Pilot Jefford Tells
Of Shipwreck At
St. Lawrence Is.
Pilot Jack Jefford accompan
ied by his mechanic-brother Bill
Jefford, returned last night from
a flight to St. Lawrence Island,
with a story of the ship-wreck
ing of six small boats filled with
Russian Eskimos.
Jefford reported that on May 7
seven whale boats filled with Rus
sian Eskimos, left Indian Point,
Siberia on a whale and walrus
(hunt in Bering Sea. Shortly after
putting to sea in the boats, which
were equipped with outboard
motors, a storm came up and
they became separated. The storm
raged for the better part of two
days, until the morning of the
10th when one boat having six
of the Siberians aboard sighted
a mountain on St. Lawrene Is
land. They made for the island,
and when still some distance off,
were sighted by the American
Eskimos at the village of Gam
bell.
The Gambell natives put off in
two of their skin boats, and pick
ed up the derelict, towing it to
shore. The motor on the Russian
whale boat had failed during the
storm, and they were continual
ly in danger of being swamped
during the storm.
Aboard the Russian boat which
s about 30 feet long, and made
of wood, were Momatak, Itiah,
Anaahuk, Kiluk, Unkihuk and
Okcomalav. The boat is now on
St. Lawrence Island, and Pilot
Jefford reported that the Gam
bell Eskimos were planning to
take the shipwrecked Siberians
back to Indan Point, Siberia.
The day the storm came up,
said Pilot Jefford, who obtained
his story thru and interpreter
on the island, the Russians had a
walrus aboard and were butch
ering it. They sighted the mother
and four young ones, and shot
them. While working on them,
the storm caught them, and they
were unable to start their motor.
They hoisted a sail, but the
wjnd ripped it apart. They then
used the skin of a walrus as a
sea-anchor, but it too, was finally
carried away. Finally they put
the mast and the remnants of the
sail overboard to hold the boat’s
(head into the wind, and managed
to ride out the storm.
When the storm and high wa
ter had quieted, they could see
nothing of the other six boats,
and believe the occupants dead.
During the height of the storm.
IMomatuk fell overboard and in
the excitement was not missed.
The water at this time registered
only 15 degress above zero His
shipmates finally caught sight of
Hum swimming toward them, and
managed to throw him a line,
saving his life.
The Bering Sea at this time was
clear* of ice, betw*een St. Law
rence and Indian Point. Howev
er, the storm broke up giant ice
floes which presented a danger
during the three days, until they
were picked up by the Gambell
Eskimos, on May 10th.
Pilot Jefford talked to the Si
berian Eskimos through an inter
preter and they all wrote notes
m the Russian language which
Jefford agreed to drop at Indian
Point on his return flight to
Nome. Jefford flew over Indian
Point but found it fogged in, and
©ould not drop the notes, which
ihe now has with him.
He took pictures of the boat
and crew, including the hunting
"irons” they had, and in addi
tion shot fifty feet of movie film.
Efforts are now being made by
the Gaimbell natives to return
the boatcrew to its home at In
dian point, which is nearly oppo
site St. Lawrence Island.
Of the other six boats and their
crews, nothing was seen by pilot
Jefford, and nothing has been
heard of them since.
“SOURDOUGH”
That unique and humorous,
and typical Alaskan stationery—
"Sourdough Roadhouse Letter
heads and Envelopes”, have been
brought strictly uptodate, and are
now available at the Nugget offi
ce.
Communication
Editor's Note:— “The follow
ing article written by H. G. Mil
ler, an employee of the Wien Al
aska Airlines, was presented to
The Nugget with a request that
it be published, and his views
be made known. He stated he
would like an opportunity to
make a public statement concern
ing some of his ideas, and here
they are:”
To The Editor
And Citizens of Nome
On behalf of the Citizens of
Nome, I am writing this little
article. Having been connected
with the City Council and the
N >rthwestern Alaska Chamber
lof Commerce for the past two
; years, it behooves me to realize
to what extent the people strain
j themselves to live a pleasant and
i economical life. They, or maybe
11 should say we, have a very
; tough problem confronting us in
i order to make what they say
I “Both ends meet.”
! After listening to a majority
' of the Women’s Club speakers at
! the last Chamber of Commerce
| luncheon, I regret to say that not
j one mentioned the high cost of
living here in Nome and what
could be done about it. It is a
nice thing to try to beautify
your city and your homes and
have sanitary and healthy condi
tions here, but 'how are you go
ing to do it with everybody kept
[ broke trying to pay their fuel
j and grocery bills. In other words
j if the cost of living wasn’t so
j high, the citizens could afford to
spend more around their homes
to beautify them as well as the
; City.
Well, that leads us to the mer
ichant. Quite a number of people
t have mentioned to me that the
merchant is charging outrageous
j prices for -his goods. All right,
i let’s go to the Merchant and see
i what he has to say: “Oh, certain
ly, I can sell for less if it was
j not for the exorbitant high rates
! of lighterage and freight to land
'the merchandise here.”
From there we go to the light
[ orage Company and they say,
j "We cannot maintain our equip
ment and warehouses unless we
get an excessive rate for lighter
ing, having to pay such high
freight rates on oil and gas and
machinery and parts for our
equipment. And now to the
Steamship Company. They say,
“You get us a dock in Nome to
which we can tie up to and un
load on schedule and we can
give you cheaper freight rates.”
Now, another thing, folks, do
you realize that it costs only one
dollar per ton more to ship
goods from Seattle to Teller,
Deering and Kotzebue road
steads than from Seattle to Nome
And also during the summer
months, goods are landed in the
Kougarck mining camps cheaper
via Deering than they can be pur
chased here in Nome. There is
something radically wrong some
where.
