Oregon H is t o r ic a l S o c ie ty
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WATER was about six inches deep in high school
shop building and covered much of parking lot back
of high school. Tractor wheels indicate depth of
water in low point in lot.
Stormy Weather
Brings Problems
To Valley Area
Vernonia, like the rest of Oregon,
has had adverse weather for the
past week. Snow flurries and ice
hampered travel early last week and
then the mercury dropped to the zero
level to cause many frozen pipes
and attendant difficulties. Wednes
day night, December 16, was the
coldest night, with some residents
reporting a reading of zero. More
snow last week end brought mea
surements of from eight to 14 inches
in the area.
This week, heavy rains and warm
ing temperatures melted snow and
swelled streams, with the high water
crisis coming Tuesday night. Streams
were out of their banks by Tuesday
afternoon and the water rose rapidly
in the evening hours.
By 9:00 p.m., the volunteer fire
men went into action as a rescue
unit to help evacuate those who
needed it. Mrs. Leah Hotchkiss was
assisted in getting out of her home
at the city park about 10:00 p.m.
when water was several inches deep
in the house. Mr. and Mrs. Julius
Hytrek and family was assisted with
leaving their house by boat abou:
3:30 a.m. Wednesday. The fire
men were on standby at the hall all
night. Telephone outages posed prob
lems in case there had been fires.
At times Tuesday evening, water
was over practically every road out
of Vernonia. The street at the high
school remained flooded Wednesday
morning.
Schools were closed Monday be
cause of ice and snow on bus routes
and Wednesday they were closed
due to the high water. About six
inches of water was in the high
school shop but none entered the
main building or furnace room.
School grounds were considerably
flooded and water entered the Wash
ington school basement.
The crest came about 6:00 a.m.
Wednesday when water came to a
standstill, then began to drop. It is
believed to have crested several
inches higher than in 1955 when the
resident of OA Flats had to be evacu
ated and a canteen set up in the
Union hall.
At Dessy’s Bowl, there was six
inches of water back of the pin
setting machines. The Pine Cone
closed Tuesday evening when water
began to rise. As much as possible,
motors and other items were placed
above expected water levels.. They
remained closed Wednesday, await
ing recession of the water for mop-
up operations. The shop area of
the Vernonia Auto company was
flooded to a depth of 18 inches.
Deans Market probably suffered
greater damage than any other busi
ness. Backed up water from melt
ing snow had entered the building
heavily Monday morning and the
store was unable to open for busi
ness until mid-afternoon. Water con
tinued to enter the store and a con
stant mop-up operation was in effect
Tuesday. Much stock in the storage
rooms was ruined.
Water was. dropping rapidly Wed
nesday and barring the onset of new
storms, the danger was thought to
have passed.
Disappointments occasioned by the
storm included cancellation of the
Christmas Ball Saturday night and
the school closure Wednesday which
cancelled room parties and the high
school program.
Fortunately, weather conditions
permitted the grade school program
Friday night which drew a capacity
crowd.
Fanners Elect
ASC Committee
Farmers recently elected to serve
as the Columbia county Agricultural
Stabilization and Conservation (ASC)
committee for 1965 include: Everett
Skeans, Rainier, chairman; Elmer
Loyd, Deer Island, vice-chairman;
J a c k Minkoff, Clatskanie, regular
member; Max Oblack, Nehalem
Valley, first alternate; and William
Kessi, Scappoose, second alternate.
County Extension Agent Don Coin
Walrod serves on the committee as
an ex-officio member.
The election was held at a county
convention Thursday, December 10 at
St. Helens. Electors were farmers
chosen as convention delegates at
recent ASC community committee
elections throughout the five com
munity districts of the county.
County office manager, William
Armstrong points out that the ASC
county and community farmer-com
mittees are in charge of local admin
istration of such national farm pro
grams as the Agricultural Conserva
tion Program (ACP), the feed grain
program, the voluntary wheat pro
gram acreage allotments and m ar
keting quotas, the National Wool Pro
gram. commodity loans, storage fa
cility loans, and several other USDA
programs.
NEHALEM river rose to level of lowest part of
swinging bridge between Anderson park and Bob
ücrncnia Eagle
VOLUME 42, NUMBER 52
VERNONIA, OREGON
THURSDAY, DEC. 24, 1964
Power Service
Hindered by
Snow, Flood
West Oregon Electric Cooperative
has been plagued by outages for
the past week, according to Guy I.
Thomas, manager. First came the
snow and then the floods. Telephone
service was knocked out along with
the power service in many areas
and the members were not able to
report outages.
Line crews have been working
almost continuously restoring service.
With the exception of Vernonia, all
■of the areas served by this Coopera
tive have been out of service at one
time or other, Thomas stated.
The Birkenfeld-Jewell area seems
to have been the worst hit. As soon
as service was restored another tree,
would crash through the lines and'
back would go the crews.
It is not known at this time now
many members were out of service
or how many times, but it was ex
tensive. The telephones at West
Oregon’s office were ringing constant
ly with reports of outages and lines
down.
High water in some areas forced
crews to take circuitous routes to the
troubled spots. This caused con
siderable delay in restoring service.
Thomas expressed his thanks to
all the members for their patience
and consideration, and for their
phone calls which are the only
means the company has for learn
ing of outages and their location.
