Start New Type Air!
Freight Service
To S. E. Alaska
SEATTLE, (£*)—Using ingenuity
and a war-surplus flying boat, j
three Seattle men this week will j
start a new air service from Seat-,
tie to the “airportless” maritime
region of Southeastern Alaska.
If the idea “pans” out, it will
bring heavy air freight and pas
senger service to Alaskan coastal
villages that have never seen any
thing larger than small pontoon
planes, F. A. Davis, one of the
backers of the venture, said today.
“The present air freight lines
are bypassing this area because
there are practically no airports
there.” Davis pointed out. “That’s
where we come in. We dont need
an airport—we taxi right up to
the beach.”
Backers of the venture are Da
vis. who will handle the business
end: his brother, Newell Davis,
who will be in charge of mainten
ance: and Dwayne Campbell, chief
pilot. The firm is known as Totem
Air Service, Inc.
Their aircraft, a specially-con
verted PBY5A, they bought from
surplus coast guard stocks. Davis
was a major in the army at An
chorage, his brother was in the
Marine Corps, and Campbell is a
former navy pilot.
The new line will service Sitka,
Petersburg. Wrangell, Ketchikan,
Juneau and smaller towns. The
company will be able to fly can
nery workers direct to their des
tinations, Davis points out.
Later, the company plans to
make charter runs on special hunt
ing and fishing trips to Alaska. It
will make its first trip north
Thursday, Davis said.
01dtimer«Sea
Captain Dies
“With Boots On*'’
PORT ANGELES, </P» — Capt.
Richard J. Healy, 66, central fig
ure in two dramatic Alaskan sea
rescues nearly a score of years1
ago, died suddenly Monday as he
%
was preparing to pilot a Seattle
bound vessel through Puget Sound
to port.
As master of the American
Mail Line’s President Madison.
Healv drove through an Aleutian
storm in September. 1932, to Ama
tignak Island to save three seamen
—only survivors of the wrecked
freighter Nevada.
Three years earlier, while cap
tain of the freighter Montauk. he
ignored the danger of heavy seas
to rescue 33 crewmen from the
battered lumber freighter Allo
way, wallowing helplessly off Uni
mak Island.
Seattle staged one of its biggest
welcomes for Healv and his crew
when the Montauk returned writh
the survivors.
Healy started as a deckboy in
Ireland 50 years ago, working his
way up through various deck offi
cer ratings until he received his
master’s license in 1900 w’hile
skippering freighters in Alaskan
and Arctic waters. Later he was an
American Mail line trans-Pacific
ship master for many years.
He became a Puget Sound pilot
in 1942 and was aboard a tug off
Ediz Hook, en route to his piloting
assignment, when he was stricken.
Healy is survived by his widow
and two daughters.
The same mold which yields
penicillin is believed to hold an
even more potent wreapon against
disease germs called penatin.
NORTHERN
LIGHT & POWER CO.
“BETTER LIGHT - BETTER SIGHT”
G.-E. Mazda Lamps Refrigerators
Electrical Appliances Washing Machines
Wiring Material
Phone MAIN 105
72 Price
DOLLS
LEATHER CASES
FITTED AND PLAIN
WATCHES
NEW MERCHANDISE
BEING OPENED
POLAR CURIO
SHOP
«
Musk Ox Raising I
Is Expensive j
Business
(By Vern Haughland)
Special Washington Service>
WASHINGTON, i/P>—Millton C.|
James, assistant director of the
fish and wildlife service, said to
day that agency is making an in
ventory—at lonely Nunivak is
land. north of the Aleutians—of
the nation’s only musk ox herd.
Whatever the outcome, James I
added, the government does not
look with favor upon the musk ox
raising business in general.
To the three governors, two rep-1
resentatives and scores of other
individuals who have asked about
animals with which to start exper
imental herds, the fish and wild-!
life service, on the basis of its own
experience, has dispatched a form
letter reply which says, flatly.
“It is entirely impracticable to
raise musk oxen as a farm or
commercial enterprise, and any at
tempt to do so should be regarded
only as an expensive experiment
almost certain of failure.”
Congress appropriated $40,000
in 1930 for the purchase of musk
oxen with which to repopulate
Alaska, once the home of thou
sands of the clumsy beasts which
combine the characteristics of cat
tle and sheep.
Captured in Greenland. 34 oxen
were shipped via Norway to New
York, transported to Seattle by
rail, and released eventually on a
4.000-acre pasture near Fairbanks.
Six years later, when the herd
had dwindled to 31, it was remov
ed to Nunivak, 25 miles off the
mouth of the Yukon, out of the
reach of bears and wolves. There,
on a million-acre sub-Arctic ranch
40 miles wide, and 70 miles long,
conditions appeared ideal for
rapid population growth.
During the war years, the gov
ernment had no time for Nunivak
census-taking.
