A WHALE OF A TALE

Or "how not to dispose of a stinking, decomposing, washed up on the beach, dead whale."

Got a reminder today of something smelly near Florence, Oregon November 9 1970. A dead sperm whale washed up on a beach near the coastal community. Forty five feet long and oh about eight tons of decomposing sperm whale. Too big to bury. No real way to haul it out to sea to either be sunk or blown up. You have to wonder who would do the hauling of the corpse, how far out to sea you would have to go and, where the bits would end up. Would you have stinky chunks washing up in place of one very stinky carcase?

The Oregon Highwat Division decided to blow that baby up. Packed about a half ton of dynamite and let 'er rip. In theory this would create pieces of whale small enough for the birds that scavenge the beaches to clean up all that whale. Chunks of sperm whale ended up in town, in parking lots, even on a just purchased 1969 Oldsmobile. The hungry (assumed) birds. Not a feather in sight. Flown off to other beaches that didn't have exploding whales. Archived film on the twenty fifth anniversary of the event. Or this AM Northwest interview the reporter from Portland.  The state didn't waste any time reimbursing the owner of the car. The newsman is still working for KATU. And remembers the smell. It was bad enough BEFORE the explosion. After the explosion there was this mist that settled on everything and everybody. The reporter from Portland complained that he didn't get the smell out of nose for at least a week. The bits were collected, burned and buried.

But Florence has memories, a few fond ones. When a new city park needed a name it became the Expoding Whale Memorial Park. A small picnic park overlooking the Siuslaw River and the sand dunes. 

As for the guy who tried to blow up the whale. He got a promotion and was shipped off to Medford. South of Springfield and on the east side of the Coast Range. Far. far away from any future decaying whales. The owner of the crushed car had just bought it. Ironically the dealership was offering a "Whale of a Sale."