SSI NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS _
VOL. LXI No. 94 „ NOME, ALASKA, FRIDAY, AUGUST 7, 1959 Per Copy—15^
Eight Killed When Truck Loaded with
Explosives Blows Up In Rosehurg, Ore.
ROSEBURG, Ore., Iff) — A truck
loaded with 6V2 tons of explo
sives blew up with shattering
force here early today. At least
eight persons were killed.
There were reports the toll had
reached 10.
Buildings were smashed and a
raging fire spread over the down
town area in this city of 12,200.
In the truck were two tons of
dynamite and four an a half tons
of ammonium nitdate, a fertilizer
with explosive nature that caused
the Texas City disaster a num
ber of years ago.
The blast came soon after fire
was discovered in a building be
side which the truck was parked,
three blocks fom the center of
the business district.
The force of the blast was so
great it bowled over people walk
ing several blocks away, crushed
walls of buildings, and damaged
numerous houses and small apart
ments.
Hospitals said they had 52 pa
tients, several «f them in critical
" condition. Blood plasma and phy
sicians were flown from nearby
Grants Pass.
A coroner’s deputy said some
of the dead would be identified
only through dental records.
The fire, fought by men and
equipment from as far away as
Eugene, 75 miles north, was con
trolled some four hours after the
blast carrte at 1:20 a.m.
There was a crater 50 feet wide
and 20 feet deep where the truck
had stood.
The truck blew up moments
after the fire siren had sounded
the alarm for a blaze at a building
beside which the driver had
parked while he got a cup of
coffee.
The driver, George Rutherford,
Chehalis, Wash., said he was
walking back toward it and was
knocked down by the blast. He
was hospitalized, with injuries
believed not critical.
Volunteer Fireman Tony Shukle
said he was knocked down too,
blocks away. He got up, he said,
and “the sky was red with em
bers.” Then, he said, fire began
to spread.
“There was fire all over,’ he
said, the big one and probably
four or five small ones.”
Jets Dash Over North Pole
To Check Navigation Aids
WETHERSFIELD, England, UP)
— Two U. S. Air Force F-dOOF
supersonic jet fighters took off
today on a non-stop speed dash
over the North Pole to Fairbanks.
The 4,735-mile trip, if success
ful, will be the first flight to be
made over the Pole by jet fight
er aircraft.
The two swept-wing Super
Sabres will be refueled twice on
the way.
Purpose of the project, nick
named ‘Julius Caesar,’ is to check
development route for fighter
planes and to test the F-lOOs auto
matic navigational system over
the Arctic.
Charles F. Blair of Stamford,
Conn., a special consultant to the
Air Force on navigational mat
ters and an Air Force Reserve
officer, is leading the flight.
Piloting the second plane is
Captain Robert Titus, 32, Nor
folk, Va.
Military Construction In
Alaska Totaling $22
Million, Is Up for Debate
WASHINGTON, UP) — The
House Appropriations Committee
recommended today that more
than 22 million dollars be spent
on military construction projects
in Alaska for the fiscal year
which started July 1.
The sums were included in a
total of $1,284,012,700 proposed
for military projects in the na
tion.
The bill, including construction
for the active services as well as
for the National Guard and Re
serve forces, is scheduled for
House action next week.
Among the Alaska items were:
Northeast Cape, $1,925,000; White
Alice, $531,000; National Guard,
Juneau, $150,000.
Among projects specifically
turned down by the committee
were:
Alaskan Air Command, $357,
599 for standby power facilities
at Fire Island; $350,000 at Indian
Mountain and $325,000 at Kftig
Salmon Airport.
'Queen Elizabeth
To Become Mother
For Third Time
By EDDY GILMORE
LONDON, Iff) — Queen Eliza
beth II is going to have another
baby, her third, probably in Jan-'
uary or February.
A Buckingham Palace spokes
man announced today that a royal
baby is on the way, disclosing
the 33-year-old Queen was preg
nant during her long and tiring
tour of Canada this summer.
The spokesman said the Queen
had rejected suggestions that she
call off the tour because “she
knew the disappointment it would
have caused.”
The birth will be the first in
more than 100 years to a reigning
British sovereign. Queen Victoria
gave birth to Princess Beatrice
in 1857.
The Queen returned to London
Sunday from Canada.
