™£ NOME NUGGET
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOL. LVI No. 79 NOME, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, jfrLY 7, 1954 Per Copy—15^
Alaska Airlines
Makes First DC-3
Landing At Lost R.
Alaska Airlines DC-3 scored
another first when it landed on
July 5, 1954 at Lost River.
The flight was made to deliver
an engine at Lost River for Alas
ka’s Pilgrim Aircraft which de
veloped engine trouble a week
ago. Pilot Bob Jacobs took Mech
anics Russ Hardy and Don Gillette
up earlier in the morning so they
could have the other engine ready
for loading.
Mechanic Foreman Glen Len
ert, Ted Grotha and Roy Tobuk
accompanied the flight to assist
with the loading. Captain Bob
Long and First Officers Jack Peck
and Ed Krainec were the crew of
the DC-3 making this initial flight.
Attempts had been made earlier
in the week to have this engine
sent up by Sam Mogg’s skin boat
but rough waters prevented the
making of this trip.
This new field at Lost River
has just been put in and the Alas
ka Road Commission, with a crew
headed by Barney Cro'sby, are
busy smoothing out the rough
spots and putting a new road from
the strip to U.S. Tin Mine in the
canyon.
July 4 Accident Deaths
Lower Than Prediction
By Nat’l Safety Council
(By the Associated Press)
Final figures on accidental
deaths showed the July 4th week
end to be far s^fer and saner than
expected.
Traffic fatalities especially were
well below indications, the total
of 348 comparing with the fore
cast of 430 made by the National
Safety Council. These totals were
for the 78-hour period from 6 p.m.
Friday until midnight Monday.
The all-time high mark for a
three-day July 4th weekend was
366 in 1952.
Drownings and miscellaneous
accidents, including fireworks,
raised the violent death toll to
620. The Associated Press survey
listed 189 drowned and 83 killed
in miscellaneous accidents. Four
in the miscellaneous category
were from fireworks.
Gift Jeep From Atlanta
Arrives In Fairbanks For
Episcopal Bishop .Gordon
FAIRBANKS, W) — Two flat
tires and 6,000 miles northwest
of Atlanta, Ga., three youths from
the southern city arrived here
yesterday with a gift jeep for
Alaska’s Episcopal Bishop Wil
liam Gordon.
The trio, Geno Bogan and Pete
N Calhoun, both 18, and Harold
Martin, said they had their first
flat tire in Georgia, the next in
British Columbia.
The specially equipped jeep
was a gift of the young people
of St. Phillips Episcopal Cathe
dral in Atlanta. They paid for the
vehicle by running a furniture
repair shop.
Equipped with a fiberglass cab
to keep out the 40-toelow-zero
Alaska winter, the jeep is to be
Iused at St. Marks Episcopal Mis
sion at Nenana.
CIO Workers
Strike At
Atomic Plants
OAK RIDGE, Tenn., l/PI — CIO
workers who help produce the
nation’s entire supply of fission
able Uranium-235 for atomic wea
pons struck today at plants here
and in Paducah, Ky.
Ignoring the possibility of a
Taft-Hartley Law injunction, the
CIO Chemical Workers Union
posted pickets three hours before
the appointed hour of the strike.
Some 4,500 production and main
tenance workers are affected.
Carbide and Carbon Chemicals
Co., which operates the plants for
the Atomic Energy Commission,
ordered supervisory personnel to
keep the plants in production.
Police said construction and
other workers passed through the
picket lines into the plants’ area
without incident.
The chemical process for pro
duction of U-235 is so complex
officials have said it might take
a year to get the plants in opera
tion again once stopped.
President Eisenhower issued an
order yesterday for a fact-finding
board to investigate the wage dis
pute. But union officials said they
would ignore the President’s ac
tion.
The struck plants, costing hun
dreds of millions of dollars, pro
duce U-235 by the gaseous dif
fusion method.
Freak Low Tide In
Cook Inlet Reveals
Two Missing Planes
ANCHORAGE, UR—A freak low
tide in Cook Inlet, southwest of
Anchorage, has disclosed the
wreckage of two missing air
planes nearly buried in muck and
silt but only 150 feet apart.
