2£ NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. LIX No. 91 NOME, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, JULY 31, 1957 Per Copy—15^
Senate Territories Subcommittee
Votes Unanimously for Statehood
WASHINGTON, 0P>—'The Sen
ate Territorial Affairs Subcom
mittee unanimously approved two
bills yesterday to grant statehood
to Alaska and Hawaii.
On both bills the committee
gave its approval by voice votes.
Action on the Hawaii bill came
quickly and with little discussion
after the committee took nearly
an hour to discuss the Alaska bill.
Sen. Allott (R-Colo) voted for
the Hawaii bill but said he had
some reservations of the Commu
nist question and reserved the
right to object to the bill if those
doubts are not resolved by the
time it comes to the Senate for a
vote.
Sen. Jackson (D-Wash), Terri
tories Subcommittee chairman,
said it was hoped that the Alaska
bill would be considered by the
Senate early next year.
There was general agreement
no effort would be made to bring
the bill before the Senate this
year.
As approved by the subcom- j
mittee, the Alaska bill differs in
several regards from the one ap
proved by the House Insular Af- j
fairs Committee some weeks ago
and expected to come before the
House early next year.
One major distinction is the
provision for Land grants and
surveys.
The House bill would give
Alaska the right to select $183
million acres of public lands for
school support, community ex
pansion and as a potential tax
base. It makes no provision, how
ever, for money to finance the
surveys which would be needed
before Alaska could take title to
the land.
The Senate version would auth
orize selection o$ 193 million acres
of appropriation of $15 million to
finance surveys.
* * *
The two bills sailed thru the
Senate Insular Affairs Commit
tee today without a dissenting
vote.
As approved, the two bills ad
mit as states all of the present
territory of Alaska and all of Ha
waii except that portion of the
present territory constituting Pal
myra Island and the neighboring
atolls.
The admission of Alaska would
be conditioned by an Administra
tion proposal. This would reserve
to the President the right to cre
ate military reservations, when
ever he deems it necessary, in
sparsely settled sections of Alaska
above a line five miles north and
west of the Porcupine, Yukon and
Kuskokwim Rivers.
DEW LINE
PUT INTO
OPERATION
WASHINGTON, IB—A 3,000
mile radar chain across the upper
rim of North America—designed
to give warning of hostile aircraft
—goes into operation today.
The system of electronically
connected detection and warning
devices has been dubbed DEW
Line—for Distant Early Warning
Line. The installations cost more
than $600 million and required
three years to build.
Western Electric Co. was the
prime contractor. DEW Line will
be operated by the Air Force,
which yesterday pronounced the
system ready to operate.
The warning system extends
from western Alaskd across thru
Canada to Baffin Island. It is the
northernmost of three across the
North American continent.
DEW Line is expected to pro
vide three to four hours’ warn
ing to cities in southern Canada
and the northern part of the Unit
ed States.
Alaska Oil Activity
Reminiscent of
Gold Rush Days
WASHINGTON, IB—Secretary
of the Interior Seaton said yes
terday he has rad reports “the re
cent discovery of oil on the Kenai
Peninsula has created tremendous
activity in Alaska.”
“I have reports things are al
most back to the gold rush days
in regard to number of persons
going into Anchorage and Ju
neau,” Seaton told a news confer
ence.
The Richfield Oil Co. of Cali
fornia last week announced dis
covery of oil on Kenai Peninsula.
Carrie McLain,
Former City Clerk,
Honored
By RUTH McLAIN
Retiring City Clerk Carrie Mc
Lain was honored at a luncheon
Monday by the Northwestern
Alaska Chamber of Commerce.
President Jim Walsh introduced
“three generations” of City Clerks
—M. J. Walsh, Mrs. McLain, and
Robert Scott. M . J. Walsh, who
was City Clerk for 13 years prior
to handing over the office to Mrs.
McLain, expressed pride in her
service to the community for the
past 14 years. Mr. Scott thanked
her for her unreserved help in
introducing him to his duties in
the City Hall.
On behalf of the City Council,
Mayor Steffen Andersen ac
knowledged appreciation to the
retiring City Clerk for her un
stinting devotion to her work and
her constant help during the
years to the officials of the city.
President Jim Walsh, speaking
for the Chamber, presented Mrs.
McLain with nugget jewelry as a
“small token of appreciation for
her 14 years as a capable public
servant.”
Guests at the luncheon includ
ed Mayor and Mrs. Andersen,
Robert Scott, Councilmen Fred
Cavota and Wallace Mclver, Mrs.
M. J. Walsh, Mrs. Christy Wald
heim, Caroline McLain Header,
Ellen Waldheim, Ann Walsh, and
Mrs. Nancy Goodrich.
City Council Proposes
Fairbanks Firm Make
Sewerage Project Report
The Nome City Council held a
I special meeting on Monday eve
ning to further discuss the water
and sewerage project.
They have proposed that Phil
leo Engineers of Fairbanks send
a representative to consolidate in
formation, maps and other perti
nent information available pre
paratory to a preliminary survey
so that an estimate of the cost of
the survey may be determined.
Ship Carries
Record Value of
Alaska Salmon
SEATTLE, UPl—Alaska Steam
ship Co.’s freighter Tonsina has
cleared Bristol Bay for the Pacif
ic Northwest with a cargo of
salmon valued at $13,687,000.
The Tonsina’s 314,000 cases
represent the biggest single cargo
I of Alaska salmon in almost a
decade—perhaps the richest in
history so far as money value is
concerned.
The Tonsina took on her cargo
the past two weeks from ports in
Bristol Bay and the Alaska Pe
ninsula. Most of the 48-pound
! cases that jam her hatches are
filled with the prized red salmon
from Bristol Bay.
