Eodiak mirror
*#JYew of (America's Last ‘frontier
Published Every Saturday at Kodiak, Alaska
Yearly Subscription Rate $5,00
Entered in t le Postodice at Kodiak, Alaska as Second
Class matte under act of Congress of March 3, 1878;
MIRROR PUBLISHING COMPANY
Melton L. Crawford, Editor and Publisher
Jeanne R. Crawford, Associate Editor
“ • • • tha government of the people, by the people,
for the people shall not perish from the earth. '—Lincoln
MEMBER OF ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Associated Press is exclusively entitled to the use
for reoublication of all news dispatches credited to it
or not otherwise credited in this paper and also the
local news published herein.
ANOTHER SESSION OVER
Alaska’s twentieth legislature wound up its work this week
to the complete relief of many residents of the territory.
We followed closely the actions and in some cases the an
tics of our elected representatives from the Third Division.
We-noted with disgust Hie introduction of a memorial to
ttongress asking that if statehood was denied Alaska by the
tJ. S* Longresa we be given the right to declare absolute in
dependence from the United States and to form the Republic
of Alaska.
We wish to note here again that the memorial was intro
duced by the seven Democratic representatives from the
Third Division.
We also wish to point to the $19,543,136 in appropriations
that the Twentieth Legislature passed in the final hours of
the 1951 session. Has anyone considered the question of where
Ibis is coming from?
The heads of the budget framing committees have estima
ted the deficit at the end of the 1951-1953 biennium will be o
ver $2,000,000. The two men who head the committee have
said that the deficit might be reduced by a large salmon pack
or by the increase in income tax collections.
We wonder if this legislature has proved any better than
earlier ones that Alaska could wisely manage its own affairs,
were we to be given statehood.
Chamber Talks
(continued from page 1)
and possibly result in lower
freight rates.
following statements by
Olarence Dizney. chairman of
the Airport committee, R. D.
Russell, M. F. O’Brien and
Oharley Hamilton, the C of C
voted to write a letter to the
city council asking that action
on acquiring seaplane facilities
here be started.
Bettinger told the group
that preliminary work toward
obtaining land for an airport
had been started. He said that
a letter from the Bureau of
Land Management to the
Army asking it to relinquish
the land held by it near Mil
ler’s point was being pre
pared.
Preliminary surveys and
enlarged aerial photos have
revealed that the area is suit
j able for an air strip.
I Guests attending the meet
1 ing were Harry Gottschalk,
O’Brien and Hamilton.
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Letter To Editor
Dear Editor:
We only have to look about
us to see what effect fish and
bear have on our population
and prosperity—Three Saints
Bay. Alitak, Uyak, Uganik.
[ Fish and bear—thirty years
t ago a board walk was made
, leading to an office where
' millions have been made.
; Thirty years from now there
undoubtedly will be a board
walk leading to the same
offices. And there will be a
bout the same number of de
jected residents following an
old bear trail to their dilapi
dated homes and eking out a
precarious living by clinging
tenaciously to their ancient
heritage. People of the
Twentieth Century are more
interested in good homes,
good roads, good cars and all
the modern luxuries most of
us have long considered neces
sities, but which are never ,
provided by bear.
Is it possible then, that
some of us are so blind to our
surroundings that we would
advocate retain Kodiak Is- j
land as a colossal zoo just so
a few people are able to add a
few dollars to their yearly in- j
come, after v'emg with local
fishermen and the bear for the
few remaining fish on the
island?
Any industry that will not
supoort four or five families
properly is certainly no great
assist to the community,
especially an industry that
jeopardizes the population and
prosperity of the entire island.
Every fisherman in the
vicinity knows of the old
ranch in Uyak Bay where
some early settler probably
spent his life savings trying to
carve out a home in a new
land. In a few years his cattle
and sheep were gone and he
had to abandon the venture
just another one of the many
. dismal monuments erected to
1 the zoo keeper's gift to the
island. Supposing there had
been no bear and he had made
a success of the venture. As
in all other ranch countries,
his children would now be
occupying adjoining ranches,
Where one man can live,
others will move in and soon
there would be a thriving
little community in every good
harbor.