Air Force officials said the dis
covery was made by Fritz Libesay
of Anchorage, while he was
searching the waters in a boat
near McKenzie Point for two
missing fishermen.
Libesay said the two planes,
one apparently a 4-engine B-29
bomber and the other an F-94
fighter-interceptoT, showed clear
ly enough in the waters, which
were two feet lower than normal,
to make identification almost cer
tain.
The Air Force said two F-94s
have disappeared during the past
year. A B-29 has been on the
missing list since 1949, after a
mysterious flash in the night sky
in the area of McKenzie Point.
Wrangell Expecting Big
Population Increase With
Completion of Sawmills
JUNEAU, UR — Gov. Heintzle
man says the town of Wrangell
expects a population increase of
500 to 1,000 when its projected
two sawmills get into operation.
The town’s population was 1,263
in the 1950 census.
After his return from a holiday
weekend visit to Wrangell and
Petersburg, the governor said both
of the fishing towns already afre
benefiting from logging opera
tions for the new Ketchikan pulp
plant. He said both also have had
good fishing so far this season.
Ike Unalterably
Opposed to Letting
China Into the U.N
WASHINGTON, Wl — President
Eisenhower said today he is com
pletely and unalterably opposed
to letting Red China into the
United Nations under present con
ditions. But he said he is not
ready to say this country should
withdraw from the U.N. if the
Reds are admitted.
Eisenhower thus took issue by
implication with Republican Sen
ate leader Knowland of Califor
nia and some other lawmakers
who are urging United States
withdrawal from the U.N. if the
Peiping government is admitted
over American protests.
At a news conference, the
President also said a strike at the
Oak Ridge, Tenn., and Paducah,
Ky., atomic plants would be a ser
ious thing and would put the
United States in a most embar
rassing and difficult position.
On another subject Eisenhower
said prospects now are rosy that
Congress will enact a legislative
record, based on his proposals, of
which any administration could
be proud.
The President said he will be
proud to go before the country
and praise what Congress has
done at this session if the record
proves to be as good as he ex
pects.
He also said he has by no means
given up hope Congress will ap
prove statehood for Hawaii at
this session, although the issue
presents a tricky situation.
Three Persons Missing In
Boating Accident On Lake
60 Miles From Anchorage
ANCHORAGE, UPI — Air Force
men and civilians in planes and
boats searched Skilak Lake, 60
miles southwest of here, yester
day for three persons feared
drowned in a boating accident.
Listed as missing were Sgt.
Mason A. Baines, 37; his wife,
Lillie, 37, and Mrs. Constance G.
Knight, wife of Sgt. Robt. Knight,
all of nearby Elmendorf Air
Force Base.
Knight, under treatment here
for shock and exposure, said the
trio disappeared after taking a
boat from the lake shore Sun
day, leaving him and his three
year-old daughter at their camp.
Knight said a squall blew up
around noon but he didn’t be
come worried until after the three
failed to come in at 4 p.m. After
searching fruitlessly throughout
the night, he met a lake resident
who notified the Civil Air Patrol
and the Air Force.
TWO U.S. KIDS IN ITALY ON
FARM EXCHANGE PROGRAM
NAPLES, Italy, UP)—Two young
Americans have come a long way
to do a few weeks work on some
Italian farms.
They are Rosalind Miller, of
Palmer, Alaska, and Charles L.
Hudson of Sumrall, Miss., who
arrived today aboard the liner
Biacamano as part of the Inter
national Farmers Youth Exchange
program. i
They will work on farms here
to studyx Italian farming methods.
Congressional Probers Start
Hearings On Three Millions
Loaned To U. S. Tin Corp.
_
Territorial Senator
John F. Gorsuch, 54,
Dies In Anchorage
ANCHORAGE, UP) — Territorial
Sen. John F. Gorsuch, 54, pro
minent Anchorage businessman
and civic leader, died at his home
yesterday.
He was elected a Republican
senator from the Third Division
in 1952 and had two years still
to serve. He came to Anchorage in
1945 after practicing law in Cleve
land and Hartford, Conn.
At the time of his death, he
was vice president of the Alaska
Council of Boy Scouts and a mem
ber of the Salvation Army board.
