Slide Halts
Traffic Over
Highway 222
H E MI LL CITY
ENTERPRISE
Blame Laid In Fatal Wreck
Serving
1 YON4J. MEHAMA
Thousands of tons of loose rock
and dirt avalanched upon the North
Santiarn highway east of the Army
Engineers office Monday and halted
through traffic for more than 24
hours.
The slide area was not completely
cleared away by Wednesday, and
most of Tuesday Army Engineers
personnel had to walk around the
slide area to cars waiting on the
other side.
Work of clearing the huge mound
of rock and dirt was begun by the
Burea uof Public Roads late Monday.
No one was injured as big boulders
tumbled down on the road.
The entire stretch of about one-
fourth mile beginning at the site of
the rock crusher on the north side
of the highway has been a trouble |
zone since construction of the road
began, and ever since. The Kucken-
berg Construction Co., main contrac­
tors on the road, terraced the bluff [
The upper Canyon area will have
above the highway to catch part of
the rock. But the slides have con­ to wait till the latter part of the
week for a decision on two contro­
tinued.
Several weeks ago the crusher was versial and overlapping incorporation
buried by an avalanche of rock and elections—one including Detroit and
dirt when an explosive charge jarred 1 Idanha and the other Idanha alone.
In a lively hearing in Salem Mon­
loose the whole side of the hill. The
day,
Marion county circuit court
gravel plant was put out of commis­
Judge Rex Kimmell heard arguments
sion for a week or more.
Road men predict that the stretch on a suit brought by Edison Vickers,
will be a source of trouble for many upper Canyon businessman, against
the separate Idanha election, which
years.
i the county court set for December 9
After earlier authorizing another in­
corporation election December 13 in
j an area that included both Idanha
' and Detroit. Mr. Vickers is seeking
an injunction against the county
Curtain-raiser in a heavy basket- court's order setting the December 9
bal schedule for the Mill City high election.
schoo Timberwolves will be the an-
Allan G. Carson, representing the
nual Marion County jar.iboree in Sa- | county, offered a demurrer to the
lem Saturday uight, The school bus complaint, declaring that Mr. Vick­
and many carloads of rooters will ers was without legal grounds to sue,
make the trip.
citing court decisions to show that
The Mill City high school’s Timber­ an injunction to stop an election
wolves will open their home basket­ may not be instituted by an individ­
ball season December 6, Tuesday, ual.
with Scio here. Both the "A” and
"Injunctions against public offi-
"B ' squads will play. Although this . cials performing their political or
is a non-league clash, it is neverthe­ public duties may only be brought
less an important game for the when the citizen's personal or prop-
Wolves’
| erty rights are damaged or if he can
The 'Wolves officially open their 1 show special injury,” the attorney
1949-50 cage Reason Friday night argued.
with a game with Chemawa on the
Thomas Mahoney, Portland, attor- j
Indians floor.
ney for Mr. Vickers and a state sen­
Season tickets already are on sale I ator, asserted that the suit was di­
for at least ten home games. Five I rected against the county court's
of them are Marion county
"arbitrary and unlawful" action and
League tilts.
declared it was a matter of "equity
The schedule:
and justice”. The court's action in
December 6, Scio; December 10, setting the Idanha election ahead of
Salem Bible Academy; December 13, the one Mr. Vickers had petitioned
Sublimity; December 23, Jefferson; for was, according to the Portlander,
January 3, Chemawa; January 6, "an abuse of power”.
Turner; January 10, Gates; January
(Continued on Page 101
17, Stayton; January 20. Aumsville;
January 31, Detroit.
Coach Burton Boroughs said other
games probably will be lined up to
stretch out the season.
ELKHORN, MILL CITY
CATES, MONGOLO
DETROIT, IDANHA
M1IJ. CITY, OREGON, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1. 1919
•K
Two Dead,
Six Hurt in
Truck Plunge
Idanha Waits
Decision On
City Election
A faulty steering apparatus was
blamed this week by Leston Howell,
Marion county coroner, for the
deaths of two Canyon loggers and
the injury of seven others when a
truck plunged 150 feet off the high­
way near the Detroit dam project,
at a point just below the log-jam,
Monday morning at about 7:30.
Dead were Ardell Webster, 32, Mill
City, and Claude Jack Nash, Lyons.
All of the six injured were re­
ported progressing favorably in tilo
Salem Memorial hospital. They are
Cecil R. Haun, 39, of Gates, who was
under observation for possible in-
temal injuries; James Moore, <2,
Lyons, with rib and arm fractures
and a gash in his side; Alton E.
Haun, 36, of Gates, shoulder frac-
ture; Clarence Estenson, 34, Mill
City, arm fracture and head bruises;
Leo Kirsch, Mehama, pelvis and Jaw
fractures; and Ellwin Erickson, Me­
hama, who was first dismissed after
emergency treatment and then taken
to the hospital when complications
developed.
