EWARD
'hr Gateway City of Interior Alaska Since 1903.
RECORD
Seward1 s AHA leather Port is Alaska s Greatest Asset.
THE ONLY NEWSPAPER IN THE WORLD THAT GIVES A HOOT AEOUT SEWARD. ALASKA
SEWARD, ALASKA, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5, 1951
Price 10 Cents
VIII. No. 40
Story of
WARD
By Jay Slauter
•TER XX# (Continued)
the winter of 1905, track
>een extended to Mile 42;
lew Railroad Building (now
federal Building) was near
iplete; John Ballaine was
|ig public promises of vast
Dvements lor the townsite._
iss meeting was called by
ieward Chamber of Com
to select delegates lor the
|laska Convention, to be
in Seattle, and the follow
fere chosen: John E. Bal
F. E. Youngs and S. O.
ird. Before the end of the
11905, Governor Brady vi
briefly. primarily to see
Iproper us< was made of
poney assigned to Seward
:hool purposes. ‘‘What Al
needs,” Governor Eradv
j “is people." He was not
Inly visitor to steer clear
I wing statements about the
lad or the townsite.
m steamer brought pew
|ng supplies and new men
sittoou ■-ir''1 towns: to con
lion. A late winter aided
lshing the work almost to
)op area, and some of the
grading ana rock blasting
lalready in progress on
}ga;n Arm, where two saw
fere established for winter
Supplies lor the railroad
not only brought in via
hd. but by small boats to
[gain Arm and also by in
Itrail from Seldovia. The
Fannie was purchased
|e by the crews along Trail
thus simplifying local
lortation problems in that
|ing the winter ot 1905
the Alaska Central Rail
seems to have been very
[involved in national poli
ince John Ballaine had, in
[secured just about every
ie wanted from the Roose
Idnnnistration: an approval
routs, the name of the
and the situation of the
[flice. Later in 1900, how
there seems to have been
I little concern lest a gov
Int-subsidized railroad
|e might be a reality. Mr.
le made his position on
liown in Washington, D.C.,
Ihru personal contacts and
(lobbying activities. If any
id were to receive a gov
|nt subsidy, then the Al
^entral should receive a
|rable subsidy. He would
that no railroad scheme
be granted Federal assist
But if any other road
is the Alaska Home Rail
Valdez, and the proposed
[d starting from Katalla)
be subsidized, then the
Central demanded it also.
Appears that the powers
the Alaska Central and
[ward townsite were con
)ly worried by competi
jm the Valdez-Eagle trail,
|was at this time receiving
?rable aid from the U. S.
iment, by locating Forts
lermanent detachments of
at key points all the way
>rince William Sound to
thaels, connected by land
llegraph.
>rtheless, the advantage
(Turn to Page 4)
Search for Cannon
Gains Momentum
As Plot Thickens
Seward is all agog over the
search for the missing cannon.
Clues are flying thick and fast.
The first one came in about 20
minutes after the paper was on
the street Wednesday night.
Clue No. 1. The cannon was
seen about 15 feet southwest of
Paulsteiner’s “sometime since
1941.”
Clue No. 2. Yesterday a re
pentant Hallowe'en prankster
contacted the Seward Record
and told the following story:
“On Hallowe’en, 1940, five
boys of high school age, only
two of whom are no.v known to
be in the city, set out in a pickup
to engage in some mischief.
Someone suggested that the old
cannon in Nile Park might pro
vide a good subject lor a trick.
The boys managed to load it into
Iht' pickup, and took it to the
school:* intending to place it on
the principal s desk. They had
succeeded in getting it up the
first few steps, when the door
opened and the school janitor,
who happened to be Joe Doyle
at that time, pleasantly bid them
good evening, and informed
Ihcti he was just locking up for
the night.
“They loaaea me oici cannon
back on the pickup, and drove
over to Home Brew Alley, where
they dumped it in the middle
of the driveway. It is believed
that a taxicab ran into the can
non later that evening, and ap
parently someone pushed it out
of the way.”
Here the story of our inform
ant ends, since the boys con
cerned in the prank said no
more about the matter, or even
investigated the question of who
removed it and where it was
taken from there, fearing that
they might get into trouble over
the damage to the taxicab.
(Ed. note: We have agreed to
protect the anonymity of our
informant.)
