil War Centennial observance. Savings Bond Sales Show Decline Here Sales in Jackson county of Series E and H savings bonds : amounted to $68,249 during January, compared to the January,. 1960, total of $107, 663, according to the treasury department. Throughout Oregon, U. S. . savings bonds sales amounted to $4,090,862 last month, a de crease from a $4,504,057 total In January, 1960. ; County s a v I n g s ' bonds spokesmen pointed out that 1960 Is the 20th anniversary , of savings bond sales. Not only have savings bonds played an important role in federal financing, but; they have become one of America's greatest savings ' Institutions, . they said. , Today, individual (..citizens hold more than $4." billion in savings bonds, they added. Other gifts Included a 1865 newspaper from the Rev, Marie H.: Headlee, a spice grinder from Florence M.-Gif- ford, and a manikin from Mrs Ralph Dippel, all of Medford Glenn Simpson, Ashland, do nated a picture of an early covered bridge over Bear creek. A small Bible that re portedly had been used by its owner during Imprisonment at Andersonville, Camp Sum ter, S.C., In 1864, was received from Mrs. Helen V. Roberts, of Jacksonville, West Coasf Has New Record Year West Coast .Airlines com pleted 1860 with new all-time records in total passenger, on line, and interline, revenues, according to . us annual . re port. Medford WCA officials re ported that 1960 local sales amounted to $82,060, com pared to $47,790 for the pre vious year, a 71.7 per cent in crease. The total number of passengers dropped 5.3 per cent from 1959's 7,701 to 1960's 7,292. , .,, Net sales for the company. including those from other irlines reached a record $6,269,256, a 33.58 per cent in crease over 1959.- On-line sales, . including station and travel agency sales, were up 31.5 per cent and interline revenue increased almost 41 per- cent, ,..,.; West Coast carried a record total of 386,781 revenue pass engers, a 14.22 pet cent " In crease, plus another record 92,805,669 'revenue passoiker miles, almost a 30 per cent in-1 warded and northern California. How ever, a cloud hid the fireball from potential observers northern Oregon and possibly nevaaa The flare of the fireball on the clouds led many to be lieve a bnllaint flash of light ning had illuminated the re gion One o the best reports was received from Robert Nichols, FAA flight specialist stationed at the Eureka-Arcata, Calif. airport. The blinding flare of the terminal explosion caused him to face west, just in time to see sparks resembling fiery lava falling from the blast area. Height of the burst was about eight degrees above the norizon. Obtains Good View Darrell E. O'Dcll of the Roseburg police force also sta- tained a good view of the fast- moving oau or lire, it was first seen in the southwestern sky, as viewed from Rose burg. - ; Many observers said the object appeared to plunge into the earth. Some thought it struck the sides of distant hills. A few described the me teor as cigar shaped. Officer O'Dell said the fireball ap peared to be the Ize of-a flam ing plane viewed from a dis tance of about 10 miles, A Grants Pass observer said me object was "about 400 feet ,in : diameter." Reference to the great size of the meteor by Oregon and California ob servers had led -to the belief it was one of the largest and most spectacular fireballs to blaze through western skies m many years. ' Hills are. Lighted t here is some .' evidence that a part of the fireball broke away from' the main mass and exploded over Ore gon prior to the terminal blast off the Oregon coast. Near Wolf Creek in southern Oregon, timbered hills were temporarily, lighted. Police officers and FAA ob servers in southern Oregon and in California ' received hundreds of calls.- Californi ans saws the . object as far south as San Francisco. " AMS observers surmise that the fireball blazed into visibil ity some 60 miles, above the earth as its surface peeled off in a fiery spray under at mospheric friction. Data relative to the course of the fireball' over . Oreeon and Washington! and" Its ap parent point of explosion off the Eureka coast will be for to Dr. Charles P. , s.fcj$t wM0 m$$m r V&" THRIFTY GROWTH Timber which became established soon after the 1910 Cathill Burn fire in 'the Butte Falls area thrived before brush became too dense for a tree seedling to survive. One such growth is visible to the left 60 Acres of Cathill Burn to Restore in the brush field. The timber in the background is the edge of unburncd timber in the 1910 fire. Brush is piled in windrows in the foreground. Being Replanted Production I nr-nnca ntrai Tana i nili.in. A TIT o I vs?ov ffsv, '-sv 1 iHsv xjSSv SW , I & Al WtldfltLUd BEAUTIFUL AND S i ENDEARING DIAMOND-SET yy. lKARAT GOLD GIFTS Q r - rcuivuAK i I tin k. e'J. T u , ; UZtl , USE ; WEISFIElD'if FAMOUS LOW EASY CREDIT TERMS 1 DIAMOND BRIDAL PAIR EACH RING SET WITH A CENTER DIAMOND AND 2 SYNTHETIC ' f RUBIES ON THE SIDE low IA5Y TiM O50 5 Ckmin4tmrttt i DAINTY DIAMOND SET "C. ..,,' 1 Ck 1 ll r r 1 "I "Ckmtniittt" 1 M-KARAT 6OL0 HEART I M-KARAT GOLD CROSS 1 IEAUTIFUL 3 DIAMOND I SIT WITH II .AM i SIT WITH 11 fAcA I AND MA,L ilAAa 1 IUUNT 59 - I IXQUISITI 52 - I 1 M" 0lD 42 - 1 DIAMONDS ,. ,..7T I DIAMONDS T,.77T. f I N D A WJ'J 122 East Main Phont SP 3-S348 Open 9:30 i.m. to 5:30 p.n Mondays Until 9 p.m. Sixty acres of dense brush( portion' of the Cathill Burn brushfield in the Butte Falls district, Rogue River National forest, was recently prepared lor reforestation in an experi mental' clearing project, ac cording to. District . F o r e s t Ranger Randall Perkins.' The Cathill Burn brushfield is a familiar sight to residents and