Remember When?

60 YEARS AGO • JUNE 18, 1964

FLOOD DAMAGED ROAD REPAIR WORK STARTED

Local bulldozers and operators employed by the Forest Service will begin an onslaught today to repair flood damage to the Graves and Deep Creek roads, District Ranger Irwin Puphal announced.

Puphal said Jim Carrico and Dick Nichols will begin work this morning on the Graves Creek road which has 20 known washouts and the second bridge gone. In addition, much of the road’s surfacing has been washed away by side streams.

Carl Hillquist is to begin work today with his dozer on the Deep Creek road.

Meanwhile, Oliver and Oliver dozers have already started repairing and building a temporary logging road in the devastated West Fork of Thompson River. Oliver’s dozers are building a temporary road as best and as quickly as they can so that logging operations can get underway to supply the two mills at Thompson Falls.

Puphal said the first two miles of the West Fork road are “almost completely obliterated.” The Honeymoon Creek bridge is buried under gravel and 2.5 more miles of the road are badly damaged, but can be restored.

West Fork Camp May Be Finished

The West Fork campground on Thompson River may be a thing of the past as the result of last week’s flood, according to District Ranger Puphal. While the flow of Thompson River has declined considerably from its high point Tuesday and Wednesday of last week, the river is still flowing through the middle of the campground and Puphal fears the main channel of the river may have shifted. It’s possible, Puphal said, that gravel pouring down the West Fork of Thompson River rushed out into the main Thompson River and thus has caused a shifting of the main stream bed.

Gravel has filled up underneath one picnic table on the north side of the West Fork mouth, leaving only a few inches of the top of the table showing.

If you drive up the ACM road and stop opposite the mouth of the West Fork, look downstream and you will see where the campground used to be. The tree stumps are still there even though water is running through them. You can also see where the gravel pouring from the West Fork settled, changing the main river bed.

Puphal said Forest Service employees expect to clean up the Clark Memorial campground by the end of June. No damage resulted at the Copper King and Fishtrap Creek camps.

“A surveying crew and construction superintendent have been assigned to the Thompson Falls ranger district to assist in flood repairs until the job is completed,” Puphal said Tuesday. The surveying crew was studying a possible new route for the West Fork road.

Surveying other damage to the Thompson Falls district, Puphal said, “The Cougar mountain road has two very bad washouts about two miles up. A bypass through the Norman Allen property can be opened first to make the road usable to the lookout. The washouts will be repaired later.

“The first mile of the Deep Creek road has four major washouts and the creek now is flowing where the road was. The road will be restored in its original location.

“The upper Prospect Creek road over Thompson Pass to Murray is impassible due to bridges being washed out. Most of the other roads in the district sustained only minor damage which can be repaired by a grader,” Puphal said.

Local ranger district personnel spent most of last week driving and hiking over all major roads in the area to survey damage caused by the flood.

GAMBLES TO MOVE TO MACHO BUILDING

Another major change for Thompson Falls’ business community was announced formally Wednesday morning when Gary Gunderson disclosed plans to move his Gambles store into the Macho building after a major remodeling program is completed by Mrs. Verona Macho, owner.

Mrs. Macho plans to install a new, modern front and do extensive remodeling of the interior of the building.

Gunderson said his firm will take over the hardware department from the Stobie Shopping center and that he plans to expand his stock with the additional space.

Note: The Gambles store was moving from the building which now houses Blue Hawk Pizza. The Macho building is now True Value Hardware.