THE
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. LIX No. 90 NOME, ALASKA, MONDAY, JULY 29, 1957 Per Copy—15^
EARTHQUAKE ROCKS MEXICO;
42 DIE, DAMAGE IN MILLIONS
By CHARLES H. GUPTILL *
MEXICO CITY, W—'The worst
quake in the memory of Mexicans
„ rocked thousands of square miles
and caused damage of millions of
dollars but took a surprisingly
low death toll yesterday.
Here and in five other cities 42
were known dead. No U.S. citi
zens were among them.
Soldiers blocked off many of
this capital’s major streets as
demolition squads began tearing
down buildings dangerously dam
aged.
A young mother was rescued
alive from beneath seven ieet
of crumbled debris of a five
story apartment building at
Concepcion today.
She was saved by the mattress
under which she was found 23
hours after the quake. Her hus
band and baby daughter and her
father lost their lives.
At least 50 buildings were top
pled in the capital. In bright sun
shine, volunteers began clearing
tons of rubble. Steel-ihelmeted
soldiers directed a snarl of traffic.
Mexico City, with its popula
tion of 4.000,000, was hardest
hit. The State of Guerrero, with
famed Acapulco, was next.
Thirty-two bodies were dug
out of ruins in the capital.
The quake sent seismograph
needles spinning. Bounced out of
bed or off night club bar stools,
citizens feared they were in the
midst of a major disaster that
would bring a huge casualty rate.
The city was plunged into
darkness. Fire engines and ambu
lances screamed thru the rubble
strewn streets. Communications
with the shock areas west of the
city were cut off and the gilded
symbol of Mexican independence
—a winged angel—crashed down
from its 155-foot base.
Loss of life was limited be
cause of the hour: 2:40 a.m.
Had it been in the early eve
ning, hundreds would probably
have been crushed in the full
movie theaters and night spots.
By day, falling masonry and
glass would have injured thou
sands along the streets.
No one could recall when so
severe a quake had struck this
city. On the basis of the seismo
graphs, which rated the shock at
7 on the Mercali scale of 10, Mex
ico City should have been in
ruins.
Explorer Scouts
Off to Europe
McGUIRE AFB, N.J., Nine
teen Explorer Scouts, including
Dennis E. Cook of Fairbanks,
left for Europe this afternoon in
an international airlift exchange
program.
Cook will go to Greece.
The Explorer Scouts are older
members of the Boy Scouts of
America.
Some 25 of their counterparts
from six European countries ar
rived at this military air terminal
from overseas yesterday for a
three-week visit to this country.
The U.S. Air Force is providing
transportation both ways.
The American Scouts leaving
today were accompanied by seven
adult Scout leaders and an Air
Force escort officer. They will
arrive in Frankfurt, Germany to
morrow and will split into groups
the next day to visit the countries
from which their European coun
terparts came.
The Explorer Scouts are due to
arrive back here on Aug. 15.
86 Injured as
16 Cars Derail
Near Winnepeg
WINNEPEG UB—Eighty-six
persons were injured yesterday
when an unlocked switch sent 16
cars of a transcontinental passen
ger expreess hurtling off the Ca
nadian National Railway’s main
line at Nooase, Man., 36 miles
east of Winnipeg.
Twenty-four of the injured
still were hospitalized today, two
in critical condition.
The derailed train was more
than five hours late when it hit
the switch, which opened under
the train. The two Diesel engines
and a mail car passed over the
switch safely but the next 16
passenger, express and mail cars
were thrown off.
Eight of the cars jack-knifed,
! cne turning over. They were
1 strewn along the tracks, across a
! ditch and into the bushland.
! About 400 passengers were
aboard the train.
Scientist Finds Method of Keeping
Meat Fresh Without Refrigeration
COLUMBUS, Ohio UP>—An Ohio
State University scientist has
patented a new method of pre
serving meat without refrigera
tion, but the process is available
“for the free use of the people of
the United States.”
The process patented by Dr.
