™£ NOME NUGGET
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OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. LVI No. 82 NOME, ALXSKA, WEDNESDAY, JULY 14, 1954“ Per Copy—15^
Ketchikan’s 250-Million Dollar
Pulp Mill, Alaska’s First All-Year
Industrial Plant, Is Dedicated Today
KETCHIKAN, UP)—A 250-million'
dollar “push button” pulp mill,
rising from a rocky cove that was
wilderness two years ago, was to
be dedicated today as Alaska’s
first major year-around industrial
plant.
The Ketchiken Pulp Company’s
new mill, a mechanical marvel
with centralized remote controls
for dozens of complicated pro
cesses, was hailed as a big step
in the territory’s development.
The Puget Sound Pulp & Tim
ber Co., and American Viscose
Corp., which teamed to form
Ketchikan Pulp and pioneer the
project, were hosts to a group of
business, government and finan
cial leaders who flew here from
Seattle for the dedication.
Now operating 24 hours daily
after a shakedown period, the
plant at Ward Cove, 6 miles north
west of here is turning out 300
tons a day of chemical cellulose
for U.S. and world markets. An
increase of 525 tons is expected
later.
The company will employ 800
men in woods and plant and in
tends to increase this to above
1,000 as production grows.
Ketchikan Pulp, first to tap
southeastern Alaska’s vast virgin
forests, has a 20-year contract
with American Viscose, big rayon
producer, for up to 100,000 tons
of pulp yearly. It expects the 8
billion board feet of timber it ac
quired from the U.S. Forest Ser
vice will provide perpetuatl op
eration through regrowth.
Some of the machinery is al
most fabulous. Giant logs are de
barked hydraulically in a single
swift pass by a singe jet of water
at 1,400 pounds per square inch
pressure. The logs are reduced to
chips in seconds by a chipper 153
inches in diameter.
Waste sulphite liquor is recov
ered and burned for power.
There’s a million dollars worth of
stainless steel piping and a maze
of complicated machinery. Ah 85
foot-high dam on Ward Creek,
three miles above the mill, pro
vides the 50 million gallons of
water needed daily for manufac
turing.
The finished pulp is packed in
400-pound bales and usually will
be shipped via rail car - barge,
either to Prince Rupert, B.C., or
to Tacoma, Wash., tjience^by rail
to eastern plants of Avisco.
Night Club Owners To
Try To Void Annexation
Of South Fairbanks
FAIRBANKS, UP) — Nightclub
owners, now operating their es
tablishments on a 24-hour basis,
said today they probably will re
sort to court action to void a
South Fairbanks annexation elec
tion scheduled for Aug. 17.
They are objecting because the
Fairbanks City Council is con
sidering passage of an ordinance
which would require the clubs to
close from 3 a.m. to 10 a.m. week
days an from 4 a.m. on Sundays.
After one year a 1 a.m. deadline
will be effective.
>
Undersecretary Smith To
Attend Geneva Meetings
In Lieu of Secty. Dulles
PARIS, UP1—Walter Bedel Smith
Smith, U. S. Undersecretary of
State, will go to Geneva soon to
represent the United States at the
Geneva conference, a communi
que issued toy the three Western
big power foreign ministers an
nounced today.
Secretary of State Dulles, Brit
ish Foreign Secretary Anthony
Eden and Premier Pierre Mendes
France issued the communique
after two days of meetings. They
said Smith’s presence at Geneva
would satisfy British and French
demands for a high level Ameri
can representative at Geneva
without departing from Dulles’
principles against his own pres
ence there.
Dulles now will return to Wash
ington, and Eden and Mendes
France will return to Geneva to
continue talks with Communist
powers on an Indochina cease
fire.
Nation Swelters In Record
100 Plus Temperatures
The biggest heat wave so far
this summer baked central sec
tions of the nation Tuesday with
little real relief in sight.
At least eight deaths were at
tributed to the heat.
The mercury zoomed to an un
official oven-like 121 degrees in
Pittsburgh, Kansas, Monday and
plus 100-degree readings were
common from the Ro'ckies east
ward to the Great Lakes.