’Wolves Facing
Big Cage Schedule
New District
Army Engineer
Visits Dam
Col. Donald S. Burns, newly ap-
pointed chief of Portland district,
Corps of Army Engineers, made an
inspection tour Wednesday of the
Detroit dam.
Lt. Col. Jack Miles, resident engi-
The
neer, led the visiting party,
same day Colonel Burns was honored
at a noon-day luncheon at the Salem
chamber of commerce.
Col. Donald S. Bums became dis­
trict engineer at Portland, Oregon,
on November 15, 1949. succeeding
Lt. Col. Donald A. Elliget, acting
Portland District Engineer since the
elevation of Col. Orville E Walsh to
the post of north pacific division
engineer on July 1, 1949.
Col. Bums had been chief of the
engineering division, millitary con­
struction, office of the chief of engi­
neers, since August. 947. prior to
coming to Portland.
Colonel Burns was bom in Penn­
sylvania and entered the service from
Arizona. He is a graduate of the
United States Military Academy at
West Point, class of 4920, and of
Rer.ssalaer
Polytechnic
Institute,
class of 1922.
Colonel Bums takes the place long
occupied by Col. O. E. Walsh, now
North Pacific engineer. As Walsh's
successor. Bums will carry out the
vast responsibility of the Willamette
valley project, which includes the
I Ȏtroit dam, and completed will cost
almost half a billion dollars.
EDITOR RESIGNS
Leo Dean, recently appointed edi­
tor of the Mill City Enterprise, re-
signed Monday due to ill health. It
was announced by Don Peter«on
publisher.
Mr Dean, who suffers
from diabetis. was ordered by his
physician to go to the hospital
Truck Plunges 150 Feet
¿•V - :
20 SHOPPING DAYS TO
CHRISTMAS
When the days go by in mod­
erate temperatures and the sun
still shines (betwee* showers) it is
hard to believe we are drawing so
close to the Christmas season.
However, the holiday mood is be-
gining to be felt because fore­
sighted business establishments are
decorating with the traditional
colorful displays.
Photos Courtesy of The Statesman,
Two loggers
__
_
_
were killed and eight
others injurixl
when this truck
plunged down a 150-foot bank a mile west of the Detroit damsite, Mon­
day Dximing. Defective steering gear was blamed. Body of one of the
vtctlms is under white blanket shown in lower photo. Arrow in top
photo shows points to spot where vehicle plunged from Santiarn high­
way while carrying loggers to work. Marks made by truck in Its fall
are visible to right of arrow. Both photos show damage to truck which
landed on old railroad grade at bottom of the bank.
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
HOLDS ANNEAL ELECTION
Rites Planned
For 2 Victims
J. C. Kimmel and Bob Veness were
elected directors of the Chamber of
Commerce at today’s regular noon
luncheon in Mom and Pop's cafe.
Funeral services will be held Fri­
Mr. Kimmel was re-elected to a day at 2 p m in the Mill City Pres­
3-year term. He is a long time resi- byterian church for Ardell Webster.
dent and business man of Mill City, 32, who was killed in a truck acci-
having operated the pharmacy here dent Monday morning on the North
for a number of years.
Santiarn highway above Niagara.
Mr Veness was also elected to a
Services will be conducted by Dr.
3-year term. He is the successful David J. Ferguson Interment will
owner and manager of the Mill City j be in the Riverside cemetery in Ai-
theatre. After the election of officers bany.
Mr Veness reported on the action
Mr. Webster was a resident of
taken by the city council on the 1949 Milll City and the Canyon before en-
housing authority.
i tering the navy, and had lived here
Errand Boy-Bread Man
Has No Time To Loaf
The bread man up our way does a
lot more than deliver baked goods
His extra duties are liable to include
swapping a wrong sized pair of
trousers, or some special shopping
chore for a customer along his route
from Salem through the Canyon to
Idanha.
Leonard Gottfried has been de-
livering baked goods for a Salem
bakery for many years He took a
vacation last winter— when the road
was at its worst—and paid for a trip
to Mexico with fortunate stopovers
at palaces of luck in Nevada and at
a Los Angeles race track He started
off with »1 000 and returned with
Tony Baker, Gates, who had head
injuries, was hospitalized also after
first being released.
Mack McCoy,
the driver, was only slightly hurt.
The accident occurred early Mon­
day morning when the truck, or
‘•crummy", in which the 10 men
were riding, suddenly went out of
control and went over the cliff onto
I the railroad tracks below, strewing
the dead and injured along its precip­
itous downward path. The men were
j going to work in a company vehicle
j for the Thompson-Hendrickson Log-
1 ging Co., a contractor on one of the
| clearing operations in the Detroit
[ dam reservoir.
