"Ours is a state that bows its head
in grief, though yet the semi-anesthesia of shock retards
perhaps the fullest realization of Oregon's great loss. Our
beloved governor, Earl Snell, is gone. And with him Robert
S. Farrell Jr., the brilliant young secretary of state. The
able president of the senate, Marshall E. Cornutt, died
beside them. And with these public officers died Cliff Earl Snell, essentially friendly and boyish, found it easy to make friends. Able executive though he was, his gift of the common touch never forsook him. He smiled his way into the hearts of the people of Oregon. Yet his work was so near him that when he traveled he carried his problems along - to mediate upon at odd moments. There was none that surpassed him in a thorough knowledge of the state, for Oregon was his constant textbook - and the text was never forgotten. Those who knew him intimately will recall how swift the facial transition from laughter to gravity when something challenged his thought." Government officials quickly moved to fill the void left by the deaths of three of its leaders. Two days after the crash John H. Hall took the oath of office as Oregon's new governor. Within a few days he had named a new secretary of state as the government attempted to return to normalcy. 
Introduction
| Prohibition
| McLoughlin
| Prison
| Expositions
| Copperfield
| Environment |
n October 28, 1947 
Hogue, the pilot of the
ill-starred plane which crashed in the night flight over the
wild terrain east of Klamath Falls. No sister state, we
think, ever was visited at a single stroke, in its official
family, by such great loss as this. For these were men who
had been held in more than usual affection. The airman, not
less than the three state officials, had the gift of making
friends, we are told. And so it can be said that each was
well companioned when his hour struck.