Fred E. Deatherage involves the
use of antibiotics either fed to
animals or injected into the car
casses after slaughter.
Application for the patent was
made in 1954 after extensive ex
perimentation with the antibiotic
process and since filing the appli
cation Dr. Deatherage conducted
further field experiments in the
mass production areas of Aus
tralia, New Zealand and Cuba.
The patent on the process
which has attracted wide atten
tion among meat packers as well
as government and military agen
cies has been assigned to the
State of Ohio.
Two Scientists Hold
Radio Chat From Top
And Bottom of World
NEW YORK, UP)—Two U.S, sci
entists encamped at opposite ends
of the earth recently had a 11,200
mile radio chat.
One, Dr. Charles R. Bentlesan,
is in the antarctic. The other,
Maurice J. Davidson, is in the
arctic. Both are working on re
search projects for the Interna
tional Geophysical Year.
They reported reception on
their ham radios was as clear as
a bell.
Bentley and Davidson, both 26,
are on the staff of Columbia Uni
versity’s Lamond Geological Ob
servatory. Columbia- told of the
chat yesterday.
Mrs. Swanberg Sr.,
In Nome Since 1900,
Passes Away at 84
The funeral of Mrs. Nels Swan
berg Sr., who passed away Sat
urday, was held this afternoon at
Community Methodist Church.
Mrs. Swanberg, aged 84, has
been a resident of Nome since
1900 when she came here as
Charlotte Anderson. She and Mr.
Swanberg were married here in
1901.
She is survived by her hus
band Nels Swanberg Sr., two
children, Nels Jr., and Mrs. Grace
Edman, all of Nome. In addition
there are four grandchildren,
Gordon Swanberg, now in the
Navy, Mrs. Lois Hough and Mrs.
Diane Peterson of Fairbanks and
Mary Jo Swanberg, Nome. There
are also four great-grandchildren.
Before her retirement due to
poor health Mrs. Swanberg was
active in the Pioneers of Alaska
and the Midnight Sun Rebekah
Lodge and is beloved by her
many life-long friends for her
courage and patience during the
years of confinment to her home.
Mrs. Edman will take the body
by plane to the South Tacoma
Cemetery for interment in the
family plot.
_
Expedition Will Seek
Minerals and Oil in
Vast Area of Arctic
NEW YORK, (iP>—An expedi
tion to explore a vast area of the
arctic for minerals and oil was
announced yesterday by the Cyr
us Eaton interests of Cleveland,
RKO Theaters Corp.,- a subsidiary
of List Industries, and Scurry
Rainbow Oil, Ltd., an American
financed Canadian oil firm.
The expedtiion, under the com
mand of Ross Toms, of Toronto,
discoverer of the Ungava iron ore
j deposits, will explore for urani
um, gold, iron ore and oil. It will
start shortly from Cleveland and
proceed to Baffin Island, stopping
at Toronto for equipment.
A twin-engine Diesel 112-foot
vessel with a helicopter on deck
will transport the party.
Baffin Island lies some 300
miles north across the Hudson
Straits from the Eaton-controlled
Ungava iron ore deposits.
OIL & TIN IN NOME’S
FUTURE PREDICTED
Canadian P.M.
Will Meet With
Eisenhower Soon
OTTAWA, (i*P>—A meeting soon
between Prime Minister Diefen
baker and President Eisenhower
to discuss Canadian-U. S. prob
lems was almost certain after the
weekend visit to Ottawa of U.S.
Secretary of State Dulles.
Diefenbaker told a reporter he
now expects a meeting “some
time in the near future” of the
joint Canada-U.S. Cabinet Com
mittee on trade and economic
problems.
The Prime Minister said the
committee would meet in Wash
ington. Since he is also a foreign
minister, Diefenbaker would be
present.
Dulles said his talks with Dief
enbaker and other officials cov
ered “a wide range of topics,” in
cluding prospective zones for
aerial inspection as part of a first
step agreement.
