PAOE TWO
HERALD AND NEWS. KLAMATH FALIi, OREGON
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1956
Bend -Portland President Recalls Early Days
w mm, mm
! By comparison today, ten daily
Scheduled runs of big diesel pow-
ered semi-trucks leave the Port
land dock bound for Central and
'Southern Oregon with an average
of 125 tons of fiviyht. j
These units, powered by 200,
horsepower diesel engines, roll
on 18 tires at an average speed :
of 35 miles per hour. It is pos-!
sible for customers in Burns, Lake
view or Klamath Falls to call an
order into Portland at 5 p.m. one
day and have the merchandise de
livered to them before 8 a.m. the
following morning.
The first operation of the line
was started as a straight cream
haul between Portland and Brush
Prali le-Hoskinson, two small com
munities near Vancouver, Wash
ington. The books of the small
firm consisted of a ten-cent note
book and a lead pencil carried in
I the hip pocket of Jossy s partner,
j The first truck the two men
I used war. a Federal; considered an
obstinate old piece and about as
streamlined as a box of cigars,
jto qnr-te Jossy, It was what might
i be called a two-man truck. It took
I one man to drive it and another
to keep it running. Jossy recalls
that despite its stubborness, es
pecially on cold mornings, it was
a reliable old crate and served the
firm faithfully through a lot of
roush, muddy miles.
Thee old hard-tired trucks were
built with the smallest tires pos
sible, the truck firm executive re
calls. They built 2'i to 3 ton trucks
with three Inch hard rubber tires
on the front and six Inch tires on
the rear. The truck manufacturing
companies concentrated on short
wheelbase trucks with most of the
weight distributed on the rear
wheels. It seemed there was a pre
vailing feeling that if you carried
any load on the front wheels you
couldn't steer.
The truck was powered by a
heavy-duty fur cylinder chain-
drive gas engine. There were some
six-cylinder engines in use but
most trucks of this era were pow
ered with the four-cylinder power
plants. The line was using the
heavy-dutv four-cylinder types as
late as 1925.
The first short line begun by the
young company near Vancouver
opened up new markets for the
farmers of the area who had hith
erto had difficulty getting their
THERE'S A BIG DIFFERENCE befween this modern Diesel tractor and semi-trailer operated by
the Bend-Portland Truck Service and the original four-cylinder chain-driven gas engine trucks
with which William E. Jossy, president and general manager of the firm, started with 42 years
ago. Charles R. Bane, Klamath Division manager is shown here with one of the firm's diesel
units which daily connects Klamath r-alls-tJend-rortland and many way points.
Forty-two years ago the first
ncheduled run of the Bend-Portland
Truck Service marked the be
ginning of the truck line which
now gives daily service to Cen
tral and Southern Oregon points
Including Klsunath Falls, Lake
view, Burns, Bend and Portland
and alt way cities.
William K. Jossy. president and
general manager, founder of the
firm, in recent issues of "The Big
Haul." monthly company magazine,
recalled that it is difficult today to
realize the problems faced when
the line was begun with a run of 25
miles out of Portland and a load
of three or four tons.
Workbench
Use Lauded
The heart of any workshop is
the workbench. Here's one that
can be built in approximately a
half hour, if you use pre-cut ma
terials, which will cost under $15.
They include 2 x 4-inch lumber,
2 x 10-inch planks and a 4 x 6-foot
pa nel of M a son 1 1 e 1 ' " Tern perr d
Presdwood for the working sur
face and shelf, plus nails and
spikes.
An additional feature Is the
'Pen -Board" panel which is bo
coining a "must" in most work
tihops. This and matching metal
fixtures may be obtained at lum
ber yards, too. Placed on the per
forated Presdwood panel, tools are
always where you want them and
e easily replaced.
Following are the materials
needed: From 2' x 4" stock
four legs, 32" each; four side
braces, '22" each; four braces for
front and back. 60" each. From
2" x 10" stock three pieces
for top, each 72" long. From a
4' x 6' panel of Musonite
Tempered Presdwood Top surface
2'a" x 12". and bottom surface.
1BV 63'".
Accompanying photos give im
portant clues to putting the work
bench together, but a free working
drawing Is available. Write the
Home Service Bureau. Suite 2037.
Ill W. Washington St., Chicago 2
111., requesting Plan No. AK-312.
produce to market before H
spoiled, Jossy said. Freight rates
in those days were set on a nit-or-miss
method. Produce was hauled
for about 25 cents a hundred with
a minimum of 50 cents. Any odd
lots of furniture or boxes to haul
the truckers would set a flat rate
and haul it for that price.
Roads presented a tough problem
facing the truckers at that time.
Sometimes in the winter the road
surfaces would be so bad that tiie
loads would be transferred to wag-,
ons and taken over ine worsi
spots.
A few years after founding uie
company Jossy and his partner de
cided to form separate lines. It
was about this time that Jossy be
gan hauling various types of heavy
eouipment on a contract basis. The
line had expanded to include about
six trucks engaged in tne wasn
ington run and in contract hauling.
In the mid-twenties the firm
took over a run to Tillamook and
socn after absorbed a line to Kelso.
Washington. It was on this run
to Kelso that the company ran
into its first political difficulty. The
operators of the tug lines on the
river and the railroad serving mat
area .sought to bar the young truck
line from the use of the public
highway?. The truck firm success
fully defended its right to the use
of the roads at a hearing before
the Washington Highway Commission.
In 1927 Jossy became the part
ner of a man running a line from
oenu to f uruaua miu ci v .' s
ran along the old Columbia High
way through The Dalles and to
Biggs Junction and south on
Highway 97 to Bend. At that time
it was a 10 to 12 hour run from
Portland to Bend. In 1928 Jossy
sold his interest in the Tillamook
and Longview-Kelso lines and con
centrated on the Bend-Portland
run.
The extension to Burns was the
next venture of the line. A short
time later the line was extended
to Klamath Falls and the next ex
tension was to Lakcview and
Prineville.
"We're inclined to think that the
advent of truck transportation was
inevitable. That as the country
spread out and population in
creased a more flexible method of
moving freight was needed and
trucks were the answer," Jossy
said.
Looking back over the forty-two
years of operation Jossy con
cluded: "The growth of the truck
ing inrfnstrv was narnlleled bv the
! ovnu.'ih nf rtiir own onprnlinn 11
wasn't an easy growth. There were
tough times and good times. But
it was a lot of fun and satisfaction.
If I had the choice to make again,
it would be the same.,"
The Klamath Falls Division of
Bend - Portland is managed by
Charles F. Bane.
Cover Picture
The cover picture on this
week's Herald and News
Fifty Years of Progress
section is of Mrs. Robert
Laird, Tulelake. Staff pho
tographer Don Kettler took
the picture at the Toma
hawk Ski Bowl near Rocky
Point with a Rollieflex
camera set 100th of a sec
ond and F-22 using Tri-X
film.
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