THE NOME NUGGET
Published Monday, Wednesday and Friday by the
NOME PUBLISHING CO.
NOME, ALASKA
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E. P. BOUCHER . Managing Editor
Entered as second class matter October 14, 1943, at the postoffice
at Nome, Alaska, under the Act of March 3, 1879.
Nome, Alaska, Monday, March 3, 1952
IF IT WERE AS SURE AS IT IS SLOW
SIGNAL CORPS CELEBRATES 89th BIRTHDAY
Today (March 3) the U.S. Army Signal Corps
observes its birthday — its 89th since it was created
during the Civil War.
Brigadier General Albert J. Myer fathered the
Signal Corps when he introduced wig-wagging flags
to the United States Army. Through his efforts Con
gress enacted legisaltion making the Corps the first
branch of its kind among modern armies. Today, the
Signal Corps ties together America’s troops, wherever
they may be scattered over the face of the globe.
Born of pioneers, the Corps has kept alive its pio
neering spirit of invention and enterprise. It early
experimented with balloons, bought the nation’s first
military airplane, established — and still operates—
Alaska’s long-distance communications, organized the
weather forecasting service, and made the world’s
first radar contact with the moon.
Pausing only briefly today to remember its flags
and torches, Signal Corps men and women look ahead
to another year of progress as servants of the nation
in the fields of military communications, electronics,
meteorology, photography and nucleonics.
Alaskans are all familiar with the major Signal
Corps representative in Alaska, the Alaska Communi
cation System.
Of special interest to persons in the Nome area
is that the ACS Nome Station has the distinction of
being the first wireless station in the world to handle
commercial messages. The first message was transmit
ted from Safety, a short distance east of Nome, to St.
Michael in the fall of 1903.
Fifth Air Force Jets
Shoot Down Total 200
MIG-15s Over Korea
SEOUL, Korea, (/P) — Outnum
bered American Sabre jets shot
down two Communist MIG-15
jets Monday and damaged five
others as an estimated 250 Red
fighters swept south of the Yalu.
The Sabres tangled with the
swift MIGs in four separate bat
tles. The two Red jets the Air
Force said were shot down
boosted to 200 the number of
IktTrio ^oefrnvorJ hir Fifth _ Air*
1 Force planes in Korea, a spokes
man said.
Along the scarred battlefront,
Allied forces restricted action to
patrol scouting. Sunday an Allied
tank force muscled a two-prong
squeeze on Chinese hill positions
northeast and northwest of Chor
won, in western Korea.
The tankers reported 25 Com
munist bunkers wiped out and
eight damaged. No tanks were re
ported lost.
Mosquito: The original blood
V*onV
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Ire At Nenana
36 Tnches Thick
By BURMA ANDERSON
NENANA — The latest official
measurement of the ice in the
Tanana River at Nenana is 36
inches, according to Don Clark,
ice classic manager.
That well-known tripod was
erected February 27 and although
still minus its coat of black and
white stripe paint, stands as a
vivid reminder that thawing snow
and ice are not in the too-far
distant future.
Bill Lucas and Charles Shade
were mighty busy out on that vast
expanse of ice whilst stripping the
green spruce logs and chopping
the holes in the ice to install the
tripod for the 35th. anniversary
of this classic. Actually, you know,
it is quadruped and has been
for several years. Four braces are
used instead of three as in former
years but our manner of descrip
tion has not changed. But, tripod
or quadruped, who cares.
Do you think you know the
minute the ice will move in the
Tanana River this year? Old
timer Slim Avery, ice classic man
ager for ’49 and ’50 had chosen
May 11 for the day of this year’s
break-up and Slim has missed by
only minutes for several years.
However, we can’t seem to pry
out of him just what minutes he
thinks it will move this year. And,
by the way, since it is Leap Year
this year, have all of you put that
fact into consideration when de
termining when you think the ice
will move? It will be interesting
to note just who will be 24 hours
off in his calculation.
