SSI NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. LV No. 104 NOME, ALASKA, MONDAY, AUGUST 31, 1953 Per Copy—15^
Two Canadians
Search for Source
Of Ice Islands
OTTAWA, I# — Two Canadian
scientists are traveling by dog
sled in wintry fastness which no
white man has penetrated since
Admiral Peary made his dramatic
dash to the North Pole in 1909.
Their purpose: to find the source
of 39 ice islands floating about in
the Arctic Ocean.
Geoffrey Hattersley-Smith, 30,
arctic specialist for the Canadian
Defense Research Board, and Rob
ert Blackadar, '■23, geologist, are
camped on an ice shelf just north
of bleak Ellesmere Island, 600
miles from the North Pole. Their
exploration is a forerunner of a
projected U.S. - Canadian expedi
tion to the island next year.
Both men are making extensive
soil and rock tests preparatory to
a geological survey of the island
which may bring new mineral
strikes in Canada’s northland.
Although engaged in “purely
scientific work,” the two - man
team already has made a discov
ery tinged with romance.
They found a cairn on Cape Col
umbia Mountain on Ellesmere
containing records left by Peary
in 1906 and a piece of the silk
ensign which the admiral mount
ed at the pole three years later.
The Arctic ice islands, the scien
tists are studying are thought to
be chunks broken free from the
Ellesmere ice shelf. Once free, the
islands appear to drift indefin
itely aboiit the Arctic. The source
of the shelf itself is' the big mys
tery.
Scientists say the source may
be a glacier 10,000 years old, or
it may be several glaciers push
ing out to sea and coming to
gether. At any rate, the ice islands
though not a menace to shipping,
are a challenge to scientific cu
riosity and Hattersley-Smith and
Blackadar aim to come up with
an answer.
STRIKES
(By the Associated Press)
An 11-day strike by 53,000 CIO
employes of the Southwestern
Bell Telephone Co. ended today.
Another walkout by 25,000 CIO
unionists at the Firestone Tire and
Rubber Co. ended Sunday night
after four days, with a 12-cent
hourly raise.
Violence marked a strike by
AFL engineers at Radio Station
WOR in New York Sunday when
two men, one a company vice
president, were knocked down
and kicked in front of the station’s
offices near Times Square.
In the face of a walkout threat
against the nation’s railroads by
the Order of Railway Conductors,
federal mediators arranged for a
meeting Tuesday between the
Union’s president and executives
of the carrier.
Meanwhile, the Brotherhood of
Locomotive Firemen and Engi
neers planned a drive for boosts
totaling 37Vz cents an hour for
75,000 of its members after Oct. 1
Butler Promises Homer
Farmers To Work For
Release of More Land
HOMER, UT1—Sen. Hugh But
ler the first U.S. Senator to visit
the farming community of Homer,
listened to farmers’ grievances
last Friday and promised to work
for release of lands now held
under withdrawal orders.
Butler also said arterial high
ways in the territory should be
built by the federal government
and access or feeder roads should
be the responsibility of territorial
agencies.
Nine Homer farmers appeared
before Butler at an informal hear
ing. Their woes included the Mc
Carran Immigration Act; the high
cost of shipping; coal reservations
and land withdrwals.
Chinese Give American
Prisoners 500 lbs. “AxeM
To Chop Wood With
FREEDOM VILLAGE, Korea,
UP)^-“Eggs” and “Axe” may sound
the same to a Chinese who speaks
little English, but to Americans
500 pounds of eggs doesn’t get the
wood chopped.
Lt. William P. Wyatt of Venice,
Calif., freed today by the Reds,
told the story.
The Americans needed an axe
to chop wood.
They badgered the Reds for
months tor one, but were told it
was hard to get supplies from
China.
Finally a Chinese official told
them in broken English he located
“axe” but needed six men to carry
it back from a barge on the Yalu
River.
Warning them to be careful, he
led them to the barge—and the
men saw 500 pounds of eggs they
had to carry back to their POW
camp.
Rising Water On Texas
Coastal Plains Make
2,500 Persons Homeless
ROBSTOWN, Tex., UP) — More
than 2,500 persons were home
less today along the swamped
lower Texas coast as rising water
from ten days of deluge seeped
into homes on the flat coastal
plains.
