lity’s Wandering Cannon “Jailed”
4:10 p.m. Wednesday, Oct.
bulldozer driven by Max
took one single swipe at
imense pile of earth and
sh in the old Alaska Trans
ard, and uncovered Sew
missing cannon. Present
the old relic was located
Clarence Keating, presi
of the Chamber of Com
>; Alex Petrovich, superin
tendent of the Seward Water
Company; M-Sgt. Leonard Erick
son of the Instructor's Detach
ment, Alaska National Guard;
Lee Norton of the Seward radio
station; and Jay Stauter of the
Seward newspaper.
The cannon was positively
identified by Charles Lechner,
Jr., one of the party of high
school boys who just 10 years
ago this month, removed the
cannon from a park near the
Seward waterfront as a Hallo
we’en prank.
A rough examination by Mr.
Lechner revealed the following
dimensions and general descrip
tion:
Overall length, 44 inches; out
side diameter, from 6 1-2 inches
to 9 inches; inside diameter, 4
1-2 inch bore flaring to 6 inches
at the muzzle. The cannon is
made of an alloy of iron, and
has faint markings, aparently
in Russian lettering, on the swi
vel lugs at the sides.
On Hallowe’en, 1941, Charles
Lcchner, Jr., and four other
young Seward boys, removed
the cannon from Nile Park, in
tending to place it on the school
principal’s desk. The school jani
tor caught the boys in the act
of taking the old weapon up the
school steps, and caused them
to load it back on their pickup
truck. They then dumped it on
a side street, known locally as
Home Brew Alley, not over a
hundred yards from the spot
where it was just found.
Seward’s long missing Russian
cannon is now in the custody of
the police department, pending
arrangements for identification
and permanent display.
%i fc ifct!. .*-<& J
EWARD
rhe Gateway City of Interior Alaska Since 1903.
Record
Seward's All-lVeather Port is Alaska's Greatest Asset.
THE ONLY NEWSPAPER IN THE WORLD THAT GIVES A HOOT ABOUT SEWARD. ALASKA
I
III, No. 43
SEWARD, ALASKA, FRIDAY, OCTOEER 12, 1951
Price 10 Cents
? Story of
:ward
By Jay Slauter
I XXI
URE OF THE RAILROAD
ore resuming the rather in
d story of the Alaska Cen
tailroad, upon which Sew
hopes were based, perhaps
agraph in summary of past
s might refresh our memo
In June, 1902, a party of
yors landed at Resurrection
and laid out a townsite.
ng some horses and equip
thev returned at the end
e summer to Seatt.e. On
st 23, 1903, a party of uffi
mechanics, laborers, sct
and misc-iiant-jus boomers
d on tnat townsite and
ed the town of Seward.
Ballaine, with his brother
: Ballaine, in company with
e and varied group of small
lrge investors, were respon
for the project. The plan
o build a private railroad
the newly-founded town of
rd to the Tanana River,
what is now Fairbanks. The
rening region,-' especially
ong Susitna River Valley,
t that time not only unpop
1, but virtually unexplored
nknown. The railroad must
over two chains of moun
and surmount problems of
eering and supply more dif
than those of the great
;uii mien iui iuuui in
d States. On its face ... an
nse, risky, expensive and
g operation for private cap
; the little townsite boomed,
rack-laying began on March
)04, progressing rapidly to
Kenai at Mile 18 by the
)f that year. ^During 1905
L906, operations continued
*h speed, and the railroad
xtended to the present loop
it the second summit. Here
■uction became so expen
:hat funds of the corpora
vere being consumed faster
additional money could be
I. After several narrow es
from complete failure, a
group of capitalists took
and John Ballaine. the or
promoter, was retained
y as one of the many di
‘s; while the Frost and Os
grouo (promoters of the
go. Milwaukee and St. Paul
>ad) had complete control,
much for that brief sum
of preceding events. Now
pick up the story in the
(Turn to Page 4)
ROAD PLACES
JLANCE HERE
s Alaska Railroad has
1 an ambulance at the
office for use by the people
vard and vicinity in erner
iS.
vehicle is the regulation
-type ambulance, brightly
d with the railroad colors
ae and gold. It is under
here that the ambulance
je available for call day
;ht.
Infant Survives Arctic
Plane Crash That
Killed Mother
Fairbanks i.-P) — A baby's faint
cry broke the silence of death
beside a crashed plane in the
Arctic Wednesday.
