BLAST, BLAZE KILL 17 AT ROSEBURG,” read the headline on the front page of The Register-Guard on August 7, 1959. The official number of dead was later lowered to 14 as medical examiners were able to enter the area in the days after the blast. More than 120 others were injured. An eight-block area on the […]
Tag: Roseburg
Looking back at “The Blast” in 1959 that devastated the heart of Roseburg
“Blast Devastates Heart of Roseburg” read the banner headline in The Oregon Statesman on Aug. 8, 1959, with more than half of its front page coverage dedicated to a deadly explosion more than 130 miles south of Salem. The newspaper published Associated Press stories reporting how a truck with 6 1/2 tons of explosives aboard […]