Seward Seaport Record
horn:i-rly The Se-xard Polaris & Kenai Peninsula-Aleutian Chain Mens
Vol. 5, No. 30
SEWARD, ALASKA, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1948
Price 10 Cents
Railroad Loop
Repair Rushed
To Beat Snow
The Alaska Railroad announced
this week that Jack Hansen’9
Bridge and Building gang No. 5
has begun the tough and spectac
ular job of repairing the bridge on
The Loop.
According to reports received in
Seward fx-om various sources, the
piling on the trestles were found in
good condition, but cross mem
bers and some other parts were in
need of renewal.
All the work crews were racing
against winter to complete a sum
mer’s construction program total
ing millions of dollars. Contracts
well over $11,000,000 were under
taken this summer, as part of the
^50,000,000 rehabilitation program.
Repair work on the Loop should
do much to quiet the rumors that
this end of the railroad is being
abandoned.
Shipping News . . .
BARGE STORMBOUND
The barge due in Seward yester
day was reported stormbound in
Sawmill Bay about 65 miles from
here. Bad weather has dogged the
barge for days, delaying the arriv
al time originally set for October
11.
The news of the barge's location
was received hrough an ACS com
munication late Friday afternoon
by the Northern Stevedoreing and
Handling Company. No new date
was announced for its arrival but
it is expected that the tug and
barge tow can make the remain
ing 65 miles in very short time
once the weather has cleared.
Word that a second barge tow is
enroute to Seward could not be
verified.
CHIEF WASHAKIE HERE
NEXT WEEK
The Chief Washakie, according
to word from the Alaska Steam
ship Company will be at Seward
next week. The Chief docked at
Whittier on Wednesday, October
13. It will leave for Seward next
Wednesday, and is expected to
arrive the end of the week.
The Chief Washakie, carrying
two million feet of packaged lum
ber for consignees along the Alas
ka Railroad, is a ship of the North
land Transportation Company,
which is handled by the Alaska
Steamship Company in the Port
cf Seward.
WESTERN TRADER
The Northern Stevedoreing Com
pany has also received word that
the Western Trader, carrying gen
eral cargo for the Port of Seward
will arrive next Wednesday. At
press time it could not be deter
mined whether the ship had ever
before discharged cargo at the
Port of Seward.
Kenai Gets
New Hotel
Business has been picking up
rapibly in Kenai with the com
pletion of the new road from Sew
ard. John Consiel, widely known
as Kenai Joe, is building a new
hotel there.
A nqw restaurant and gas sta
tion has been opened by Hal
Thornton. He has a service garage
in connection with his business. *
Patronize Home Industry
\ Blast to Remove
Glass from City
Swimming Pool
; The bluffing lately heard by
Seward people is being done at the
: swimming pool. Carl Thomas and
John Haynes are cutting a chan
nel through the rocks to lower the
level of the water so the city can
clean out the broken glass and
other debris.
People have been in the habit
of floating bottles out on the water
and shooting at them or throwing
stones to break them. Consequent
ly, there is much broken glass,
which constitutes a hazard to
swimmers.
When the cleaning is completed.
- i headgate will be installed to stop
the flow of water an draise it to
its regular level.
Thomas and Haynes, as many
people know, have a gold mine
which they are working at this
spot. The vein goes right down i
under the swimming pool fur 35!
feet; but very little water seeps;
down into the mine, Thomas said.
It was Haynes who found the
ore at this location, after thou
sands of feet had trod over the
spot for many years. The Army
even had a labor battalion en
camped on the spot during the war.
Record Vote Boost
For Statehood
Clarence Keating, newly-elected
Territorial Representative frqm the ,
Third Judicial District, emphati- !
cally declared that the record vote j
piled up in this week’s election [
will be a powerful factor in ad
vancing statehood for Alaska.
In an exclusive interview given
in the office of The Seward Sea
port Record, the former mayor of
Seward expanded on this point. He
believes that the election will *
show that the people of Alaska are
beginning to realize fully their :
responsibility as citizens in a demo
cratic way of life.
The interest in the election
allows that Alaska is becoming po
litically mature. It is his purpose,
lie said, to help the people of Alas
ka to develop their own resources.
Keating said that while it will
be his duty to work for the good
of the Territory as a whole, he
feels that Seward is vital to the
economic welfare of the Territory,
and with that view in mind, he
will strive to boost Seward in every
way possible.
