This Daily Press file photo from Jan. 7, 1976 -- 50 years ago today -- depicts a semi-trailer that had rolled down a 50-foot embankment in Manistique. As the truck was carrying 10,000 gallons of oil, some of which leaked into a nearby creek, the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Natural Resources responded to the incident.

ESCANABA — Fifty years ago, the Daily Press reported on two traffic accidents that happened within 30 minutes in Schoolcraft County. Both were large and unusual, but no people were injured in either incident.

Shortly before 9:30 a.m. on Jan. 6, 1976, the driver of a semi-trailer truck carrying 10,000 gallons of fuel oil for Carlson Oil Co. was eastbound on U.S. 2 on the Valley Nursery hill when he witnessed an approaching vehicle lose control and spin off the road into a field.

The truck driver parked his rig, jumped out and ran to check on the driver of the vehicle that had skidded off the roadway.

“Suddenly I heard a noise — my air brakes letting go … I turned around and saw my truck roll backwards off the road, over the guardrails and down the embankment,” the trucker told police.

While the cab landed upright, the oil-filled trailer came to rest on its side, its contents leaking into a nearby creek.

The Department of Natural Resources said that because of ice buildup, they were unable to block the creek from being contaminated.

Much of the oil was pumped into another truck before the trailer was righted, but authorities estimated that half of the fuel had leaked out. It was 4 p.m. before wreckers were able to lift the trailer.

Twenty-seven minutes after the semi driver saw his truck roll down the hill, another traffic incident happened in Doyle Township.

On Halverson Road near Gulliver, a truck ran into a 113-car freight train.

The driver of the truck, an Escanaba man, claimed he did not see the train. He was ticketed for speeding.

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This summary was produced based on an article that ran in the Jan. 7, 1976, issue of the Escanaba Daily Press. Local newspapers serve to not only inform readers of current events, but also provide records of history.