Defense Forces
“Thinly Spread”
Over Aleutians
SAN FRANCISCO, </P)—United
States defense forces in the Alas
ka-Aleutian area are “spread
pretty thin,” says Vice Admiral
Gerald F. Bogan.
Admiral Bogan is commander
of the First Task Fleet, the bulk
of which put into San Francisco
Bay Friday following maneuvers
in the Gulf of Alaska.
Both the Aleutian Islands—
stepping stones between North
America and Asia — and Alaska
were “heavily defended” during
the war, Admiral Bogan comment
ed at a press conference aboard
his flag ship, the seaplane tender
U.S.S. Curtis.
But after the war, he said, “we
folded up our northern defenses in
line with peacetime policies of
this country.” However he addde,
there was “left a nucleus which
could be expanded.”
Admiral Bogan said the pur
pose of the Alaskan maneuvers
was to test equipment in sub-A re
tie .yea t her.
“During the last war” he said,
“we had a warm weather navy.
We had a lot to learn about Alas
kan conditions. Within the limita
tions of the force, the results were
reasonably successful.”
Complete results will not be
known, he said until reports have
been submitted by his group com
manders.
The admiral said the navy used
jet aircraft abord its carriers in
the north for the first time.
“We found that jets worked
very well,” he said.
“The underwater equipment
was completely satisfactory. The
weather on the surface was so
cold that the demolition teams ac
tually worked better under wa
ter.”
Certain modifications will have
to be made in winter clothing,
particularly for the amphibious
troops, Admiral Bogan said.
One problem was that of re
moving ice from the carriers. Ad- i
Snow and Cold
Again Hit States
(By The Associated Press)
Snow and a stinging cold wave
counter-attacked the army’s bliz
zard relief forces in North Dakota
today and sent temperatures
down to around zero as far south
as Iowa.
Just as the army was about to
write off Operation Snowbound
as mission accomplished, two
inches of snow and strong winds
closed more than 2,000 miles of
North Dakota highways over the
week-end. In the same day the
army’s bulldozers had completed
opening only about 1,200 miles.
The army said at least another
day would be required to reopen
the newly-closed roads.
Temperatures throughout the
area, the only sector still snow
bound, ranged from zero to
around 20 below. Low readings of
around zero were in prospect also
for Mason City and Spencer,
Iowa.
The cold wave was expected to
move eastward across Minnesota
and Wisconsin today.
The army’s month-long fight
against the snow in Wyoming, Ne
braska and South Dakota came to
an end yesterday.
Meanwhile alerts against floods
from the melting snow were ex
tended along the Missouri River
from Leavenworth, Kans. to
Plattsmouth, Nebr.
Near Steel City, Nebr., an ice
jam collapsed a 300-foot steel
bridge and threatened two others.
miral Bogan said he found that
rock salt was effective for short
periods of time. On other occa
sions hot salt water and steam
were used. The admiral said he
did not believe steam pipes under
the flight deck, as suggested by
some, would keep it ice free.
Admiral Bogan said he was im
pressed “by the unity of defense
forces in the Alaskan area.”
“All taxpayers will be delighted
to know that everyone is working
together up there,” he said.
JACK LENCER
Watchmaker *
Box 625 Nome, Alaska
FOR YOUR FAVORITE
ICE CREAM SODA OR SUNDAE
Prepared the way you like it
DROP IN AT THE
GLUE POT
Also Your Favorite Cigars, Tobacco & Cigarettes
Interesting Aurora
Sidelights are Told
By Dr. E. F. George
| (Farthest North Collegian*
Miss Aurora is as coy as she is
fickle; she tells us very little. Ac
: cording to Robert Service, the po
I et, “It’s a mine, a mine of the pre
vious stuff that men call radium.
; It’s a million dollars a pound, they
Vay, and there are tons and tons in
] sight. You can see it gleam in a
j golden stream in the solitudes of
1 night.”
Modern View
I
The Aurora of mythology was
, the goddess of the dawn, but the
modern aurora is of younger gen
eration—she keeps late hours,
travels by radio and retires at
dawn. When Miss Aurora stages
| one of her most capricious fan
dances, pirouettes and flirts,
swirls her skirts and taps out the
music of the spheres with her sil
| ver-shod feet, one is too fascin.
ated to try to take her measure.
However, that is exactly what
Professors Fuller and Bramhall,
! of this University, did.
Parallax Used
I Carl Stormer, of Norway, devel
oped the method of measuring
haw far up in the ether it is to
where Miss Aurora gambols and
plays. It is a parallax method.
From points twenty miles apart,
simultaneous photographs of the
sportive goddess are taken. One
photo shows her flirting with the
stars in one part of the sky, while
the other picture reveals her mak
ing love to some other constella
tion. From her apparent shift of
position, her height is computed.
Aurora
Scientists say however, that the
aurora is due to electrified parti
cles up where the air is so thin ,
that you could call it a vacuum.!
