CLATSKANIE, Oregon (STPNS) --     Last week we heard of yet another incident that tends to support our notion that Clatskanie is the center of the universe. (We are happy to report that Clatskanie Mayor Diane Pohl has been known also to assert this belief.)

    It is, perhaps, an exaggerated expression of what seems to us to be an abnormally large number of connections between this little town, and people and events that have received extensive, even world-wide renown. There are many far-flung paths that begin, end or cross in Clatskanie.



    Most Oregonians who were alive at the time -  or who have seen the replays of the film on KATU-TV Channel 2 - have heard about the incident near Florence in November of 1970, during which personnel of the Oregon Highway Division (now Oregon Department of Transportation - ODOT) attempted to dispose of a rotting sperm whale carcass by dynamiting it. The highway division got the job because it is a sister agency of the state parks department which has jurisdiction over all ocean beaches.

    In their defense, the highway engineers made their decision after consulting with the U.S. Navy. The idea was that after blasting the carcass into small pieces, the scraps would then be eaten by seagulls, crabs and other beach scavengers. The district highway engineer was gone hunting (literally), so the task fell to another engineer, one George Thornton.

    Unfortunately, the explosion, in the words of KATU-TV news reporter Paul Linnman, who was on the scene along with cameraman Doug Brazil, ?blasted blubber beyond all believable bounds.?

    While the approximately 75 persons who had gathered to watch the explosion were ordered a quarter of a mile away, as it turned out, that wasn?t far enough.

    Seconds after the half-ton of dynamite detonated, the on-lookers were showered with rotting pieces of the eight-ton, 45 foot long whale. No one was injured, but one large piece of blubber landed on top of a car, smashing it beyond repair.

    A large chunk of the carcass remained on the beach, and was subsequently buried by highway division workers.

    Today, according to a Wikipedia article on the topic, dead beached whales are towed out to the open sea, and frequently are exploded in the ocean so as not to create hazards to navigation.

    While the blubber blasting created quite a sensation in Oregon at the time, it gradually faded from memory until almost 20 years later, in May of 1990 when columnist Dave Barry wrote about it in the Miami Herald.

    ODOT started to receive calls of inquiry after a shortened version of the article was copied  - without noting the date of the incident - and was posted on bulletin boards across the nation under the title ?The Far Side Comes to Life in Oregon.?

    While there were enough people in Oregon who remembered the real incident, outside of the state it was widely believed to be an ?urban legend.?

    With the advent of the Internet the video file of Linnman?s report and Brazil?s film surfaced on the Web, and currently, according to Clatskanie native Jack Sweeney, now of Eugene, it is the fifth most-watched video worldwide on the Internet - http://www.theexploding whale.com/

    So, what is Jack Sweeney?s connection to this? And, what has it got to do with Clatskanie?

    Well, George Thornton, the engineer in charge of the whale exploding operation, was a Clatskanie boy, too - a classmate of Jack?s in the Clatskanie High School class of 1947. George, who now resides in Medford, is the son of the late Honor Thornton TenPas of Clatskanie, who was an active member of this community until her death in 2000.

    And, coincidentally, Jack?s neighbor in Eugene, Walter Umenhofer, was the owner of the 1969 Oldsmobile that got smashed by the big blob of blubber.

    As he was helping to plan the recent 60th reunion of the CHS class of 1947, Jack thought it would be fun to tell about ?Clatskanie?s Famous George Thornton? and the ?Exploding Whale Story.?

    While it wasn?t George?s favorite memory for many years, he now accepts it with good humor.

    Jack obtained a copy of the video from Paul Linnman and KATU-TV, and had DVDs made for each member of the class.

    Thus, George?s whale explosion - and the worldwide notoriety it has garnered - became an interesting and humorous feature of the reunion, and, more proof that Clatskanie may, indeed, be the center of the universe - especially if you believe in the ?Big Bang? theory.