After her doctors confirmed
that she was pregnant, the Queen
stayed close to home — Bucking
ham Palace. But Thursday she
left for Balmoral Castle, her home
in the Scottish highlands, with
Prince Philip and the children.
The Queen was smiling as she
•boarded the train for Scotland.
She appeared far from exhausted
despite the rigors of her 45-day
tour of Canada that also took her
to Chicago.
The arrival of a new royal baby
will change the line of succession
to the throne. It is now Prince
Charles, Princess Anne, Princess
Margaret, the Queen’s 28-year-old
sister. "
Should the new child be a boy,
he will be No. 2, coming ahead
of Princess Anne. If a girl, she
will come after Princess Anne, but
before Princess Margaret.
WEATHER FORECAST
Cloudy with occasional rain,
drifting fog patches with winds
west to southwest 10 to 20 mph.
Lowest temperature expected
tonight 40-45, the high tomorrow
50 to 55.
Sunrise at 3:25 a.m., sunset
at 8:48 p.m.
U.S. Puts Fourth
Explorer Satellite
Into Earth Orbit
WASHINGTON, OP) — Explorer j
VI satellite is in orbit and will
remain aloft for more than a
year, the Space Administration
announced this afternoon.
The 142-pound “Paddlewheel”
satellite was launched from Cape
Canaveral, Fla., at 9:23 a.m. It will
reach a peak altitude of 23,OGO
miles at 3 p.m., directly over
South Africa, the National Aero
nautics and Space Adiminstra
tion announced.
It will reach its low point 140
miles above the earth at 8:30
o’clock tonight.
The space agency had not cal
culated the point over the earth
which the satellite will reach at
that hour.
The satellite will take about 11
hours to complete each of its elon
gated orbits. That is very close
to advance calculations.
The satellite had been aimed
to climb to 23,000 miles and come
back as close to^.earth as 160
miles.
A spokesman for NASA said the
small “kick” rocket attached to
the satellite, to provide added
speed is necessary at the perigee
or low point of the orbit, has not
yet been fired.
The new space traveler con
tained a flying laboratory to in
vestigate many mysteries of space.
It was hurled aloft by a Thor
Able rocket.
Fifteen major experiment de
vices were crammed into the
spheroid-shaped satellite which is
26 inches in diameter and 29
inches long. Its main mission was
to study the radiation belts that
surround the earth. Knowledge
of its potentially deadly radiation
is a key to manned space travel.
The satellite was called a pad
dlewheel because of four solar
vanes designed to pop out from
its sides.
These paddles were designed to
convert the sun’s rays into elec
trical energy to power radio trans
mitter batteries. If successful fu
ture deep space probe rockets
will employ this device to send
information back from millions
of miles in space.
One Shipping Board for
All Alaska Carriers
Proposed by Rivers
WASHINGTON, UPt — Represen
tative Ralph Rivers yesterday in
troduced legislation designed to
provide uniform shipping regu
lations to and from Alaska.
Shippers in the Alaska trade
now use up to three types of
transportation, land, sea and air,
and as a result shipments fall
under the regulations of the Civil
Aeronautics Board, the Inter
state Commerce Commission and
the Federal Maritime Board.
The Rivers bill would estab
lish a joint board made up of rep
resentatives of all three of the
other bodies, giving Alaska ship
pers a single group through which
they could obtain rulings. The
combined board would be em
powered to set # up single through
rates.
Similar legislation has been in
troduced in the Senate by Sen
ator Bartlett.
The Alaska Railroad would not
come under the jurisdiction of
the new board. It is under the
control of the Secretary of the
Interior.
Eisenhower Calls on Congress to Enact
New Labor Law Strong Enough to End
Racketeering In Labor Management
By B. L. LIVINGSTONE
WASHINGTON, UP> — Criticiz
ing Congress’ actions on a labor
bill thus far, President Eisenhower
called last night for a new law
strong enough to end racketeering
in labor-management relations.
Speaking out as the House
headed toward a bitter battle over
the issue next week, Eisenhowpr
'addressed a nationwide radio
television audience.
“I am talking about a reform
law — a law to protect the Amer
ican people from the gangsters,
racketeers and other corrupt ele
ments that have invaded the labor
managment field,” he declared.
A bill the Senate passed last
April “is not effective,” Eisen
howed said, and a revised bill
prepared by the House Labor
Committee is even less so.
