THE NOME NUGGET
Published Monday, Wednesday and Friday by the
NOME PUBLISHING CO.
NOME, ALASKA
Telephone: Main 125 P.O. Box 618
$1.50 PER MONTH $16.00 A YEAR
E. P. BOUCHER . Managing Editor
CLINTON GRAY . Production Manager
Entered as second class matter October 14, 1943, at the
postoffice at Nome, Alaska, under the Act of March 3, 1879.
ALASKA'S FUTURE IN WATER POWER
We have just received a copy of a book recently
released by the Department of Reclamation which is
the most complete resume on the possibilities of devel
opment in the entire territory that we have ever seen.
With the facts, figures, charts and pictures, the
book’s 287 pages show the tremendous natural resources
in water power throughout all of Alaska.
What Coulee Dam did for the State of Washington,
water power can do for Alaska. Cheap power is the
keynote of bringing industry to the entire territory.
In Seward Peninsula alone the following have been
surveyed: Fish River, 40,000,000 kilowatts; Tuksuk
River, in excess of 120,000,000 kw. each year; 40,000,
000 kw. at Salmon Lake.
In the Arctic, the Kobuk Basin would generate
110,000,000 kw.; Noatak, 160,000,000 kw.; and the Col
ville River, 380,000,000 kwT.
• These are not dreams.but facts taken by the Bureau
of Reclamation in the past several years and compiled
with data for the entire territory. Those who come to
Alaska and see no future for development of Seward
Peninsula cannot help but feel optomistic after study
ing the results of the Bureau of Reclamation’s report.
Everything All Set For
St. Patrick’s Day Party j
At Pioneer Hall Tomorrow I
In keeping with universal cus
tom and tradition, St. Patrick’s
Day will be celebrated in Nome
tomorrow, as it has been ever
since the community was organ
azed as a municipality.
A time there was when Nome,
with a population of 10,000 or
more, celebrated this natal day of
Ireland’s patron saint with much
dignity, color and appropriate en
tertainment. The banquet and
grand ball was considered one of i
the dress affairs of the year, and
the day was observed as a holiday, j
Business houses were decorated j
for the occasion; miners came in 1
from the creeks; members of the j
legal fraternity vied with each
other in eulogistic dissertations
relative to the contributions made
to the profession by men of Irish
race or ancestry. The large Eagle
Hall auditorium, much larger than
the present gymnasium, was filled
to overflowing when the orchestra
struck up the customary grand
march of those days.
In later years, as the population
decreased, the day is still observed
but to a lesser extent, of course.
The Catholic Ladies who are
sponsoring the party this year
have labored hard to provide the
people of Nome with a diversified
entertainment that should meet
the demands and wishes off all
who attend. There will be card
lames', appropriate music fur
nished by Nome’s own orchestra,
vocal selections of Irish composi
tion rendered by trained voices,
dancing, etc. All this will be
topped off with a delicious lunch.
As usual, the cosmopoliton pop
ulation of Nome will blend into
one for the occasion and all will
be Irish for one night at least.
It’s the Pioneer Hall; time 8 p.m.
President Warren G. Harding
was the first U.S. President who
could drive his own car although
official guards would not permit
him to do so during his term in
office.
20 Billions for Defense
Against Air Attacks
NEW YORK, (£) — The New
York Times said today that addi
tional defense expenditures run
ning to 20 billion dollars have
been proposed in the latest study
to guide U.S. defense officials on
how best to prepare the nation for
air attack.
The Times, in a story from
Washington, reported that the
sum is said to be recommended in
the most recent paper in a con
tinuing study by the Massachu
setts Institute of Technology, un
der an Air Force contract of two
years’ standing.
High Air Force strategists, the
newspaper added, are “debating
whether such a sum should be
spent for purely defensive de
vices, such as radar stations and
warning systems, or for strategic
bombers capable of striking at
enemy bases.”
U.S. Planes in Germany
To Fight Back if Attacked
WIESBADEN, Germany, [IFt —
The U.S. Air Force in Europe
made it plain Saturday its planes
will fire back if attacked along
the east-west border by the Reds.