Lt. Col. J. T. Miles, resident engi­
Alton Haun said he was riding in
neer, said this week he hoped to be j the front seat with the driver when
able to soon allocate a substanial ! the truck began to swerve, . He said
fund for clearing the reservoir area he grasped the steering wheel and it
of the Detroit Dam possibly within spun on him in the instant before
'the current fiscal year ending June the plunge.
30th.
The truck then went over the em-
Big rocks were Jarred
Colonel Miles stated that funds for bankrnent.
; leaping will depend upon how much i loose, and they rolled down the path
of the current appropriation is used of the falling vehicle, even after it
had halted at the bottom. The loose
by the main contractor.
seats
of the truck>also tumbled down,
Meanwhile, about $4,000,000 In
projects connected with the big De­ further endangering the men.
The dazed survivors gave what im­
troit project have been announced by
the North Pacific division of the mediate aid they could to those who
Alton
Corps of Army Engineers. Only one were most seriously injured.
of these was in excess of $1.000,000, Haun, whose right shoulder was
the powerhouse, for which bids will broken, pulled up the body of one
be advertised in May and opened in of the victims who was partly sub­
merged in the water.
_____
July.
At first he thought that the dead
The others, and their planned open­
man was his brother Cecil, and It
ing dates are:
wasn't until 15 minutes or more
A 325-ton bridge crane, Feb. 8; out­
later, when he had recovered his
let gates. Jan. 15; permanent houses
senses that he realized it was Ardell
and utilities, Jan. 10; Big Cliff pow­
Webster.
erhouse turbine of 28,600 horsepower,
(Continued on Page 10)
Feb 24: Big Cliff powerhouse gen­
erator of 18,000 kilowatt capacity.
May 12; and Big Cliff powerhouse
bridge crane, July 14.
Big Cliff dam is a regulating res­
ervoir to be built at the same time
Detroit dam is constructed, and when
The 1949 housing act was the
completed will hold the rapid release chief concern of the city council,
of water from the big dam and re­ when their meeting was held Wed­
lease it gradually, at the same time nesday evening November 30 There
generating power.
was a discussion on the provisona of
Colonel Miles said he hoped the en­ the act whereby communities can ob­
gineers could speed up the pace of tain low-rent projects. The act pro­
clearing operations
Many canyon tides that cities can petition district
loggers have found employment in judges to set up local authorities,
removal of the forest in the area to who may then request the federal
tie covered by the lake
housing authority to make surveys of
housing conditions in the commu-
nities to find the need for low-cost
rental units.
The council voted to sen t a letter
to the district judge at Albany re­
1/ I
questing that an authority be set up
Mill City Is the first in this canyon
to take such action, and it la ex­
pected that several other commu­
nities will do likewise in the neat
future.
The council aJso received a peti­
li
tion from property owners of the
Swift addition requesting graveling
of streets in their addition
The
street department was ordered to
proceed with graveling operations
this month
Prospect Held
Out For New
Clearing Jobs
Business Holds
Own In Area
Mill City is one of the bright spots
in the economic picture of the north­
west. it was indicated today by the
volume of business current at the
Mill City State Bank.
D. B. Hill, cashier, said that bank
clearances and other business at the
bank were maintaining the levels of
last summer. This is contrary to a
normal decline during the winter
season in previous years.
Mr. Hill said the rate of building
construction here the past year has
been phenomenal, and that over half
a million dollars was spent in im-
provements since January.
$2 00 a Tear, 5c a Copy
the same amount.
His oddest errand happened not
long ago. It was performed for Mrs.
Nelson Lanphear who had a prize
cocker female. In Salem there also
was a prize cocker male
It was
Leonard errand to take the Lanphear
hound to Salem Which makes him
the Master Bred Man
Not long ago Tom Booth bought
a pair of pants in Stayton They
were a wrong size, so accommodat­
ing Leonard took the trousers to
Stsyton and returned the next morn­
ing with Tom's correct sized pants.
Leonard aays. "It's all in a day's
work"
since his dis charge. He was a k>g-
ger most of his residence here, At
the time of his death he was em-
Pio; id on a clearing project in the
I Detroit dam reservoir.
He is survived by his widow, Pa­
, trkia; his mother, Mrs Webster,
Brownsville; a twin brother. Cardell,
and a sister. Mrs Velma Miller. Den­
ver. Colo . and another brother. Leo,
Medford
Funeral services were held Thurs­
day afternoon at two o'clock from
the Weddle funeral home in Stayton
for Jack Nash who was killed Mon­
day morning when a crummy in
wnich he was riding with nine other
men plunged down the Santiarn em­
bankment.
He is survived t>v his
widow Lucille Nash, two children,
Marjorie and Billie Mrs Amy fat­
terson officiated and interment was
in the Fox Valley cementey
City Council Requests
Housing Authority
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