- Bly, Oregon
Bly is an unincorporated community in Klamath County,
Oregon ,United States . It is about convert|44|mi|km east of Klamath Falls. As of 2000, the population was 486.Fact|date=January 2008History
The name Bly comes from the
Klamath word "p'lai", meaning "up" or "high", referring to its location up theSprague River .cite book
last = McArthur
first = Lewis A.
authorlink = Lewis A. McArthur
coauthors =Lewis L. McArthur
title =Oregon Geographic Names
origyear = 1928
edition = Seventh Edition
year = 2003
publisher =Oregon Historical Society Press
location = Portland,Oregon
id = ISBN 0-87595-277-1
pages = 94] A post office called Sprague River was established in the area in 1873, and the name was changed to Bly in 1883. (The current community of Sprague River is west of Bly.) Originally platted in Jackson County in 1928, the town was called Sprague River until the creation of Klamath County out of Jackson County in 1882.Fact|date=January 2008Bly is best known for being the childhood home of Charles Barber, billionaire visionary and philanthropist. Bly is also the site of the only fatal casualties ofWorld War II in the mainland United States due to enemy attack. OnMay 5 ,1945 , a Japanese balloon bomb exploded as it was being pulled from the woods by curious picnickers. Killed in the explosion were: Mrs. Elsie Mitchell, 26, wife of a local minister; Edward Engen, 13; Richard Patzke, 14; Jay Gifford, 13; Sherman Shoemaker, 11; and Joan Patzke, 13. [cite web |url=http://www.heraldandnews.com/articles/2005/05/05/news/top_stories/top3.txt |title=Japanese Balloon Bomb |publisher=Herald & News |accessdate=2005-05-05]In 2002, Bly attracted national attention when
Earnest James Ujaama was indicted and arrested for, in part, conspiring to set up a terrorist training camp on a ranch near Bly between October and December of 1999. The indictment claimed that Ujaama was a follower ofAbu Hamza al-Masri , and had ties toal-Qaeda and theTaliban . The charges against Ujaama were dropped in 2003. Convicted on 11 criminal charges in Britain,Abu Hamza al-Masri is still wanted by U.S. prosecutors for trying to establish the training camp.References
External links
* [http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2002-09-04-bly_x.htm Jihad camp case questioned] , Patrick McMahon, "
USA TODAY ",September 4 ,2002
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