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WILLIAM P KYNE General manager managerof of Portland Meadows is doing all in his hispower power to aid the homeless and destitute destitutein in the flood area Flood Damage of 300000 At Portland Meadows Plant Horsemen Make Appeals for Financial Aid No Loss of Life Reported From Area AreaPORTLAND PORTLAND Ore June 3 Following a daylong survey made here yesterday of the inundated Portland Meadows race track by general manager William P Kyne it developed that much more damage had been suffered than had been anticipated during the first few hours following the flooding of the area Kyne stated that he believed damage would run in the area of 300000 with this possibly being a con ¬ servative estimate estimateWhile While there is much to be done to the track and surrounding property Kyne said that work would be delayed until the Van port area and other sections had received the necessary amount of relief The man ¬ agement feels that the homeless and destU tute should all be taken care of and the Portland Meadows Jockey Club will do all in their power to alleviate any conditions that may exist in the stricken area areaThe The only work to be done at the Meadows until the waters recede and the flooded housing areas are relieved will be the re ¬ moving of the many 18unit apartment dwellings that have been swept into the track property These units are terrific in size measuring some 300 feet in length and being two stories high Approximately 10 such dwellings are now resting on the track proper and all are from the ill fated city of Vanport Plans at present call for these units to be towed away from the track by powerful river tugs that are to be brought into the area tomorrow The large dwellings will be towed back through the break in the Denver avenue dike and moored in their original resting place the Vanport area areaTons Tons of Debris on Track TrackIn In addition to the big dwellings now floating in the track area there are many tons of debris consisting mainly of large timbers sides of crushed homes and much furniture all of which must be moved into a faroff corner of the track property prior to the falling of the flood water waterThere There is much hardship among the many horsemen present here Some of this resulted with the sudden canceling of the meeting and also when they lost all their personal belongings in the flood While all the horses now have stalls many of the owners and trainers are without proper living quarters and are absolutely destitute destituteAppeals Appeals have been made by groups of horsemen and the track management to the California Turf Foundation and the Hollywood Turf Club for some financial help to relieve the desperate situation that has come about here The Portland Mead ¬ ows Jockey Club has placed their meager resources at the horsemens disposal and while accepting this gracious offer from people that have been hurt every bit as much as themselves the horsemen feel that help could be received from other quarters where the financial load would not be felt quite as heavily as it would by this already heavilyburdened racing associa ¬ tion tionEstimates Estimates of help that would be needed to replace tack and equipment for the horsemen as well as shipping their stables to other areas where racing is in progress range from 15000 as a low figure to a high of 25000 25000While While much talk has been made of transferring the present meeting over to the nearby Gresham County Fair Grounds Kyne felt that this was not a time to be considering the opening of another race meeting in this sticken area He feels that all available help and resources should be spent in rehabilitating the homeless and destitute persons now in this flooded area Conservative estimates have placed the homeless at 60000 persons personsDoing Doing the survey of the Meadows plant it was found that exactly 22 feet of water had descended upon the track It will also probably be several weeks before this large amount of water will be drained off al ¬ though yesterday the high mark of 22 feet had dropped six inches by early evening The nearby Columbia and Willamette rivers reached their crests early yester ¬ day morning and they too had receded by early evening It was felt by expert observers that the rivers would crest again later in the week due to the warm weather that has prevailed in the area for the past few days and has caused the winter snows to melt so much faster fasterThere There is still no reported loss of life among any of the horsemen and hopes are extremely high for the safety of all As yet however there have been no casual ¬ ty lists prepared LOS ANGELES Calif June 3 Chair ¬ man Loyd Wright and members Dwight Murphy and Nion Tucker of the California Horse Racing Board today pledged full support and cooperation for aid to the stricken horsemen at the Portland Mea ¬ dows race track trackThe The board advised general managers Jack Mackenzie of Hollywood Park and Gwynn Wilson of Santa Anita that any funds advanced for relief purposes would be approved as essential charity expendi ¬ tures from their charity foundations This also applies to all other California tracks tracksWilson Wilson informed the board the TRA was flying a representative to Portland today to survey the heeds and report on the necessary funds for the stricken horsemen He also stated funds would be made avail ¬ able immediately