If we can raise enough
cattle on this island to lower
the price of fish, then let us
kill every bear on Kodiak Is
land before the next snow
flies and become a Little
Texas. If we don’t, our men
tal equipment certainly needs
adjustment
The sound of thundering
herds of buffalo stampeding
across the plains of Texas is
probable music to the ears of
a few bewhiskered old leather
leggings, but most people of
the Twentieth Century prefer
the purr of good cars flashing
• by good homes on good roads.
| We sincerely hope 'the ma
jority of the residents of Ko
diak do not fall into the for
mer category.
! While the loss of eattle at
present is considerable' f6r the
oresent owner, it is of no
: great importance to the com
munity as a whole. But what
13 of paramount importance ;s
the number that have been
kept off the Island.
It is on'v dun to the unusual
amount o intestinal fortitude
of the few ranchers vve have
that there are any cattle left
to kill. Man is not nocturnal,
and even though bears hunt
from daylight till dark, they
commit most of their carnage
at night when man is helpless.
Reports made public by cattle
men on cattle killed by bear
include only those definitely
established to have been killed
by bear. They do not include
natural losses or cattle that
have disappeared and are un
accounted for.
Our thesis is that Kodiak
without the Base and with
the bear would be just about
the same as it was thirty years
ago. but without the Base and
without the bear it would be*
a well populated and pros
perous hub of many thrifty
little communities.
To further acquaint the
Mirror reader with what the
bear actually is doing to fish,
we herewith Quote the con
elusion of the Richard F.
Shuman report, “Bear De
predations on Red Salmon
Spawning Populations in the
Karluk River System. 1947.”
in the Journal of Wildlife
Management, January, 1950.
“The runs of red salmon in
the Karluk system presently
are in a depleted condition,
and predation therefore has
become more important to the
perpetuation of these runs. In
order to measure the loss of
potential spawners through
bear depredations, studies of
the problem were begun dur
ing the 1947 season. The num
ber of fish eaten or removed
from the stream by bear was
not ascertained, but data were
collected which makes it pos
sible to determine the number
of fish killed by bear and left
in the streams.
| “It was determined that 31.3
percent Of the fish which en
i tered Moraine Creek, a typi
cal tributary, were killed by
bear before spawning, and
left partly or wholly uneaten.
When this percentage figure
. is applied to all of the fish
1 which entered the several
tributary streams, it can be
stated that during the 1947
j continued on page 12
Town Tfdbifo f
In tb-i spring (?) tfcfcw of
the early part of the wee?', it
melted away, but befe*' it
did, tre snowman ip fhe
August rIeitman yard be- "■* of
the sh 5 patrol headqu
certain took toy honor ’’c
the by:. est of the season.
Tt -is about seven ot
h:<rh ivas built by the Feit
man b • % their friends and
cousins, with the aid of a ’ad
der, and commanded the ap
proach to Shelikof Highway
with a firm black eye. Sally
Reitman, high school daugh
ter of the family, saw it for
the first time after dark one
evening, and admitted it gave
her quite a start. . . .
The usual holiday decora
tions Kodiak shoppers have
come to expecc of the City
Market are again to be seen i»
grocery’s small window,
where Mrs. Glen Banks has
rigged up an Easter bunny
drawing a cart full of decor
ated eggs, before a bank of
daffodils.
It’s Elaine’s belief* which
she puts into practice, that
“people outside see nice win
dow displays at holiday times,
and I thi >k we owe it to our
customers to do the best w«
can for them, not just sell
them groceries all year and
give them nothing in return
for their business.” . . .
The City Market’s daffodils,
incidentally, were the only
flowery sign of soring to ap
pear on Wednesday which the
calendar says was the first
day of spring. At least it
didn’t snow that day. . .
A true Alaskan is Carl
Moyer of Anchorage, who as
far away as Hermosillo,
Sonora, Mexico, proved he is a
real sourdough. In a letter to
Mayor Lee Bettinger, who
gete some unusual ones in his
official capacity from time to
time, Moyer related the
following tale:
He recently checked into a
hotel in the Mexican city, sad
when the clerk saw that
Moyer was from Anchorage,
he asked if Moyer knew Mr.
X from Kodiak. Moyer didn't.
However, when the clerk
showed Moyer a ‘'rubber'’*
check that had been given to
the hotel by X several months
ago, Moyer promptly re
deemed it
‘‘Do you know this charac
ter?” he wrote Bettinger. “I
redeemed the check because
continued on page M
/4(l “TtfatoMti. & £<ut&m StaM
their families and friends are
cordially invited to attend
7U
gerentOKCf oj ^difAtut? die
ORPHEUM THEATRE
1:30 p.m. EASTER Sunday