He had been president of the An
chorage School Board and also
was a past president of the An
chorage Chamber of Commerce
and the Kiwanis Club.
His widow, Sally, and three
sons, Terry of Anchorage and
John Jr. and Edson of Akron,
Ohio, survive.
Luther C. Hess, Alaska
Legislator, Businessman,
Dies in Seattle at 88
SEATTLE, Ul—Luther C. Hess,
88, long-time Alaska legislator
and businessman, died Saturday
in a Seattle hospital after a lcmg
illness.
Hess went o Alaska during the
Gold Rush in 1899. His public
service included duties as an
assistant United States district
attorney in 1902, chairman of a
division selective service board in
the first world war, a director of
the Alaska Rehabilitation Corp.,
and a member of the Alaska Plan
ning Council.
Hess was speaker of the Alaska
House of Representatives in 1917
and held a seat in the Senate from
1919 through 1935. He was a di
rector of the First National Bank
of Fairbanks for more than 30
years.
Hess’s wife, the late Harriett
Belle Hess, was prominent in edu
cation circles and served 20 years
as a member of the board of re
gents of the University of Alaska.
* —T~ ' '
Should’a Stood In Bed
FAIRBANKS, CW—It just isn’t
Ralph Paden’s week, it seems.
A couple of days ago a utility
pole fell cm. his new car, bashing
and denting it liberally.
Now he’s sitting on a sandbar
12 miles north of McGrath and
200 miles southwest of here. His
plane is there, too, upside ‘down.
Paden flew his wife and 16
month-old child up the Kusko
kwim River route to Medfra for
the weekend. They got to Medfra
all right but the plane developed
engine trouble so Paden flew it
back to nearby McGrath for re
pairs.
Returning from there, he ap
parently attempted a forced land
ing and flipped over on a river
sandbar. He was sighted yester
day and a float plane is scheduled
to pick him up soon.
' WASHINGTON, UPl —Congres
sional probers signalled today for
the start of hearings aimed at
finding out whether the govern
ment has given more aid than
was justified to' the U.S. Tin Corp.
a private venture in Alaska.
In advance of the open session,
chairman Capehart (R-Ind) told
newsmen there have been reports
the project has cost far more than
it is worth.
He said the project was origin
ally started in 1952 with govern
ment-insured loans of $375,000,
and that loans now total three
million dollars.
Capehart said the mining op
eration is in the hands of “for
me* government employes” who,
he declared, have been “milking
it and misrepresenting its poten
tial” to the government.
Capehart said he wants to in
quire into three particulars: (1)
whether the operation is feasible,
from the standpoint of tin de
posits, shipping costs and the like;
(2) whether sponsors of the proj
ect misrepresented any facts on
their initial application for a gov
ernment-insured loan; and (3)
whether there is anything im
proper in the fact that it was
started by former government of
ficials.
Located in the far northern re
gions of Alaska’s Seward Penin
sula, the project is described as
being only a few minutes jet fly
ing time from Russian airfields in
Siberia. Committee employes said
it is the only underground tin
mine on the North American con
tinent.
The first loan of $375,000 was
reportedly made by the Seattle
Trust and Savings Bank. The bal
ance, it was said by committee
aides, came direct from the gov
ernment through the General Ser
vices Administration.
New ACS Building In
Fairbanks Be Dedicated
To Gen. Billy Mitchell
FAIRBANKS, UP) — The late
Gen. William Mitchell, storm cen
ter of an Army Air Corps argu
ment that led eventually to his
courtmartial, will be honored here
July 21.
A new Alaska Communication .
System toll station building here
will be dedicated to the general
during the visit of Interior Sec
retary Douglas McKay.
Mitchell, then a lieutenant in
the Signal Corps, was in charge
of surveys for ACS telegraph
lines in the early 1900s.
The ceremonies will be held on
ACS Recognition Day, which
marks the 93rd anniversary of the
Signal Corps and the 51st year
of ACS in Alaska.
COP'S CAR COPPED
TWIN FALLS, Idaho, U)—Oops!
Somebody stole a parked car
here yesterday, drove it a block
and abandoned it.
It belonged to Police Chief
Howard Gillette.