A Dynamite Idea
To get rid of the whale carcass, the authorities eventually turned to dynamite: twenty cases, or half a ton of it. A military veteran with explosives training happened to be in the area, and he warned that twenty cases of dynamite was way too much. His advice that a mere twenty sticks of dynamite would be enough was ignored by the authorities. They had the misguided notion that a massive blast would disintegrate the whale, and result in small pieces that would then be consumed by scavengers. As an Oregon Highway Division official told news reporters about the authorities’ idea for getting rid of the dead whale:
“Well, I’m confident that it’ll 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, and crabs and whatnot can clean it up“. Dynamite was buried beneath the whale, primarily on the landward side so most of the carcass would get blown into the ocean. Scores of bystanders gathered to watch the spectacle, and were moved back about a quarter of a mile away as a safety precaution. The onlookers cheered when the dynamite was detonated at 3:45 PM, on November 12th, 1970.