SEWARD’S
All-TVeathec
SEAPORT
Is Alaska’s
Greatest Asset
Territorial Library C
Seward Seaport Record
Formerly The Seward Polaris & Kenai Peninsula-/!leutian Chain News *
it
Vol. V, No. 71
SEWARD, ALASKA, TUESDAY, MARCH 8, 1949
Price 10 Cents
Council Winds
Up Business
For Elections
At the City Council meeting
Monday evening, March 7, it was
said that every effort would be
made to clean up all outstanding
bills and legal matters on the
council agenda so that the incom
ing mayor and council can start
off with a clean slate.
With the housing project out of
the way, and the tag ends of litiga
tion on the Marine Ways finally
cleared up, members of the coun
cil are now striving to clear up the
smaller items.
Candidate's Petitions
Petition forms are available in
the City Hall for candidates who
wish to have their names on the
ballot in the coming election.
Registration books of the city
will be available to registrants at
the City Hall during the hours
from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and on the
Friday and Saturday before elec
tion they will also be open be
tween the hours of 7 p.m. and 10
p.m.
Election day will be the first
Tuesday in April, and at that time
members of the council, school
board and utility board will be
elected, as well as the mayor.
Eligible Voters
All persons who are 21 years of
age. citizens of the United States,
residents of the Territory for one
year and residents of the city for
the preceding 30 days, are eligible
to vote in the election provided
they can read and write the Eng
lish language.
Full Pay for Injured
Police Officer
In approving the city payroll the
city council Monday evening voted
to pay the salary of officer Turn
bull for the full month of February.
Turnbull was off duty for eight
days as a result of an injury to his
knee, which was incurred in line
of duty.
The Police Department had to
employ an extra man while Turn
bull was incapacitated. Chief of
Police Clark said that a policeman
might be injured in line of duty at
any time, and badly injured. He
said that the city should carry in
surance to protect police.
An inquiry revealed that the city
is covered by insurance for all em
ployes, and that Turnbull would
receive compensation at a later
date. When the compensation is
received there will be an adjust
ment made in his pay.
Turnbull was injured by a man
whom he arrested for drunkenness.
TRANSACTIONS IN REAL
PROPERTY THE PAST WEEK
Three real property transactions
took place in Seward within the
past week, two of which were
recorded in the office of the clerk
of the court.
James T. Forth purchased the
Jack Coble home. Thomas E. Mc
Nulty bought the Jack Fisher resi
dence, and Homer Boe of Hope an
nounced that he had purchased a
home in Seward.
Both Coble and Fisher have de
parted for the Hawaiian Islands,
where they expect to make their
permanent residences. Mr. Boe ex
pects to retain his residence in
Hope, at least for some time to
come.
Are you a registeed voter?
Alaska Wildlife Movie
Said To Be
One of Best Ever
Comments have been heard all
over town on the -wonderful pic
tures of Alaska Wild Life shown
by Cecil Rhode at the high school
last Friday.
!
One man said that these pic
tures had Frank Buck backed off
the map. Mr. Rhode has spent
twelve years in the preparation
of this picture, which brings the
large animals practically into the
lap of the audience. The adven
tures behind the taking of such
pictures can only lie imagined by
those residents of Alaska who
have personally faced moose and
brown bear themselves. Very few,
however, have the temerity to
stalk such animals unarmed ex
cept for a camera.
The Rhodes gave a showing in
; Moose Pass on Sunday night, and
; will be in Anchorage Tuesday,
J March 8. From there they are go
ing to the states for a tour of at
least olne year. Seward was forfu
; nate to have had the premier
showing.
School Carnival To Be
Friday Evening
The public school's Carnival will
be held Friday evening in the high
; school gymnasium and lower rooms
of the school building. The faculty
has planned a bigger and better
carnival than ever this year, offer
ing several new features.
I •
! Among the most prominent
: booths will be the bingo, which is
sure to draw many participants.
Fortune telling, many games,
and food sales will be found in the
main room. These carnivals have
always been well attended and it
is hoped that this year will be no
different, even though it was found
necessary to postpone the event
two weeks because of the recent
epidemic.
To Attempt Salvage
Of Grounded Barge
Mr. and Mrs. Fred Howard and
son-in-law, Robert Zentmire, Sew
ard residents, who were taken off
the power barge North Cloud afte*
eight days aground on the Copper
River Flats, announced their inten
tion to salvage all the goods
aboard the vessel immediately.
