May 18, 2012

Oroville Mercury Register
December 15, 1953
News From Butte County Servicemen
Second Lieutenant Alvin W. Unfried, son of Mr. and Mrs. Simon Unfried, of Pine street, is currently serving with the Auditor General, U. S. Air Force. He is assigned duty as an Internal Auditor and Resident Office, Western District, Auditor General USAF, Norton Air Force Base, Calif. Unfried is a graduate of Oroville Union High School and the University of California at Los Angeles.
Lt. Unfried plays an important part in the mission of the Auditor-General. The Auditor General organization functions as an independent expert advisor to top management with the Air Force, utilizing the latest auditing and accounting methods and techniques tested and proven in private industry. This organization audits the millions of dollars spent for the procurement of new aircraft and equipment, servicing and maintenance of Air Forces Bases and the operation of USAF planes in all parts of the world. Lt. Unfried along with other military and civilian employees of the Auditor General is alert at all times to assure protection of the taxpayer’s dollar. Unfried and his wife are making their home at San Bernardino. They are parents of a new son, Robert Frederick, born September 30, 1953.
Stu-Sure like to find Robert Frederick Unfried.

Continued from last week from: The Feather River Territorial Special Edition 1959 By James Lenhoff
Pioneer Railroad Financiers said it was preposterous! Engineers said it was impossible! But the Argonauts of Oroville did it anyway. That evening Messrs. Bird and Lowery of the International Hotel personally served the dinner at Armory Hall to the citizens and visiting dignitaries, while the military and overflow were fed in the bal-room of the “St. Nick”, as it was popularly called. At 9 p.m. the happy celebrants converged on Armory Hall for the Civic and Military Ball, and so gala was the who affair that the Marysville boys, officials included, failed to sober up in time to catch the morning train for home. By afternoon they felt a little chipper and were escorted to the depot by the Oroville Guards, who were still so much under the weather that a spectator would have had difficulty in determining just exactly who was escorting who. One of the more sober members of the Artillery managed to load the “Little Giant”, and a farewell volley was fired into the air. The Marysville boys reciprocated with three cheers for their amiable hosts followed by a jovial rendition of “For They Are Jolly-Good Fellows”. Then they climbed aboard the train and waved goodbye with hats perched on outstretched bayonets until they had disappeared down the tracks. Oroville’s railroad celebration was one which lingered on for many years in the hearts and memories of those who witnessed it and gave ample evidence of the superb hospitality for which the Argonauts of that mining town were generally noted. The line is still in use today, being operated by the Southern Pacific Railroad which took it over in 1889 from the Rideout banking interests. When tracks for the Western Pacific Railroad were being laid several years later, the line figured prominently as the focal pint of one of the more violent fights in railroad history as the Southern Pacific magnates tried to extend the tracks across town in order to cut off the Western Pacific right-of-way through the Feather River Canyon. Had this move been successful it would have bankrupted the new railroad and continued the monopoly which controlled the state. This dramatic story will be told in a future issue of the Territorial.

Stu’s Notes: Well now you know all about that first Rail Road to Oroville 150 years ago. So when you drive up Myers. Past the old Ken’s Paint Store and right before Dahlmeier Insurance, look for the plaque and think for lack of water that Historic building burned down. I know, I was the first there that night, sometime around 1963-66. Thank you, Jim Lenoff for this story and a big piece of Oroville History. I wonder where the Armory Hall was in 1864 and the St. Nick? I’ve written before of Second Lt. Alvin W. Unfried, Jan 16, 2009, I ran an article from the Oroville Mercury April 7, 1951, then he w as a young 22 year old just completing basic training at Lackland Air Force Base. Two and a half years later a 2nd Lt. pretty good. This is all we know about him which brings up another question, was he related to 19 year old Barry Lon Unfried who was born September 9, 1949 and died in Vietnam, June 2, 1969. We’ve known of Barry for a long time and that he was from Oroville and a 1967 graduate of Oroville High and a Marine. That is all we know about him.
Don’t forget Memorial Day, Monday May 28, 2012. Ceremony on the Hill at Memorial Park Cemetery on Lincoln at 11AM and at 12 Noon until 3pm, a BBQ by Chef Wayne Brock and the American Legion and at 1pm on the Old Green Bridge there will be a Bell and Wreath Ceremony. Hope to see a large crowd this year.