In Kansas City, where the tem
perature reached 109, so many
people turned on their air con
ditioners that power lines became
overloaded.
Nurses at St. Elizabeth’s Hospi
al in Granite City, 111., where the
temperature in hospital rooms
reached 105, had trouble with
their clinical thermometers. One
nurse cooled hers to 98 degrees in
an air conditioned room, only to
have it shoot to 105 again before
she could get back to her patient.
These all-time high heat records
were set Monday:
Columbia, Mo., 113; Spring
field, Mo., 108; Rapid City, S.D.,
109; Dallas, Tex., 110.3; Okla
homa City, 107; and Casper, Wyo.
104.
Shellfish Poisoning Death
Reported In Aleutians
ANCHORAGE, OP) — The first
death from shellfish poisoning
outside southeastern Alaska was
reported yesterday by the Arctic
Health Research Center.
The victim was a Filipino can
nery worker at False Pass on
Unimak Island in the Aleutians.
He died within three hours after
eating mussels gathered in that
area.
Seven other cannery workers
who had become ill four days pre
viously after eating mussels from
the same source, recovered when
treated within hours after eating
the shellfish.
President Tells
Why He Opposed
Alaska Statehood
WASHINGTON, UP) — President
Eisenhower nudged Congress to
day for quick passage of his tax
and farm programs.
He said the tax program would
help the economy expand and
create more jobs and his farm
proposals would benefit the entire
country and thus prove to be the
best kind of politics.
Eisenhower also told a news
conference that the House mem
bers who killed his health rein
surance program simply don’t
understand the facts of life.
The American people lost, he
said, when the House rejected the
program 238-134.
And, Eisenhower said, he will
carry on the fight for such a pro
gram as long as he is in office.
The President made a formal
announcement that South Korean
President Syngman Rhee’s July 26
visit to the United States will be
for the purpose of making further
plans for “the attainment of a
unified, free and independent
Korea.”
On other matters Eisenhower
said:
1. He is not going to let his
proposal for a limited share-the
atom program for peaceful pur
poses die if he can help it. It calls
for participation by the Russians
as well as this country’s allies.
The President said he was sure
British Prime Minister Churchill
agreed with him the plan should
not die even if some people —
meaning the Russians — will not
go along with it. His meaning
seemed to be that an atomic pool
without the Soviet bloc is a pos
sibility.
2. He is very deeply concerned
about Alaska’s place in the United
States defense system. While- he
declined to give a specific opinion
on statehood for Alaska, he said
it is easier to use a territory than
it is to use a state for defense
purposes, for the reason that the
central government has absolute
control of a territory.
3. He can’t predict when or
whether the administration will
call on Congres for a boost in the
275-billion-dollar ceiling on the
national debt. The decision must
be deferred, he told questioners,
until more of the government’s
•bills are in.
But regardless of the immedi
ate problem, Eisenhower added,
•the administration is resolved to
place the government on a basis
at living within its income. The
country can’t live forever on de
ficit spending, he said.
STEVENSON UNABLE TO
INCLUDE NOME IN ALASKA
TOUR — SENDS REGRETS
Adlai Stevenson, who is touring
Alaska, sent regrets to the Demo
crats of the Second Division, stat
ing that he could not include
Nome in his itinerary due to his
schedule. His telegram was sent
in answer to an invitation extend
ed toy the Second Division Demo
cratic Committeeman, Jack Blatt
ler.
Chamber Completes Arrangements For
Reception of Secty. McKay and Party
-A
Prospects Grow Dimmer
For Hawaii Statehood
WASHINGTON, W — Prospects
grew dimmer today for passage of
the Hawaii statehood bill this
year.
Congressional Republican lead
ers told reporters after a confer
ence with President Eisenhower
that the fate of Hawaii statehood
depends upon action by the House
Rules Committee.
House Speaker Martin said thus
far the needed seven votes are
lacking in the Rules Committee
to send the House-passed Hawaii
bill and the Senate-passed bill for
both Hawaii and Alaska statehood
to the Senate - House conference
committee.
