THE
OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS_
VOL. LIII No. 112 NOME, ALASKA, FRIDAY, SEPT. 21, 1951 Per Copy—15^
Mysterious Fire
Destroys B-17 At
Eielson Field
FAIRBANKS, (JP)— A fire of
mysterious origin destroyed a
B-47 jet bomber at Eielson Air
Force base yesterday.
The Air Force said there were
no casualties but referred all in
quiries to the Alaska Command
at Anchorage.
Witnesses said the plane “just
burst into flames” while resting
on the runway.
A civilian employe of the base
who asked not to be identified
said he walked by the bomber
shortly before the fire. He said
the plane was parked near a
hangar and no one was aboard
it or near it.
About ten minutes later he saw
smoke.
The Air Force had been using
the B-47 on test flights between
Alaska and the United States.
Shifting Wind
Saves Doomed
Logging Town
FORKS, Wash., (/P)—This fire
encircled logging town survived a
night with the doomed.
Dogged fire fighters and a “pro
vidential” shift in the wind saved
the town after authorities had
virtually given it up for lost late
yesterday. The forest fire veered
off after consuming most o*f one
residential corner of the town.
Nearly a score of buildings were
burned.
Evacuees of the town of 1,120
began returning to their homes
in smoky haze this morning. An
estimated 85 per cent Qf the pop
ulace left before or after an evac
uation order in mid-afternoon
yesterday.
Fire control officials were op
timistic today after the wind sub
sided overnight.
Alaska To Get $75,000 For
Improvement Sport Fishing
WASHINGTON, (/P) — North
west states and Alaska will re
ceive $302,661 of $2,929,250 the
Fish and Wildlife Service alloc
ated yesterday for the improve
ment of sports fishing.
Fishermen contributed to the
fund, the agency said, by pay
ing the 10 per cent excise tax
Congress imposed a year ago on
fishing rods, reels, creels, artifi
cial lures, baits and flies.
The number of fishing license
holders and the areas determines
the share each state receives.
Allotments include: Alaska
$75,000.
“Korea" To Be Inscribed
On Grave Markers Of
Service Men Killed There
WASHINGTON, (TP)—'The word
“Korea” will be inscribed on
markers on graves of all U. S.
armed forces men killed in that
country and buried in national
cemeteries.
President Truman ordered this
yesterday, untangling red tape
which had prohibited such identi
fication because the Korean con
flict is not officially a war.
Pan American To Change
Schedules to Morning
Departures On Oct. 1
Announcement was made this
morning by Pearse Walsh of the
P.A.A. that starting on October 1
the Pan American schedule will
be changed. Planes are scheduled
to arrive Tuesday and Friday at
10:00 a.m. and depart at 11:30 a.m.
This information is of special
interest to the merchants who
have been experiencing difficul
ties in handling their perishable
merchandise as well as passengers
who do ncft like the midnight
hours for take-off from Nome.
Further details will be announced
later.
Orders 10 Million
Pounds of Beef
Bought Overseas
O
WASHINGTON, (TP) — The
Army today ordered the purchase
of up to 10,000,000 pounds of
beef in foreign countries outside
the Soviet bloc.
It acted after a request to dom
estic packers for bids cm 13,000,
000 pounds of boneless beef
brought offers of only 190,000
pounds from two smaller packers.
Major packers refused to sub
mit bids, citing government price
controls and a shortage of high
quality beef as the reason.
An Army announcement said
the action was designed to “in
sure an uninterrupted flow of
meat to Army, Navy and Air
Force personnel overseas who are
normally supplied from eastern
seaboard points.”
The Army did not specify any
particular countries where the
beef would be purchased.
Bristol Bay Airlines Plane
Crashes Near Dillingham
ANCHORAGE, (JP) — A small
plane crashed last night at Ek
wok, a small village 40 miles
northeast of Dillingham on Bris
tol Bay, injuring the pilot and an
unidentified passenger.
The Civil Aeronautics Adminis
tration here said the plane was a
Taylorcraft belonging to Bristol
Bay Airlines. It was piloted by
Dick Armstrong.
The CAA said a meager report
from the scene said the pilot was
unconscious but the nature of his
injuries was not reported. Other
details of the crash, including the
identity of the passenger, were not
avail-able.
