Today is Exploding Whale Day!
It's November 12th again... and out of the time I've lived in lane county I'm still disappointed that no one told me about Exploding whale day...
And I couldnt help but to crack up...
This happened 39 years ago in Florence Oregon... Florence is a small fishing town on the Oregon coast which boasted a population of 2000 at the time.. I think they are up to around 7000 now...
Here's the scoop. As well as a link to the news video that captured it all...
Florence Oregon - Nov. 12th, 1970
A dead whale lands on the beach, and has to be removed by the Oregon Highway Division. The OHD uses Dynamite, hoping to blast the whale into tiny pieces for the seagulls to eat, and to blow the rest into the sea. Using 1 ton of TNT, they blast the whale straight
up and out, and parts of the whale are landing on cars about 1 mile away. Much of the whale remains at the blast site, and has to be bulldozed into the sand.
one local resident recalls the story:
I was there that day, on the dunes, over looking the beach. We were between the whale and parking lot. Parts flew everywhere, with some flying over our heads and as was said, one landed on a car. The owner said "Oh my God, what am I going to tell my insurance man?" He sure had a sick look on his face. It took days to get the smell out of our hair and clothes. Everything was very oily. Days before, someone had taken a chain saw and removed the lower jaw of the whale. The day they blew the whale is one day I'll always remember. I'll not do that again.
Needless to say, Oregon has not blown up a whale since.
Google Video of the original 1970 newscast that captured the explosion:
Here is a newer recap of that day (from 2003) talking to some of the people involved.. this one is significantly more informative but the link above is a must watch and watch it first..
http://www.komotv.com/news/story.asp?ID=28338
Wikipedia has some more information about the story... I'm still laughing.. yes, I live in that county...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploding_whale
Labor Day Getaway, Bohemia Ghost Town….
This past labor day weekend, we made the treacherous trek up Bohemia mountain. Not a drive for the faint of heart, as more often than not you'll find yourself on a gravel road wide enough for one vehicle, cliff wall on one side and a sheer drop on the other, trying to avoid the various boulders sticking out of the road and hoping there isn't a vehicle coming the opposite direction.
Bohemia mountain is home to the historic Bohemia mining district and the long since forgotten Bohemia City, which is only a ghost town now.
I've been out to the mountain a handful of times now. The first few times, some of the old abandoned mines where open so that you could go in and explore - which is extremely dangerous, due to the fact you could inhale toxic gas, explode unexploded explosives, or simply suffer from a mine collapse. This time, apparently someone had taken the time to seal most all of the mines up.
Unlike previous visits, I actually got some video of the actual ghost town.
"Settlers discovered gold in what became the Bohemia mining district in the mid-1800s. By 1866, the area could boast of a town, Bohemia City, complete with saloons, hotel, and private housing. Cottage Grove provided food and other goods to the miners, shipping items up the steep grade of the Row River Valley. While some may have successfully mined gold ore, generally the Bohemia mines were marked by the boom and bust cycles typical of extraction resources. One contemporary writer claims that "if optimism had been a marketable commodity, all of Cottage Grove would have been rich." That optimism surged during times of economic insecurity, and when the stock market crashed in 1929, prospectors returned to the mines to wait out the Depression." -- From this site.
Labor Day Getaway, Bohemia Ghost Town….Links
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