SEWARD,
ALASKA
“CENTER of
EVERYTHING”
MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
VOLUME XIV. NUMBER 188. SEWARD, ALASKA. TUESDAY AUGUST 13. 1929.
PRICE TEN CENTS
EGIT01L
AGRICULTURE IN CENTRAL
ALASKA
Farming and gardening in the
Susitna valley and in the numerous
valleys of Kenai peninsula, includ
ing the great plateau on the west
ern side of the Kenai peninsula be
tween Cook Inlet and the Knik
mountains, have progressed far
enough on many small patches
widely scattered since the building
cl the Alaska Railroad to demon
strate what can be done on a large
scale on every square mile of those
extensive areas.
With certainty, there are 2,000,000
acres on the Kenai peninsula and
2,000,000 acres in the Susitna valley
to say nothing of an equal amount
in the Tanana valley, which have
possibilities for growing every kind
of vegetable, berries, rye, oats, bar
ley and the harder wheats, more
abundantly and of better quality,
acre by acre, than the northern
states of the United States.
If that statement should seem
• oo sweeping, the answer is before
the eyes of every man and woman
who will visit the hundreds of little
farms and gardens in and around
Seward, Seldovia, Kenai, Hope, An
chorage, Sunrise, Matanuska, Was
illa, Talkeetna, and scores of other
places in those valleys.
What is produced on one acre
can be produced on the adjoining
acre under the same conditions, or
the adjoining hundreds of acres,
gi thousands of acres.
The long summers and the long
hours of daylight in these latitudes
produce with a rapidity and luxur
iance of growth that are not sur
passed in any State of the Union.
When summer comes, it is here in a
bound, and the danger of killing
frosts is past, unlike the conditions
that ‘menace crops in many of the
agricultural states.
FRUIT GROWING POSSIBILITIES
IN ALASKA
Natives of Norway and Sweden
who live in Seward and other towns
on the Alaska Railroad have been
for years telling other residents
that apples, pears, cherries and
peaches can be grown in parts of
Alaska. They cite the fact that
those fruits have been grown suc
cessfully in the Scandinavian coun
tries for many centuries, where the
climatic conditions are similar to
the climatic conditions in corres
ponding latitudes of Alaska.
But the days of mining excite
ments and stampedes brought to
Alaska generally a class of men who
were bent on finding placer gold.
They cared nothing for other
forms of wealth. Like most people
of that early period, they had pre
conceived ideas about Alaska that
banished all thought of agriculture
and fruit growing.
Year by year, however, the real
Alaska has displaced the old im
pressions. It is now known every
where that Alaska grows garden
vegetables the equal in quality and
quantity per acre of the best sec
tions of Washington, Oregon and
California. Also its possibilities as
a grain growing region on a large
(Continued on Page Six)
C. HEM KILLED
HAD BEEN IN RAILROAD SER
VICE FOR MANY YEARS.
MEMBER OF ELKS
Charles Ohrem, former assist
ant foreman at the Seward Dock,
Alaska Railroad, died at 1:30 a.
m. today from internal injuries
sustained yesterday afternoon
when he was pinned beneath
the two-ton steel magnet now
being used by the railroad to
transfer scrap steel to the S. S.
Taiyu Maru
Mr. Ohrem, who was working in
the hold of the vessel, stepped
into the square of the hatch to
guide a sling-load of dunnage
i that was being lowered by the
magnet hook, unmindful, it is
!said, of the fact that the mag
net was following the dunnage.
(Continued on Pajre Eij^ht)
I
ALU!
TIE IEP1T1S
FRANCE AND ITALY TO ASK IF
THREAT TO INVALIDATE
TREATY SUPPORTED
| LONDON, Aug., 13. (/P)—Great
Britain must have satisfaction of
jher demands for a larger percent
age of the German reparations
under the Young plan of settle
ment. or there will be no such
plan adopted. Such was the defy
Philip Snowden, British Chancellor
of the Exchequer hurled at the
jHague Conference, declaring that
England would not compromise
and declared everything must halt
until he received his answer.
More than this, Mr. Snowden de
clared that if Great Britain did
not receive what she regarded as
fair treatment at this conference,
not only would she refuse to accept
the Young plan but she would re
gard herself open to make revision
of debt accords with debtors. This
astonishing statement created a
sensation and brought forth a reply
that threat to denounce treaties
duly made and ratified, constituted
a novel method of conference pro
ceedure.
It is possible that both France
and Italy will ask if London sup
ports Mr. Snowden’s threat to in
validate debt treaties.
ELISIF CREW READY
ST. PAUL ISLAND, Aug., 13, (JP)—
Th crew of the Elisif are ready to
proceed to East Cape, Siberia, either
in small boats or on the Stayatoll,
| where they will be picked up by the
Northland about September 10.
The damage to the Elifis is unde
termined; the Elisif is beached 300
miles up the Holyna river.
Editorial
GREETINGS, CONGRESSMEN!
You are in Alaska as members of the House Com
mittee on Agriculture of the Congress of the United
States primarily to see and understand the agricultural
possibilities of this vast new Territory—565,000 sqaure
miles in extent.