The gun spits these particles at us
with a probable speed of thou
sands of miles per second.
Positive and negative ions —
probably the nuclei, or the hearts j
of hydrogen and helium atoms
and electrons. A nucleus is a
strip-tease atom that has stripped
off its electron clothing. It’s just a
naked atom.
Background
They have a historical back
ground. Some fifty years ago Sir
J. J. Thompson, the great English
psychist, after years of patient
toil, and after much heated con
troversy with the German physi
cists, discovered the electron.
About the same time Becquerel
discovered radioactivity. Thre e
different types of radiations were
given off, but since their nature
was at that time unknown, they
were designated alpha, beta, and
gamma rays.
Standouts
Among the outstanding figures
in the early part of this cenutry,
were Madame Curie and .Lord
Rutherford. They might be re-‘
Nome School Kids
Will Gel Fresh
Milk Tomorrow
• Confined from Page One)
ers and paper straws.
___
School children of Nome, will
drink fresh milk, some for the
first time in their lives, when
they are served it at their desks in
Nome Public School on March 1,
and thereafter throughout the
school year. A vast number of
people will have a hand in mak
ing the project possible, for the
milk was flown into Nome ^oday
from a Seattle dairy, purchased
by citizens of Nome through the
Order of the Walrus, Incorporat
ed, a newly-organized men’s club
of Nome, stored and iced until
consumption by Northern Com
mercial Co, and distributed by the
superintendent and the teachers
of the school.
The resulting expense and dif
ficulties in procuring fresh milk
for its growing children has until
now been prohibitive. However,
with cooperation of the general
public, the Walrus Club, which is
a non-profit organization with the
aim to help make Nome a be ter
place in which to grow up and
live, has made their initial project
the fresh milk distribution. Plans
for other worthy community en
terprises are now under discus
sion.
garded as detectives compared to
whom Sherlock Holmes was a
rank novice. Marie Sklodovska
studied under her father who was
a professor of physics in Poland.
She married Pierre Curie, a pro
fessor of physics in France. She
was the only woman in the world
who twice received the Nobel
prize. One of her daughters, Ma
dame Curie Joliott, is a Nobel
Prize winner in physics.
Rutherford
During the first World War,
Lord Rutherford, at that time the
world’s greatest physicist, receiv
ed an urgent request to come to
Paris for a consultation on some
phase of the war work. He wired
back that he thought that he had
just split the atom, and, if so, it
was far more important than any
old war.
i
I sneezed a sneeze into the air:
It fell to earth I know not where;
But hard and cold were the looks
of those
In whose vicinity I snoze.
Senate Joint
Memorial No. 16
In The Senate By Senator Lyng
Senate Joint Memorial No. 16
In The Legislature of
The Territory of Alaska
Nineteenth Session
To the Hon. Alben Barkey, Vice
President of the United S'ates.
The Hon. Sam Rayburn, Speak
er of the House of Representa
tives, The Hon. Kenneth McKel..
lar Chairman of the Senate Ap
propriations Committee, the Hon.
Clarence Cannon, Chairman of
the House Appropriations Com
mittee, and the Hon. E. L. Birt
lett Delegate in Congress from
Alaska:
Your Memoralist, the Legisla
ture of the Territory of Alaska, in
Nineteenth Regular Session re
sembled .respectfully submits:
WHEREAS, the harbor project
on the Snake River at Nome,
Alaska, which was completed
thirty years ago has served a val
uable purpose not only in the de
velopment of Northwestern Alas
ka but in safeguarding Nome,
which is the hub of national de
fense activity in Northwestern
Alaska; but,
WHEREAS, a serious beach
erosion problem has developed in
the past ten years, recently reach
ing an alarming proportion which
endangers the City of Nome and
resulting in passage by the 30th
Congress of Public Law 619 au
thorizing improvement of the
Nome Harbor by the Chief of En
gineers Department of the A-mv,
and providing an appropriation of
$1,837,000.00; and,
WHEREAS, the said $1,837,
000.00 appropriation was stricken
from Public Law 649 in the clos
ing days of the 80th Congress;
and,
Y HEREAS, the Chief of United
States Engineers has requested
from the 81st Congress now in
session, the sum of $1,020,000.00
to be expended on Nome Harbor
improvements including the sea
wall, during 1949;
NOW THEREFORE, your me
morialist, the Legislature of the
Territory of Alaska, respectfully
urges your support for an appro
priation by the present Congress
of $1,020,000.00 to carry out the
seawall and harbor improvement
project at Nome. Alaska, to safe
guard said city and national de_
fense operations in the vicinity
thereof.
And Your Memorialist Will
Ever Pray.
WALLACE LIQUOR STORE
Phone Ma. 55 • For finest Liquors
DON’T
FORGET
MARCH
15th.
P.A.A. Bargain Fares Expire
Buy NOW and SAVE
‘K -4 * *1^ . -J «.*7 »' V