It said routine flying and pat
roling of the borders in the U.S.
zone of Germany would continue
without change “although instruc
tions to the pilots as to the means
they can protect themselves have
been re-emphasized.
The announcement came after
two Allied planes, one American
and the other British, were at
tacked last week.
The U.S. Air Force headquart
ers here said that its planes flying
in a 30-mile strip on the U.S. side
of the border are always under
strict radar observation to help
prevent them from inadvertently
flying over East Germany.
SENATE OKs HEINTZLEMAN
WASHINGTON. UP) — The
Senate today unanimously con
firmed President Eisenhower's
nomination of B. Frank Heini
zleman as goveronor of Alaska.
Punchboard Issue
May Threaten
Alaska Ice Pools
FAIRBANKS, (.ft—The issue of
punchbcfards has split law en
forcement agencies in the Fair
banks area, and Alaska’s favorite
game, guessing the ice breakup
times, appeared to be threatened
Saturday.
It all started when U.S. Marshal
Ted McRoberts issued an order
which bans all punchboards in
the Fourth Division. The boards
had to be down by this morn
ing or operators will face arrest.
Friday, District Attorney Robert
J. McNealy indicated that he
looked with disfavor on the order
by the marshal. It will be up to
McNealy to prosecute all punch
board operators who may be ar
rested.
McNealy said Friday he would
prosecute punchboard operators
“only with the same vigor I
would prosecute those who par
ticipate in card games and who
participate in the traditional ice
pool ticket sales.”
At three places on the Yukon,
on the Tanana River and the
Chena River there are contrivanc
es which time the exact instant
the ice moves out.
Huge payoffs, ranging higher
than $100,000 are given to those
who guess the correct day, hour
and minute of the various ice
breakups.
McNealy apparently indicated
his office would not prosecute
punchboard operators so' long as
ice pool tickets were being sold
openly all over the territory.
Some observers feared his ac
tion would drag the ice pool ticket
sales into a controversy which
might result in a crackdown on
one of Alaska’s favorite sports.
The W ar in Korea
SATURDAY
SEOUL, (R — Allied Sabre jet
pilots knocked down three Com
munist Mig-15s Saturday and the
Air Force announced the Korean
War’s top jet ace, Col. Royal N.
Baker, would fly no more combat
missions.
The Air Force said Sabre pilots,
utilizing a secret radar gunsight,
shot down three Migs, probably
destroyed two more, and dam
aged two additional Red jets.
A spokesman said Baker, of
McKinney, Texas, decided him
self not to fly any more. As com
mander of the 4th Fighter-Inter
ceptor Group, he had completed
more than 125 missions. The usual
number of combat missions is 100.
MONDAY
SEOUL, OR — Allied warplanes
roared into the dawn today and
plastered a rail yard deep in
northwest Korea into a smoking,
burning shambles.
Other U. S. fighter - bombers
swarmed down on the supply
route between Wonsan and Yang
dok on the east coast. Pilots re
ported 26 Red trucks destroyed
and 75 damaged.
Screening Sabre jets tangled
with Communist MIG-15s and shot
dowp one of the Red fighters,
the U.S. Fifth Air Force reported.
Along the ground front, probing
beams from Allied searchlights
flushed Red infantrymen on two
fronts just before daybreak and
at least 50 Communists were
chopped up in a hail of explosives
from U.N. artillery guns.
No major engagements were re
ported but sharp local fights
flared across the front.
CZECH LEADER DIES
_ _ /Ss
Beta Sigma Phis To Hold
Rummage Sale March 28
At Gaasland Office Bldg.
The girls of Beta Sigma Phi
have launched another worthy
project. A rummage sale is in
store for all you people of Nome,
the sole to be held March 28 at
Gaasland’s Headquarters Bldg.
The clothing and other items
to be offered are being gathered
strictly from the homes and ward
robes of chapter members.
During our Thursday meeting
the girls discussed this sale with
great enthusiasm, so if some of
you husbands are missing a favor
ite tie or shirt come down to the
rummage sale. You might locate
them and just be able to buy them
back.
There will be clothing for all
members of the family as well as
household items, jewelry, etc.
