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MEMBER AMERICAN PRESS ASSOCIATION
MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
ittlHUClU
NATIONAL EDITORIAL ASSOCIATION
VOLUME XVI. NUMBER 119. SEWARD, ALASKA, FRIDAY, MAY 29, 1931.
PRICE TEN CENTS
Geological Survey
Detailed Program
Current Season
The Interior Department announces that plans for
the field projects to be undertaken in Alaska by the
Geological Survey this season have now reached an ad
vanced stage and the several parties will start for the
field during this month.
By far the most intensive work that will be done
by the Geological Survey in Alaska this season will be
that financed by the special appropriation for research
along the Alaska Railroad and directed toward the ex
amination of mineral deposits continguous to the rail
road that may contribute to its revenues by furnishing
tonnage. _
Nine separate parties will be j
assigned to this work. Most of
them will be stationed in mining
camps from one end of the rail
road to the other—Fairbanks, Kan
itishna, Copper Mountain, Val
dee Creek-Chulitna, Willow Creek,
Anthracite Ridge, Girdwood. and
Moose Pass—but one party will
carry on certain general studies
throughout the tract adjacent to
the railroad.
Direct supervision of all these
projects has been assigned to S.
R. Capps, whose long with most
of the mining camps near the
railroad make him especially fitt
ed to conduct and direct the work.
Geologists will be assigned to
all these projects, but the person- i
nel of different parties will vary
greatly, as it will be determined:
by the individual requirements of j
the specific job. Thus, in the i
Kantishna, Copper Mountain, An
tracite Ridge and Girdwood areas,
where adequate maps for platt-;
ing the geologic information are I
not available, the parties will be
accompanied by topographic en
gineers and other personnel need
ed to make the essential maps.
In certain projects, as at Anthra
cite Ridge, considerable test pitt- j
ing and other manual work will1
be required, which will call for i
the services of a number of lab-!
orers. Some of the parties will
maintain their own camps, and
others will be able to obtain ac
comodations for much of the
time at the mines or in the set
tlements.
Thus the work near Fairbanks
will be conducted mainly from
that town as a base, whereas the
parties in the Kantishna, Cop
per Mountain, Valdez Creek-Chu
litna, and Anthracite Ridge dis
tricts, will maintain camps sup
plied by padk trains. Although
each region presents different
problems, the work in each will
have the common aim of supply- j
ing as much information as pos- j
sible in answer to the question
“What quantity of mineral pro-1
ducts appear to be available that
might swell the railroad’s busi
ness?”
The Alaska projects that will
be financed by funds appropriated I
directly for Geological Survey in
vestigations as distinquished from
those carried on for the Alaska
Railroad are eight in number and
are distributed geographically as
follows:
Topographic mapping near
Wrangell, in Southeastern Alaska;
mining investigations in South
(Pteaae tarn to Page Two)
ANOTHER PACIFIC HIP
MED FOR NEXT
JULY; TOKYO-SMTTIE
VICTORIA, May 29. (IP) — Capt.
Gordon Mackenzie of the Alaska
Washington Airways, British Col
ombia announced plans for a non
stop flight across the Pacific from
Tokyo to Seattle in July of next
year.
He will be accompanied by ax
unnamed woman as coopilot who
has completed the financial ar
rangements.
He will use a twin-motored ship
with a cruising speed of 130 miles
an hour and expects to make th
trip in 28 to 30 hours.
ADVENTUROUS FLI6IT
INTO STRATOSPHERE,
MAGNIFICENT, STATED
INNSBRUCK, Austria, May 29. (/Pj (
—Professor Piccard and his as
sistant reached the Alpine town of
Gurgl and said that their adven
turous flight into the stratosphere
was “magnificent beyond concep- j
tion.”
They broke the world’s altitude
record by more than 12,000 feet;
they never lost control of the bs1
loon and gathered valuable scienti
fic data.
Both are well and happy though
tired. The slight damage to the in
struments is hardly worth men
tioning. They spend the night in the
gondola. I
STRATOSPHERE PRACTICAL
ELEMENT LONG FLIGHTS
OBER, Gurgl, May 29. (/P)—Fully
recovered from their perilous thrust
into the upper reaches of the sky,
Professors Piccard and Kipfer start
ed a three-hour climb to recover
their balloon from the glacier on
which they landed.
Piccard said the stratosphere in
to which they climbed and pene
trated is the only practical ele
ment for long distance aviation.
ASH IS H TO
IF HE CAN GET PLANE IN AIR
BATTLE IS HALF
WON
SAMUSHIRO, May 29. (JP)—The
problem of getting the monoplane
“Pacific” in the air with a ton and
a half of fuel aboard, is the chief
concern of Pilot Ash on the eve
of his Pacific flight. Everything
else is in readiness to give him
a smooth start.
The runway is planked 200 yards
after which the plane will taxi
along a bare beach a mile or
more. It is intended to attain a
speed of 70 miles an hour before
taking the air.
“If I can only get the plane into
the air I feel half the battle has
been won,” said Ash.
Japanese girls were up all night
sewing strips of red and white
muslin and a lot of white stars
upon a blue field, resembling the
American flag, to decorate an
evergreen arch erected by a vil
lager over the roadway over which
Ash will take to board his plane.
The arch bore “Welcome” in both
Japanese and English.
He landed here after a 380-mile
flight from Tachikawa, near To
kyo, and devoted the day to in
specting and preparng his plane.
He has stripped the plane of
every ounce of superfluous metal
to lighten the load and will carry
no radio or pontoons.
He is worried a little over the
cumbersomeness and hard manip
ulating of the machine.
