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Shelton Mason County Journal
Shelton, Washington
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February 20, 2020     Shelton Mason County Journal
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February 20, 2020
 
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HISTORYATA Plan to ship nerve gas through county sparks 0 This is the first in a two-part series he headline story in the Dec. 4, T1969, Shelton-Mason County read, “Nerve Gas May Travel Through Mason County.” The US. Army had notified Wash- ington Gov. Dan Evans that begin— ning early in January it planned to transport shipments of nerve gas by rail through the Washington on the way to a storage facility in Umatilla, Oregon. The nerve gas had caused international controversy earlier in the year when it was found to be stored on Oki- nawa, Japan. The United States was in the process of turning the island over to Japan, and both the J apa— nese government and the people of Okinawa were demanding re- moval of the deadly gas. The plan was to transport it by ship from Okinawa to the Bangor Ammunition Depot on Hood Canal, then by train through Washington and Oregon to Umatilla. There were between 8,000 and 10,000 tons of the gas, which required five or six trains of 20 cars each. Notifying governors when ship- ments of military material would cross their states had only recently . become necessary, due to a law signed by President Richard Nixon. The exact route was technically secret, but there was only one way rail shipments could travel through Mason County —— on Northern Pacific tracks that went past Mason Lake, Lake Limerick and Cranberry Lake before crossing above state Route 3 to run along the outside of the Simp- son Timber Co. fence to the Northern Pacific Railroad depot on South First Street in Shelton, across from Knee- land Park. From there, the tracks ran out along Hammersley Inlet, through the Kamilche area and into Thurston County. Reaction began almost immedi- ately. Petitions opposing nerve gas shipments, signed by 70,000 people in Washington and Oregon, were sent to the federal government. The Mason County Central Democratic Committee sent letters of protest to Washington Sens. Warren G. Mag- By JAN PARKER We deliver ' nuson and Henry M. Jackson. Rep. Julia Butler Hansen wrote her own letter to the Department of Defense (DOD), strongly protesting the move- ment of nerve gas through Mason County or any other populated re- gion. The Mason County Commission also wrote a letter to the DOD ask- ing for clarification On what safety measures would be taken if the ship- ments were allowed to proceed. Jackson and Magnuson had differ— ent views on the shipments. Jackson accepted_the Army’s assurances that special safety precautions would be taken, while Magnuson joined with Sen. Mark Hatfield of Oregon to pro-_ test the shipments,_at least until “all doubts have been wiped away and we are certain that innocent persons . NORTHWE °' u h“”' ROCK, ma. TllYlllll f‘ _‘_/" __'—— ,. will; uunnnv now our! 85] W. KllMllBHE [ARE IN SHElTllll NWBOGK£0M arm MONDAY-FRIDAY, 7AM-4PM l State Conn. Reg. No. NORTHRI033N0 Thursday, Feb. 20, 2020 - Shelton-Mason County JoUrnaI — Page A-15 utrage If This photo shows the route into Shelton , that trains would take. The railroad trestle crosses state Route and the tracks curve around to run past the Simpson Timber Co. mill and into Shelton. The Shelton Yacht Club is in the foreground. Courtesy photo each train‘car — the animals would react to a gas leak before humans could detect it. Containers would be stacked in rows with aisles between, to permit inspection. There would be several empty cars at each end of the trains to act as cushions in case of a collision, and trains would traVel no faster than 35 mph. In the first week of February, the Army announced officially that the shipments were on hold pending a safety report from the US. Depart- ment of Health, Education, and Wel- fare. To be continued... along the route of travel have been given every. protection.” Early in January, Magnuson an— nounced he had been informed the shipments would be delayed. His statement was immediately contra- dicted by the Army, which said no such delay was planned. However, later in the month the DOD did of- ficially notify the senator that the Army was delaying the shipments and “giving active consideration to the senator’s request that local public health and safety officials be consulted and informed about what measures would be taken in case of an accident during shipment.” At that time, plans to increase safety during the shipments in- cluded placing caged live rabbits in I Jan Parker is a researcher for the Mason County Historical Museum. She can be reached at parkerj@hctc.com. w) / DENTAL .C E NTE R {m .xilxln‘ (wt Iln' Come see why everyone is smiling! We provide implants, oral‘uurgery. root canals. veneers. crowna, bridge! and more HJVC‘ your denial work dune right have in Shrimn and me the driving {M rim weekend. 182.9 Jefferson Street, Shelton (360) 426—8401 M- mum-[dev rim; Wlmcmug $69 NI \6 l‘\|llNl'l Kl!“ k \ NJH‘i'yl‘li ml.‘ \H\ ill vall. lllllllMlNl S wwu.=:.lu-i1nmirulAlcrvmsr mm