Grumpy old men, like to talk about what they have done. Well, it’s going to be hard to top George Thorton. Mr. Thorton died October 27 at the age of 84. He was an Oregon highway department engineer for 37 years. What did he do? He blew up a dead whale.
Back in 1970, when the highway department was responsible for the beaches in Oregon, a 45 foot long, sperm whale, estimated to weigh 8 tons washed up on the beach near Florence. It started to stink and residents demanded something be done.
Mr. Thorton determined they couldn’t push it back into the ocean. It would just wash back. They couldn’t bury it because the waves would uncover it. And, they couldn’t burn it. So, George talked to the Navy and they suggested that he blow it up. Scatter it into small pieces so the fish and crabs could eat it. So he did.
He took 1000 pounds of dynamite and blew up the dead whale with approximately 75 spectators gathered about a quarter mile away to watch. They all thought it was fun until they started getting covered with whale goo. News reports said that one chunk was large enough to crush the top of a car.
I can just hear a bunch of old men touting their accomplishments and then George says, "I blew up a dead whale."
This story has inspired me to do something memorable in life. If I had some dynamite, I’d blow up some alive squirrels.
PMO
©2013
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