ROSS SIMPSON

The destruction along Main Street in Johnstown, Pa., following the collapse of the South Fork Dam killing 2,209 people on this day in
1889.

 Walter "Walt" Whitman (May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) 

American poet Walt Whitman is best known for his collections Leaves of Grass
and Drum-Taps. His 1865 poem "O Captain! My Captain!" was written on the
occasion of the death of Abraham Lincoln. He dropped out of school at the
age of eleven and, to support his family, worked as a law office assistant and
a newspaper apprentice.

It was on this day in 2003.

Serial bombing suspect Eric Robert Rudolph (C) is escorted from
the Cherokee County Jail for a hearing in federal court.

Clinton Eastwood Jr. is 87 years old today. He was born in San
Francisco, California.

Clint Eastwood from The Good, The Bad And The Ugly (1966).

Clint Eastwood as Dirty Harry (1971).

Clint Eastwood worked as a lifeguard, a caddy, and a grocery clerk while growing
up. He became a household name after playing Rowdy Yates on the long-running
CBS-TV Western series Rawhide (1959 – 1965).

The newly developed 648-acre complex called Vanport before the
flood. It was the largest public housing project in the United States.

It was on this day, Memorial Day in 1948, the Columbia River forced it’s way
through an embankment that had served as a dike and rushed into a local
shipbuilding housing project called Vanport. The flood killed 15 people and 
left 18,000 homeless when the community vanished in just one day. 

The area today is called Delta Park, along the Columbia River in Portland,
Oregon’s northern edge, a location of public parks, nature preserves and
sports complexes.

Vanport, Oregon                                                     (Oregon Historical Society)

The public housing project Vanport was destroyed at 4:05 P.M. on Sunday
May 30,1948, when a 200-foot section of a dike holding back the Columbia
River collapsed during a flood, killing 15 people. Oregon’s second largest
city vanished in a day. The area is currently the site of Delta Park and the Portland International Raceway north of the city of Portland.

The city of Vanport in 1943