God offers to every mind Its
choice between truth and re
pose. ..Take which you please,
you can never have both.
Emerson
The Seward Seaport Record
Is independent in every re
spect and none shall ever be
denied the right to use its col
umns for any legal purpose or
expression.
VOL. XI. NO. 13.
SEWARD, ALASKA, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1954
PRICE 10 CENTS
CITY MANAGER’S REPORT GIVEN
TO CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
The regular session of the Cham
ber of Commerce was once again
lull to overflowing at the Tuesday
noon meeting.
POLIO CENTER
It was reported to the Chamber
that the work on the stringing of
phone wires to the Polio Rehabil
itation Center was just about
completed. The job has been done
by a group of the fellows from
the powerhouse.
CITY MANAGER'S REPORT
Ray O'Hara just back from the
City .Manager's conference held in
St. Petersburg, Florida, reported
that he had enjoyed his trip and
felt right at home as the temper
ature the morning after he arrived
in the sunny south dipped to the
S-t" mark.
The City Manager reported hav
ing full cooperation of Mr. Clark,
public relations man for the Alas
ka Steamship Co. in Washington,
who arranged several meetings for
him with various Washington of
ficials.
One of the main topics discussed
at the meetings was the need to
develope the Kenai Peninsula tour
ist traffic as one of the best sourc
es of additional revenue for the
area. Other forms of develop
ment would also relieve Seward's
dependence on the Interior Alaska
freight and thus stabilize the local
economy the discussions decided.
Checking up on the status of
the Small Boat harbor project, Mr.
O'Hara said he found that the
project had been approved by Con
gress and that it would now have
to go back to Congress for an ap
propriation. It is estimated that
the project will cost about $80,000.
On the hydro-electric project,
O'Hara said he found some sur
prise on the part of Washington
officials that such a project was
being undertaken by the City. The
officials were pleasantly surpris
ed and said that the completion
of the facility would be a forward
step for all of the Kenai area.
Checking up on the feeling in
Washington about a dock at An
chorage, the City Manager said,
that he had found no wide spread
enthusiasm for the project and
thought it unlikely that money
would be appropriated in the near
future for the project. Mr. O'Hara
said that in his discussions of the
project he had not voiced opposi
tion to the proposition other than
holding that Alaskan Rivers and
Harbors funds should not be used
to build the port.
SEATRAINS
O’Hara's findings on the Sea
train situation were much the
same as those voiced at a meeting
between the Manager of the Alas
ka Railroad. Frank Kalbaugh, and
the Seward Chamber of Commerce.
He had also found that Whittier
was favored as being the shortest
haul with a lack of steep grades.
Also that the bulk of the traffic
would be Military in nature and
thus should go through the mili
tary port. Also Washington offic
ials said that some of the carriers
were dissatisfied with the history
of local cooperation with carriers
serving this port.
The decision on who will run
Jhe Sdatrains is still peffding.
however the Interior Department
will likely be the one to decide
who will carry the freight, in as
much as the connecting facility on
the Alaska end will be owned by
them.
In conclusion. O'Hara described
his tour of the Pentagon and urg
ed all members to be sure to visit
the unique building if they were
ever in Washington.
ALASKA DEVELOPMENT BOARD
Tommie Bie reported that he
had returned from the meeting
of the Alaska Development Board.
Much of the meeting. Bie said, was
devoted to becoming familiar with
the functions of the Board, as
many of the members were new on
the job.
A budget was also prepared and
an increase of $12,000 w ill be asked
by the Board, making the request
for the biennium $137,000.
Other business included accept
ance of the resignation of Dr. Al
exander Baird who has been Gen
eral Manager of the Board for the
past several months. No reason
for the resignation was given, and
Bie said he had nothing further
to say about it. No successor has
been named as yet.
The Manager of the Railbelt of
fice. Jim Dalton of the ADB, has
also indicated that he will resign.
He has been offered a better pos
ition and has indicated his desire
to resign.
Mr. Bie said that it was his hope
that before Mr. Dalton left the
ADB that development survey of
the Kenai Peninsula could be com
pleted.
AIR SERVICE
A letter was read from the White
House advising that the Chamber's
recent protest of rumored plans
to discontinue the services North
West Airlines to Anchorage had
been filed and the contents noted.
In view of the newr threat to
Alaska air service which has aris
en in the past week, the Chamber
voted to s^pd a new protest ask
ing that the present air carriers
serving Alaska be recertified to
fly the same routes and no new
outside carrier be substituted for
them.