Astonished airmen from an
other plane found a 6-month-old
boy strapped inside a fur pouch
under the parka of his dead Es
kimo mother.
The tot, although injured,
survived the crash that hurled
Mrs. Martha Ruth Simmons 9d
feet from the crashed plane to
her death on the ice.
Another victim -of th .■ crash
was the pilot, George Harring
ton, from Marblehead Lake,
Mass.
L. B. Williams of the govern
ment's Alaska Native Service
and at first believed to have
been a passenger on the plane,
was located last night in M ade
River Village. He had not been
a passenger when the craft took
off on its flight near Point Bar
row, northernmost tip of North
America.
Finding of Williams canceled
plans for further search for him
at the spot where the single en
gine Wien-Alaska Airlines plane
crashed on a frozen lagoon.
wo iounc.1 tne plane broken
into pieces and scattered all
over the ice,” said pilot William
English. “We found the pilot's
body about 100 feet from the
fuselage. Then we went over
to where the mother was lying.
She was dead. too. Then sudden
ly we heard a baby crying some
where inside her clothing. We
opened the hood of the fur com
partment on her back and dis
covered the infant.”
English and F:ss (Casey)
Stengl flew the baby to the hos
pital at Point Barrow. It was re
ported to have internal injuries.
PLANE FORCED DOWN IN
SNOW STORM
Fairbanks l?! — A four-place
Cessna owned by Northern Con
solidated Airlines but flown by
a Wien-Alaska Airlines pilot
was forced down in a snowstorm
six miles northwest of Nenana
yesterday.
The pilot, Don Hulshizer, es
caped injury, but was marooned
at the plane. The Tenth Rescue
Squadron reported a helicopter
was assigned to pick up the pilot
when the storm cleared.
Hulshizer, a resident of Fair
banks, was on a chartered Wien
flight in the plane.
EARTHQUAKES IN MANILA
Manila UP) — Buildings swayed
noticeably as earthquakes were
felt in the Philippines today. The
heaviest tremblor here was a
40-second tremor of intensity
three on a scale of ten.
City Grants Option
To Seattle Firm For
Housing Project
The Brady Construction Com
pany oi Seattle, Fairbanks and
Anchorage was given an option
this week on Block 32 for the
purpose oi construction of a min
imum of 25 houses through the
niaska Housing Authority.
The option is for four months,
and is contingent upon the Army
i lin«4uislnng its lease on the
property. A committee appointed
by the mayor decided upon
Sa.UOU as a reasonable purchase
price for the property, if soid as
a block and wit^ immediate con
struction promised.
The housing project is to be
of garden type dwellings, accord
ing to Mr.. Walter Hutchinson,
company representative. They
abandoned the apartment plan
in favor of individual units after
a survey of the city. The houses
are to be built of pumice block,
each with two bedrooms, and
will rent at $125 per month if
present plans materialize. Con
struction is planned for early
spring.
Whitehorse Scene of
Cold Weather Tests
By U.S. and Canada
Chicago i/P> — Engineers of the
U.S. and Canadian armies will
test themselves and machinery
in some of the world's coldest
weather next year.
The combined exercise, to be
held some 150 miles north of
Whitehorse in Yukon Territory,
will begin January 15 and con
tinue six months. With a com
bined force of 435 men, it will
be the largest peace-time all
engineer exercise in history.
The operation, dubbed “eager
beaver,” will see some 300 U.S.
and 135 Canadian troops setting
up emergency airstrips on frozen
lakes in the Klaune Lake-Silver
Creek area.
It w'ill be controlled by the
Canadian army western com
mand and U.S. Fifth Army
Headquarters, with Lt. Col- Hor
ace D. Browm of the C.S. Army
Corps of Engineers commanding.
Maj. E. D. Taylor, of the Royal
Canadian Engineers, will be sec
ond in command.
U.S. troops to participate will
begin cold weather indoctrina
tion at Camp Carson, Colo., in
November. The Canadians will
train at Wainright, Alberta. An
advance party has already left
For Leonard Wood, Mo., for the
exercise area.
SEWARD NATIONAL GUARD
UNIT OFF FOR TRAINING
Seward Unit of the National
Guard left by train this morning
for their annual training period
at Fort Richardson.
