The Hereford Brand (Hereford, Tex.), Vol. 73, No. 11, Ed. 1 Thursday, March 14, 1974 Page: 1 of 28
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: The Brand (Hereford, TX) and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Deaf Smith County Library.
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Blast At Milk Plant Rocks
City9 $100,000 Damages
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Where Were You At 11:58?
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Brand Photos By Don Richard:
Boiler Blows
Lane Promoted At Hi Plains
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Page 1, Section Two
DON LANE
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The explosion was of such magnitude
that the boiler itself flew more than 300
yards in the air before it struck a
building, bounced off the ground, and
sliced a telephone pole in half before
By DON RICHARDS
Brand News Editor
One of the pieces of equipment the
students saw was a 1,000-pound boiler
Less than 30 minutes after the kin-
dergarten students left, that boiler ex-
ploded. blowing off the back half of the
building, injuring one milk plant worker
and shattering windows within a five-
block radius in downtown Hereford.
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A big sports weekend looms in
Hereford with a baseball tournament
starting today and ending Saturday, and
the Deaf Smith C of C hosting a big track
and field meet Saturday The track meet
will give sports fans the first opportunity
to se an event on the new all-weather
track facility at Whiteface Stadium
Branding Time
By Speedy Nieman
THE HEREFORD Kiwanis Club will
hold its annual Broom Sale Friday and
Saturday with headquarters on the
Gibson parking lot All products are
A 1,000-pound boiler flew through the air for more than two
blocks Monday after it explosed inside Hereford Pure Milk
Company. The boiler landed on Sampson Street, bounced up
And sliced the telephone pole in half.before stopping on East
2nd Street behind the drive-in windows of Hereford State
Bank. Passersby are shown looking at the deformed boiler.
Photoat bottom was taken from Pitman Elevators and shows
the milk company immediately after the explosion.
That feller on Tierra Blanca Creek
says the number of people in a com-
munity isn't nearly as important as the
type of people in the community.
coming to rest two blocks away on 2nd
Street near Hereford State Bank
made by the Lighthouse for the Blind,
and Kiwanians willuse proceeds for local
projects. Go by the caravan and see all
the household items on sale!
The story of the accident is well
covered in today's Brand, but we'd like to
add a comment on the great work of the
city crews and the utility companies The
clean-up around the disaster area was
accomplished quickly and efficiently by
city workers and volunteer firemen.
Utility crews were fast to react to the
accident and were at the scene within
minutes to cut off electric and gas con-
nections that could have been dangerous
elements Law enforcement personnel
also moved in quickly to direct the flow of
traffic. We salute all these men whose
work is too often taken for granted
and then the sirens went off I got away
from there.”
Shortly after 11 a m. Monday a group
of kindergarten students from the First
Baptist Church toured the five-month old
facilities at the Hereford Pure Milk
Company.
the debris down the street, I figured out
what was happening
THE EXPLOSION at Hereford Pure
Milk Monday interrupted the business
routine of the community to a greater
extent than any event in some time. The
miracle is that no one was seriously
injured or killed . . we have to consider
ourselves very fortunate.
A SECRETARY at John Orsborn
Buick Pontiac: "The windows by my
desk caved in and everyone in the office
jumped away from the flying glass At
first we thought our shop had exploded,
but it was soon evident that was not the
case.
NOTHING helps soothe feelings more
in an ag oriented community after a long
dry spell than a good rain. That was the
case around Hereford Sunday after
rainfalls measuring from half an inch up
to 3 inches were reported around the
area.
The moisture apparently covered the
general area, alghough the rain was light
in some spots Some hail piled up in
places, but no one was complaining-
everyone wanted some moisture in any
form!
2
5
There's mere to being a good teacher
than a knowledge of the subject.
Don Lane was named Tuesday as
executive vice president and acting
manager of Hi Plains Savings and Loan
Association, replacing Myron E. Morgan
who resigned, it was announced tn
Jimmie Allred, board president
The resignation of Morgan and
election of Lane was announced in a brief
press release after a board meeting
Tuesday. Morgan said he had no im-
mediate plans to announce for the future
He had been with Hi Plains for more than
13 years
Lane graduated from Texas Tech
University with a BBA in accounting He
came to Hi Plains as vice president in
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"We just couldn't imagine what was
happening "
A FIRESTONE employe: "It seemed
like everything was falling down on our
heads We lost nearly every window in
the place ”
MRS DORRIS DICKERSON, a drive
in window teller at Hereford State Bank
The little building I was in really
See WHERE WERE Page 16
xplosion
• /
By KERRIE WOMBLE
Brand Staff Writer
In 10 years, most Hereford residents
will be able to tell you what they were
doing at 11:58 a.m. on March 11, 1974.
A tooth-rattling explosion at Hereford
Pure Milk Company will serve as a book-
mark, notching that moment in the
minds of local citizens.
The scope of the incident became
evident after hearing some of the freak
occurrences which took place in those
few colorful minutes
Several Hereford folks related their
personal accounts of the story that muld
have easily become a grisly to ’
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“I could see water spirting about 12
feet high at the milk company and the
first thing that ran through my mind was
that there was probably electric lines
down I also knew that there was also a
possibility of a broken gas line I sensed
danger
"I couldn't see anyone in the building
ESTIMATE of damages caused by the
explosion passed the $100,000-mark late
Tuesday. The milk plant itself suffered
about $75,000 with the rest coming from
the resulting damages in the area
surrounding the plant
Three persons were in the building at
the time of the explosion, but only one
required hospitalization Edward Green,
an employee at the plant, was in the
middle of the building when the explosion
took place and received superficial bums
from ammonia fumes He was admitted
to Deaf Smith General Hospital, but was
not listed in serious condition
HUGH KIRKLAND, owner of the
plant, along with Andrew Gutierrez,
were in a reception room at the front of
Sea EXPLOSION RIPS Page 16
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ORVAL WATSON: "It scared the hell
out of us. I was sure our shop had blown
up. That is a constant fear in our
business
"I ran out into the showroom and saw
all the windows falling from their
casings When I went outside and saw all
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1967 a Per working as an examiner for the
Texas Savings & Loan Department,
other previous employment included
Western Savings & Loan in Fort Worth,
and First National Bank of Lubbock
Morgan joined the association in 1960
as executive vice president manager
and a memtier of the board of directors
During his tenure as manager. Hi Plains
has grown in assets from under $2.5
millian to its present total of ap-
proximately $17.5 million in assets
The association also built new office
facilities in 1963 the building now oc-
cupied by Hi Plains A branch office was
also opened in Dimmitt
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73rd Year - No. 11 Hereford, Texas, Thursday, March 14, 1974
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The Hereford Brand (Hereford, Tex.), Vol. 73, No. 11, Ed. 1 Thursday, March 14, 1974, newspaper, March 14, 1974; Hereford, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1477345/m1/1/?q=%22~1%22~1: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Deaf Smith County Library.