visitors of the Butte Falls area. It can be seen as a smooth green carpet stretch ing for miles along the west ern slope of the Cascades from Mt. McLoughlin to Blue Rock. Occasionally the brushfield, light green in summer, white with Snow in winter, is broken by dark green patches and stringers of conifer trees. Made Up of Brush The carpet is made up of a practically impenetrable thic ket of many species of hard wood brush, in most places 10 to 20 feet high. Manzanita and chinkapin predominate but varhtshleaf snowbrush, ew Iceberry, willow, cherry, scrub oak. hazel.' snowberry and other speciea'are also present Cathill burn resulted from one' of the disastrous forest fires that raged across the en tire Northwest in 1910. Frag ments of the area were re forested soon afterwards. The Snowshoe plantation of 60 acres planted in 1912 is now' a thriving young forest of ponderosa pine trees from a foot to two feet in diameter and about 50 feet tall. Por tions of the burned area re forested naturally but about 8,500 acres are still an unpro ductive .brushfield 50 years after the fire. It is the largest potentially 'productive patch of idle 'land ,oh the Rogue Riv er National forest. Attempts Are Made Over the years various at tempts have been made to re forest the Cathill Burn. Dur ing the years 1937 to 1940, 19 miles' of cleared lanes were bulldozed through the brush, and ponderosa pine seedlings were planted. Foresters then hoped those trees would grow overtop the brush, and shade it out. Natural revegetation over several generr lions Km FOREST SOIL Forest soil capable of pro?. River National forest. The forest service ducing good timber growth, is exposed when - plans to reforest about 60 acres of the dense dense brush is stripped off In the 'Cathill brushfield to bring it back Into production. Burn area near Butte Falls in the Rogue' : Copco Employees Honored at Dinner Two recently-retired em ployees of California Oregon rower company were honored recently at a buffet dinner at ihe.Jaokson hotel. Guests were E. R. (Rollo) Yocom, who retired Dec. 31, after serving 37 years as a Copco journeyman lineman. and J. W, (Joe)' Johnson, who retired Jan. 3 U Johnson first entered company service in 1927, left Copco for a short period, then has been contin uously associated with the firm during the nasi 9.1 vpnn as a journeyman-lineman and, more recently, as a foreman. The two were nrpsnntoH gifts "reurcscntinir the affec tion ana esteccm of their fel low emolovces." aceordine to company officials. Some .16 other previously-retired em ployees were also present and introduced. W. H. Ward was conpral chairman of the nrnunim Hint drew about 114 Copco em ployees. ... . MOVIE PIONEER Hollywood - The first known American motion pic ture icaiure was produced and exhibited to the public in 1903. WATER LEVELS Sault Ste Marie - The canal locks at Sault Ste Marie ad just 18 feet level difference between ; Lakes Huron and Superior. would , then reclaim the area as a productive forest. : The plan was only partially successful, The cleared lanes became game ways. The rab bits, deer, and other rodents ate off many of the new trees while the brush crowded back in from the sides. A few. of the pine trees did get their tops above the brush and are, now thriving, but most succumbed to browsing by animals and crowding by brush. ( ; . . . y Aerial Spraying Later aerial spraying' with herbicides was tried. It also was only partially successful, killing some species, only the top branches of other species and leaving some to flourish. Further, it didn't disturb the thick carpet of duff and dry leaves that prevented tree seeds from finding a seed bed of mineral soil. Trials with various types of specialized machines for brushfield clearing were con ducted: Although proven ef fective elsewhere, the brush was top dense and tough for either a brushcutter or a root plow, pulled by tractor. The most effective tool for clearing the brush found to date is the bulldozer brush rake mounted in front of a large tractor. The Caterpillar Tractor company has coope rated with the forest service in some of these trials and has demonstrated that the brush can be removed, and when cleared away, good for est soil is uncovered. On the 60 acres recently treated, the soil resembles a plowed field between the long rows of piled brush. Fir Trees Being Planted Little white fir trees are be ing planted in the cleared areas, under the direction of Donald A. Perala, project forester. White fir is a fast growing productive tree . at this high elevation. A small portion of the area will be planted with white fir seed as an experiment. Although seed ing has a lesser chance of success than planting, it is ad vantageous in that it can be used in the absence of avail able planting stock. According to Perkins, it is hoped that the 60. acres being reforested this ' year will be only the beginning of a con tinuous program to fully re claim the Cathill Burn. The cost is high, running $60 to $70 per acre for clear ing and planting, but he says it is well justified by the high ly productive capacity of the soil. He questions whether in a community deDendent tn a large measure on timber proc essing such productive land as this can be left idle. Con verting Cathill Burn to pro ductive forest is a means of increasing the growth, sustain ed yield capacity, and allow able cut of t i m b e r in the Rogue basin. Flatter Her With Toiletries! 7: Win your Valentine's heart with a gift that says she's pi Deautitui . . . tine cosmetics or delightful perfumes from our wide selection of famous names she knows and trusts. 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