Disk Zooms Down Snake River Canyon
Just as Magic Valley and the nation were starting to let go of lampposts after reeling under a weiter of flying saucer reports, two more Twin Falls county men revived speculation on the mystery with vivid descriptions of disks they saw.From A.C. Urie, who operates the Auger Falls Trout Farm, 6 miles west of Blue Lakes Ranch to Snake River Canyon, came perhaps the most detailed account of any of the fast flying objects the nation has yet produced.
The flying saucer Urie saw was skimming along through Snake River Canyon at a height of about 75' at 1:00 p.m. Wednesday. At 9:30 a.m. the same day, L.W. Hawkins, Twin Falls county commissioner and former county sheriff, also saw two circular objects soaring along at great speeds near Salmon Dam 40 miles south west of Twin Falls.
Here is Urie's eye witness description of the flying disks, seen by him and his son, Keith, 8, and Billy,10:
I obtained a close up view of the flying saucer as it passed the trout farm at 1:00 p.m. August 13th going down Snake River Canyon at a height of about 75' from the canyon floor. I would estimate the speed about a 100 miles per hour.
Urie explained that the incident occurred while the two boys were coming across the river from the north side in a boat. He had become concerned about what was delaying them, and walked toward the river to see if they were all right.
I had a side view of a distance of about 300' and almost was level with the thing, he continued. Two of my boys, Keith & Billy were below me and they also saw it at about a right angle. They both a lower and a side view, and we and we were staring at it from the north side of the facing toward the north. The boys saw it coming from about a half a mile up the canyon, and we all lost site of it in less then a mile.
While the the impression was still vivid in their minds, the three all got together and made rough sketches of what they had seen. These inturn were the basis of the artist conception of the strange affair by Vic Goertson of Twin Falls for the Times News.
The canyon floor underneath at that particular point was that it rode up and down over the hills and hollows at a speed indicating some type of control faster then the reflexes of man. It is my opinion it is guided by some type of instruments and must be powered by atomic energy, as it made very little noise just a s-w-i-s-h when it passed by.
Urie described the size as about 20' long by 10' high and 10' wide, giving it an oblong shape. It might be described as looking at an inverted pie plate, or broad brimmed straw hat that been compressed from two sides.
Pressed for his opinion of just what it was, he said he was convinced there was something to this flying saucer situation. I know a number of people who have also seen them, and I know now that they're not just imagining seeing these things or trying to get their names in the paper. I do know that it scared the boys, and made me feel uneasy, he added.
Tracing down a rumor that county commissioner Hawkins had seen an unusual object in the air on the same day as Urie's experience, the Times News called him at his Filer home.
Yes I did, he replied without hesitation. I'll have to admit, I've been skeptical all along until I saw it with my own eyes. I can't say what it was, but I can say there is something in the air.
Hawkins related that while at Salmon dam Wednesday morning, a sound resembling that of an echo of a motor caused him to look upward, and there he saw to circular objects that reflected light. They were traveling at a great speed, and higher then most airplanes, according to Hawkins.
Aside from this, he declined to add details, except to say: There's something in the air.
His general description however, corresponded closely to hundreds of persons who reported seeing flying saucers after Kenneth Arnold, Boise business man, touched a deluge by telling of coming upon nine disk like objects while he was flying in his private plane in Washington.
Thereafter the nation became increasingly flying saucer conscious creating a state of mind for 4 teen age Twin Falls boys to cause a mild sensation when they built a model flying disk and tossed in a local yard July 10th. The was subsequently revealed as a hoax, following the investigation by the army and the FBI.
There after the saucer reports tapered off into a few scattered incidents until the question was revived by this weeks occurrences.
Speculation has ranged from mention that the disks could be army navy guided missile experiments, or they could be experiments by some foreign country, to something out of this world.
What ever they are, alot of people have seen something.