CONGRESSMAN MOONEY
LOSES BOTTLE, DESTH
CLEVELAND, May 29, (/P) —Con
gressman Charles Mooney, 52 years
of age, Democratic Representative
from the 20th Ohio district since
1923, died from pneumonia after
waging a death battle since Wed
nesday.
Congressman Mooney was partic
ularly active on the Rivers and
Harbors Committee.
HALIBUT PRICES
SEATTLE, May 29. UP)—Halibut
from six vessels amounting to 57,
500 pounds brought 6c and 10c, at
Prince Rupert. Halibut totaling 34,
000 pounds of Canadian and Am
erican brought 3c and 6c.
QUEEN SEWARD-BOUND
SEATTLE, May 29. (JP) —The S.
S. Queen sailed at 10 a. m. and
carried 87 passengers for Alaskan
points. A number of Seward pas
sengers are on board.
FILES BANKRUPTCY
NEW YORK, May 29. (A5)—Dobbs
and Company, one of New York’s
best known and most fashionable
retail firms filed voluntary peti
tion in bankruptcy. The liabilities
were listed as $12,000 more than
the assets. Failure was blamed
upon the existing business depres
sion.
On the Oil Trail
By May L. Kellogg, Special Correspondent
Mestling on the sunny, southern slope of the Sierra
^Madre Mountains in California the little town of
Whittier has long been known in oil circles.
For thirty years past these bare, low, undulating
hills have been topped with oil derricks, lying as they
do, to the south of, and parallel to the main range.
No large wells have been brought in here, and from
year to year these wells have been on the pump, but
just the same they have made good fortunes for their
owners, and still do.
Only a few miles south of
I Whittier is another old oil field,
La Brea, also known as the home
of small producers only. These \
are also pumping. Same country !
contour, same low, bare, brown j
hills, for it is well known the'
best oil domes never show vegeta- j
tion to any great extent. A few;
stunted trees, shrubs or weeds, j
perhaps. Oil gas penetrates sand
and earth for hundreds of feet,
killing the roots, or stunting all
hopelessly.
These two oil producing fields
: went on for years. Little atten
tion was paid to them. Finally, j
someone thought it well to drill!
in the north end of the city‘
(small then) of Los Angeles. Oil.
was found, and other drills got
busy. When it was an established
! fact that the city of Los Angeles
! lay directly upon an oil pool, its
j officials prohibited drilling within
the city limits. The noise, smoke!
| and danger arising from oil gush- j
ers could not be allowed to ruin
this lovely city.
j They did right. Years passed.
About 18 miles from Los Angel
|es was a small city called Long
Beach, best known at that time
as a summer and a winter resort.
| Going from Alaska to Southern j
| California this writer sojourned!
| for a time in Long Beach. Six
j months later oil was brought in
on Signal Hill—the north end of
town. From the first, nothing but
gushers developed. No small wells
here. Clearly I remember the ad-!
vent of the first tremendous gush
er on fire. It was midnight. A
shock as of an earthquake waken
jed us suddenly from sleep, win
i dows rattled, doors shook, it seem
ed the whole earth rocked. Rush
ing out of doors upon the first
instinct—my friend next door, a
lady alone as I was, had done the
| same, and together, in night
'clothes, we talked excitedly over
j the fence. j
By this time ’ the great and
blazing light of a fire on Signal
Hill announced to us the fact
that an oil gusher had been brot
in and was on fire. We hoped no
oil workers had been killed, but
we were fearful. Five minutes
later the streets of Long Beach
thronged with rushing automo
biles. Men and women, in night
gear, with overcoats thrown has
tily on, eager to see the catas
trophe—an oil well on fire—stepp
ed on the gas to the limit.
Policemen were soon on guard,
and an extra cordon of these had
to be placed on the job. Streets
were roped off and traffic sus
pended around the unruly gusher
for many days. Sometimes these
runaways put themselves out by
caving in and shutting off their
gas. At other times different meth
ods are used, a small well on fire
can be capped more easily, but
(Pleaae turn to Page Three)
PRESIDENT TO HONOR
WHO DUO, HESS,
ON HISTORIC GROUND
WASHINGTON, May 29. (JP) —
In the hilly country where win
ter privation and training prepar
ed the Revolutionary soldiers to
continue the struggle for indepen
dence. President Hoover will honor
America’s war dead.
After delivering his address he
will inspect the structure where
George Washington and the Ger
man-American Von Steuben drill
ed the volunteers to r^occupy'^hll
adelphia.
After the inspection the President
returns to Washington where the
usual Decoration Day services will
take place at the Tomb of United
States Unknown Soldier.
JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla.,
May 29. (#*) — Walter Lees and
Frederick Brossy succeeded in their
ambition to stay aloft in an air
plane without refueling longer
than any man had done before.
They landed their Diesel motored
monoplane on the beach at 7:20
Eastern Standard Time, Thursday
evening,- setting a world’s non
fuelling and endurance record of
84 hours, 33 minutes. This is nine
hours and 10 minutes better than
the former mark made by two
Frenchmen in Algeria last March.
It was their third trial at the
mark; a leak in an oil tank ended
their first attempt last March,
and a storm forced them down in
April.
6REIT mi. HI
MCE CEB mm
INIANAPOLIS, May 29. {JP)—
While the two and one half miles
of bricks on the motor speedway
have been washed clean of oil
an dgrease in preparation for the
annual 500 mile auto race on De
coration Day, the city broke out in
the annual pre-race atmosphere.
The fastest field of 40 cars ever
to start have entered; 38 covered
their trials at more than 100 miles
per hour. -