Mi. KVUhahm, Curator,
FERRITORIAL MUSEUM
The Seward Polaris & 1
' KENAI ALEUTIAN ^
Peninsula-Chain News 1
VOLUME 5 ❖ INDEPENDENT * SEWARD, ALASKA ♦> SATURDAY AUGUST 7. 1948 * UNITED PRESS SERVICE * PRICE 10 CENTS No. 10
VA Medical Chief j
\ eteraus Ailuiiuistrutiuu 1 ■ • '■•>. |
Dr. Paul B. Magnuson, above, it '
Chief Medical Director of the Veterani ]
Administiation.
,< .... tnsBit't?* |
World News
\
m i
The two B-29's on the round-the
world hop left Anchorage at 3 pm j
Thursday and landed in Tucon.
Arizona at 5:45 this morning, af- ;
ter a 14A hours flight from An
VA Administrator
Veterans Administration l'lmlo.
Coil R. Gray, Jr.( above, ii Admin
istrator of Veterans’ Affairs.
chorage. Actual I'lving time was
107*4 hours. The trip took 10 days
and 17 nights of 11 hops. One of
the plans has nearly completed
1500 hours in the air. Their names
are "Gas Gobbler" and the “Lucky
Lady."
K;
A witness, McDowell, explained
Continued on page f!
FATHER HUBBARD’S PLANE
DROPS TWELVE THOUSAND FT.
The following letter was writ
ten by Father Hubbard and tells
.how near to tradgedv a C-82 troop
carrier came in a flight from
Nome to Anchorage
The letter is written to call at
tention and commended the ac
tions of those aboard the -hip
not only trie officers but the GI's
who were aboard.
Here is; the letter: —
in M
To Whom It May Concern:
in a routine flight in a C-82
t:oop carrier from Nome to Anch
crage, an emergency occurred
which could have been very ser
j-. bu:. ‘bank- to the excellent
Raining and keen prc-once of
mind of the pilot and crew, be
came instead just a routine forced
mding. I wi-h to gratefully and
particularly commend Capt. Bert
’ id and Lt. Leo Higgins, for
• ring in the highest traditions of
4 e United States Air Force.
We left Nome in wretched
‘miner—rain, fog, low visibility,
1 ind. and other conditions which
fie Alaska the most difficult
Tying area in the world. My
« ghteen years experience in the
Territory hears this out. The first
4 .vo hours of the three and one
i i if hour flight was just normally
■..pleasant, with icing our only
*ain difficulty. When climbing
fa about 14.000 feet to clear the
Alaska Range, we ran into trou
tie. An oil line broke and began
mattering the port engine and
cowling with oil. The pilot correct
’ - cut out the engine. Unfortun
ately the injured oil line seemed .
onneoted with the hydraulic pres
sure and the crew could not fea
ther the propeller The useless
propeller was whirling free and
jetting the engine red hot, not
only causing an unwieldy drag ou
the laboring plane, but adding
the danger of fire. We were in
storm clouds and rain, unable to
see where we were or where we
might be forced to land. A mem
ber of the crew descended from
the control cabin, and in a calm
and reassuring voice told us to
don our parachutes and be ready
‘o hail out. We did so and gath
ered in the rear to await the next
move. Jovial Chaplain Ilennan.
.">!)Th A.A.C.S.. gave courage and
reassurance to all. The pilot was
doing evetything possible to keep
tl.e plane under control. At about
2.000 feet, one of the crew al
most miraculously got sot tie oil
t'-'sere workine. arid feathered
the propeller, which e,,me to a
stop. We were still in rain and
clouds and could not see the
ground If this continued we
would have been force;! to jump,
hut again, as the pilot said after
ward.—the good Lord opened up
a misty hole for a moment just
below us, he dashed the plane
through before it closed up. and
in a short time made a perfect
landing on one engine, along the
strip at McGrath. Alaska. There
were 20 enlisted men. the crew.
Chaplain Leo .1. Hannan. Lt. Ber
nard J. Stanley, U.S.C.G. 'Re
serve'. and myself, none the
worse for the experience. I have
never seen a crew act more cor
rectly. more calmly, nor more
efficiently and commend them
most highly.
