An engineer who blew up a whale carcass in Oregon using some 20 cases of dynamite has died, but the biggest bang of his career will live forever in YouTube infamy.
George Thornton, who was called into action by the Oregon Department of Transportation when a 45-foot, 8-ton gray whale washed up on the beach near Florence, Ore., in 1970, passed away on Sunday, The Oregonian reported. He was 84.
The massive mammal that beached on Nov. 9, 1970, on Oregon's coastline was dead on arrival, and for a few days, local officials, unaccustomed to whales washing up on their shore, struggled with what to do with it. Burying it could result in it being uncovered; cutting it up or burning it were also ruled out because it was so big.
So highway officials called on Oregon Department of Transportation highway engineer Thornton to think of another way to remove the whale, which by that point, was starting to stink, reported The Oregonian. Thornton devised a plan: He and a crew would line the beached beast with dynamite, hit the plunger, and let the pieces of blubber scatter into the water. What was left would be cleaned up by seagulls and crabs, he figured.
Thornton later complained that the job fell on his shoulders because his co-workers "conveniently" planned to go deer hunting, according to The Oregonian.
"To be fair, they had plans to go, but this thing made them all the more anxious to go," Thornton said.
The event was captured by cameras on Nov. 12, 1970, for Portland news station KATU-TV, and has since become a YouTube sensation, garnering millions of views. "I'm confident that it will work. The only thing is, we're not sure just exactly how much explosives it will take to disintegrate this thing so the scavengers � seagulls, crabs and whatnot � can clean it up," Thornton, wearing a hard hat, told KATU reporter Paul Linnman on-camera minutes before the explosion. It didn't go as planned.
Bystanders were moved back a quarter of a mile before the blast, but were forced to flee as blubber and huge chunks of whale came raining down on them. Parked cars even further from the scene got smashed by pieces of dead whale. No one was hurt, but the small pieces of whale remains were flecked onto anyone in the area. Even worse, a large section of whale carcass never moved from the blast site at all. In the end, highway crews buried all the pieces and particles of the whale.
"It might be concluded that should a whale ever wash ashore on Lane County again, those in charge will not only remember what to do, they'll certainly remember what not to do," Linnman said at the conclusion of his report on the blast.
Linnman told The Oregonian on Wednesday that the explosion "blasted blubber beyond all believable bounds."
Thornton worked for the Oregon Department of Transportation from 1947 until his retirement in December 1984, a spokesman for the department said, and then he continued on as a consultant for five years after that. The department never blew up another whale after Thornton's infamous incident, even when 41 whales beached themselves near Florence at the same time in 1979.
"They were cut up and removed," said Don Hamilton, public information officer for the Oregon Department of Transportation. "ODOT has to deal with a lot of interesting incidents involving wildlife. Usually these involve deer and ducks and migrating fish, but on very rare occasions, we have to also deal with issues involving whales. [Thornton's] was not the first and not the last, and it's safe to say we've learned a lot in our ability to address those issues."
The department now works with experts at the Marine biology center at Oregon State University when beached whales come onto shore.
"We have to look at every situation and evaluate it," Hamilton said.
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An engineer who blew up a whale carcass in Oregon using some 20 cases of dynamite has died, but the biggest bang of his career will live forever in YouTube infamy.
George Thornton, who was called into action by the Oregon Department of Transportation when a 45-foot, 8-ton gray whale washed up on the beach near Florence, Ore., in 1970, passed away on Sunday, The Oregonian reported. He was 84.
The massive mammal that beached on Nov. 9, 1970, on Oregon's coastline was dead on arrival, and for a few days, local officials, unaccustomed to whales washing up on their shore, struggled with what to do with it. Burying it could result in it being uncovered; cutting it up or burning it were also ruled out because it was so big.
So highway officials called on Oregon Department of Transportation highway engineer Thornton to think of another way to remove the whale, which by that point, was starting to stink, reported The Oregonian. Thornton devised a plan: He and a crew would line the beached beast with dynamite, hit the plunger, and let the pieces of blubber scatter into the water. What was left would be cleaned up by seagulls and crabs, he figured.
Thornton later complained that the job fell on his shoulders because his co-workers "conveniently" planned to go deer hunting, according to The Oregonian.
"To be fair, they had plans to go, but this thing made them all the more anxious to go," Thornton said.
The event was captured by cameras on Nov. 12, 1970, for Portland news station KATU-TV, and has since become a YouTube sensation, garnering millions of views. "I'm confident that it will work. The only thing is, we're not sure just exactly how much explosives it will take to disintegrate this thing so the scavengers � seagulls, crabs and whatnot � can clean it up," Thornton, wearing a hard hat, told KATU reporter Paul Linnman on-camera minutes before the explosion. It didn't go as planned.
Bystanders were moved back a quarter of a mile before the blast, but were forced to flee as blubber and huge chunks of whale came raining down on them. Parked cars even further from the scene got smashed by pieces of dead whale. No one was hurt, but the small pieces of whale remains were flecked onto anyone in the area. Even worse, a large section of whale carcass never moved from the blast site at all. In the end, highway crews buried all the pieces and particles of the whale.
"It might be concluded that should a whale ever wash ashore on Lane County again, those in charge will not only remember what to do, they'll certainly remember what not to do," Linnman said at the conclusion of his report on the blast.
Linnman told The Oregonian on Wednesday that the explosion "blasted blubber beyond all believable bounds."
Thornton worked for the Oregon Department of Transportation from 1947 until his retirement in December 1984, a spokesman for the department said, and then he continued on as a consultant for five years after that. The department never blew up another whale after Thornton's infamous incident, even when 41 whales beached themselves near Florence at the same time in 1979.
"They were cut up and removed," said Don Hamilton, public information officer for the Oregon Department of Transportation. "ODOT has to deal with a lot of interesting incidents involving wildlife. Usually these involve deer and ducks and migrating fish, but on very rare occasions, we have to also deal with issues involving whales. [Thornton's] was not the first and not the last, and it's safe to say we've learned a lot in our ability to address those issues."
The department now works with experts at the Marine biology center at Oregon State University when beached whales come onto shore.
"We have to look at every situation and evaluate it," Hamilton said.
Thornton died in Medford, Ore., Hamilton said.
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