They also feel that there may be
some possibility of salvaging the
barge in the next high tide.
The Howards are well known in
Seward, Mrs. Howard as a club
woman and owner of Cathryn’s
Dress Shop, which she sold before
her departure. The barge was en
route to Seattle to be fitted as a
cold storage ship. After leaving
Cordova they ran into a heavy
storm and freezing weather. The
waves washing over the barge
froze on all parts of the vessel,
icing the windows to such an ex
tent that the crew attempted to
thaw them enough to see out by
pressing hot water bottles to the
glass. This was not succesful. how
ever, and the winds and heavy
seas drove the vessel off its course
and aground on Grass Island in
the shallow river flats.
It is thought by some oldtimers
that the heavily iced condition of
the barge is the reason that efforts
to float her off the flats in high
tide were unsuccessful, and anoth
er attempt will be made. Whether
the barge can be salvaged or not,
the household goods will be re
moved.
(Continued on Page 8)
I
City Refuses
Giardino Taxi
Cab License
An application by George Giar
dino to operate a taxicab com
pany in the city of Seward
was turned down by the City Coun
cil at its meeting on Monday eve
ning.
The basis for the refusal 1o ap
prove the application was City Or- j
dinance No. 171, which states that j
no additional taxicab companies
may operate in the city till the
population reaches the 2500 mark.
The ordinance was placed in ef
fect by a former city council slight- j
ly over two years ago. In order to
permit a new cab company to op
erate it would be necessary either
to change the ordinance or to show
that the population had increased
sufficiently.
Giardino referred to the 1947 tu
berculosis survey which showed
that over 2700 x-rays had been
made. In opposition to this it was
stated that the 2700 figure included
many transients who can not bo
counted.
The 1950 national census will be '
taken in Alaska some time this
year, and the city has sent cor
rected copies of the map of the city
to the Bureau of Census. The 1940
census gave the population of Sew
ard at approximately 1000.
Giardino stated that he was de
termined to enter the taxi business
in Seward, and asked that the
council set aside the ordinance. To
this request, e'ouncilmen replied
that this would be letting down all
bars, and that regulation would be
out of the question.
The city attorney said that the
council was obliged to uphold the
ordinance unless it were legally
changed. He said also that the city
had a legal right to regidate cabs,
since they are common carriers
serving the public.
M. P. MUNTER REPORTS WORK
ON HIGHWAY BRIDGES
Mr. M. P. Munter of the Munter
Philips Construction Company was
in Seward for a couple of days,
t and left Thursday morning,
i His company has the contract for
construction of bridges on the
Turnagain Arm road project, which
will link Seward and Anchorage
and connect to the Kenai and
Homer roads.
I Munter said that the work on the
project is progressing satisfactorily, j
but that they expect some diffi- j
culties during the spring thaws. < j
He reported that two wolves \
were seen attacking a moose last
week in the vicinity of Portage. j
CALL FOR BIDS ON AUDIT
OF CITY BOOKS
The Seward city council voted !
Monday night to call for bids on
an audit of city books for the year
ending March 31, 1949, The audit '
is to be completed shortly before |
that date.
The 1948 audit was done by the I
accounting firm of Head and Bea
ver of Anchorage.
RAINBOW GIRLS HOLD
INITIATION
The Order of the Rainbow for
Girls held an initiation ceremony
last Thursday evening in the Ma
sonic Hall.
Miss Helen Marie Jordan and
Barbara Cobban were made mem
bers of the ord£r in a colorful cere
mony.
The meeting was followed by re
freshments in the social hall.
City Suffers Penny
Shortage; Relief
Asked By Council
It’s not enough that the Seward
City Council should be undergoing
a severe case of dollar shortage.
Monday it became evident that the
council had reached the point
where it had to consider a penny
shortage.
Old timers will tell newcomers
that there was a day when pen
ilies were as scarce in Alaska as
balanced budgets, but in those
days no one cared about pennies. 1
Came the sales tax, and a mad
scramble for pennies ensued. Mon
day the shortage became so severe
that Jack Werner appealed to the
City Council to make more pen
nies available.
A short time ago, Werner had to .
pay fifty dollars to have a supply
of pennies shipped in by air mail.
But he had to make change with '
the pennies, and now he’s out of :
the coppers again and out the fifty
dollars for air mail.