Heartbreak Ridge
Won in Costliest
Battle of the War
U.S. 8th Army Headquarters,
Korea (,T) — Bloody bayonets oi'
American and French infantry
men today cleared the Reds off
the last peak of Heartbreak
Ridge, climaxing the longest
and most costly hill battle of
the Korean war.
Fiere fighting continued on
the northern slope below tne
crest. U.S. 8th Army officers
referred to it as "mopping up.”
The Allies captured two other
nearby peaks in the eastern Ko
rean mountains.
In a blazing air battle ov*'T*
northeastern Korea U.S. F-80
Sabre jet pilots reported they
shot down one Red jet and dam
aged six. The Fifth Air Force
said the Sabres were outnum
bered 100 to 32. It said no Amer
ican jets were lost in the 20
minute fight.
Along the western front Chi
nese Reds hurled three attacks
at the United Nations line. Two
were beaten back.
All battle action was over
shadowed by the capture ox the
northernmost peak of Heart
break Ridge.
a mile band of haggard
Frenchmen and Americans seiz
ed it in a night long attack.
At 8 a.m. they stood lootting
across the crest at the climax
oi 81 days of incredible fighting
lor Heartbreak Ridge.
At their feet were the burned
and twisted bodies of Nortn Ko
rean Communists whose fana
tical detense was equalled only
by the courage that won the
bitter admiration of the men
who killed them in hand-to-hand
struggle.
The Reds’ dogged defense
made the month-long battle for
the four mile ridge probably
tiie costliest Allied regimental
attack of the whole Korean war.
Some companies almost dis
appeared. Some battalions were
cut down to little more than
companies.
COLUMBUS DAY GREETINGS
FROM ITALY
Rome (.1*) — Italian Premier
Alcide de Gasperi issued a spe
cial statement today in honor of
Columbus Day. He said Christo
pher Columbus has become a
“symbol that ties two worlds
together.”
“For several years now we
have commemorated Columbus
Day by sending greetings to
friends in America,” the mes
sage said. “This time I do it
with even greater enthusiasm,
since the cordial reception given
me recently in the United States
and Canada is still vivid before
me.”
In a special meeting Wednes
day night the Seward city coun
cil authorized the mayor and
city clerk to sign the $80,000
promissory note for purchase of
the facilities of the Seward
Water Company, owned by Mrs.
Jean Thorne Petrovich.
Besides the note a mortgage
for the full amount was also
signed, to be repaid at the rate
of S725 per month with no in
terest on the principle. The or
dinance, promissory note and
mortgage papsrs all carry the
same agreement concerning pay
ment. The mortgagee cannot at
any time call for full payment,
but must accept a larger pay
ment if the city wishes to in
crease the amount. The mort
gagee also agrees that the debt
will become a secondary lion if
or w'hen the city finds it neces
sary to refinance by bonding for
rehabilitation.
A warranty deed, contract and
bill of sale are still to be execut
ed by the water company. These
papers are prepared and in the
hands of the company for review’
by the company attorney. Upon
receipt of these instruments the
transfer of ownership will be
complete.
(Turn to Page 4)
Loweil Canyon Water
Rights and Pipeline
Sold To City
In a contract of sale with the
Alaska 'telephone ~"rporation,
including a relin ^uis >ment by
the Kmght and Graff interes t
(formerly the Sewaro Light &
Power Co.), all rights ana jp
ments to the Lowell Canjon
water rights and pipelines were
transferred to the City of Sew
ard tnis week.
The contract of sale includes
the dam, pipeline, spillways,
easements through various town
properties, and The Alaska Rail
road. The entire property trans
fer was made in settlement of
the amount due the city in de
linquent personal property taxes
owed by the former company
and assumed by the present
owners, something in the neigh
borhood of $5000.
Some concern has been felt
for several months over the pos
sible water shortage in case of
fire or breakdowns in the city
domestic supply at the time of a
fire. Addition of the Lowell
Creek water supply, when turn
ed into the fire mains, decreases
the danger materially, according
to Fire Chief Kielcheski. This
water will not be used for do
mestic purposes. Some future
rehabilitation plan might include
the Lowell Creek water supply,
but at present it is not consider
ed safe for that purpose, and is
wanted solely for emergency
fire protection.
All payments must com? from
the revenue of the water system,
(Turn to Page 4)