Another Alaska Steam freight
er, the Fortuna, is taking on salm
on from Bristol Bay and Penin
sula ports, but her cargo is not
expected to rival the Tonsina’s.
W. C. Arnold, managing direc
tor of the Alaska Salmon Indus
try, Inc., expects 3,000,000 cases
to be brought south before the
season ends.
In much of Alaska, the salmon
season has just begun. The catch
is limited by conservation efforts
that have curtailed the industry’s
fishing effort 50 or 60 percent.
Commission Which Will Recommend
Alaska Highway Routes to Congress
Holds First Organizational Meeting
WASHINGTON, (if)—The Alas
ka International Rail and High
way Commission—its authorized
life already nearly half spent—
held its initial organization meet
ing yesterday.
Louis E. Rothschild, under sec
retary of commerce, was elected
to head "a' study of highway and
railroad needs in Alaska. Sen.
Magnuson (D-Wash) was named
vice chairman.
The two officers said later it
was decided to appoint a director
and to select a small staff to carry
on the commission’s program.
The group will meet again, pos
sibly in late October, on the West
Coast, for a series of meetings.
The Canadian government will
be asked to appoint a similar
group to work with the U.S. com
mission.
The commission was created
last year. Its assignment is to
study the economic and military
feasibility of rail routes and addi
tional highway routes between
the United States and Alaska and
within the territory.
Magnuson, author of the bill
that set up the commission, has
said he considers the commis
sion’s program “one of the most
important matters to come from
Congress insofar as northwest de
velopment is concerned.”
The commission is scheduled to
make its final report to Congress
on or before Aug. 1, 1958. Magnu
son said, however, he may intro
duce a resolution to extend the
life of the commission.
The commission is composed of
five members of Congress, four
representatives of the executive
branch of government, three
members from the general pub
lic, and Delegate Bartlett.
New School Bill
Will Be Easier
On Taxpayers
WASHINGTON, Uft—P resident
Eisenhower said today he will
submit a new school aid bill to
the next session of Congress—a
bill, he said, that won’t put an
albatross around the neck of the
American taxpayer.
Eisenhower said too he is very
hopeful Congress will act soon
to provide an adequate foreign
aid bill. He said it was news to
him some Senate Democrats have
been complaining they could not
get White House help in getting
the mutual security legislation
thru.
Referring to a recent published
report that Eisenhower’s person
al worth is in the neighborhood
of a million dollars, the President
provoked a roar of laughter b$r
saying that if that writer offers
him a million to sell out he’s
going to make a sale.
Eisenhower added that every
thing he owns is in the hands of
trustees so he does not even know
what his investments and similar
properties are and thus could not
possibly use his position for per
sonal advantage.
On the school aid matter, Ei
senhower said his objections to
the bill was mainly that it did
not put enough emphasis on the
need of individual status for aid.
He said giving funds to every
state would foster the opinion
that the states were getting some
thing for nothing with the result,
he said, he doubted the flow of
federal money could be shut off
at the end of the five-year perio l
covered in the aid bill-.
y
Nomerama Installing
Stereophonic Spund;
Matinee Discontinued
Willie • Brown has announced
that Saturday’s matinee will be
the last for children until school
starts.
The management of the theater
is busy preparing to install new
equipment for stereophonic sound
which arrived on this boat.
Brown stated that the Friday
and Saturday feature and mat
inee will be “Court Jester,” star
ring Danny Kay.
Grant OK’d for Planning
Ketchikan Grade School
WASHINGTON, Oft—Prelimin
ary planning for a 20-room ele
mentary school in Ketchikan will
be financed by a $13,500 grant
approved yesterday by the Com
munities Facilities Administra
tion.
Estimated cost of the project is
$lVfc million. Construction is ex
pected to start by January 1059.
$70,000,000 Gamble Being Made on
Finding Oil in Yukon Territory
DAWSON, Y.T., UP)—'“It’s got to
be big.”
So said Nicholas Gritzuk of
Whitehorse, the head man in the
field for an oil-drilling gamble
25 miles inside the Arctic Circle
and 1,300 miles northwest of Ed
monton.
If oil in commercial quantities
is found in the sparsely settled
Pearl Plateau area of the Yukon
where Gritzuk’s outfit is drilling
it would have to be shipped “out
,ide” to market.
“It would involve a 750-mile
pipeline to the coast of Alaska
and would cost $70,000,000, Grit
zuk said. “That’s why I say any
thing we find has got to be big.”
Partners in the bid to find oil
inside the Arctic Circle are Con
west Exploration Co. and West
ern Minerals Ltd.
There is a solid basis for the
three years of costly preparation
that preceded the start of drilling
May 1 north of the 1898 Klondike
gold rush area.
“On the plateau,” said Gritzuk,
“we’ve got almost all the forma
tions that have produced oil in
Alberta.”
Encouraged by seismic surveys
of the property carried out in
1954 and 1955, the company de
cided to sink a test well.
That decision set the stage for
a $1,000,000 Caterpillar train
“lift” which lugged a $500,000
drilling rig, piece by piece, and
2,600 tons of fuel and supplies,
enough for a year, over some of
the continent’s most rugged ter
rain in temperatures as low as
60 below zero.
“It was a rou^h assignment but
it went off surprisingly smooth
ly,” said Gritzuk, who led the
operation last winter.
So costly was the move into the
lonely site that the well operators
plan to abandon the drilling rig
on the plateau if they fail to find
oil.
The only link with tne “out
side” is a twice-weekly chartered
plane which will bring in emer
gency supplies, fresh vegetables
and mail.