Mercy Plane Meets
Near Disaster In
Stormy Pacific
ANCHORAGE, —A perilous
mercy mission by a B-17 air force
bomber nearly ended in disaster
Saturday night when a downdraft
caught the big plane above a
storm-lashed freighter in the
North Pacific.
The pilot, Capt. Charles E. Hale
of Winslow, Ind., reported later
that the bomber, with eight men
aboard, would have plunged into
50-foot icy waves if the four en
gines had not been at full power.
The narrow escape of Hale and
his crew was an instant after they
had parachuted medical supplies
at mast-high level to the freighter
Catherine M. Goulandris, approx
imateyl 100 miles south of Umnak
Island in the Aleutians.
The B-17 was dispatched from
the Adak detachment of the 10th
rescue squadron when the Gou
lodris asked aid for a badly in
jured sailor. The man, not iden
tified by the Orient-bound cargo
ship, was reported cut about the
head and suffering from severe
shock. He was hurt during the
•storm.
. Headquarters here for the 10th
rescue squadron said Hale’s plane
bored through freezing gale winds,
fog and darkness for 420 miles, fi
nally locating the Goulandris by
radar.
During the flight and instru
ment descent the bomber’s wings
iced badly and severe turbulence
made the aircraft difficut to han
dle. When it broke beneath the
cloud bank it was less than 400
0
feet above the angry seas.
Radar and radio contact guided
the big plane to the freighter, five
miles away. Bucking winds of 55
to 60 miles an hour and a stinging
rain, Hale made one “pass” over
the tossing ship for the parachute
drop at 9 p.m.
As the chute caught in the Gou
landris’ stern rigging, the B-17 hit
the downdraft. The pilot managed
to pull up just above the waves,
and headed for Unmak for a land
ing in the gale.
Crewmen of the mercy plane
were Hale. Lt. Murray C. Gilliam,
Jackson, Tenn.; Lt. Q. L. Mat
thews, navigator: T/Sgt. C. B.
Baker, engineer: Cpl. Burton Cof
fee. radio operator: Sgt. B. If.
Cairns, radar operator and Lts.
Robert C. Buckley and T. J. Mor
ris. Squadron headquarters listed
only the home towns of Hale and
Gilliam.
Nome Featured In
{Alaska Almanae
Nome in prominently featured
in the current edition of the Alas
ka Almanac, just published and
being distributed locally by David
Tewkesbury, co-publisher.
More than 500 photographs are
included in the 712-page volume
which the publishers are market
ing nationally with the guarantee
that it is the 'finest available ref
erence on the Territory.
It is obvious that editor William
Tewkesbury has attempted to an
ticipate, and answer any general
question about Alaska. Prospec
tive settlers are informed of the
problems confronting new resi
dents in housing, jobs, business op
portunities, and even to seeking a
mate in the Territory.
Alaska’s industries, its social
and economic activity, its educa
tional facilities are all treated in
a score of topics illustrated by re
i cent photos. A business direc
and a buyers’ guide are also in
cluded in the volume.
A comprehensive travel guide
is a feature which, according to
Tewkesbury, contributes most to
the book's sale in the States. Hun
dreds. particularly in the Middle
Western states, plan to travel to
Alaska, and the guide included in
the Alaska Almanac show's all
available tours and Iravel routes,
travel fares, and available accom
modations in various Territorial
towns.
Advance orders numbered near
ly 3,000 and the publishers believe
the first printing will be entirely
sold out by Christmas. Any future
reprints will include only minor
revisions and corrections, and
there will be no major re-editing
of the Alaska Almanac for the
next two years.
/^Tp<erre/^\
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For Good Printing Call Main 125
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^FishwlieeP* !
Mushrooming
In Gold Strike
I
(Continued from Page One)
Thick, yellow underbrush covers
the banks which incline sharply
to the river. A temporary land
ing field for light planes has been j
; set up on a frozen sandbar adjoin- j
ing the island and there were
times in the last two days when i
it was nearly as busy as La Guar
dia Field.
On one occasion I counted eight
planes on the ground and five in
the air waiting to land. Bush pi
lots are making several trips dai
ly to the island. One flyer asser
ted that a control tower is needed J
here almost as much as a pick
and shovel.
A light snow covered the whole j
countryside last night with ground
fog swirling amid the trees and
around the prospectors’ tents. A
small cluster of tents on discovery
island are occupied by the holders
of the 14 claims which the island
encompasses and by new arrivals
! who have had no time to stake out
• their own claims.
As soon as they finish blazing
trailmarkers, claim holders are
moving their tents onto their
claims. Hence. Alaska’s newest
town is stretching steadily along
the south river shore in a long,
thin line of canvas shelters.
