Alaska’s First Free Mail Delivery Service
By FRED LOCKLEY
(Conclusion)
A man stopped me as I was going in the back
door of the postoffice one day and said he would
pay me well to get his mail. I said that in justice
to those who had to stand in line we were not
allowed to receive money to make any “side-door
deliveries.” “Well, just notice if there is any mail
for me, and if there is not I will be saved the
bother of standing in line and waiting for it; if
there is I will take my place and get it.” Laughing
at his persistence I asked him his name. As soon
as I heard it I recognized - it as the name of a
man who had married a young lady of my ac
quaintance who, while on a protracted visit in an
adjacent state, had met and married him. While
I had never seen Grace’s husband, I had often
heard of him through his wife’s relatives who
lived not far from my home. In a moment or two
I came out with a letter in Grace’s familiar hand
writing. “Well, Grace did not forget you,” I said
as I handed him the letter. I asked him several
questions which showed a thorough familiarity
with his business and the affairs of his friends
and acquaintances. I left him speechless with
amazement, so astonished in fact that he did not
even inquire my name. I presume he is still won
dering how I could tell, by looking at the hand
writing on the outside of the letter, his wife’s
first name, the nature of his business, and the
affairs of his friends and relatives. As I do not
think his wife knew of my trip to Nome, I pre
sume his natural curiousity will forever remain
ungratified.
The Nome postoffice did a large business in the
money order department. It is the only postoffice,
to my knowledge, in the United States that ac
cepted gold dust in payment for money orders, the
usual price allowed for gold dust being from
$15.50 to $16 per ounce. One day a man came in,
produced his “poke,” poured out a quantity of
gold dust on the scoop and presented an applica
tion for a money order. ,The gold dust did not
look quite right to the money order clerk, so he
called Inspector Clum and the assistant money
order clerk to examine it. They did not like the
looks of it either, so a little acid was poured upon
it to test its purity. Instantly heavy green fumes
arose, showing that it was bogus gold dust, com
posed of brass and copper filings. Later a man, I
think the same, one, was arrested for attempting
to pass some bogus gold.
Speaking of gold dust reminds me of a little
instance I witnessed on the street one day. A
man stepped up to a dealer and made some little
purchase, paying for it with gold dust. The dealer
shook out more gold dust in the scoop than was
necessary, and after weighing out the proper
amount in payment for the purchase, he attracted
the customer’s attention, at the same time holding
the scoop to one side and pouring out about half
a teaspoon of gold dust on the ground. Then, taking
the customer’s pouch, he poured in the remaining
gold dust, scrupulously shaking in every particle.
If he had an opportunity to repeat that operation
many times during the day he would have a
good clean-up at nightfall, as he could readily
scoop up the dirt at the side of his stand and
pan it out.
By every mail the postmaster received letters
from anxious mothers asking him to tell them
of the whereabouts of their boys. Some of the
letters were very pathetic. Another class of letters
that he received were very much the opposite;
they were letters from forlorn and anxious dam
sels inclosing their photographs and requesting the
postmaster to kindly hand it to some rich miner
who was contemplating matrimony.
At timej there would be no opportunity of
sending a remittance of surplus money order funds
to Seattle, and the safe would contain $50,000 or
more at a time. In view of this fact General Ran
dall, at the request of the postmaster, stationed a
guard at the rear door of the postoffice. Night and
day one of Uncle Sam’s “boys in blue” paced back
and forth guarding the office.
It speaks well for the service that so little mail
went astray or was lost. Great care was taken to
prevent loss or delay. We received one lot of
letters which had occupied several months in tran
sit from the States. They were in a damaged con
dition, and were endorsed “delayed and damaged
by accident at sea.” Upon another occasion we re
ceived several pouches, the contents of which were
water - soaked. The pouches of letters had been
drenched by the surf in coming ashore. The letters
most damaged were laid by the stove to dry.
The stamps slipped from most of them and many
of the envelopes were unsealed. Many of the ad
dresses were dim and almost illegible. Those that
were partially obliterated, or in danger of becom
ing so, were rewritten. Letters'which were about
to part company with their envelopes had rubber
bands placed around them.
To give an idea of the amount of business trans
acted I will quote a few statements from the in
spector’s report for the month of July:
“Twenty - three clerks were employed. This
includes the day and night general delivery force
at the postoffice proper, as well as at the paper
tent. Also the register and money order depart
ment and the carrier force.
“A trifle over $136,000 in money orders were
issued during the month, the largest day’s busi
ness being on July 23, when $9,252.65 represented
the cash received from money orders.
“Fifty-one pouches of letter mail, 14 pouches
of registered mail and 372 sacks of papers were
received during the month.