You are wondering the purpose
of this sale? Our chapter of Beta
Sigma Phi, along with 3,000 chap
ters throughout the world are
sending donations to our Kansas
City, Missouri, headquarters. They
in turn will go to the support of
a Girl’s Toym in Texas—a pro
ject similar in purpose to the !
famed Boys’ Town.
Don’t you think this is a worthy
project for our donation?
Remember Saturday, March 28,
now as Rummage Sale Day. Will
keep you posted later as to the
hours.
Though planning this sale took
most of our time at Thursday’s
meeting, we also enjoyed a musi
cal program. Louise Bockman
gave the opinions of several re
nowned personalities on music as
well as her own. Ellen Waldheim
played selections from Ferde Gro
fe’s “Grand Canyon Suite.”
Our hostesses, Gwen Harwath
and Peggy Lucas, served one of
Ernie’s tasty cakes decorated with
St. Patrick’s Day motifs.
Happy St. Patrick’s-Day to all !
—Caroline Reader, Scribe
Ambassador to Ireland
WASHINGTON, OR — President
Eisenhower will appoint William
Howard Taft III,438-year-old son
of Sen. Taft of Ohio, as ambassa
dor to Ireland, the White House
announced Friday.
Young Taft would fill a vacancy
created by the death several
months ago of Francis P. Mat
thews of Nebraska, who served
for a while as secretary of the
Navy in the Truman admistration.
ACTOR RECOVERS
SANTA MONICA, Calif., OR —
The condition of Movie Actor Paul
Kelly, 57, stricken with a heart
attack Thursday, was reported
good Saturday by his agent, Stu
art Stewart.
VIENNA, Austria, UP)—Klement
Gottwald, 56, the Communist dic
tator-president of Czechoslavakia,
died in Prague Saturday just five
days after the funeral of his pro
tector, Joseph Stalin.
The heavy - set, peasant - bom
Moravian, who even looked like
Stalin except fon the mustache,
was taken ill Thursday morning
and died of what the Prague radio
said was pneumonia and pleurisy,
complicated by a chest hemorrage.
He had been in poor health for
nearly a year. The broadcast hint
ed that the icy winds in Moscow,
where Gottwald attended Stalin’s
funeral Monday, brought on his
fatal illness.
But the sudden demise of the
dictator who succeeded the late
Eduard Benes as president in 1948
struck western observers as a
queer coincidence. There were
some here who hinted that he
might have been “purged” by the
new regime in the Kremlin be
cause it feared he might become '
a Tito.
Perhaps significantly, the Prague
radio followed up the announce
ment of the death by declaring,
“Those attempting to destroy the
unity of Czechoslavakia will be
mercilessly wiped out.”
The four likeliest contenders
for the throne are Antonin Zapo
tocky, the prime minister; Vilem
Siroky, deputy prime minister;
Karlo Bacilek, national security
minister; and Alexei Cepicka, who
is Gottwald’s son-in-law and de
fense minister.
Gottwald wielded broad powers
in Prague. He was not only presi
dent, but boss of the Communist
Party and commander-in-chief of
both the army and the secret po
lice. No other functionary in a
Communist satellite had as much
power, at least in name.
Speculation that Gottwald might
have been purged by “wrong med
ical treatments” was heightened
by reports here he had been in a
poor political position for more
than a year because of a fall
down in Czech industrial produc
tion for Soviet war needs.
Last December, a staged trial of
14 high Czechoslavak Communists
was held. Among them were 11
Jews. Rudolph Slansky, former
hatchet man of the Gottwald reg
ime and a collaborator in the 1948
Communist coup, was the chief
defendent and was convicted and
hanged with 10 others.
Gottwald’s death came just a
day after the fifth anniversary of
another funeral, that of Foreign
Minister Jan Masaryk, the pro
Western son of the founder of the
Czechoslavak republic. Masaryk
died mysteriously. He either
jumped or was pushed out of a '
window.
Polar Curio and Jewelry Shop
SALE
—•—
PRE-INVENTORY CLOSEOUTS
ON
Rings - - Watches - - Jewelry
LEATHER GOODS
ANSCO PIONEER & SPARTUS FULL-VUE
V2 Price CAMERAS y2 Pri
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