Clue No. 3. A report that the
missing cannon was at the bot
tom of a heap of trash taken out
of the Alaska Transfer company
barns, led several members of
the Chamber of Commerce to
visit the scene last night. They
did not get to the bottom of the
pile where the relic is said to
be resting, but a number of pic
tures were taken of the group
and will appear in print in the
near future. The search will
continue throughout today.
Clue No. 4. Several persons
are certain that the old gun was
cut up for scrap early in World
War II. Others think they have
seen the carriage stored away
in “some warehouse” in town.
Still more people declare that
there was no carriage, that the
old cannon barrel stood on a
concrete emplacement.
It may be that Seward will
end up with more than one can
non! Keep the clues coming!
WELFARE WORKER
VISITS HERE
Mrs. Mary Lou Prawl arrived
on the SS Denali yesterday and
is a guest for a few days of Mrs.
Margaret Hafcmeister, Depart
ment of Public Welfare, Kenai
District office.
Mrs. Prawl is from San Diego
and is on her way to Anchorage
to take a place in the Depart
ment of Public Welfare office
there.
Old Script As Claim
For Public Lands
Again In Limelight
Washington (/P> — Secretary
of the Interior Chapman said
yesterday he plans to act soon
on applications to use old land
script certificates to acquire
government- owned submerged
oil lands.
Chapman told a National
Press Club audience, in response
to a question, that the Interior
Department solicitor has pre
pared a formal opinion on the
appiicability of the script.
The almost forgotten govern
ment issued script has been in
the limelight since E. L. Cord,
Beverly Hills, Calif., millionaire
and former automobile manu
facturer submitted script certifi
cates last February 5 as claims
for 1,932 acres of submerged
land in the Gulf of Mexico off
the Louisiana coast.
The federal government issued
various kinds of script, from the
pioneer days to as recently as
lduti, as compensation to Indians
and earlier settlers for lands
taken from them, and as a sort
of bonus for veterans of wars
up through the Civil War.
Most of the script has been
redeemed long ago. The Interior
Department acknowledges that
it does not know how much is
still outstanding and how much
is still valid as claims against
public lands. Last month some
government land in Alaska was
transferred to holders of script
which was originally granted to
two Civil War veterans.
Twin Sergeants Puzzle
Eielsonites
Eielson Air Force Base Oct. 4
(AMNS) — Which one are you?
Sergeants Elvin and Eldon
Chandler of Osborne, Kansas,
Eielson's identical twins, hear
that question endlessly. The 23
year old air policemen have a
lot of fun with tiieir remarkable
resemblance, and so do the folks
around the base, now that you
know there are two or them.
Things were pretty well mixed
up when the twins first came
here last fall and were working
the same shift, each guarding
one of the two base entrances.
Eielsonites would frequently
leave by one gate, return thru
the other, and nearly drive into
a ditch from shock One officer
even demanded to know why
the air force squadron was mak
ing their men switch posts so
briskly.
This summer everyone tho't
the situation would be licked,
when one of the boys—Elvin or
Eldon—came up with an aching
front tooth. A trip to the den
tists left a gaping void discern
able to all mankind. However,
the non-ailing twin was in the
dentist chair the next day, de
manding an extraction of the
same front tooth. The doc yank
ed, and the twins were happy
once more.
PHIL SANDERS ILL
IN HOSPITAL
Phil Sanders Sr. was taken to'
Seward General Hospital after
suffering a heart attack while at
work Thursday.
He is reported improving to
day but is still in the hospital.
Five Drowned As
Freighter Breaks Up
On Atlantic Coast
Elizabeth City, N.C. Ufi — The
freighter Southern Isles broke
into halves and sank early today.
It carried a crew of 24 men.
Hours afterward the Coast
Guard reported seven men res
cued and five bodies sighted.
Coast Guard headquarters
here said the steamship Char
lotte Lykes radioed that she had
rescued seven of the Southern
Isles’ 24 member crew and had
sighted the five bodies.
The Southern Isles broke into
pieces about 200 miles southeast
of Cape Hatteras, N. C. The
Charlotte Lykes, about one hour
steaming time from the stricken,
ship, rushed to the scene and
put out life boats for searches.
One of the rescued men had a
broken leg.
The stricken ship was travel
ing rough waters, a residue of
a hurricane which blew along
this coast only yesterday.
