Bagby/Airplane Master

The Indians thought hot springs were holy places because of their healing qualities. That belief has been shared by many over the past hundred years. One of Oregon's favorite hot springs was first discovered in the 1880s by a trapper named Robert Bagby. The Forest Service took it over 30 years later. The service was responsible for providing easier access to the secluded area and a bathhouse was built for the bathers. But as the number of people who enjoyed Bagby grew so did the problems. Because it is a remote area, vandalism has taken its toll, and four years ago the bathhouse burned to the ground, destroying most of the tubs. The Forest Service was fighting with a dilemma as to what to do with Bagby hot springs once it burned down. And the friends of Bagby, although very loosely organized, did come to

the Forest Service and wanted to give us some assistance. And what started as a very loose idea that was not very well defined has grown into this. That growth is being nurtured by hard work. Since August, this group, known as the Friends of Bagby, have donated at least 60 hours a month to give the hot springs a second chance. They gather early on chilly Saturday mornings to hike into the springs. They pack in all of their tools and gear. Sometimes they have a little help, and they don't head home until Sunday night. It's a tremendous project to be conquered or attacked by an organization such as ours. But the drive that these people have is so strong. Now you're going to get volunteers,

they're going to come, and volunteers are going to go. And you're going to have a turnover. You've got numbers that pay their dues, and you never see them. They come up and visit. And then you've got the other people that have a dedication to this area. It will work no matter what. And whatever it takes to get it done. The friends of Bagby have over a hundred members donating time and money. They are doctors, lawyers, businessmen, students. Sometimes people just passing through. But they all have one thing in common. They share all love for the springs, and a desire to see it rebuild. They are completely dependent on donations of time and equipment. They're making most of the new tubs and cutting all of their own boards for the new structures. The group itself has gone through a sort of rebirth. Last year this new group formed with the purpose of renovating the hot springs. Recently they were granted a five year building permit by the Forest Service, and they plan on doing a lot of work in that time.

Beginning of next year in spring, when the weather permits, we're going to start building the platform down below at the main spring. We're going to rebuild the old bathhouse with five new ten foot long cedar or hollowed out cedar log tubs. Besides rebuilding, they have already put in a tub at the upper springs. When the whole project is finished, there will be areas for both nude and cloth bathing. Group also plans to have someone on the site at all times to prevent vandalism in the future. Although the Forest Service has often used volunteer groups to do work it doesn't have the manpower or funds to do itself, it has never had anyone take on such a big project before. At first the service was hesitant, unsure that the group could accomplish all it said it could. But now the Forest Service says it's optimistic about what the friends can do in the next five years. If there are problems we want to take them head on, and I'm sure the friends of Bagby do too. So we'll be reviewing this every year, and if there are problems we'll fix them.

And at the end of five years, hopefully we will start a whole new era. The Friends of Bagby plan on being part of that new era for some very special reasons. There's nothing up here, there's no electricity, no running water, there's nothing. And so the people that come up here come up here because it is so special to them for that reason. They can come up here to be away from the hustle and bustle. It's tranquil and relaxing. Thank you. Since 1978, the airline industry has been tightening its belt, a result of deregulation

many claim. Major airlines like TWA, Braniff and Continental have had to declare bankruptcy or go out of business. Others cut back on employees and reduced wages in an effort to maintain competitive prices. What deregulation did was to phase out government control of the airline industry. It allowed airlines to set prices and choose routes. With that freedom, many of the larger airlines quit service to small areas, like Eugene and Medford because it wasn't profitable. And that left the market wide open for the smaller regional airlines. While deregulation wasn't expected to immediately benefit the larger airlines, it has the smaller ones. Even so, a number of small lines haven't grown as quickly as expected. Only one line has really been able to meet its expectations. And that is Horizon Air. It is a success story extraordinaire, although its beginnings far from lavish. Horizon's first