'T am very grateful to the people
of Seward who supported me in
the election.” Keating said, "and I
will make every effort to fulfill the
confidence placed in me in making
me their representative.”
SEWARD UNIONS SPONSOR
HARRY BRIDGES BROADCAST
Louis Dick announced yesterday
that the two local longshoremen's
unions. No. 39 and No. 1-82 will
sponsor a broadcast by Harry
Bridges over KFQD on Sunday
evening, October 17. at 6:15 o’clock.
| The program will be a 15-minute
, transcription in which Bridges will
answer questions put to him by a
! well known radio commentator
concerning the present maritime
tie-up.
EPISCOPAL GUILD
PLANS BAZAAR
! A bazaar is being planned by
the Women’s Episcopal Guild for
November 13. There will be booths
for the sale of many interesting
articles, and those who wish may
play bridge or pinochle. The affair
will be held at the Episcopal
Church.
Will Attempt
Salvage of
Wrecked Boat
Latest information is that an at
tempt is being made to salvage
parts of the Donna M. Mr. Earl
Moore and his son were to travel
to Montague Island this week to
make the attempt. One of the main
items of salvage would be the new
>3000 diesel engine.
Earl Moore, Jr., who piloted the
uoat, was returned by a rescue
plane last Wednesday, while Mr.
and Mrs. Warren Bowers were re
turned by boat by way of Whit
tier.
It was just a week ago Thurs
day that the Donna M broke up
an the rocks off Montague Island
in the vicinity of the Nellie Martin
River.
After struggling ashore through
the surf, the three passengers
found shelter in a Quonset hut in
that vicinity. Their rations were
lost, but that night they managed
to kill a deer which they lived on
till the Coast Guard plane located
them the following Wednesday.
To increase the chances of their
being found, Moore crossed the
island to McCloud Harbor while
the Bowers remained at the Quon
set hut.
Members of the party were re
ported to be in good health, but
Moore's shoes were worn out and
his clothes torn to shreds an his
trek across the island to McCloud
Harbor.
Cap Slagle Gets
His Brownie
Cap Slagle's truck pulled .up in
front of the office of the Record
and called for spectators.
Stretched out in the back end of
his truck was a brown bear mea
suring about ten feet. He got it
out in the Kenai River area, where
he has been hunting with a party
for the past several days.
They took a canoe up the river
with an outboard motor and spent
several days drifting back down
looking the bears over till they
found one just small enough to
suit them. Cap Slagle has a bit of
a grudge against the Brownies
since they stole a deer he had
cached on Montague Island while
hunting there a few weeks ago.
He’d take picks on the bigger ones
if they weren’t too heavy to tote
around.
DR. POPE GUEST SPEAKER AT
REGISTERED NURSES MEETING
Guest speaker at the next re
gular meeting of the Registered
Nurses Association of Seward will
be Dr. Horace Pope of the Terri
torial Department of Health.
Dr. Pope will speak on condi
tions found among the people in
the Aleutian Islands. He will have
motion pictures to illustrate his
lecture.
Dr. Pope is doing dental work'
at the Seward Sanatorium at the
•'resent time. He said he will not
be finished here for at least three
months. He has his residence at
T! e New Seward Hotel while here.
The nurses will meet at the
home of Mrs. Charlie Chestnut at
the usual hour.
Mrs. Emil Hasmann has been
confined to the hosnital a few
days this week and is now home
convalescing from a throat infec
tion. She expects to be back on the
job with the Railroad in the near
future. m
U nemployment
Pay Is Earned
Slavs Maitland
W. W. Maitland, official of the
Unemployment Insurance Office in
Anchorage, made a special trip to
Seward this week to explain to
.local longshorement that they are
[entitled to receive compensation
for unemployment.
J These payments, Maitland ex
plained, are made from money the
men have earned, and which the
‘government has held for them for
such an emergency. The money is
accumulated by deductions from
the pay these men have earned in
the past.
Since the money has been earned
by them, it is not relief. There is
absolutely no connection between
employment insurance and relief.
1 Mr. Maitland said he had secured
applications for payments from
some seventy dock workers of this
city. Since neither of the local
longshoremen’s unions is on strike,
Mr. Maitland said, they are unem
ployed through no fault of their
own.