Dependents Travel To
Japan Resumed
Elmendorf Air Force Base .? —
Travel of dependents of arm.d
forces personnel to Japan will
be resumed on a limited scale
early in November for the first
time since such travel was sus
pended in July, 1950, following
outbreak of the Korean conflict,
the Defense Department has an
nounced.
Approximately 250 depend
ents are scheduled to embark on
a Military Sea Transportation
Service transport in the first
group to sail from Seattle, Wash
inton, under the resumed travel
program. Subsequently, depend
ents will sail either from the
Seattle or San Francisco ports
of embarkation.
Dependent travel to the Phil
ippai-s, Okinawa, and Guam,
likewise suspended in duly, 1950
following the outbreak o± hos
tilities, was resumed in Febru
ary, 1951.
GE Atomic Workers
Strike Called Off
Schenectady, N.\ 'JP) — CIO
workers struck the top-secret
Knolls Atomic Power Labora
tory this morning but called off
the walkout after three hours.
Five hundred members of
Local 301. International Union
of Electrical Workers, voted out
side piant gates to return to
their jobs in the laboratory,
which is developing atomic
power for U.S. Navy submarines.
The workers struck over what
they called ‘‘local grievances,”
despite an agreement on a new
national contract between the
parent IUE and General Elec
tric.
The contract gives 70,000 IUE
members in various GE plants
throughout the nation a mini
mum wage boost of 3 and one
half cents an hour, plus other
benefits. The same increase will
go to GE s 137,000 other hourly
rated workers.
BULLETIN
The New York Yankees even
ed the World Series at one game
apiece today by beating the Na
tional League Giants three to
one.
U.S. Eighth Army Headquar
ters, Korea tP) — Chinese front
line defenses appeared to be
crumbling in the west today
before an offensive of 100,000
United Nations troops.
Battered Reds retreated north
ward in some sectors. Some hills
were completely abandoned
after days of bitter fighting.
Elsewhere only die-hard rear
guards delayed U.N. troops.
Soldiers of nine United Na
tions moved forward cautiously
for limited gains.
Late in the day Reds lashed
back with counterattacks in
efforts to recapture some aban
doned hills.
Elsewhere:
1. The air over northwest
Korea flamed with three jet
battles involving 220 planes.
This was the greatest number
of jets ever reported in action
on one day. The Fifth Air Force
reported one Red jet shot down,
two damaged. It said ail Allied
jets returned from the first two
battles, but didn't say how they
fared in the third.
2. Allied troops slashed for
ward on each side of Heartbreak
Ridge in a revival of warfare
in the mountainous east. U.N.
infantrymen advanced 1.000
yards to the west of the ridge
while a tank patrol shot up
Reds on the east.
3. Reds were silent on Gen.
Matthew B. Ridgway’s invita
tion to pick a new site in No
Man's-Land to renew disrupted
cease fire talks. Red Korean po
litical officers were quoted as
saying there would be no nego
tiated truce in Korea in the near
future.
Frontline dispatches from the
western front reported these
major gains Friday in the third
day of the drive:
1. The U.S. Third Division
took a key hill in the center of
the line—without firing a shot.
2. Just south of the Third, the
U.S. First Cavalry Division beat
off a series of pre-clawn counter
attacks, and captured three hills
north of Yonchon in the day
light. At nightfall they were
fighting counterattacking Chi
nese trying to recapture one of
the hills.
3. The British Commonwealth
Division made gains of up to a
mile and a half in the sector
reaching from Yonchon seven
miles south to the 38th Parallel.
They fought off one Red coun
terattack late in the day.
SEATTLE CONTRACTOR TO
BUILD ARR COACH SHED
Anchorage u*) — The J. B.
Warrack Co., Seattle, submitted
a low bid of $1,131,000 yester
day for construction of a new
coach shed in the Anchorage
terminal yards of The Alaska
Railroad.
The shed would replace one
lost in a fire Jan. 15, 1951. The
fire also wiped out the main
Alaska Railroad machine shop.
The Warrack bid was an even
$101,000 below the engineers’
estimate.
Contract specifications called
for a 92 by 740 foot building
of steel panel construction, in
sulated with glass.
Anchorage (/PI — The Warrack
Company has been awarded the
contract to build a 1,000-seat
theater at Fort Richardson.
Col. L. E. Seeman, Alaska
District Engineer, announced the
award yesterday on a bid of
$476,600. Completion is sched
uled by December, 1952.