flight was little over two years ago. At that time, it had only three planes, 60 employees and flew between two cities. Within one year, Horizon merged with Air Oregon to become the one airline to serve more cities in Oregon than any other. And it has just finished another merger to push its service up to 22 cities in five states. Horizon now has 23 planes and employs close to 600 people. But Horizon is the exception to the rule. Even with the help of deregulation, the failure rate for most small airlines is high. Horizon acquired a good reputation in a relatively short amount of time, partly because it merged with an airline that had been already operating for seven years. But for many new carriers, it is not this easy. The rewards are low and the costs high in trying to get started. Well, you have to have a little cash. You have to have some vision. You have to have a tremendous amount of tenacity. And you have to know what your goals are. And those have

to be pretty clearly defined. If you ask a Horizon employee, they would say their success is not only due to deregulation, but to this man, Milton Coolt. Described as an entrepreneur, he was already running a successful network of family campgrounds when he decided to start Horizon Air. Although he admits to being the ruling force of the company, success he says is due to his employees. Because I got good people, only because of that. It isn't because of money. You see, you can give a company lots of money. And if you don't attract the right people, it can't make it. You give somebody else his small amount of money with superb people, then you can make the company go. Coolt says he wants Horizon to become the regional airline in the northwest. We want it to be the best place that an employee can work. That's one of our goals. We want it to be the most profitable airline in the country, the regional airline in the country. And thirdly, we want to provide the best service

for the customer. And I don't know if I said that in the right order, but those are three groups of people that I deal with. Service to the customer is especially stressed. Although Horizon's prices aren't much different from the larger carriers, it prides itself on more frequent flights and better in-flight service. Like the jet carriers, it has drinks and snacks served on most of its flights. Horizon also offers complimentary coffee and papers and its gate. I take Horizon because they're more consistent and schedule and as far as timing is concerned, it's very important for me to be on time. Prices, that's part of it, service levels. You know, the larger airlines are losing their care for people in traveling, but the smaller airlines you can usually rely on for that kind of service. You make reservations with them. You know who you're talking to. There are little airlines, so they're more interested in making everybody happy. And word spreads fast.

But deregulation hasn't solved all the problems for the airline industry. Small carriers have had a reputation of not being as safe as the large ones. And some critics claim that the new airlines aren't as safety conscious as the more established ones because they're trying to keep costs down. Many of them have come in with the attitude that if I can keep costs to a minimum and I emphasize minimum, that's how I'll operate my airline. Or what do you mean by that? You pay people as little as you can afford to get by with. So people are that. You also work them as long as you can legally work them. The basic safety requirements are not that much different. The only thing that really is different is the manner in which they keep, have to keep records and then the number of inspections and so forth. Horizons safety record is good, but it has its problems as well. It's plagued with a high rate of employee turnover due in part some say to a lower pay scale. We've grown so rapidly over the past two years, little

over two years, that we think it's time to kind of settle down and stabilize what we have. And certainly after our opportunities, we will look at that, but at this point we don't have any real plans for expanding their routes. One thing deregulation didn't give the small airline is customers. Probably the biggest competitor is the automobile. And while it doesn't compete much with the larger airlines, the average person would probably choose it over a 19 seat propeller plane to get from Medford to Portland. That means that competition for those customers is stiff and the major airlines are lowering their prices to be more competitive as well. It is now possible to get a flight from Portland to Seattle for as little as $19. When in the past it could run at least $40. The competition is very stiff. All airlines realize that the one who gets the best service is the one that people are going to come back to. If you have bad service, it's just

his show, you know, for every passenger that has bad service on an airplane, he's going to tell 11 passengers. If he has real good service, he might only tell another three people I should say. If those airlines, such as a PSA, are able to control their costs and stay very competitive, then you will see less success from these startup new-entrant carriers. It's been about five years since deregulation happened, and both large and small airline operators say they have hopeful expectations for the future. Horizon looks to survive and prosper. So far it is one of deregulation's few success stories. A success, although seemingly easy for this company, is one that isn't guaranteed. If we are a long way from being where this company has to be, you mentioned earlier how successful we are, we've been profitable, we've made a profit, but that isn't to say we're profitable, we have to sustain that and keep building on that. After some time

we can then say, hey, we're a great profitable company, but I would like to keep working with this company for a long time. I suspect I'll be here for quite a while. If I can make a little effort to survive, I bet this will be a great portion of our workforce. You

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