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60 YEARS AGO • JUNE 18, 1964

CHERRY CREEK BRIDGE ORDERED

Repairs to county roads and bridges damaged or washed out by last week’s flood are being made as quickly as possible, County Commissioner Jesse W. Lee reported this week.

Lee said he ordered material Monday for a new bridge across Cherry Creek and that it will be built as quickly as possible. The Curran and Saint families now can reach their homes only by a temporary footbridge erected last week by county employees.

A culvert washed out at Bear Creek on the Blue Slide was being replaced Monday. County crews also were at work this week repairing Blue Slide damage at Cougar Gulch. A temporary bypass was completed last weekend around the Deep Creek bridge and permanent repair are to be made later

FLOOD DAMAGE AT TC, NOXON TOTALS $75,000

Last week’s flood damage to roads on the Kaniksu National Forest in the Noxon and Trout Creek area may exceed $75,000 according to Supervisor John Beebe.

Rainfall totaling 3.06 inches from June 5 to 8 hastened the melt of the snow pack causing extensive flood damage in the Cabinet Mountains area with lesser damage on the east slope of the Bitterroots.

The Vermilion River road system was heaviest hit with four bridges damaged, two completely gone and one mile of roadbed badly eroded and impassable. It may not be open for travel until mid-July.

In Rock and Chippewa Creeks three bridges were badly damaged and one lost with heavy erosion on 1000 feet of roadway and loss of numerous culverts.

Big Beaver and Elk Creek road damage was confined mainly to loss of culverts.

Forest Service crews worked continuously during peak flood periods to keep debris from clogging bridges and culverts. Damage elsewhere in the forest was negligible.

LOG SHORTAGE COULD RESULT FROM FLOOD

A serious log shortage could develop for the three major Sanders County lumber mills supplied by the Clark Fork Logging Co. if logging operations cannot be resumed within the next few days, Forrest Dobson, general manager for the logging firm, said this week.

An aftermath for this area of last week’s nationally prominent flood in western Montana has been the forced shut down of all logging operations because of severe damage to Forest Service roads.

Monday, Dobson said the Thompson Falls Lumber Co. had only about a week’s supply of logs, (this mill was quite large with a big payroll, it was located south of the highway by the high school turn off) the Flodin Lumber Co. (now TRL) a two-week supply and that the Diehl lumber Co. of Plains (now the site of the Town Pump) was operating “day to day.”

Repairs to the Paradise cut-off road were to be completed early this week to permit the resumption of log hauling from the Savenec Creek sale yesterday. Logs from the Savanec sale go to the Diehl mill.

Oliver and Oliver have started making emergency repairs to the West Fork of Thompson River road so that logging can get underway in the Four Lakes sale. “Four Lakes represents our best chance to get back into log production,” Dobson said, “since all of the logging roads in the sale area have been completed and it is ready to go.” Bulk of logs from this sale will go to the two mills located at Thompson Falls.

Dobson said logs from the Four Lakes sale would have been reaching the mills last week had not the flood stopped all logging. One jammer and three bulldozers were trapped in the sale area when the West Fork road was knocked out.

Other logging possibilities for CFL are two timber sales the firm has in Graves Creek and Vermilion River drainages, Dobson said. CFL has about 11 million board feet bought in these two sales, both of which would be hauled out of the Graves Creek road, which also sustained major flood damage.

He said short-haul roads had not been constructed into either sale and that this would delay the start of logging even after the main Graves Creek road had been repaired.