May Congress and the leaders
of our Country, make and keep
our Air Force the best and most
powerful in the world. The GI’s
are doing their part.
Respectfully
Bernard R Hubbard. S.J.
Fr. Hubbard
Speaks Friday
*
Friday the 13th is synonomous
with bad luck but for Seward Fri
day the 13th means good luck.
Father Hubbard will be here
to speak on "World Affairs" on
'Friday.
With headquarters at Santa
! Clara at the University there.
Benard R. Hubbard. S. J. has
; been around in Europe, has seen
India and China and has observed
I the political situation in those
I two countries especially.
! lie has secured more tban two;
! million feet of motion pictures,
during the course of his explora
I tions and travel in Europe and
the Orient and will edit this im
mense amount of film at Santa
I Clara, using it later to illustrate
lectures and publications.
Father Hubbard and Major-Gen
eral Atkinson plan an aerial trip
to the Aleutians to photograph
the volcanos.
It will be remembered that
the valley of 10.000 smokes. (Kat
mi Volcano* was first explored
by Father Hubbard a very few
years after the Katmi eruption.
It was through the good offices
of Father Borbeek of the local
Catholic Church that Seward will
have the opportunity to listen to
this world-reknown traveler and
lecturer. Father Borbeek is the
successor to Father Chaput who I
recently retired and is living at
Everett. Washington.
EDITORIAL
•
They snv opportunity knocks
only once hut from what we hear
opportunity is using a "single-,
iack" to do the knocking.
The R.E A. has seen the co
mitt: merit of the Seward Light &
Power to sell if the city will con
cur with the R.F.C. 'in turning
over tin' unpaid portion of the
Seward Electric System bonds to
the R.E.A.
The price to he paid to the
Si'Aard Light and Power is not
known and is immaterial as it is
to ho paid bv the R.E.A. also
the price paid fur the Seward
Electric System is in the same
cat a gory
Seward gets "out from under"
an expensive deal one which
has never- paid the city one cent
ami at the same time eliminates
a cause for factionl disagreement
bv welcoming with open arms
the "slicer of the Geordinn Knot."
the R.E.A.
We find we cannot have our
cake and cat it also. Those who
are truly in favor of progress
will agree that to go against the
opportunity of allowing the R.E.A.
to consolidate the two plants and
operate them until such time as
the R.E.A. Hydro-Electric plant I
is in operation, will mean merely
a continuance of affairs as they
are now
Here is what we have to face:
iL The most expensive thing of
all to the city is the opposition
generated by two factions.
(2) Increasing costs of Diesel oil
(Continued on page 21
Hi-Way News
j.asi tnursctay trie Highway
Gals met for their fortnightly
meeting at Edith Douglas’ home.
Those present wen1: Croo Ives'
Mrs Bird. Opal Bryan and thir
teen-month-old daughter Mary,
Boo Wither up. l.inda Faulkner.
Annetta Gillespie and baby Ray
mond. visiter .Jo Reed and nine
month-old daughter Susan and
myself and Lou Anne and Lee.
Edith served strawberry short
cake and hot chocolate, which we
all enjoyed immensely. Our next
meeting will be on August 121 h
at Greo’s home near Mile 8.
¥ ¥ y
While 1 was at the meeting at
Edith's, Mrs. Bird invited me
next door to see her little house
and front garden. Her house is
neat and shining clean, with win
dows giving lots of light. The
walls are painted turquoise, which
match nicely with her deep green
linoleum- She has several paint
ings on her walls which have a
personal meaning for her and
quite a few framed photographs.
Mrs. Bird has had eleven children
< and, „ ladies, take note! She is
slender and agile arid walks and
gardens more than many younger
women) and raised them mostly,
I believe, around the logging
camps of the Northwest. Quite
naturally, she loves the woods and
streams. In her garden here on
the highway, she has pansies, ice
land poppies, bluebells, baby blue
eyes. white sweetpeus. and many
other flowers. In her house she
has several potted plants on her
window-sills, among them Geran
ium. Begonia and a Southern Fus
chia. All her life she has tended
growing things and. you see. she
just can t stop now.