Old timers, of which there are
many here, brought along Yukon
stoves—five gallon cans with
draft vents for burning wood—
along with sleeping bags, tools and
grub. Their shelters are comfort
able gathering places for prospec
tors who are talking hourly of on?
subject—gold.
Others who came equipped only
with sleeping bags are not so com
fortable in the chill night air.
Each man is entitled to two
claims of 20 acres each. Staking
a claim consists merely of blazing
the four corners and marking the
claimant’s name and the post num
ber on each blaze.
Claims are being designated
here by name or number, the
numbers usually running in se
quence, Those electing to name
their's use such names as “May
Ann” or “Chief Luke,” the latter
being the claim held by the chief
of the native village at Fort Yu
kon.
My claim was the twentieth
along the river but designated as
“Number One South Chief Luke.”
Many of the first claimants af
I ter the Carrol discovery became
| known were natives who deserted
trapping and fishing for their first
venture into mining. Four more
arrived at noon yesterday follow
ing an overnight dash from Circle,
40 miles away over the newly
frozen Yukon channels. They were
among the few not arriving by
airplane. Air traffic is heavy be
tween Fort Yukon and Fish wheel
as well as between Fairbanks and
Fishwheel. Larger planes from
Fairbanks are landing at Fort Yu
kon from where the passengers
and mining gear are being shut
tled to Discovery Island in smaller
craft.
Bush pilots Louis Soha and Ed
ward Toussiant charge $10 for the
20 mile hop from Fort Yukon. So
ha made 11 round trips from Fort
Yukon Saturday. The fare from
Fairbanks is $90 round trip or $50
one way.
The boom is also affecting busi
ness at Fort Yukon. Evelyn Mel
ville, proprietress of Fort Yukon
Cafe, said she ordered a month’s
supply of food which she expects
the prospectors to consume within 1
MRS. GALLAGHER
ENTERTAINS GIRL SCOUTS
The Girl Scout Troop were
guests of their leader Mrs. Galla
gher last Friday evening at a Walt
Disney show at Marks Air Force
Base and had a wonderful time.
G. Ward Price, special corres
pondent of the London Daily Mail,
who has been covering the Arctic
survival activities of the U. S.
army for his paper leaves today
for Fairbanks and Fort Yukon to
cover the new gold strike.
a week.
Looking around, it appears
there is no definite type of man
who asnwers the call of gold. Here
on the edge of the Arctic Circle
are gathered a group of bearded,
agile men wearing lumberjack j
boots, coonskin caps and repre- !
senting every profession from air
plane pilot to tile setter. They are
bound together by the common
hope of quick easy riches.
Q u i et-spoken Clifton Carrol,
whose discovery touched off the
rush, summed up the thoughts of
many when he said:
“I don’t know how good this is.
Nobody does yet. I know we found
gold in the fish wheel. I know
what I hope we find in the
ground.”
Heavy Foji Covers
Northwest
fBy The Associated Press)
A heavy fog belt lay over 'vest
tern Oregon and Washington to
day, grounding airplane 'ravel
and slowing motorists to a crawl.
Both the Portland and Seattle
airports were completely closed.
Commercial airline flights, though
normal south of Medford and east
of the Cascade mountains, were
halted in the fog belt.
There was no trace of a light
plane which vanished from over
the Salem airport in the midst of
a dense fog last night.
Most Alaska planes headed
south yesterday were waiting at
fields in the Territory for im
provement in the weather. Pan
got one flight into Seattle at noon
from Fairbanks, but held another
at that city and a second at Ann
ette Island airport near Ketchikan.
Among those who were unable
to keep engagements in Seattle
were Dean Rusk, undersecretary
of state, and radio master of cere
monies Art Linkletter.
Rush was scheduled to speak at
a United Nations birthday cere
mony on the University of Wash
ington campus.
//&ny l, Director. GAINES DOG RESEARCH CENTER
> * 1« ■ ■ - — " — ■ -T, 1 1—-T- - I
OUR INC THE
EVACUATION OF DUNKIRK HUNDREDS^of docs were
USED TO TOW DROWNINC MEN BACK TO SHORE
AMERICAS FIRST DOC
SHOW WAS HELP IN
1874-JUST IS YEARS AGC
i \\ y /
!N THEIR WALKING TRIP ACROSS * 1
THE U.S., MR.and MRS. WE.STOCKPALE,
POTNAM.CONN., WILL 8E ACCOM- A
PA MED BY THEIR BOXER 4+
© 1949, Gaines Dog Research Center ,V. Y C
HEHWKtGE
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