According to recent rumors,
there is danger that Pacific North
ern Airlines and Alaska Airlines'
might have their States-Al a s k a
routes discontinued in favor of
having Pan American Airlines fly
the Seatle-Anchorage route. This
route was pioneered by Northwest
and Pacific Northern after Pan
American had turned down requ
ests to serve the area in the past.
NEWS COVERAGE
A discussion of the lack of news
coverage of the Seward area by the
Anchorage News while the other
Anchorage paper had coverage,
was discussed.
The discussion brought out the
fact that the News is represented
by United Press which is handled
by the Seward Seaport Record.
Mr. Bonser being present, outlined
some of the problems involved in
the local newspaper operation, the
main one being the limited person
nel. and thus an inability to even
give adequate coverage for the
local paper much less providing
coverage desired for out of town
papers. The problem of the An-,
chorage coverage as well as the
local coverage seemed to resolve
itself to finding someone interested j
enough to see that news of lqcal
happenings was provided to the
papers.
Holiday Soaion and a moil prosperous Naw Yaarl
CORDOVA AIRLINES
New License Tabs
Available For Cars
The motor vehicle registration
forms for 1955 have arrived at the
U.S. Commissioner's Office in the
Federal Building and may be pick
ed up at any time now.
As in the past year, tabs will
be issued to be attached to your
old license plates or in the case
of new registrations new plates'
and tabs will be given out.
Next year is also the time for
drivers to renew their licenses.
The cost of the driver's licenses
have been increased to $4 from
the former $2. for a two year per
iod. Unlike the registration of
automobiles, which are good until
February 2Sth, the drivers licenses
expire December 31st.
The Commissioner has asked the
cooperation of all local drivers
and car owners requesting that
they obtain their registrations
some time during the first two
weeks of January when there will
be extra help available to process
the applications and give out the
new tabs.
In addition to the various motor
vehicle licenses and registration
forms, the Commissioner's office
now has a complete file of report
and application forms for all sorts
of Territorial and Federal licenses
including the Territorial Business
License application and report
forms.
Special Court Term
Set January Sixth
A special term of the Third
District Court will convene in Se
ward early next year, it was an
nounced recently by the Clerk .of
the Court in Anchorage.
Sitting on the bench during the
term in Seward will be Judge
Walter H. Hodge of the Second
Division District Court. Judge
Hodge has been helping out with
the heavy load in the Third Dis
trict for the past couple of months.
Hodge was formerly a Cordova
attorney, and was appointed to the
Nome bench last spring.
Weather, Accident
Delayed Papers
The weatherman and an acci
dent combined last weekend to
make the Seaport Record later
than usual. The papers came off
the press on schedule at Cordova
hut due to iceing on the runways
the plane could not land there,
thus holding the paper over until
Saturday evening.
Saturday evening playing a
hunch of the Editor, the papers did
not come down on Saturday even
ing. Sunday frifcenoon we found
out why we were correct in not
leaving Anchorage Saturday even
ing hound for Seward.
Heavy snows over the mountains
between Portage and Mile 3X had
forced several luckless motorists
to spend the night in their cars
waiting for snow plows to come
dig them out. also along Turnagain
Arm snow slides blocked the high
way in numerous places holding
up traffic.
However, the papers got a little
shaking up when the Editor's car
hit a stretch of glare ice and took
a spin along the highway, finally
ending up in the ditch about two
miles the other side of Portage,
that is. toward Anchorage.
Outside of a buckled door and
a pretty good scare, no other dam
age was done to either .the car
or Its contents.
Acting on another hunch, the:
papers will be flown the entire!
distance from Cordova to Seward '
starting the first of the year. Up
till now, it has been weekly routine
for the Editor and his wife to go
to Anchorage to pick up the papers
and get them back to Seward late J
Friday night or sometimes Satur- j
night if the papers did not get out 1
nf Cordova on the Friday plane.
Commissioner’s Office
Records Micro-filed
A new step in protection for the
records of the U.S. Commissioner's
Office was taken recently when
all the records in the files of the
Dffic? were micro filed and stored
in a vault in Anchorage.
Hence forth all deeds and in
struments brought in for record
ing will be photostated thus speed
ing up the work of recording which
formerly required retyping of the
deed of other document into the
record books of the office.
The Commissioner's office will
he closed one half day on Decem
ber :ioth in accordance with a
Justice Department directive is
sued recently giving all employees
a half day. off before Christmas
and New Years.