You have seen hundreds of gardens in all the
towns along the Alaska Railroad from Seward to Fair
banks, and scores of fields of growing grain in the
countryside, producing as abundantly as any garden or
field you ever saw in Washington, or Illinois, or Ohio.
The evidence before your eyes no doubt amazed
you. It was so different from your preconceived ideas.
^ut cast y°ur thoughts to corresponding areas in
A 01 times tern. Europe—the Scandinavian countries, the
Ealtie States, Denmark, Scotland, and Northern Eng
land—and you will discover there 27,500,000 of the fin
est and most progressive people on the face of the earth,
supported basically on agriculture and dairying.
jo a step fui thei, and you will discover that in
these latitudes of Alaska and of Northwestern Europe
there is a gr<fving period of hours of sunshine between
jr'Iay 1 and September 15 one-third in excess of the
nours of sunshine for the same period in Washington
Unbelievable? Of course you will say that, or think
it, at first sight. Rut look into it for yourselves, and the
facts will speak for themselves. That is the one big
fundamental truth about Alaska’s agricultural possibil
ities. Think seriously on that great fact, visiting Con
gressmen,. and tell your colleagues about it.
And in all your legislative act sand deliberations
pertaining to Alaska remember that you are dealing
with a Territory of mighty potentialities in the destiny
| of our Nation
four ARRESTED 01
COiPiGI CHARGE
BLACKMAIL COUPLE
BLACKMAIL PLOT HINGES ON
1 ART WORK; DEFENDANTS
SOUGHT $270,000
—
| WASHINGTON, Aug., 13, (/P)—
|Four persons, including W. Clark
I Noble, an artist, at liberty under
bond, and Mrs. Anna Hillenbrand,
are in prison in default of bond on'
charges of conspiracy to blacknlail
Captain and Mrs. C. C. Calhoun, j
socially prominent residents of
•Washington, who entertained the
| Prince of Wales on his last visit
to the United States.
Besides Noble and Mrs. Hillen
brand, those arrested were Mrs.
Noble, James Byrd and Stephen
Armstrong.
The charges arose from a com- j
plaint by the Calhouns charging
Ithe defendants sought to extract
§270,000 from them under a threat
| of getting into press scandalous
'material.
The background of the alleged
plot is scant but it is believed to
hinge on some art work Noble did
, for the Calhouns.
SAN DIEGO, A13, (/P)—Ted
Rankin, Portland aviator, who left
Vancouver, B. C., at 4:30 a. m. Mon
day on a non-stop flight over the
Pacific coast reagion, landed at
Agua Calienta, Mexico, at 5:48 p,
m. Monday.
While Rankin encountered fog
until he reached Portland and ex
treme warm weather in the San
Joaquin valley in California, he was
not bothered with head winds and
used only 75 gallons of gasoline on
the trip.
PROVISIONS, TREATY
ROME, Aug., 13, (/P)—Provisions
of the Lateran Treaty eliminating
civil marriage ceremonies as a re
quisite for lawful wedlock, went
into effect.
“CUNNING FIEND”
SAN FRANCISCO, Aug., 13, (/Pi
Bay authorities were searching for
a “Cunning Fiend” who stabbed
Geraldine Seliciane, 18, of Colma,
after pulling her into a parked au
tomobile. The girl received seven
wounds and is in a critical condi
tion.
YOUNG FINANCE
CONFERENCE IS
POSTPONED DAY
MILITARY PROBLEMS; TRANS
PORTATION TROOPS; OTHER
MATTERS NUMEROUS
THE HAGUE,! Aug., 13, UP)—
The skirting of a crisis has dead
locked proceeding of a confer
ence to make Young’s plan ef
fective and the delegates have
decided to postpone the meetings
of th financee committee until
the next Wednesday. In
the mean time the committee is
taking up the discussion of the
Rhineland evacuation problem.
Chancellor of the British Exche
quer, Philip Snowden, who precipi
tated the near crisis when he ob
jected to a reduction as the British
share in the reparation funds
himself called for the adjournment
of the finance committee.
No date -is contemplated for the
Rhineland evacuation as military
problems relative to transporta
tion of troops and other mat
ters are numerous.
E
POTTSVILLE. Pa., Aug., 13. (/P)—
With three additional explosions
after midnight, and spreading
j flames over an area of 250 feet
long, a heavily marshaled fire
fighting force continued to battle
the fire in the Primrose vein of the
Sherman Coal Co.
Twenty-five miners were working
wdien the explosion occurred; they
escaped thru an air breach in the
gangway but four members of the
rescue party were severely burned.
The fire spread quickly thru the
vein of soft anthracite.
ON THE SANTA FEE:
NO ONE INJURED
PUEBLO, Colo., Aug., 13, (JP)—
Three pullman cars overturned
and three other cars were derailed
when the truck baggage car of the
Santa Fe train, Chicago-bound,
'broke while traveling at high speed.
The passengers were badly shak
en and some were bruised, but none
iwere seriously hurt.
The derailed coaches polwed up
I the tracks for more than 700 feet;
holding up traffic for eight hours.
The passengers continued on their
journey on a relief train..
EXPLOSION, FACTORY
NEW YORK, Aug., 13, (£>)—'Two
men were killed, one dying and 16
|were injured in an explosion in a
Brooklyn macaroni factory.