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From: bobr@zeus.UUCP (Robert Reed)
Newsgroups: net.jokes
Subject: Dripleys Believe it or Dont
Message-ID: <307@zeus.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 1-Jun-84 18:21:15 EDT
Article-I.D.: zeus.307
Posted: Fri Jun  1 18:21:15 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 6-Jun-84 05:32:21 EDT
Organization: Tektronix, Beaverton OR
Lines: 86

An array of Northwest facts so amazing you will GASP WITH DISBELIEF!  Yet
every word is absolutely true [excerpted from the June issue of Pacific
Northwest].

    The World's Largest Edible Mushroom was discovered on Whidbey Island,
    WA. in 1968.  It weighed 18 lbs. 10 oz. -- ENOUGH FOR A 225 EGG OMELETTE!

    The Heaviest Human Who Ever Lived was Jon Brower Minnoch of Bainbridge
    Island.  By extrapolating his intake and elimination rates, doctors
    calculated his weight to be MORE THAN 1400 POUNDS!  He died in 1982, not
    long after his doctors estimated HE GAINED 200 POUNDS IN SEVEN DAYS --
    OVER 28.5 LBS. A DAY!

    The flow of the Columbia River, the largest river on the Pacific side of
    the continent, is CONTROLLED BY A SINGLE MAN, sitting at a computer
    console in Vancouver, Washington.

    THE WORLD'S SMALLEST PARK, Mill Ends Park in downtown Portand, OCCUPIES
    452 SQUARE INCHES OF LAND, OR .000072 ACRES.

    THE FIRST AMERICAN MILLIONAIRE was John Jacob Astor, founder of the
    Columbia River fur trade base at Astoria, [Oregon].

    OREGON'S SOLOMON HIRSCH, running for U. S. Senator in the 1880's, lost
    the election BY ONLY ONE VOTE.  Too bad HE DIDN'T VOTE FOR HIMSELF!

    ONE-EYED CHARLIE PARKHURST was a tobacco-chawin' roughneck who drove
    stagecoaches between Portand and San Francisco during the West's
    gold-rush era.  It wasn't until Parkhurst's corpse was being prepared
    for burial that Oregon residents discovered ol' Charlie was apparently
    also THE FIRST WOMAN IN THE NATION ALLOWED TO VOTE.

    THE HIGHEST PRICE EVER PAID FOR A TREE was $51,000 paid in 1959 by a
    Missouri nursery for a single Starkspar Golden Delicious tree grown near
    Yakima, [Washington].

    For the money necessary to build the Washington Public Power Supply
    System's five nuclear power plants ($23,800,000,000), it would be
    possible to BUILD THE ENTIRE GREAT WALL OF CHINA, using today's prices
    and UNION LABOR, and still have OVER $2 BILLION LEFT.

    Inventor Bill Barton of Oakland, Oregon, is best known for work he did
    with the Mattel Corporation in 1958 and 1959 when HE INVENTED THE BARBIE
    DOLL.

    The world's record for eating hamburgers is held by Alan Peterson of
    Longview, Washington, who ATE 20 1/4 HAMBURGERS IN 30 MINUTES on Feb 8,
    1979.

    The official seal of the state of Washington, a bust of the first
    President, WAS COPIED FROM AN ADVERTISEMENT OF DR. JANE'S CURE FOR
    COUGHS AND COLDS!

    THE GREATEST SNOWFALL EVER RECORDED over a 12-month period was 1,224.5
    inches in 1971/72 at Paradise, Mount Rainier.  All together, that much
    snow WOULD COMPLETELY COVER A 10-STORY BUILDING!

    THE LARGEST OCTOPUS ever discovered was found in Washington's Hood Canal
    on Feb. 18, 1973 and was captured SINGLE-HANDLEDLY by diver Donald E.
    Hagen, measured 23 FEET across!  weighed 118 pounds, 10 ounces.

    THE D RIVER, in Lincoln City, Oregon, is only 440 feet long at low tide,
    making it THE SHORTEST RIVER IN THE WORLD, and the one with THE SHORTEST
    NAME.

    The Northwest is home to THE LARGEST TERRESTRIAL SALAMANDER IN THE
    WORLD.  The giant grows to more than a foot long.  It BARKS WHEN
    MOLESTED, CLIMBS TREES AND SCREAMS WHEN ALARMED.

    THE FIRST FATHER'S DAY EVER CELEBRATED took place in Spokane on June 19,
    1910.

    THE FIRST NEWSPAPER ON THE WEST COAST was established in Oregon City in
    1845.  Called "The Flumgudgeon Gazette and Bumble Bee Budget," it was
    not only "Entirely Original," IT WAS ENTIRELY HANDWRITTEN!

    THE WORLD'S FIRST ELECTRIC POWER FROM NUCLEAR ENERGY was produced by an
    experimental breeder reactor near Idaho Falls, Idaho, in 1951.

    THE LARGEST AND THE SMALLEST MOLES IN THE WORLD live in the Pacific
    Northwest.  The largest grow to nearly a foot long (including the tail);
    the smallest weigh LESS THAN ONE-HALF OUNCE.  Both have been known TO
    FIGHT TO THE DEATH with intruding moles.

    Dave Barnes ate 424 LITTLE-NECK CLAMS IN 8 MINUTES near Port Townsend in
    1975, making him the WORLD CHAMPION CLAM EATER