In the first place, do you real
ize you are paying practically air
plane express rates from ship to
shore r ght here in Nome. You
get the government to build and
maintain a floating dook large
enough, say about two thousand
feet long and two hundred fifty
feet wide and I’ll lighter your
goods ashore and deliver it to
your front door for ten dollars a
ton. I’Ll wager it wouldn't cost
them any more to maintain the
floating dock than it does to main
tain our so-called revetment and
harbor.
That one sounds like a fairy
tale, but just the same it can be
j done, but wait, here’s a better
j one. Last summer I inquired
l about freighting from Nome to
i Cape Nome via truck and could
' get a price of four dollars per
1 ton. There is plenty of money in
j any one of those businesses, say
Merchant Lighterage and Steam
i ship transportation to come down
I to a reasonable profit and give
the Citizens of Nome a break.
Well, you’ll never get it without
! kicking up a rumpus and kicking
! hard and long enough.
I would like to see all the
| public spirited people of Nome
get together, say through joining
! the local Chamber of Commerce
| and speak their mind and give us
some ideas to yell for.
By the way, this is no sales
: talk to get yau to join the Cham
ber of Commerce. It is one way 1
| have of finding out your sincer
! ity of backing me up. I have
! been on the Board of Directors
for two years now just taking it
•all in and seeing what can and
cannot be done. I haven’t had
much to say as I have been wait
inig for an opportune moment,
which I think is here now.
Now I ask, if all you citizens
who read this and believe what
I have told you, will show it to
i your neighbors and talk it over
with them, will stop and dig
down in your pocket and find
five dollars for a regular citizen,
i ten dollars far a professional
man, and twenty-five dollars for
' a Corporation for one year’s dues
and turn it in to the Secretary
between now and Tuesday. Then
come to the North Pole Bakery
, for luncheon from noon until one
j o’clock. If the back room isn’t
large enough, we will have the
whole front part reserved also.
The only way that I can see
that anything can be done is to
have every citizen of legal age
join the Chamber of Commerce
i and force us to have our lunch
j eons at dinner time instead so
i that we can take more time for
| our speeches. Therefore, we
would then have to hold them in
! the Odd Fellows Hall to accomo
date you.
Being Chairman for this next
uncheon, I think for an added
attraction I can induce the Cham
ber of Commerce to present a
gu.-.st ticket for the luncheon to
each newly paid in member be
tween now and Tuesday.
I thank you. ,
HENRY G. MILLER
The Nome Daily Nugget carries
several forms of printing blanks
for your convenience — Dredge
Logs, thawing and drill reports
Mining Deed.:, Placer and Lode
Location Notices. Vouchers,
Special Power of Attorney forms
LAUGHTER AND SONG held sway when Marian
Anderson, Nefrro contralto, and New York's Mayor Fiorello La
Guardia held a tete-a-tete at a New York reception for Marian,
The mayor called her “one of America’s greatest artists.” >
S.. It is very important to distin
guish between a lode and a pla
cer deposit... If a deposit is lode,
j it should be staked as a lode
i claim: If it is placer, it should be
staked as a placer claim... If both
i a lode and a placer deposit are
found in the same area, it should
be located as both a plaver and
a lode claim.
SALES
Every Month in the Year
Auction Sales Dates
1939
—
JUNE 7
JULY 12
AUGUST 9
SEPTEMBER 6
OCTOBER 11
NOVEMBER 8
DECEMBER 13
SPECIAL SALES HELD ON
REQUEST OF SHIPPERS
Advances will be made as
usual when requested.
Transferred by telegraph
If Desired
The Seattle Fur Exchange
Seattle, Wash.
1008 Western Avenue
Wien Airlines
Yesterday morning Pilot Sg
Wien made three trips to Taylor
with freight. Upon returning t >
Name he left for the Diomede
Islands with Father Cunningham.
There were three passengers to
Nome from the Diomedes, names
unknown.
Three more trips were made
north by Wien in the afternoon
with freight and passengers.
Emil Laurin was taken to Mack
lin and George Lemmon brought
to Nome from Taylor.
This morning Pilot Sig Wien
made a trip north with freight
for Dick Creek, Taylor, Arctic
Creek and Fox Bar.
A trip was also made to Rain
bow Camp today with Mrs. Har
ry Nelson as a passenger. The
return to Nome was made by
way of Council to bring Mr. L.
E. Ost and A1 Goodwin to Nome.
Several trips are scheduled by
Wien Airlines to John Kanari’s
camp wth passengers and freight.
Passengers are John Kanari, Mrs.
Kanari, A. Johnson, M. Johnson,
O. Lahkainen, and one other.
NOTICE
Owing to the fact that May 22
is the Pioneers of Alaska’s reg
ular meeting night, the Moose
have set their meeting schedul
ed for the 22nd back to the 29th
of May.
$5,000,000 destroyer
S-ims slips into the Kennebec
river at Bath, Me., where she
was named for the late Admiral
Wm. Sims. Heaviest armament
will be 5-inch Runs.
How Mining Claims' can be
Staked in Alaska, length, Bread'
th, how many, and the Associa
tion Claim, described in detail, in
pamphlet form, for sale at The
Nugget Office, for 10 cents.
..paid amateurs umlibuteta LTo^Kh
WHICH WAY TO NEW CONQUESTS? While Europe was wondering this, about
Adolf Hitler of Germany, two of his motorized German soldiers were bogged down by the strange (to
them) streets of Prague, former Czecho-Slovakia capital, and had to ask directions of two Praguo
policemen. The reception given Nazi parader; In Prague was rather chill and despairing.