At least 2,000 were evacuated
west of Corpus Christi. Many
spent their second night in emer
gency shelter. They were joined
by new refugees late last night as
runoff from heavy afternoon
thundershowers rushed into the
water-bound towns.
The number of homeless in
creased as intermittent thunder
showers continued along the coast.
More rain was forecast. Steady
west winds from the gulf drove
moist air inland.
Heavy Cabbage Has Hard Head
ALBUQUERQUE, N. M., UP) —
Colleagues of Sen. Dennis Chavez
had better be careful how they
engage the New Mexico Demo
crat in debate when they return
to' Washington.
Reporting on a recent trip to
Alaska, the Senator seemed sus
piciously gratified with a 14-lb.
cabbage which he described as
“hard as a rock.” Chavez is taking
it to Washington, he says.
Now, now, Senator.
Glowing Praise
Of Alaska From
Florida Senator
WASHINGTON, UP—Sen. Hol
land of Florida brought a bright
picture of Alaska back to Wash
ington Friday.
A member of a Senate public
works subcommittee just returned
from an inspection trip to Alaska
and the Columbia River basin,
said at a news conference he was
much impressed with what he
found in Alaska.
It is a terrible mistake,” he said,
“to handicap the people of Alaska
by not giving th_ territory state
hood.”
Holland, an advocate of state
hood for the territory, said “I’m
not ready to write off Alaska.
They have the makings of a great
country.”
Holland spoke almost with fer
vor of the aggressiveness of the
people he saw and met there.
“The mayors, commissioners and
school officials can’t be bounded
in their enthusiasm,” he said.
He likened them to the “rugged
pioneers,” who helped settle this
country.
And as to the people in the
streets, he said the children had
“apples in their cheeks.”
He was impressed not only by
the aggressiveness of the people,
he said, but by such industries as
lumber, fishing, mining, furs,
handicraft and agriculture.
Other things impressed him:
Sen. Chavez (D-NM), another
member of the subcommittee,
brought home a 14-pound head of
cabbage for his wife, and all
brought back boxes of sweet peas
which Holland described as huge
and beautiful.
Holland praised the way in
which the Alaskan public works
program has been administered.
He referred to excellent roads,
streets and buildings and partic
ularly schools.
He spoke of the modern cities
of Anchorage and Fairbanks.
Some might expect to find ig
loos and Eskimo huts there,” he
said, and then showed reporters
an aerial picture of Fairbanks
with its tall buildings.
But despite- the progress, he
said, the area “can’t develop be
cause 98 percent of the territory’s
land is tied up in two U.S. gov
ernment bureaus—agriculture and
interior.”
Turks Disappointed: No
Eskimos In Juneau
JUNEAU, UPi — An Istanbul
newspaper sent a writer and a
photographer to Juneau to see
what they thought of Alaska and
Alaskans.
The writer — Esat Karakurts —
and the photographer — Ajahn
Guncev—were disappointed. They
said Juneau was just like the rest
of the United States; that Indians
were the same as anybody else,
and there was no Eskimos here
abouts. ,
The disappointment was mu
tual. Juneauites were shocked to
hear both Turks admit they never
rode a camel, and to note they
wore felt hats, and not a fez.
Reindeer From Golovin
Leave Seattle For
Oregon and New York
SEATTLE, UP) — Twenty-two
Alaska reindeer, sleepily munch
ing tundra moss, arrived here by
special chartered Alaska Airlines
planes last Saturday enroute to
Oregon and New York.
The animals were purchased in
Alaska by Fred J. Fortune, Lake
Placid, N.Y., owner of “Santa
Claus’ Fortune,” and Oscar I.
Paulson, Jr., Salem, Ore., whose
business is known as “Operation
Santa Claus.”
Both plan tp train the reindeer
for Christmas advertising pur
poses. Fortune, who made the
flight from Nome, said a large
New York City department store
(Macy’s) had engaged his ser
vices.
Half of the reindeer left im
mediately for Paulson’s Redmond,
Ore., ranch where he will train
them. The other 11, owned by
Fortune, will be flown to New
York.