Army “Fires” Comic
Character “Sad Sack'*
FORT ORD, Calif., f/P) — The
Army recently burned several
hundred copies of its comic book
depicting a “sad sack” who lived
happily ever after only after re
enlisting in the service.
The book is the one Senator
Capehart (R-Ind) denounced as
“socialist propaganda” 10 days
ago.
A Fort Ord public information
officer said several unopened
packages of the colored books,
containing several hundred copies,
were thrown into the incinerator
recently on order from Sixth
Army.
17 Million Contract
Let In Eklutna
Power Project
WASHINGTON, UP) — The Bu
reau of Reclamation announced
Thursday the awarding of its first
major construction contract out
side the United States—for a part
of 'the Eklutna project in Alaska.
The contract went to Palmer
Constructors, Omaha, Neb., on a
low bid of $17,348,865. The firm
is a combine of three companies,
Peter Kiewit Sons, Coker Con
struction Co. and Morrison-Knud
son Co. The contract calls for'the
construction of:
L A diversion itunnel four miles
long and nine feet in diameter,
through Goat Mountain to Knik
Arm, an inlet of the sea.
2. A concrete gate shaft nine
feet in diameter, a concrete surge
tank 30 feet in internal diameter,
and a penstock tunnel varying in
diameter from six to seven and
a half feet.
3. Some alterations to the ex
isting Eklutna dam.
The Eklutna project is expected
to cost $33,800,000 and to pro
vide more than 164,000,000 kilo
watt-hours of energy for the An
chorage area. A 30,010-kilowatt
power plant will be built at tide
water on the Anchorage-Palmer
highway, near milepost 34.
The Bureau said power capa
city of the Eklutna project will
be completely taken as soon as it
is finished, probably in 1955 and
studies are now under way to
provide more through water re
sources development on the Kenai
Peninsula and Susitna River.
Testifies Boyle Paid $500
A Month “In Case Some
Things Might Develop”
WASHINGTON, (/P)—Robert J.
Blauner, president of the Ameri
can Lithofold Corp., testified to
day that he hired William M.
Boyle, Jr., at $500 a month be
cause he expected “some things
might develop.”
Blauner didn’t give details, but
told the Senate investigations sub
committee that as it turned out
“really nothing of any great mo
ment developed” that required the
services of Boyle, now Democratic
National Chairman.
The American Lithofold head
testified in the subcommittee’s in
vestigation of charges that Boyle
used political influence to help
the St. Louis printing firm get
$565,000 in Reconstruction Fin
ance Corporation loans.
The Senators have received pre
vious testimony that Boyle re
ceived a total of $1,250 from Feb
ruary to April, 1949. Boyle him
self has said this was for legal
work. He has denied having any
thing to do with the RFC loans.
■ ■ ' ■ ' ■ ' ' —
Bartlett Bills In Congress
WASHINGTON, (A5) — Delegate
Bartlett of Alaska introduced a
bill yesterday to authorize the
territory to issue $250,000 in rev
enue bonds for the Territorial Of
fice Building at Juneau.
Another Bartlett bill called for
the establishment of a roadside
lodge offering tourist accommoda
tions in the vicinity of err along
the Alaskan highway.
Tanner Funeral To Be
Held 2 p.m. Saturday
The funeral of C. C. Tanner,
well known local attorney who
was drowned on a hunting trip
last Monday, will be held from
the Community Methodist Church
on Saturday afternoon at two
o’clock with Rev. Robert Treat in
'charge of the service.
Mayor Charles Jones will pre
sent the history of Mr. Tanner and
express, in behalf of the City of j
Nome, the appreciation of the
community for his services as at
torney here.
Music will be by Mrs. Carrie
McLain and Mrs. Robert Treat
with Robert Baldwin at the organ.
Burial will be at the Belmont
Point cemetery.
Roy Snyder, accompanied by
Mrs. Snyder and Dolly Gerberg,
brother and sister of Mrs. Tanner,
arrived from Anchorage to be
here for the funeral.