TOP AWARD in chamber oi commerce holiday lighting
contest in the Santa theme division was given the
Bob Curl home display and the Sweepstakes award
Sweepstakes honors in the Christ
mas lighting contest went to the
Robert Curls for the second year in
a row. They had entered the Santa
category competition this year and
took first place in that division, but
their overall display entered into the
sweepstakes award.
Judges had difficulty getting here
to do the judging and finally braved
floods Tuesday night in order to
get the job done in time for publica
tion this week.
Service Less
For Saturday
The Vernonia Eagle
Mr. and Mrs. Marvin Kamholz
Melvin Schwab, Larry Gamer
Lest a Gamer, Jean Schwab,
Ethel Larson, Irene Kyser
Mildred Tupper, Grace Peachey
ments had six inches of water back of pin setting
machines.
also went to this display on the decision of judges
Tuesday evening. Weather conditions prevented judg
ing last Friday as originally planned.
Judges Decide Lighting Contest Awards Tuesday
Postmaster O. T. Bateman has an
nounced that based on past exper
ience when Christmas fell on a Fri
day, postal requirements for the next
day, Saturday, Dec. 26, were min
imized to where they could be met
by providing reduced service on
that day. Therefore, a decision has
been reached to maintain certain
services and reduce others on De
cember 26.
Services maintained will include
rural deliveries on all star routes,
the distribution of incoming, outgo
ing, and transit mail on a current
basis, distribution of mail to past
office lock boxes in the office after
receipt of incoming mail, and deliv
ery of special delivery mail, perish
able articles and gift parcels.
Regular holiday schedule of col
lection of mail will be maintained
in order to provide prompt movement
of mail.
No window service at the post of
fice will be provided nor will there
be regular city delivery service, ac
cording to Bateman.
UF Names Added
HIGH WATER in Riverview flooded back of Burton
apartments and nearly topped picket fence around
back yard. D essy’s Bowl just across river from apart
Sword home, but at peak had not quite reached level
of 1955 flood.
Mrs. R. M. King, co-chairman for
the United Fund drive in this area,
this week added three names to the
list of business and organization con
tributors previously listed. They
are Mar-Lee Beauty Salon, The Cof
fee Break and the Nehalem Chapter,
Order of Eastern Star.
Winners in the various categories
were as follows:
Santa theme: first, Robert Curl;
second, Bill Ritz; third, Don Huss.
Religious: First, Joe Grosche; se
cond, Fred Lundgren; third, Wesley
Bolmeier.
Illumination: First, Merle Cline;
second, Allen Ray; third, Nels Hog-
berg.
Commercial: Fabrics ’n Fashions,
West Oregon Electric and Spofford
flower shop, all equal honors; Enco
Service, honorable mention.
The judges highly commended all
the commercial displays and many
local residents have expressed their
great appreciation for the festive ap
pearance of the downtown area this
; ear.
Also, there has been much favor
able comment about the beautiful
decorations at the schools which were
not included in the competition. Many
people have driven by the schools
repeatedly just to see the displays.
Two-Game Series Split
With Santiam, Stayton
The Vernonia Loggers were able to
gain a split in their basketball games
last week end as they defeated the
Santiam Wolverines Friday night 58-
55 and then were badly beaten Sat
urday night 66-39 at Stayton.
The Loggers played near flawless
ball in a very close and exciting
game at Santiam. Led by center
Jerry Hanson, they had three men
score in double figures. Hanson, Dan
Steele, and Jim Bellingham scored
19, 14, and 11 points respectively.
The Loggers, using a tight zone
defense, forced the Wolverines to
shoot from the outside and with Ter
ry Larson, Bellingham and Hanson
controlling the boards against their
much taller opponents were able to
race to many fast break scores. Den
ny Holsey and Steele, playing top
defensive ball out front, were able
to intercept many enemy passes.
The Wolverines jumped out to a
12-8 first quarter lead but the Loggers
were able to chop one point off this
margin by outscoring their opponents
18-17 in the second frame. The half
time score was 29-26 in favor of the
Wolverines.
In the third period the Loggers
were able to gain their first lead
of the ballgame. With Steele and
Bellingham scoring six and four
points, the Loggers outscored San-
tiam 15-10 and held a two point ad
vantage, 41-39, at the quarter's end
Midway in the final period the Log
gers were able to gain a seven point
lead and were able to hold off a last
minute rally by Santiam.
Scoring: Bellingham 11, T. Smith
1, Larsen 5, Hanson 19, F. Smith 0,
Steele 14, Holsey 8.
The Loggers were never able to
get started Saturday night against
the Pirates of Stayton and were
soundly beaten 66-39. Numerous mis
cues and turnovers in the first half
allowed the Pirates to race to a 19-8
first quarter lead and increase this
to a 30-13 lead at halftime.
The Loggers played a little better
in the second half but not good
enough to get back in the ballgame.
The Pirates, with two men in their
lineup at 6’ 4” and another at 6' 3” ,
completely dominated the backboards
and picked up many easyshots.
Guard Denny Holsey led Vernonia
scorers with 13 points gained on sax
fieldgoals and one freethrow.
Scoring: Bellingham 4, T. Smith 6,
Larson 3, Johnston 0, Hanson 1, F.
Smith 4, Steele 8,Bateman 0. Holsey
13, Redmond 0.
The Logger game with Hood River
which was scheduled for Tuesday
was postponed and will be played at
a later date.