With Congress pressing for ad
journment Aug. 1, and with a
possible filibuster threatened in
the Senate on the statehood legis
lation, time now is working heav
ily against final action this year.
Floods Wash Out Eight
Bridges In Canadian
Section of Alaska Highway
FAIRBANKS, OP)—Severe flood
damage on a 10-mile Canadian
section of the highway linking
Alaska and the United States was
reported yesterday, with some
washouts said to be eight feet
deep.
Highway system officials at
Whitehorse, Y.T., said one-way
traffic is expected to be resumed
on the damaged section Saturday.
Normal two-day traffic will not
be possible before September,
they said.
Eight bridges and their ap
proaches were destroyed.
Legislation Would Give Alaska
Residents Employment Preference
In Bristol Bay Fishing Activities
WASHINGTON, OP)—Rep. Mil
ler <R-Neb) introduced a bill yes
terday to give residents of Alaska
employment preference in con
nection with fishing activities in
the Bristol Bay area.
The term “resident” would
mean only citizens of the United
States who have resided in Alaska
continuously for 'two years.
> The Northwest Alaska Chamber
of Commerce board of directors
mot last night with President
Boyd Harwood presiding, to hear
committee reports and to com
plete arrangements for the recep
tion and entertainment of the
Hon. Douglas McKay, secretary of
the interior, and his party, due in
Nome the evening of July 22nd.
Secretary McKay’s party con
sists of the following:
Secretary and Mrs. Douglas Mc
Kay, Governor B. Frank Heintzle
man, William Strand, director of
the Office of Territories; Mr. and
Mrs. Frank E. Kalbaugh, general
manager of the Alaska Railroad;
A. F. Ghiglione, chief engineer,
Alaska Road Commission and Mc
Kay tour conductor; Miss Alene
Phillips, executive assistant to
Secretary McKay; Larry Smythe,
information officer, Dept, of In
terior, and two other press repre
sentatives; Mr. and Mrs. Tormod
Bie, Seward, Alaska, president of
the All-Alaska Chamber of Com
merce.
A letter from tour conductor
Ghiglione addressed to the North
west Alaska Chamber conveyed
the travelers’ itinerary from Fair
banks, which is by chartered Wien
Airlines plane, and requested the
Chamber of Commerce to handle
all Nome arrangements.
The Chamber announces the
McKay party flies from Fairbanks
to Pt. Barrow the morning of the
22nd. Lunch is scheduled at Bar
row with dinner at Kotzebue as
guests of the Arctic Circle Cham
ber of Commerce, with arrival at
Nome at approximately 9:00 p.m.
the same night.
The following day, Tuesday,
July 22nd, the party will be
shown points of interest around
Nome, with a reception scheduled
from 11:00 to 12:00 a.m. in the
recreation room of the Bering Sea
Club, to afford the public an op
portunity of meeting Secretary
McKay.
Party On Tight Schedule
The luncheon committee, Dewey
Goodrich and Reta Harper, an
nounce that the luncheon for the
distinguished visitor and his party
(Continued on Page Two)
Kadow Asserts Government Loaned
U.S. Tin Corp. Money For Purpose Of
Developing A New Source of Tin
ANCHORAGE, MV-The former
manager of the U.S. Tin Corp.
mine at Lost River said yesterday
the much-discussed mine now is
producing between 50,000 to 60,
000 pounds of tin per month and
shipping a substantial amount to
the states.
The claim was made by Ken
neth Kadow, who left the cor
poration recently and who has
been mentioned frequently in a
Senate-House committee investi
gation of government loans to U.S.
tin.
The mine, he said, is operating
“and producing tin at a cost less
than the market jralue. This re
futes charges that the tin mine
has failed to produce.”
He said the joint committee on
defense production has learned
that government money was put
into the mine for the purpose of
developing a new source of tin,
not in the hope of yielding a pro
fit. It has done all the things that
prompted the government loans
and will show a return on the
investment.”
Kadow said the mine spurred
three other companies to organize
in the same area. One of them,
he claimed, found 5 million
pounds of tin by drilling its
ground. Another produced 375
tons of tin concentrates, he said,
but was forced out of business
when the price of tin fell to 74
cents a pound.