In 1945 an aerial survey indi
cated that, unless too many ani
mals were counted twice, the herd
might have increased to 115. Last
year clouds, fog and rough water
interferred with boat and plane
travel, and only 30 oxen could be
found.
To date, the project has cost an
estimated $125,000.
James told a reporter that Doug-,
las Gray of Juneau, Frank Beals
of Kodiak. flvway biologist
Charles Gillham. and Alaska sour
dough Frank Glaser, flew to Nuni
vak in an amphibian plane in
July, to start the first thorough
survey since before the war. The
other men were to remain a
month, but Glaser will stay on in
definitely — possibly until next |
spring. His companions: an Indian 1
service agent, a few natives—and
the musk oxen.
The fish and wildlife service
drafted its form letter about musk
ox last year after exDlorer Vilh
jalmur Stefannson stirred interest;
in the project with a magazine ar
ticle recommending the animals
to New England farmers as a fine
source (no barns necessary' of
rich milk, good wool and tasty
steaks.
SIBERIAN NATIVES TRADING
IN NOME
Several skinboats of Siberian
natives arrived this week an i
have been busy trading for sup
plies to take back as food has
been scarce there.
Three oomiaks of King Island
natives are departing for S;be,,: 1
o to return the visit and trade
on the Siberian coast.
Hollywood
Romance Ends
_
HOLLYWOOD, i/P) — A cele- ■
brated Hollywood romance has
ended with the announcement that
handsome Cornel Wilde and his
wife, beauteous Pat Knight, have
separated.
“I have had too many pictures
the last two and a half years,’ said
Wilde in a statement issued from
Catalina Island where he is stay
ing. “I have been exhausted and
nervous. Pat has had her prob
lems. ... At this time we have
no further plans.”
Wilde and his actress wife were
married Sept. 21, 1937, at Elkton,
Md. They have a four-year-old
daughter, Wendy.
Naval Pilots Train
In Low-Wing
Monoplanes
The navy’s pilots will no longer
commence flight training in light
bi-planes, commonly referred to
as “yellow perils”. In the future
all students will be soloed in the
SNJ “Texas,” a low-wing mono
plane with many of the aspects of
a modern operational type air
craft.
Since March, 1947, at the naval
air training bases, Corpus Christi,
the havy’s basic air training com
mand. under Read Admiral Clifton
A. F. Sprague, USN. has been con
ducting a successful experimental
primary flight syllabus, with a
class of 100 student aviators.
When first inaugurated, the ex
perimental syllabus caused some
apprehension among veteran pri- i
marv flight instructors. However,
as the experiment progressed,1
much enthusiasm was evidenced
by students and instructors alike.
It is expected that the change-over
will give the Navy a better aviator
in a shorter period of time, and at
less cost.
For Good Printing Call Main 125
Hughes* Publicity
Man Arrested
NEW YORK. i/P)—Special ses
sions .justice Frederick L. Hacken
burg has signed a warrant for the
arrest of John W. Meyer, publicist
for movie and aviation magnate
Howard Hughes, on the complaint
of u night club cigarette girl who
says Meyer is the father of her six
month-old son.
In Washington, Meyer, who has
been testifying before the Senate
committee investigating Hughes’
aircraft contracts, termed the
girl’s complaint “ridiculous” and
said he never had been out with
her.
The girl. Patricia Miles, former
model who has been a cigarette
girl at some of the most exclusive
clubs on the fashionable East Side,
said in her complaint that the
child was born February 2, 1947.
WAA ANNOUNCES SURPLUS
AIRPLANE SALE
The War Assets Administratin
has announced the disposal of Air
craft in Nome. Fairbanks. Adak
and Anchorage on a “Where is,
, and as it” basis.
On the Nome Base are two
planes, both Noorduyn planes,
listed at S3.500.00 each.
Anyone interested is invited to
inspect the planes and purchase is
to be arranged through the An
chorage office of the War Assets
Administration.
MRS. GUY BOYD LEAVES
FOR HOME IN STATES
Mrs. Guy Boyd, who has made
her home here for many years, de
parted yesterday for the States to
take up residence there. She
leaves many friends made while
living here and will be missed in
the community, as she took an ac
tive part in many activities. Mr.
Boyd plans to leave soon.
The sort of fellow who sl ips
you on the back may be trying to
make you cough up something.
BERING SEA CLI IB
Open 12 Noon till Midnight
Dancing — Cards — Liquors
MINERS & MERCHANTS
BANK OF ALASKA
NOME :: ALASKA
ARCTIC OIL DELIVERY
Phone—Shop: Black 76 — Residence: Red 153
100-GAL. OIL TANKS FOR SALE
WE CHECK YOUR TANK REGULARLY
BEN YOUNG
Neill, Clark & Company
PUBLIC ACCOUNTANTS, AUDITORS
TAX COUNSELORS
Office in Wallace Hotel - Phone M.vn I '
Juneau N O M E Pr.I\s