PIONEER PRIEST HAS "30 YEARS LEFT" BEFORE ASKING FOR TRANSFER
By Terry Brady
(Reprinted from the Anchorage Times)
A long time Catholic mission*
ary in western Alaska, who for
more than 30 years has made his
rounds by dog team, kayak,
umiak, schooner and airplane
recently was an Anchorage vis
itor on his way from Holy Cross
on the Yukon River.
Father John B. Fox. S.J., at 70
years of age. is the senior Jesuit in
Alaska in terms of age and length
of service. He first went to the
Hooper Bay area of the Bering Sea
in 1927, and says. “I still have about
30 years left in the bush before re
questing a transfer.”
Originally from the southeastern
part of Washington State. Father
Fox has spent 20 years in the Hooper
Bay-Bethel area, 10 years on the
lower Yukon between Russian Mis
sion and Mountain Village, and for
the past six years has been in charge
at Holy Cross.
Holy Cross, like the tall spare
missionary, is an aging, yet ageless
part of the Yukon River country.
Oldest School
At Holy Cross he is aided by his
nephew, Brother Francis Fox, and
six lay teachers, in operating the
oldest Catholic school in Alaska.
It was first started in 1887.
In 1955 the school was switched
from boarding children to handle
day school children from the village
of Holy Cross. The boarding high
Manie Olson And
Andy Anderson
Return To Mine
-
Manie Olson and Andy Anderson,
well known mining operators in
the Fairbanks area, have recently ;
returned to start their mine on Fish
Creek.
Using draglines and dozers in
their operations. Olson and Ander
son have mined here since 1937.
They were formerly mining on Wolf
Creek, and this year will employ
about five men.
Manie is a brother of Ed and
Andrew Olson, operators of a plat
inum mine at Goodnews Bay, and
is one of the stockholders in the
company. Andrew, who is presi
dent of the company, now lives in
Arlington, Wash. Ed is still active
in mining operations, and is gen
eral manager of the company.
The Olson brothers first started
mining in Alaska in the Iditarod
country in 1934 together with Tony
Lindstrom. Later they joined with
E. Fohn Hanson, Axel Palmgren,
and Jay Johnston and organized the
first platinum mine in Alaska at
Goodnews Bay.
school was switched to Copper Val
ley, near Glennallen.
Presently there are 106 students
at the Holy Cross school. Grades
run 1-7, with an additional two
years of high school being taught
there.
Plans are in the mill to expand
the school this summer. Father Fox
said. He said the new school will
be three stories high, with the first
floor constructed of cement block,
and the other floors of frame con
struction.
The school will measure 124 by
54 feet, and will accommodate 150
students. Father Fox added.
The school expansion will call
for an increase to 20 lay teachers
also, he added. All teachers at the
Jesuit schools are volunteers.
Choral Concert
To Be Presented
By AMU Students
Sixty Alaska Methodist University
students will present a choral and
orchestral concert at 2:15 p.m. Sun
day. May G, at the Lacey Street
Theater.
Sponsored by the Fairbanks Con
cert Association, the program is a |
bonus feature for holders of sea
sonal concert association tickets.
Members will be admitted by show
ing their tickets. Tickets for non
members are $1.50, adults, and 75
cents, students.
Dr. Murray North is director of
the 16-piece chamber orchestra so
ciety and 43-member chorale.
The group will arrive in Fair
banks on a chartered plane from
Anchorage. On their way home they
will give a concert at Eielson Air
Force Base.
Pictorial Folder
By Delta Junction
The Delta Junction Chamber of j
Commerce has issued an attractive j
and informative pictorial folder.
The eight-page pamphlet features '
a variety of area photographs, three
pages of descriptive matter, a busi
ness directory covering both north
and south of the junction, a self- i
explanatory map and the Delta
Junction Buffalo emblem.
Delta Junction is on the north
end of the Alaska Highway, Mile
post 1422. From Fairbanks or An
chorage, it is on the Richardson
Highway.
Tourists and persons stopping at
Delta this summer will be given
the folders which will also be used
to answer mail inquiries.
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In addition to being an old school,
the mission is also the second oldest
permanent weather station in
Alaska.
“And Holy Cross has weather,"
Father Fox is quick to say. “Tem
peratures this winter dipped tp -50
degrees during the pre-Christmas
cold spell that gripped all of western
Alaska. Summers in the area are
normally warm and dry, but it was
quite wet last summer.
Export Potatoes
“The dampness hurt the garden,
where mission personnel grow po
tatoes, cabbage, turnips and other
vegetables. Last year the mission ex
ported 600 sacks of potatoes,” he
said.
The mission and the villagers con
sists of both Eskimos and Athabas
can Indians—as that part of the
Yukon—between Anvik and Rus
sian Mission is a border zone for
the two groups—normally work to
gether on community projects.
Presently a fluoridation system for
the mission water supply, which
also serves the village, is being
planned.
The $2,300 cooperative project
will be paid for by an increase in
movie prices from 50 to 75 cents,
and upping the price of popcorn
from 10 to 15 cents.
The mission supplies the movie
projector and the films are shown
in the community hall in the village, j
“It will take eight or nine years to ]
pay for the plant, but we feel it’s
something we have done for our
selves,” Father Fox said.
Service Described
Holy Cross, located on a large
slough of the mighty Yukon, is
serviced by airplanes which land
at the newly completed bush field
Farmer’s Loop
Bids Sought By
Highway Chief
Commissioner of Highways D. A.
McKinnon has called for bids for
the paving of Farmers Loop Road.
Bids will be opened May 25. in the
Commissioner of Highways’ office at
Juneau.
Bruce Campbell, Pre-Construc
tion Engineer, said construction will
commence shortly after the first of
June. It is anticipated that recon
struction will be completed during
the summer of 1963.
A 24-foot finished bituminous
roadbed will be provided for the
use of the traveling public which
should be a welcome relief from the
present dusty conditions which pre
vail during the summer months.
there, and a river boat which calls
twice a summer. Heavy equipment
is brought in on the river boat,
while mail and staples come in by
air, from Anchorage via Aniak on
the Kuskokwim River.
Over the past 35 years Father Fox
has seen many changes occur in the
bush country of western Alaska.
“The most important of these has
been the federal tuberculosis pro
gram,’’ he said. “Years ago the Es
kimo population of Hooper Bay was
almost 100 per cent TB cases, which
resulted in weakness and starving.
Now the disease is in check.
Population Upswing
“The native population in western
Alaska has shown a marked up
swing since tuberculosis has been
beat,’’ he said. Hooper Bay had 110
persons in 1931 and now there are
more than 400 living there.
Father Fox formerly covered his
Hooper Bay area by kayak and skin
boat in the summer, using dog teams
in winter to make two 26-day round
| trips to Bethel. In addition, the
t mission owned a 32-foot schooner
' with a motor to cruise in the Bering
Sea.
But now Father Cox is content to
stay at his Holy Cross school and
plan the next 30 years of exoansion
for the institution that has long
been a major spiritual and educa
tional center for that part of the
state.
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