Stanley Garson
Would Drop Pole
At INorth Pole
FAIRBANKS, (£>)—If it’s called
the North Pole there ought to be
a pole there, so reasoned Alaska
workman Stanley Garson. He
built one, painted it like a barber
pole and asked the Air Force to
drop it at the top of the world.
That’s where the trouble started.
The 58th Weather Reconnais
sance Squadron which makes
routine flights over the earth’s
icy, bald head, hemmed and hawed
over Garson’s request, then said
today:
The 9-foot, 200-pound pole is
too big. The B-29s of the squad
ron are converted for long dis
tance flying and gas tanks ob
struct the bomb bay doors. To be
dropped at all, Garson would have
to cut about three feet off the
pole.
The barber pole would be of
little geographical significance.
The North Pole is on drifting ice
and the wooden one would soon
shift off center and anyway, the
pole couldn't be given the heave
ho from a weather reconnaissance
plane without official sanction
from Washington, D. C.
Undiscouraged, the Pt. Barrow
oil exploration worker who made
a special trip here to put across
his pole scheme said he would try
to get an okay from Air Force
bigwigs in Washington. “There’ll
be a pole at the North Pole if
it’s the last thing I do,” he said.
Fairbanks Business Men.
Honor Pelly, Retiring
Head Seattle C of C
SEATTLE, (/P)—A special gift
from the business men of Fair
banks was made yesterday to
Thomas M. Pelly, who recently
retired as president of the Seattle
Chamber of Commerce, for his
contribution to the “betterment of
Seattle and territorial under
standing and cooperation.”
The award, a pair of gold cuff
links inlaid with gold nuggets
panned from the Tanana river was
presented to Pelly by Morris
Johnson, former mayor of Fair
banks and now president of the
Fairbanks Chamber.
Report Discovery
Wrecked DC-3 or 4
Kenai Mountains
ANCHORAGE, (/P) — Discovery
of wreckage high on the slopes of
a Kenai peninsula mountain peak
spurred the search Thursday far
a long-missing Korean airlift plane
and its 38 occupants.
The Air Force Base public in
formation office reported a Mr.
Carey telephoned the 10th Rescue
Squadron from the Manson-Os
berg Construction Co., camp that
he spotted the wreckage of either
a DC-3 or DC-4 at the 4,000-foot
level in the Kenai mountains. The
missing airlift plane was a DC-4.
Carey said he used field glasses
in spotting the plane. A short
time later he flew over the area
in a plane but the weather closed
in. The forecast was for bad
weather for the next 48 hours.
“Report of Low Merit
But Worth Investigating”
ANCHORAGE, (&)—The lead
er of an Air Force trail crew sent
to investigate a report that plane
wreckage was sighted on a Kenai
peninsula mountain, said today
he believes the “report was of
low merit,” but worth investigat
ing.
A construction worker Wed
nesday spotted what he said ap
peared to be wreckage of a DC-3
or DC-4 in the Kenai mountains
10 miles southwest of Kenai Lake.
Lt. Richard Swan, in charge of
the four-main trail crew, discus
sed the report with- James A.
Carey, Manson-Osberg construc
tion company worker who said he
sighted the wreckage.
Swan said later the country
where the plane reportedly was
spotted was low on the normal
1 Anchorage - Seward airlane. He
said the wreckage should have
been seen by pilots flying the
route.
“However, there still is a pos
sibility there is wreckage of a
plane,” Swan said. “It would be
covered by heavy underbrush and
not easily spotted from the air.
The trail crew will go up to in
vestigate.”
Korean War News
TOKYO, (/P)—Gen. Matthew B.
Ridgway withheld his answer to
day to a communist proposal to
resume the Korean truce talks at
Kaesong.
But while the move to resume
armistice talks hung fire, Allied
armor roared out loudly across
the Korean battlefront.
United Nations tanks and in
fantry thrust into the former com
munist iron triangle buildup urea
on the central front.
The battle of words over how to
get the wheel of pieace revolving
again was as muted as the United
Nations’ limited offensvie action
was loud. Red China’s Peiping
radio — the communist scmnding
board that pours out tens of
thousands of words euch day in
anti - United Nations command
propaganda—was notably silent.
There was only a dribble of
hashed-over complaints of Kae
song neutrality violations where
torrents used to flow.