Dave Knows Portland

November 19, 1983: Blue Magpie Runs Aground at Yaquina Bay North Jetty

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The Oregonian front page, 21 November 1983At 7:38pm on Saturday, November 19, 1983 the 350 foot freighter Blue Magpie, on its way to pick up a load of lumber, hit the rocks at the north tip of the Yaquina Bay north jetty (The Sunday Oregonian, 20 November 1983).

The Coast Guard had advised the freighter earlier in the evening to lay off the bay because of the rough seas, which were breaking across the bar in 14-foot, flat-sided waves. [Coast Guard Cmdr Clinton W.] Carter said a pilot could not be dispatched to guide the freighter into the bay. However, he said, the unidentified skipper “ignored our advice to stay out there.”

After the empty freighter hit the rocks all 19 crew members were lifted to safety by Coast Guard helicopters. That was the good news.

The abandoned freighter proceeded to break up into three pieces and had leaked at least 3000 gallons of oil by Sunday night (The Oregonian, 21 November 1983). Within three days 10,000 gallons of diesel fuel had escaped, and within five days another 60,000 gallons of bunker C oil had leaked out of the wreck. Ultimately hundreds of seabird deaths were attributed to the spill, which was one of the worst in Oregon history (The Oregonian, 4 February 1988).

November 18, 1942: Hundreds Poisoned, Dozens Die at Oregon State Hospital for the Insane

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The Oregonian front page, 20 November 1942

On the evening of November 18, 1942, hundreds of patients and staff members at Salem’s Oregon State Hospital for the insane sat down for a dinner that included scrambled eggs. Now normally breakfast for dinner is a special treat, but on this particular evening the eggs tasted funny. In one ward, as a matter of fact, an attendant who found the taste peculiar ordered her patients not to eat them. Everyone in that ward survived.

In the other wards, however, patients were not so fortunate:

Within five minutes of consuming [the eggs], the diners began to sicken, experiencing violent stomach cramps, vomiting, leg cramps, and respiratory paralysis. Witnesses described patients crawling on the floor, unable to sit or stand. The lips of the stricken turned blue, and some vomited blood. The first death came within an hour; by midnight, there were 32; by 4 a.m., 40. Local doctors rushed to the hospital to help out staff doctors. The hospital morgue, outfitted for two to three bodies, was overwhelmed.

Ultimately 467 people were poisoned, and 46 died. Ends up a patient trusty had brought up cockroach poison from a storage cellar, instead of the requested powdered milk. Oops.

Further edification:

November 17, 1908: Regular Rail Service Commences Between Portland and Vancouver

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Photo of BNSF Bridge 9.6 (Morning Oregonian 26 June 1908)Regular rail service across the Columbia between Portland and Vancouver began on November 17, 1908 (Morning Oregonian, 11 November 1908). The Burlington Northern Santa Fe Bridge 9.6, then known as the Spokane, Seattle and Portland Railroad bridge, was the first across the lower Columbia (it opened almost a decade before the Interstate Bridge), and at the time of completion was the longest steel bridge in the world (Morning Oregonian, 26 June 1908).

Two railroad tracks cross the 2,806-foot-long steel-truss bridge, which is still in use. The bridge features a pivoting swing span. The 9.6 in its name refers to its distance from Union Station in Portland.

November 16, 1953: Mr. Moon Debuts on KOIN TV

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Mr. MoonLong before Bumpity, another puppet show ruled the airwaves in Portland: Mr. Moon.

When 4:30 rolls around every Monday through Friday, you would hear Harry the Heron yell, “Come on gang, it’s time for Mr. Moon”. Over 100,000 youngsters in Oregon and Southwest Washington flocked to their TV sets to follow the fabulous adventures of Mr. Moon and his hilarious puppet crew. Beginning as a radio show in the early 1950s, Mr. Moon became one of the most popular kid shows in Portland.

Behind the Mr. Moon mask was longtime radio disc jockey Ed Leahy. He created the cast of characters from the Mother Goose Rhyme “Hey Diddle Diddle”. Another well-known Portland broadcaster, Art Morey, joined the show as the voice of Harry the Heron and other animal characters.

Mr. Moon debuted on November 16, 1953 one month after KOIN TV went on the air, and just over a year after television came to Portland. The show aired until 1958.

November 15, 1973: Fremont Bridge Opens to Traffic

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Fremont Bridge photo on front page of The Oregonian, 16 November 1973Portland’s Fremont Bridge, the second longest tied arch bridge in the world after China’s Caiyuanba Bridge, opened to automobile traffic on Thursday, November 15, 1973 (The Oregonian, 16 November 1973).

It was raining hard, so they opened the Fremont Bridge a little early Thursday.

It took longer than expected, however. The 1919 Chevrolet “Baby Grand” touring car, owned by Carter Helming of Tigard, which was to be the first vehicle over, wouldn’t start.

Helming’s passengers were Glenn Jackson, chairman of the State Transportation Commission, and Frank Branch Riley, 98, an attorney and longtime advocate of better highways in Oregon.

The old car leaned into the Highway Division’s blue and yellow ribbons across the bridge’s four traffic lanes. Then it wheezed, wheezed some more and finally had to be pushed through the ribbons by bystanders.

There were no speeches and a plaque commemorating the occasion was passed hurriedly to Jackson and Riley, who also signed a Portland Rosarian’s log for the event.

Some 30 autos, most of them more than 25 years old, followed the 1919 Chevrolet off the bridge’s west end before Highway Division personnel removed barriers at either end.

Until the Tilikum Crossing bridges is completed the $82 million Fremont is the newest bridge spanning the Willamette River in Portland. The bridge’s completion was the death knell of Harbor Driver along Portland’s west bank of the Willamette River, which is now Tom McCall Waterfront Park.