He put his prestige behind a
substitute sponsored by Repre
sentatives Phil Landrum (D-Ga)
and Robert Griffin (R-Mioh), and
said that bill offers “a good start
toward a real labor reform law.”
A few hours later AFL-CIO
President George Meany said in
a radio broadest tht the bill Eis
enhower back is a “blunderbuss
that would inflict grievous harm
on all unions,” whether they are
corrupt or clean. V
Most labor unions are oppos
ing even the bills Eisenhower de
scribed as ineffective and are
backing still another bill which
Meany said is aimed at “getting
rid of crooks, instead of getting
rid of unions.” It is sponsored by
Rep. John Shelley (D-Calif).
Reaction ran the full scale be
tween Eisenhower’s and Meany’s
views. In between were many sup
porters of the Senate-passed bill
who contend that unless the House
passes something along that line,
a Senate-House disagreement will
kill all such legislation. The Sen
ate bill was sponsored by Sen
ators John Kennedy (D-Mass) and
Sam Ervin Jr. (D-NC).
Labor’s spokesmen called the
President’s stand anti-union. They
said he had been taken in by
catch phases. Republicans hailed
his demand for “truly effective”
legislation as a refletion of pub
lic opinion. Democrats demanded
equal air time to reply to Eisen
hower’s arguments.
Woman Crushed
When Tree Falls
On Touring Bus
LONGMIRE, Wash., UP) — A
young woman chaperone for a
party of vacationing New York
teenagers was crushed to death
yesterday when a root-studded
tree stump tumbled down on top
of the group’s bus.
The mishap, in the Mt. Rainier
National Park about 64 miles
southeast of Seattle, killed Mrs.
Marilyn Friedrpan, 23, of Brook
lyn, N. Y.
Mrs. Friedman and her hus
band, Howard, were two of sev
eral chaperones with the group of
41 vacationers, who call them
selves the Rolling Stones.
The party, which makes an an
nual trip here, had spent three'
days at the park’s Paradise Inn
and was returning to Seattle when
the bus was stopped by bridge
construction. The massive stump,
apparently loosened by construc
tion last fall, tumbled from a
ledge directly over the stopped
bus.
The stump struck the bus in
the front, directly over the seat
in which Mrs. Friedman was
sitting.
State Land Selection
Likely to be Authorized
From Oil-Gas Lease Areas
WASHINGTON, UP! — The Sen
ate passed and sent to the Presi
dent yesterday a bill to amend
the Alaska Statehood Act to allow
the new state to make selections
of land from acreage held under
oil and gas lease.
Under the statehood act, Alaska
is allowed to choose 103 million
acres from federal lands but is
precluded from choosing lands on
which oil and gas leases were
taken.
The bill'would allow the state
to make selections from lands on
which leases have been taken
since the statehood act was passed
July 7, 1958.
Interior Department Is
Strong Opponent of Bill
Doubling Oil-Gas Holdings
WASHINGTON, LP — Secre
tary of the Interior Fred A. Sea
ton yesterday repeated the Inter
ior Department opposition to legis
lation to liberalize acreage limi
tations on oil and gas leases in
Alaska.
Before the President is a bill
that would raise the limit on oil
and gas leasing in Alaska from
the present 300,000 to 600,000
acres.
Seaton declined to say at a
news conference whether he
would recommend that the Pres
ident veto the bill, sponsored by
Alaska’s Congressional delega
tion.
Seaton said that, among other
things, the measure would allow
huge concentrations of lease
holdings and that the “inevitable
result of such concentration
would be a deterrent to explora
tion and development of oil and
gas.”
Profitable Future Seen for
Eklutna Hydroelectric
WASHINGTON, tP — Alaska’s
lone hydoelectric project, the cost
of which exceeded estimates,
now appears to have a profitable
future, Senator Bartlett said yes
terday.
Bartlett said the Eklutna project
near Anchorage is expected to
pay back the federal .investment,
with interest in 44- years and
earn a surplus by the time the 50
year planned repayment period
is up.
The project cost 30 million dol
lars, 10 million more than origi
nally estimated, but results of the
first three fiscal years of actual
operation show Uncle Sam made
a very sound investment, Barttett
said.
Figures given Bartlett by the
Bureau of Reclamation’s power
division showed that after 50
years the Eklutna project should
earn a surplus of more than eight
million dollars.