1957 flood remembered as one of area’s worst
Warm rains led to Malheur River overflow
By LARRY MEYER
ARGUS OBSERVER
Sunday, September 7, 2008 12:32 AM PDT
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| Flood waters have ravaged parts of Malheur County in the past, as seen in this undated photo, but the most extensive flood was the one in 1957 that submerged much of the valley, from west of Vale to north of Ontario. |
ONTARIO — While there have been floods from time to time in Malheur County through the years, none of them covered so much territory or caused so much damage as the Malheur River flood in 1957, which isolated the county from the rest of state, making it one of Ontario’s most newsworthy events.
While the city of Vale took the brunt of the wrath, the Ontario area received considerable damage as well from the swelling waters.
According to the lead story in the Feb. 25, 1957, edition of the Ontario Argus-Observer, “The Malheur River, on the worst rampage in its history, covered Vale this morning and roared on to Ontario.”
Two bridges over the Malheur River were washed out north of Ontario. A dozen homes near the mouth of the river, where it flows into the Snake River, were flooded. A photo from the time shows a home four miles west of Cairo Junction surrounded by water.
Traffic from Ontario to most parts of Oregon was cut off by the flooding. Vale had been cut off since the afternoon of Feb. 24. Oregon State Police stopped travel north of Ontario at 9 a.m. Feb. 25.
One fatality was reported, E.M. Lanterman, who died of a heart attack while attempting to help with an evacuation.
Ontario photographer John Estano was taking pictures for the local and regional media via truck and airplane during the action. Estano rode around and took pictures of the flood from the back of a flat-bed truck, he said.
“He was a good little driver,” Estano said of man driving the truck.
“We were worried about getting flooded out,” Estano said, adding the pair only had to back up and go another way once, however. “It was a mess.”
The two also took part as good samaritans as they went around, helping people stranded in their homes.
“What was nice was helping the older people,” Estano said, adding those rescued were taken into town where they could get assistance.
Estano also got photographs of the rampaging waters from the air, flying with airplane pilot Casey Jones. Estano’s pictures went to the Argus, the Idaho Statesman, the Oregonian, the Seattle Times and the wire services.
“They were sent all over the country,” he said.
A combination of warm rains on snow, some of which had fallen a few days before, and ice in the low hills surrounding the valley caused the terrible flood.
Ontario schools remained open, but more than one-third of the students were unable to get there because roads were impassable.
Longtime county resident Lois Page’s family lived on the northside of Malheur River, near Malheur Butte, at the time.
“We had snow the day before, about 8 inches,” she said, adding then there was a Chinook wind. “We went to church and couldn’t get back home.”
The family stayed with her husband’s parents for a few days until they could go home.
The local Union Pacific Railroad agent was quoted in an Argus story as saying trains to Portland were running eight hours behind schedule because of high water farther north up the line at Haines. Pacific Trailways had suspended bus service, as its central Oregon route was cut off.
Only Greyhound Bus Lines was able to continue its service to Portland, via the Columbia Gorge, using Idaho highways to bypass the flooding.
The Feb. 28 Argus reported clothes and bedding supplies were being gathered at the Ontario Fire Station for flood victims. U.S. Highway 20 to Burns was still closed as of that date, as was U.S. 30 at Ontario.
Local and state officials requested a federal disaster declaration from President Eisenhower. That declaration came March 1, and the president allocated $300,000 for disaster relief.
By March 4, traffic was allowed back onto Highway 201 over a temporary connection via Chester Boulevard.
Since the damaging 1957 event, the Malheur River has flooded in the north end of Ontario and other low areas near its mouth, and water has gotten into homes and businesses that were not built in 1957.
Massive ice jams that built up on the Snake River all the way from Farewell Bend has also caused flooding in the past when the river did not have enough room to contain all the ice and water.
None of those floods, however, came close to the size and impact of the one of 1957.