HOPE NEWS
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Archer,
and Mr. and Mrs. Wes Ulrich at
Mile 73 are feverishly working to
complete their new homes before
cold weather sets in. Both houses
are nearly ready for occupancy.
Snow and coming winter have
ended mining operations at the
Hershey-New Hope and Gold Mint
Mines. Homer Boe and Pete Sor
enson are about thru ior the sea
son with their placer operations on
Resurrection Creek.
Jean Brattain is spending the
week end at her home in Hope.
Carl and Earl Clark have re
turned home after a long fishing
season in the Cordova area. They
stopped in Seward, Seldovia and
Burnt Island. The homeward trip
was rather a rough one and the
boys w’ere glad to be home again.
Mr. and Mrs. Don Reicker and
children have moved into the
Mitchell cabin for the winter, or
until they can complete their new
log house on their homesite on
^Gull Rock Trail Road.
Sam Gates recently returned to
the Seward General Hospital from
Hope. Just a few days later Jim
Bozard went in. We hope to see
them both home and well soon.
Bob and Charlie Mathison have
gone to Chickaloon for a winter
of trapping. On their last trip of
the season to Anchorage, they did
not return to Hope, but went di
rectly to Chickaloon.
Word was received by Mrs.
Homer Boe, that Mrs. Theresa
Hershey had passed away after
an illness of six weeks. Mrs. Her
sliey will alway be remembered
as a dearly beloved old time Al
askan.
W. S. C. S. BAZAAR -
AND LUNCHEON
A bazaar and luncheon will be
given by the Women’s Society of
Christian Service Saturday No
vember 27. with 2 p.m. given as
the opening hour.
Booths featuring such articles
as fancy work, toys and children’s
clothing will have articles for sale.
The luncheon will consist of a
great variety of dishes.
Mr. A. Baumtferger. who is an
1 engineer w i t h The Alaska Rail
road. is on a months vacation.
Mr. Baumberger has been with
The Alaska Railroad for the past
28 years.
Offer of Relief
Turned Down
By Red Cross
I he fc>eward Chapter of the
American Red Cross this week
turned down an offer of the Na
tional Red Cross to fly food to
Seward for free distribution in this
city.
At press time the local Red Cross
had not received a single request
for help from any family as a re
sult of the present shipping strike.
| The Red Cross, however, has re
quested in the event the strike con
tinues for a long period, that
money be made available to take
| care of destitution by individual
case work.
I Officials of the local Red Cross
Chapter do not believe that a seri
! ous shortage is imminent, and it
, would be unfair to local mer
chants to supply free food to their
customers. And, of course, there are
other areas where the food is bad
ly needed.
The Red Cross is concerned
with the chance that the strike
may last a long time. It has agreed
to work with the local unions and
other civic organizations to insure
sufficient food and ordinary com
forts of life to all the people.
A request is again made to wel
fare committees of civic organize
tions to get in touch with tlw
chairman of the Seward Chapter
of the Red Cross, to make plans
i for this, or any other emergency
that may arise.
I
I The Red Cross is not a welfare
organization such as the Territorial
; Welfare Department. Its purpose is
primarily to take care of soldiers
and veterans, and especially dis
abled veterans or veterans with
^ other troubles.
It is only when the local welfare
organizations break down, or when
there is a catastrophe beyond capa
bilities of local organizations that
the Red Cross steps in.
Seward has a long way to go be
fore it reaches the catastrophe
stage, it is believed.
f __
Police Dept. Reports
Sept. Good Month
The Seward Police Department,
in its monthly report for Septem
ber, reported a great improvement
over the same month a year ago.
This September there were only
eight arrests as compared to 41
in September of 1947.
There were only six arrests for
drunkeness and one for drunkeness
and disorderly conduct. The most
serious reported was one arrest for
assault with intent to commit rape.
Tickets were issued for traffic
violations in 11 cases. Two were
for speeding, one for reckless driv
ing, three stop sign violations, one
for improper parking, two for not
having Territorial drivers licenses,
and two for making U-turns be
tween intersections.
Out of five bicycles stolen, four
have been recovered to date. There
were two car accidents, one fire
call. Assistance was lent to other
officers in larceny cases. The re
mainder of the department’s peace
keeping activities were such as set
tling family squabbles, barking
dogs and such trivialities.
The Public School Territorial
health examinations were finished
this week at the school and the
general health of the school chil
dren is reported to be very good.