Diefenbaker informed Dulles
Canada supports the idea of hav
ing the first inspection zone in the
arctic, including areas in Canada
and Russia.
The Canada-U.S. Cabinet Com
mittee is made up of each coun
try’s trade, finance, foreign and
agriculture ministers or secre
traies. It was set up several years
ago to settle trade and economic
issues before they blew up into
public embarrassments.
Topics of greatest interest to the
Canadian government would in
clude Canada’s huge supplies of
unsold wheat and the big deficit
in Canada’s trade with the U.S.
Gina Lollobrigida Is
Mother of Baby Boy
ROME, Uft—A dark-haired boy
baby was born Sunday morning
to Gina Lollobrigida. She says he
looks just like her doctor husband.
The 6-pound 11-ounce boy was
born four hours after Dr. Milko
Skofic rushevd his famous film
beauty wife out of their Appian
Way villa to a clinic. They drove
across a field on the way to avoid
reporters.
The infant, to be named after
his father at Gina’s request, is
the first child for the couple, who
married in 1949. Skofic is a Yugo
slav who escaped from a German
concentration camp in 1942.
Father in Car KiT!s
Daughter, 9, on Bicvcle
KINCARDINE, Ont., (^—Bur
ton Collins of nearby Ripley be
came worried wiien his daughter
was late arriving home on her
bicycle last night.
He decided to go looking for
her in his car. A short distance
along the highway his car crashed
into a bicycle which didn’t have
a light.
He found he had killed his 9
year-old daughter, Mary Lou.
- Visiting Fairbanksan
Sees Completion of
Highway 97 in 4 Vz Yrs.
“I see oil derricks out there on
Bering Sea and year ’round em
ployment at the tin mines when
the road from Nome to Fair
banks is completed,” prophesied
Dutch Derr of the Fairbanks
Chamber of Commerce in his re
marks at the N.W.A. Chamber of
Commerce dinner here last Sat
urday evening. “And that means
progress,” he added.
He also predicted the road
would be finished in four and
a half years and that Fairbanks
would have a $17,000,000 smell
er for the tin ore from Nome,
uniting the two divisions closer
than ever.
His glowing enthusiasm and
faith in the fabulous future of
northern Alaska summed up an
interesting evening for local and
interior Alaska business men.
All visiting speakers, including
George Sundborg of the Fair
banks News-Miner, Eva McGow
an, well known pioneer and gra
cious official Fairbanks hostess,
Leslie Nerland, president of the
Fairbanks Chamber of Commerce,
expressed their appreciation to
Wien Airlines for the opportunity
of meeting in Nome with Nome
business people and their faith in
the future and encouragement for
solving the problems of the pre
sent. Matt Slankard, Fairbanks
city manager, stressed the im
portance of a water and sewerage
system in Nome’s future develop
ment.
New residents as well as old
timers enjoyed hearing Noel and
Ada Wien, Sig Wien, and Mildred
Lomen tell about the pioneering
of the air age in Alaska and
some of those problems which
have been overcome.
Representing Nome were John
MpNees as toastmaster; James
Walsh, president of the local
Chamber, who eloquently ex
pressed appreciation for the op
portunity of the joint meeting
and the benefits derived from the
venture; Jerry Manning of the
M & M Bank, who summed up
his talk on Highway 97 with,
“Let’s get it done as quickly as
we can.”
All the visitors were presented
with mining rights certificates to
be used when they return over
the highway in a few years.
Following the dinner Friday
evening many of the guests went
fishing and on Saturday traveled
thef length of Highway 97.
The lady visitors were guests
of Bet Sigma Phi for luncheon
Saturday noon and they met again
with the Chamber before an early
afternoon takeoff for Fairbanks.
WEATHER FORECAST
Continued cloudy tonight thru
Tuesday with occasional drizzle
and fog. Southwesterly winds 15
to 20 mph with little change in
temperature. Lowest temperature
expected tonight 47, the high to
morrow 50.