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DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS OF MOOSE PASS AND KENAI PENINSULA
Vol« 1
Moose PasSf Alaska - August 17, 1939
No, 27
COLORFUL STORY OF A
HIKE OVER JOHNSON PASS
By Mrs. Ray Stafford
(Continued from last week).
I was alone on the brown boar side of
the creek. He was on the other side.May
be he couldn't get back. Maybe that
house was empty too. Maybe he would fall
and break a leg. And whatever happened*
what was he going to do with me? Suppos
ing there were people in the house. They
would have to build a bridge before I
could cross. They couldn't tie me to
that log so that I would be safe.
I went back up the knoll where I could
sight the house. Brown bears behind and
a raging stream in front. Cornered'. And
it wasn't a dream. I was wet too. I
would get cold. Walk up and down like a
prisoner and keep warm. Pray for mira
cles - only I can't pray and there are no
miracles. Promise yourself over and over
that there will be a way. Where have I
heard things like that? My husband was
gone now. Panic and dark and rainI No
smoke showed from the chimney of the cab
in. Probably a vacated place, too.
Then I saw three men slowly shambling
along the trail from the house. They
shuffled alons?. but still thev would reach
the stream before I did. I scrambled
down from the knoll and rushed to the cor
ner where the bridge was gone, to be there
when they arrived. I wanted no wondering
nor waiting about me. Scrambling down
wasn't so easy either. It meant clinging
to scrub growth while I slid over a bank
of loose rocks and mud. Rain too, was
coming down. I got around that awful
corner and faced the bridge again.The men
weren't there. What had happened to
them? They were closer to it than I was
when I had sighted them. Maybe he had
missed them. Maybe he slipped in the
ooze and got hurt. Maybe they cane a
different way and had missed him. They
didn't show up. By God, I'm really going
to do something about this now. I'm not
going to stand in this dangerous place any
longer and let these people get away from
me. My husband was lost. I rushed a
round that rocky corner again and up the
streaming trail, then up the knoll, over
the wall of loose rock, mud and wet brush.
Desperation this time. If I still could
see those men I would wave and yell and
stamp until something happened.
They were there, coming my way again
from a little side trail. I yelled, but
it was useless against the noise from the
water below. One of them wa* my husband
all right, I could tell that, and they
(Continued on back page).
MYSTERY PLANE
Last Thursday evening a plane came to
Moose Pass from the north flying very low.
It came along over Trail lake, circled the
settlement and then seemed to follow the
line of the highway. A dozen people v/ho
saw it remarked that it seemed to be in
trouble - that its engine didn't sound
right. It was mounted on wheels.
Out at their Quartz creek mine, Mr. and
Mrs. Jake Laubscher and "Bud" Tolson saw
it flying so low that it seemed to scrape
the tops of the trees. They watched it
and are positive that they saw it fall.
They immediately went to a large and deep
lake where it seemed to fall but could find
no trace of it. They reported it to the
forest service - members of which formed a
searching party without result.
No commercial planes have been lost dur
ing the week and most of the commercial
planes are on pontoons. It may have been
a geodetic survey plane mapping the coun
try - it may have been a private plane pi
loted by someone unfamiliar with the coun
try - and there may have been a catastro
phe.
Pilot Moore of Anchorage, transported
an 1100 pound cow by plane Wednesday from
the dock at Seward to McGrath.
Sourdoughs claim that Alaska is getting
pretty high hat when it thinks it has to
have cows.
This week's distinguished visitor to
Moose Pass was Dow V. Baxter, associate
professor of Forest pathology at the Uni
versity of Michigan. He was accompanied
by two students of forest pathology Jor
don L. Watts of Portland,Ore., and Charles
Allen of Huntington, W. Va. They have
visited the southern tip of Chugach nat
ional forest at Kodiak, spent 10 days in
the vicinity of Russian lake and are now
en route to Nome.
Dr. Baxter has written a number of trea
tises on the diseases of trees which are
issued from Ann Arbor and he has made in
tensive studies in the British Isles and
Sweden as well as in the United States.
He is the originator of the theory that
trees are prone to contract certain dis
eases in youth the some as children.
Dr. Baxter and his students asked the
MINER to say that they were grateful for
the favors they received while in this
section - that they thought Moose Pass a
delightful place and so far as they were
concerned it is "the capital of Alaska."
Alex Bolam will take the Duke of Suth
erland and three (Continued on next page)