Edith and Lyle recently had
John Kohler and Al Smoyer out
for dinner and showed slides af
t erwards.
Last Sunday, in celebration of
IiTKigi ne and Dick Steinberger's
fifth mr sixth?' wedding anni
\ i y. the Steinbergers. the
Wit hemps and Vic's nephew Billy,
the Bert Walker family and Gliz
zie drove out tn the beach at the
end of the Nash Road f<>; a pic
nic.
daunting around Sunday. ve
stooped in and enjoyed cake and
cutiee at the Black s place at the
airport and met one of their
daughters. Wanda. They are creat
ing a thoroughly modern home
out of their large quonset. com
plete with screcned-in back porch.
V- V- V
We also stopped in at the 80
acre Ben Suddath place on the
Nash Road, where we found Mrs.
Suddath feeding their year-old
son and Ben selling some rebbits
to the two men who are home
steading on Lowell Point- Besides
rabbits, the Suddaths have goats
and a couple of pigs. Ben is an
ex-navy veteran, having seen 3
years service during the war. He
was on the “Houston" when it
was torpedoed. Mrs. Suddath
comes from North Carolina and
Ben from South Carolina. We
were invited to share in a crab
feast but. as we had been over
long irorn nome already, we had
to get back to do some necessary
work.
y y y
Sid Strong, who was logging
with Ray Gillespie for Ainsl. <iui•
his job lo join hi.-- wife, who i ■;
now working as a beauty opera
tor in Anchorage. Dave Terrs,
who was working in Arnst's saw
mill, also rj-uit. He and his wife
and small son are returning to
New Mexico with a brother and
hi.s family who recently drove up
here on their vacation.
y y y
Francis Stephen's parents. Mr.
and Mrs. Cole from Metaline
Falls, Washington, are up here
now and have moved into what
was formerly Ed Vogie's house.
The Frank Steeles, who were liv
ing there, moved into the house
at Mile 7 which the Whitey John
sons recently vacated when they
gave up country life and moved
back into town- Frank Steele and
Bob Clark are in Hope working
Swetmann's mine, and Ruby di
vides her time between Frank in
Hope and tier children Ginger and
Donny here.
y y y
Marshall Ronne is in here to
night. I asked him about his mink
and he says he has only the ori
ginal four, which are about two
years old. One of them had a
litter, but destroyed them. He
has about a guarter of an acre
of garden, which says keeps
him pretty busy.
y y y
The Wests, having started to
add on one room, are winding up
by adding on three, as nearly as
1 can make out. Driving by there
the other day. Harold saw Sylvia
sawing boards. Didn't I tell you
Sylvia?
*
Harold finally brought home a
beautiful screen door—the ultra
ultra kind which, by removing the
screen panel in the fall and in
serting a panel of small glass
panes, can be converted into a
solid outside door.
¥ ¥ ¥
Pinkie is growings better- look
ing every day and fleeter of the
foot, if that is possible. As for
Caruso, he is a little savage, and
it is practically worth a finger
or two to hold a bone out to him.
He and Harold have quit feuding
over ids occupation of the porch,
however. Harold decided to allow
him to sleep there, as his pre
sence keeps the squirrels out of
the supplies. The woolly little
pooch receives a lot of attention
and admiration from visitors and
usually repays it by retiring to
safety under the washing machine
and growling at them
* * *
We stopped by and I visited
with Mrs. Arnst the other eve
ning. She was knitting the laci
est. fluffiest sack for her grand
daughter's baby I've ever seen.
Chamber of Commerce will talk
about the possibilities of the
Kenai Light & Power Assn. Thurs
day August 12 in the basement
of the Episcopal Church.
"Work together for Progress'
Hear FATHER HUBBARD
The Rev. Bernard Hubbard. S. J
will -peak on WORLD AFFAIRS
Motion pictures also
U.S.O.Building — Aug 13 8:00 pm
.Admission $1.00 plus tax
Sponsored by Sacred Heart Parish
FRIDAY 13th
Dance-Car Raffle
Seward Volunteer Fire Dept.
Drawing at 12 midnight
10 p. m. U.S.O. Aug. 30