Juneau Empire Takes Dim
View of Fisheries Survey
For Secretary McKay
JUNEAU, UP) — Arnie Suomela,
director of the Oregon Depart
ment of Fisheries who' was sent
to Alaska for a three-month sur
vey of Alaska fisheries as per
sonal representative of Interior
Secretary McKay, has left the
territory.
The Juneau Empire took a dim
view of Suomela’s survey.
It reported he heard packers’
opinions, “probably fishermen’s
viewpoints,” and failed to inter
view Alaska Director Clarence
Day during controversies through
out what the paper called the
worst season in modern history.
It reported there was consider
able speculation over the possible
contents of the non-commital Suo
mela’s report to be made to Mc
Kay, his old boss when McKay
was governor of Oregon.
Two Fairbanks Men,
Found Safe Near Wreck
Of Plane In Tanana
FAIRBANKS, UP! — Two Fair
banks used car dealers missing
four days on a flight from Big
Delta to Fairbanks were found
Sunday alive and uninjured near
the wreckage of their plane 70
miles southeast o*f Big Delta.
The men, Marion Horton and
A. V. “Ace” Williams, took off
in the rain at 7:30 p.m. Wednes
day from Big Delta in a two-place
Cessna.
Clearing weather Sunday per
mitted 27 search planes to get
into the air, including ones from
the 10th Rescue Squadron, Civil
Air Patrol and three from the
Arctic Test Branch of the base
at Big Delta.
The marooned men were found
on a sandbar in the Tanana River,
where their plane was partially
submerged.
Search planes reported the two
men turned back to Big Delta
Wednesday night after encounter
ing bad weather, and overshot the
base. Continuing on to the south
east, they crashed about six miles
from Dot Lake Lodge.
Brownell Says
Domestic Reels
Greater Menace
WASHINGTON, UP)—Atty. Gen.
Brownell said today domestic
Communists are “a greater men
ace now than at any time” and
that “I suppose there are more in
labor unions than anywhere else.”
“Not concentrated- in the
clergy?” he was asked during a
copyrighted interview with the
magazine U.S. News and World
Report. Brownell replied “No.”
There was no mention of the
name of J. B. Matthews, former
staff director of the Senate In
vestigations subcommittee headed
by Sen. McCarthy. Shortly after
Matthews was hired by McCarthy
the American Mercury published
an * article in which Matthews
wrote that “The largest single
group supporting the Communist
apparatus in the United States
today is composed of Protestant
clergymen.”
Amplifying his statement that
the U.S. Communist party is more
dangerous than ever, Brownell
said the Reds “have gone under
ground since the Smith Act trials
started. They are better organ
ized, and detection is more diffi
cult.”
Eleven top Communist officials
were convicted in 1949 of conspir
ing to violate the Smith Act,
which makes it a crime to teach
or advocate forcible overthrow of
the U.S. government.
Brownell said the Communist
party has lost about 75,000 mem
bers, bringing it down to about
25,000, since that trial and sev
eral others which followed it. But
the 75,000, he added, “are obvious
ly subject to the propaganda of
the Communist agents.”
Flint Volunteers Erect
81 Complete Homes
For June Tornado Victims
FLINT, Mich., (tf) — Flint was
proud today of itself and its
neighbors. In its northern out
skirts stood 81 completed homes
and 112 more in various stages
of construction to prove hearts
and hands can do much to erase
the scars of tragedy.
Those homes took an estimated
80,000 man hours of work—all of
it contributed Saturday and Sun
day by volunteers. Beneficiaries
were those who lost homes, and
often loved ones, in a furious tor
nado that claimed 116 lives, in
jured nearly a thousand and made
kindling wood of houses June 8.
The building bee was tagged
“Operation Tornado.”
SUNDAY SCORES
American League
New York 10-0, Chicago' 6-1
Cleveland 6-8, Boston 5-4
St. Louis 3-3, Washington 0-9
Detroit 10-9, Philadelphia 1-1
National League
Brooklyn 20, St. Louis 4
New York 10-2, Chicago 1-6
Milwaukee 19-11, Pittsburgh 4-5 \
Philadelphia 4-4, Cincinnati 2-3
Coast League
Los Angeles 5-0, Hollywood 4-5
San Francisco 7-2, Oakland 6-6
Portland 2-1, San Diego 1-5
Sacramento 12-8, Seattle 8-1