“We dispatched 46 pouches of ordinary and
registered letter mail and 18 sacks of papers.
“1,230 registered letters were received and 1,290
registered letters dispatched.
“$1,051.50 worth of stamps were sold and
$1,293.91 represented the amount of cancellations
during the month.”
In addition to the unusual sights of Nome, the
sounds, also were very different from those of an
ordinary city. Probably the most insistent sound
was the pop, pop, pop of the gasoline launches
and tugs, which were always in evidence on the
water front. Then the ceaseless high-drawn wail
of the Eskimo dogs was never lacking from the
medley of sounds. Day and night one could hear
the cry, “Cigars, gents, two for a quarter”; “Here’s
your fresh kay-ow’s milk, only four bits a quart”;
“Mince pies, hot mince pies”; Here’s your latest
outside paper, the ‘P.-I.,’ only a-quarter.”
One who wandered down the street with his
eyes open would run across many famous people:
Lucky Baldwin with his strong bronzed face; Cap
tain Jack Crawford, the poet scout, with his long
gray locks and fringed buckskin. Across the street
Stampede Kate, famous throughout Alaska, with
her short skirt and high laced boots.
Though the daylight during June and July
was continuous, noon being little if any brighter
than midnight, yet the *sun was out of sight for
a few hours, setting about 11 p.m. and rising at
half-past 2 in the morning. I find this note in my
journal for June 30th:
“At 1:30 a faint tinge, of pink appeared in
the north. Gradually the tinge deepens to salmon
and rose. At 2:27 the north is suffused with a
trembling play of colors, and the sun rises over
the low-lying hills, lighting up the anvil on Anvil
Mountain. Now it floods the whole scene with a
prodigous profusion of nature’s gold — sunshine.
The Bering Sea responds to its caress, trembling
and sparkling in its robe of sea green and molten
silver. The stately ships nod and bow as they ride
at anchor in the offing. Far out can be seen a
plume of smoke made by a steamer bearing dis
appointed treasure-seekers whose motto, ‘dust or
bust,’ has turned out to be the latter, and who are
now as anxious to sight home as a few short
weeks ago they were to sight Nome.”
PETE READER WINS PLACE
ON UNIV. HONOR ROLL
Grades of straight A were
earned by eight of 33 students
who made the University of Alas
ka honor roll for first semester,
according to the list released by
Mrs. Laura Jones, registrar. To'
make the honor roll, a student
needs a grade point average that
is equivalent to an A-minus in
12 or more hours of college work.
Among those heading the list
with straight A’s include Pete
Reader of Nome, the University
reports.
NO HOME GROWN MELONS
J ACKSONVILE, Fla,. (*) —
America’s watermelon growers in
session here faced one major dis
appointment: No home grown mel
ons were available and those
placed on display had to be im- j
ported from Cuba.
Selawik People Pay Fare of ANS
Dentist To Come From Kotzebue
On February 5, Dr. Lathrop and
his wife arrived at Selawik and
spent three weeks doing dental
work.
Selawik people collected $91 to
pay the transportation of the den
tist to Selawik and back to
Kotzebue.
Notice To Real And
Personal Property Owners
The Common Council will sit as
a Board of Equalization on March
16, 17, and IK 1959, from 8 p.m.
to 9 p.m. in the City HaH.
Real and Personal Property
holders have this opportunity to
make adjustments on their assess
ments.
Nome Common Council
By Robert F. Scott,
City Clerk
Publish March 13, 16, 18
Idaho ‘Democratics’ Fail
In Official Spelling
BOISE, Idaho, GP) — A legisla
tive spelling lesson failed to win
a passing grade Tuesday from
Idaho’s Republican Governor Rob
ert E. Smylie.
He vetoed a bill passed by Dem
ocratic majorities in both houses
of the now-adjourned Legislature.
It read:
“The correct name of the Demo
cratic Party when not abbreviated
is as spelled in this sentence. The
spelling ‘Democrat’ is correct only
when used to designate or refer
to an individual member of the
Democratic Party.”
Smylie said people should have
the right to call a party bv any
name they prefer. Besides, he
added, the bill might abridge the J
right of free speech.
Fine Job Printing At The Nugget.
Salmon Packers Resent Bans On Traps,
Bay Fishing, to ‘Hatch Fish for Japanese’
(By The Associated Press)
Major salmon packers, already
staggered by a ban on fish traps
in Southeastern Alaska, planned
to meet in Seattle Tuesday to
consider their latest blow, the clo
sure of Bristol Bay.
Nick Bez, prominent in Alaskan
fisheries, summed up the mood:
“In our fishing industry, it looks
like between the Japanese and
Secretary Seaton and his traps,
we’re all going to hell. . . . All
we’re doing is hatch fish for the
Japs.”