When the matter was brought
before the City Council Monday '
evening, the city fathers decided to 1
issue an appeal to the townspeo- ■
pie to reach down in the sock and I
to start shaking the piggy banks. I
The campaign slogan will be “put
more $ in piggy banks and more ?
in circulation.”
An inquiry Tuesday morning re
vealed that the market value of
pennies is still one cent in coin of
the realm.
Shipping News , . *
The SS Baranof is scheduled to
arrive at Seward Thursday,
March 10, and to depart from
Seward on Friday, March 11. ar.d
the Alaska Line freighter. Ring
Splice is due to arrive Thursday
also. The SS Chief Washakie was
scheduled to sail from Seattle
Tuesday, March 8. with Seward
and Valdez as ports of call
The John Cropper was still un
loading steel rails and ties Man
day, and the stockpile of steel
rails in the Seward yards now
totals 11,000 tons.
Tom Jones, superintendant for
the Alaska Railroad at Seward,
said that longshoremen had hung
up a record of 44 tdns of cargo
from one hatch in an hour. Thev
place 90 of the 1500 pound rails
on a car to carry them to the
stockpile. When the.v are shipped
north, however, only 80 rails can
he carried on a car.
On Monday a trainload of
automobiles left Seward for
points on the railhelt. There were
26 rail cars carrying 109 auto
mobiles.
Jones demonstrated a new
method of handling automobiles
for rail shipment. The cars were
placed in enmdola cars from
which the ends had been removed.
The autos were secured by cables
to the stake pockets. This method
Jones said, is much faster, uses
less material, and is safer, and
represents a saving of time and
material in the handling of'each
automobile.
Mias Beverly Sellers entertained
at home Monday afternoon at 3
o’clock on the occasion of her fifth
birthday. Her guests were the pre
school class which she attends,
amounting to eighteen children.
The piece de resistance was a pink
cake at Beverly’s request. Other
refreshments which received ac
claim were malted milk and cup
cakes. Balloons and paper hats
added to the festivities, and a good
time was the order of the day.
Cancel Juneau
Trip, Request
Of Governor
Ray James and Ross Mann, who
were enroute to Juneau to support
a memorial to Congress favoring
rehabilitation of the Seward-Port
age section of the railroad, have
been recalled.
The recall was made at the sug
gestion of Governor Ernest Grucn
ing, who telegraphed Monday that
it would be in “the interest of econ
omy,” since the place where the
memorial will need support is in
Washington, in Congress and in
the Department of the Interior.
The two Seward representatives
left Monday morning for Anchor
age, and were recalled before they
were due to board a plane for Ju
neau.
Instead of sending the repre
sentatives, all necessary informa
tion for the memorial will be for
warded from Seward. Once the me
morial has passed through the
Alaska Legislature, however, it
may be necessary to send repre
sentatives from Seward to Wash
ington.
New City Fire Hail
Nears Completion
All work on the new fire hall
next to the Civic Center is expect
ed to be finished during the 1949
season.
Installation of the large doors is
expected to take place in the very
near future, after which it will be
possible to take care of finishing
the inside of the building.
When completed, there will be
space for two fire engines and
equipment, and in the rear of the
building will be an apartment for
the man in charge.
At present the city owns three
fire trucks, which is about three
times ns many as are owned by
most cities the size of Seward. Two
of the trucks are housed in the old
fire hall, 'and one is at the City
Dock.
The city apparatus at the dock
is manned by dock employes, and
has been answering all city fire
alarms. Practically all the equip
ment is furnished by the city, but
The Alaska Railroad has furnished
some one and one-half inch hose
lines and a few nozzles. The big
gest fire this winter was a house
which burned next to the railroad
roundhouse.
In 1947 the Fire Department an
swered a call to save an Alaska
Railroad bridge at Mile 14.’ and the
local fire department got there on
time to save the bridge so that it
required only two days’ work to
replace the bridge into service.
Practice for the Messiah is get
ting down to real business accord
ing to the members of the chorus.
Twenty-seven persons were pre
sent at the rehearsal on Wednes
day night last week. Everyone
who is expecting to be in the pro
duction is urged to attend the
practice as the time is growing
short and this difficult chorus
needs constant study in order to
reach any degree of perfection.
The city council decided to make
a deadline of April 1, 1949 for the
termination of options on lots to
be sold by the city. A number of
lots were tied up by $25 options.
If by April 1 ^he options are not
taken up they will be void and the
$25 forfeited.