— — — —.... - —- —— —
Legislature Will Be
Asked Increase
\
Truck License Fees
WASHINGTON, (JP) — It ap
peared likely today that Alaska’s
territorial , legislature will be
asked to increase license fees for
truckers. ^
Testimony released by the
House Appropriations Committee
Saturday disclosed sharp criticism
of the fee schedule by Rep. Jensen
(R-Iowa).
Territorial Gov. Ernest Gruen
ing, who appeared before the
committee with Delegate Bart
lett said he agreed with the
Iowan’s criticism.
The taxpayers of America on
the mainland have spent 170 mil
lion on the Alaska railroad and
have spent millions on highways,”
Jensen declared.
“Now then, we have the trucks
come in and compete with the
railroad, and the railroad loses
money. It is just a case where we
lose in everything we do. The
people who benefit from the high
ways are not paying their fair
share for the upkeep of those
roads. They pay about one-quar
ter as much as the truck owners
do in the United States.”
He said he plans to be “quite*
stingy” on road money unless the
license fees are boosted.
Asked by Delegate Bartlett if
he would like his remarks pre
sented to the Territorial Legisla
ture next January, Jensen re
plied:
“Yes . . . and also the Truck
Driver’s Association.”
He said he “got some rather
nasty letters from the truck driv
ers up there” after broaching the
subject in similar hearings last
year.
The people of Easter Island,
lonely South Pacific speck, saw
their first aimlane in 1051.
Slow But Steady Decline
In Fc:i Prices Reported
WASHINGTON, (A>)—The gov
ernment reports a slow but steady
decline in focfd prices and cau
tiously offers the hope they may
stay down for a while.
The possibility also was voiced
that the next cost of‘living cost
index, due late in March, will
show a drop for the first time in
months.
But Ewan Clague, Commis
sioner of Statistics in the Labor
Department, said in expressing
such hopes he saw no signs of
any real downward trend in
prices.
j
“My opinion is that retail prices
won’t go very far in either direc
tion during the next few months,”
he said.
*
Austerity May Hit Apples
WENATCHEE, Wash., (/P) —
Apple men feel the “super-auster
ity” announced by Prime Minister
Winston Churchill for Great Brit
ain may mean the loss of Central
Washington’s best apple export
market.
So far this season, England has
taken 1,141,053 boxes of United
States apples in the most exten
sive export deal since pre-World
War II days, an industry spokes
man said. But the austerity pro
gram hits directly at such food
items as apples, he added.
The Dismal Swamp, a half mil
lion acres in Virginia and North
Carolina, has a permanent popula
tion of just one family.
French Force In Indochina
Turn Tables on Reds,
Stage Series of Ambushes
By LARRY ALLEN
SAIGON, Indochina, </P) —
French forces turned the tables
on the Communist-led Vietminh
Monday by staging a series of
ambushes on rebel columns which
had infiltrated ' the Red River
delta ir* northern Indochina.
In one ambush, 35 miles south
of Hanoi, a Vietminh column was
blasted and 15 captured French
men liberated.
French land and air forces con
tinued vigorously to push back
two Vietminh divisions which
made a two-pronged drive against
the delta southeast of Hanoi. Two
big rebel ammunition dumps were
destroyed near Kesat, about 18
miles southeast of Hanoi.
The French high command said
its “Operation Leap Year” already
had resulted in a total of 531
Vietminh dead and 1,000 wounded.
COUPLE SWAP PLACES
IN AMBULANCE
CARBONDALE, 111., (/P) — A
wife taking her husband home
from a hospital in an ambulance
swapped places with him before
the trip was over.
Mrs. Sylvia Hastings, of Paul
ton, 111., stopped the ambulance
enroute home to confer with their
doctor. There she fell down steps,
breaking a leg and arm. Her hus
band, Warren, gallantly gave up
his ambulance cot to her, and they
returned to the hospital to have
her admitted.
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