Losses that would result from
the closure were difficult to
reckon. W. C. Arnold, managing
director of the Alaska Salmon In
dustry, Inc., estimated value of
the plants in the Bristol Bay area
at more than 20 million dollars.
He said during peak times the
area employed 5,000 fishermen
and other employes — 1,500 from
the Yukon-Kuskokwim region and
2,500 from “outside.”
The travel industry also would
be hard hit by the Interior De
partment decisions. The Bristol
Bay area was reported to draw
nearly a million dollars of air
travel each year. And the Alaska
Steamship Co. was believed to be ^
considering revision of its service
to the area.
Sen. Bob Bartlett, chairman of
a Senate subcommittee, has set
April 1-2 for hearings in Juneau
pertaining to the salmon industry.
The hearings will be concerned
with a bill now before Congress
which would ban importation of
all salmon caught in the North
Pacific in any manner that vio
lates U. S. fishing regulations.
The bill is designed to curtail
Japanese fishing efforts in the
North Pacific — efforts which
American authorities say have
seriously depleted Alaskan sal
mon stocks.
Meanwhile, in Juneau, Sena
tors Jack Weise of Bethel, and
John Coghill of Nenana, have
asked the. Bristol Bay area to toe
declared a' national disaster area.
The two Republicans have spon
sored a resolution urging the Gov
ernor and the President to make
the designation and to start relief
and public works projects imme
diately to aid the 3,000 residents
of the region.
Miami * Fairbanks ‘Sky
Highway’ Opens July 4th
OTTAWA, l#t — Canada agreed
today to open up more than 1,500
miles of its air space in a pro
ject to link Miami, Fla., to Fair
banks, by air.
The Transi •»rt DcptCment an
nounced the stretch of airway
-.tern between Lethbridge, Alta.,
and Snag, Yukon Territory, will
be used in the 4,900-mile highway
| in the sky. It will be known as the
“49’er Skyway” in honor of Alas
ka’s recent admission to the
union.
The project, sponsored by the
U. S. Federal Aviation Agency,
ensures a serie:: of aircraft “serv
ice stations” averaging 275 miles
apart over the rugged terrain. Ra
dio navigation and weather re
porting facilities will make it the
safest air route to Alaska.
The new route will be inaug
urated in connection with Alaska’s
formal entry as the 49th state. The
planes will arrive in Fairbanks
Jluy 4th, the date of the state
hood ceremonies.
More than 100 planes will take
part in the first flight. Ceremonies
have been planned for them to
observe the 50th anniversary of
powered flight in Canada.
The new skyway is twice as long
as any now in use.
Guests at Rotary luncheon
meeting today were: Wink Avery
of the FAA in Anchorage; Archie
Adriam, Kotzebue; Rex Bowman,
Kotzebue; Frank Both, of the Al
aska Dept, of Health, Juneau,
and Dudley Beck, N.C. Co., of
Anchorage. i
WEATHER FORECAST
Fair and continued cold. The
expected low tonight -28. The
high tomorrow 5.
The -27 recorded today make
this the coldest March 13 since
1907.
IN THE PROBATE COURT
FOR THE CAPE NOME PRECINCT
SECOND DIVISION, ALASKA
IN THE MATTER OF THE ESTATJE
OF
FRANCIS J. GORMAN, deceased
No. 1093
NOTICE OF HEARING ON FINAL
REPORT AND ACCOUNT OF
ADMINISTRATOR AND
DETERMINATION OF INHERITENCE
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that L.
Earl Towner, of Nome, Alaska, Adminis
trator of the abobe named estate, has
this day filed with this Court his Final
Report and Account of his doings in
said estate, and that the 11th day of
May. 1959, at the hour of ten A.M. of
said day, at the office of the above
najned Court, Nome, Alaska, has been
fixed by court order as the time and
place for a hearing on said Final Report
and Account, and that at such time and
place the court will determine and ad
judicate the heirs of this estate.
Objections, if any there be, to said
Final Report and Account, and Proof
of Heirship, will be heard at that time.
DATED this 10th day of March, 1959. ,
L. EARL TOWNER,
Administrator.
Publish March 11, 18 25, AprU 1.
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LES KELLER. Prop. t
) Box 214 . Phone White 1281
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Guaranteed QUAKER
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LP Gas STOVE PARTS
and Appliances AND REPAIRS
Office: Ma. 152 Res: Main 89
DEAL WITH CON FIDENCE AT
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Snow on the mountains — Rain from the sky —
J Water in the rivers, and creeks rolling by;
Blessings from Heaven, Grateful are we —
Make Bronson’s Soft Water a treat when thirsty !
Call MAIN 19
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