Plans are proceeding to build an upscale hotel, spa, convention center, and more on the west bank of the Sandy River in Troutdale, Oregon. Difficulty: the site used to house the town's sewage treatment plant and a "sheep pullery" - which for more than forty years salvaged wool from sheep too diseased or otherwise unfit to sell as meat. Their carcasses were buried on-site. While the actual number is unknown, an estimate runs into the "many thousands".
The company dug a test pit and found that after a half century or more underground, the animal remains have formed a gelatinous goo under a thick layer of dirt, Wand said.
The company hopes to remove the remains this October, before the rainiest weather complicates the work but during the windy season, which they hope will make what's expected to be a smelly excavation more tolerable for surrounding residents and businesses.
Their plan is to take the goo to an unspecified "remote location" for disposal; residents of North Plains, Oregon might do well to keep their eyes peeled, as Portland previously trucked all kinds of waste out there, creating an odoriferous nightmare. In any case, once all of the goo is removed and the substrate stabilized, the plan is to build a destination hotel and spa with plenty of retail and fine dining establishments, a sort of convention center, and a number of cycling amenities. Given that it's just a mile or so down the road from the huge McMenamin's Edgefield complex, it could well be a complementary mix, right at the gateway to the Columbia River Gorge.