'.Try Record Classified Ads.
Seward Seahawks
Split With Fairbanks
This is the second in a series
of “student reported" games to
appear in the Seaport Record. It
is our sincere hope that all future
games will be given full coverage
even though, due to the limited
staff of the Record, we cannot at
tend each game personally.
We are indebted to Wilbur Ham
blin for last week's report, how
ever, we do not have the name of
this week’s reporter.
A two game series with Fair
banks this past weekend saw the
local squad come from behind after
taking a 46 to 39 beating Friday
night, to wallop the Fairbanks Mal
mutes 55 to 45.
In the first game the Malmutes
paced by 6* 10" John Nielson took
an early lead and by the end of
the first quarter were ahead 12 to
9. Pete Wagner kept the Hawks
in the lead by netting 6 of the nine
points tally for the local squad.
The second quarter saw the sea
hawks take on a little life and
baskets by Rose, Bahr and David
Hughes put the local squad in the
lead by 2 points with a score of
26 to 24.
In the second half of play, the
Malmutes clipped the Seahawks'
wings and recovered the lead. Only
once during the Third quarter did
the local team threaten the Fair
banks lead and that trick was near
ly turned by Pete Wagner when
he made a basket and a free throw
narrowii\g the Malemute lead to
one point with the score at 34 to
33. Scoring honors for Friday’s
game went to Pete Wagner with
15 points and runners up were
Jerry Williams and John Nielsen
of the Fairbanks squad who each
had 13 points to their credit.
In what was possibly their best
game of the season, the Seahawks
took a quick lead over their adver
saries on Saturday night, and soar
ed off into the wild blue yonder
for a first quarter score of 17 to 8.
Much of the credit for the first
quarter lead goes to Doe Blatch
ford who hit a couple of long
shots, and Wagner who poured in
a jump and a set shot.
The Seahawks. unable to keep
up the pace they had set in the
first quarter, played -a somewhat
slower game in the second quarter
but managed to keep their lead
out of danger with the half time
score standing at 31 to IS in their
favor.
The Malemutes were handicap
ped by not being able to use 3 of
their starting five who were in
danger of being retired for fouls.
Ry the end of the third quarter the
Fairbanks squad had edged up a
little closer to the Hawks with the
score standing at 3f to 44 with
much of the scoring made on free
throws. The third quarter had
started out good for the local squad
but fouls on Dan Rose and Pete
Wagner sent them to the showers.
The tall Fairbanks five took heart
and brought the Hawks down a
few pegs, narrowing the Seward
lead to four points. It didn’t look
like the “birdmen" stood a chance
until Kenny Bahr made three con
secutive baskets and the crowd
went wild.
The final quarter, of play saw
the Seahawks role up 19 points,
almost two for one over Fairbanks
to end the game in the lead 55 to
45.
Two Fire* Nipped
In Bud by Department
Two fires on Wednesday threat
ened to do serious damage Jmt by
luck were caught early and failed
to do serious damage before they
were snuffed out.
The first fire, about 1:30 Wed
nesday afternoon, a still alarm,
was at the Seaport Record office
where the furnace backfired, set- .
ting the oily floor afire and de
stroying the oil burner portion of!
the furnace. This fire was detect
ed by Mrs. Willliam Bonser who
called the Fire Department. Oscar
Watsjold and Gus Johnson respond
ed on the double with some CO-2
and the fire was extinguished be
fore it could further damage the
premises.
The secolnd fire wtas at t'he
Church of the Nazarine which is
under construction. The alarm
sounded at 6:33 Wednesday even
ing and a full compliment of fire
men responded to extinguish a
blaze which had started between
the walls and was billowing out a
thick strong smoke. Damage was
confined to the inside walls of the
building where firemen had to tear
off wall board to get at the fire
which was smoldering in the In
sulation.
Seahawks’ Schedule r
HOME GAMES
Feb. 4 A 5—Anchorage.
GAMES AWAY
Jan. 14 A 15—Anchorage.
Seward Company of
Guard Adds Interest
The Seward Company of the Al
aska National Guard is getting to
be an organization of which both
the members of the company and
the citizens of Seward might
well be proud.
A change of command has rec
ently taken' place and the new
C. O. Lt. Bob Jackson has drum
med up a lot of interest among
the young men of the community
in doing their part in this vital
role of Alaskan defense. There
is still plenty of room in the or
ganization . for more young men
to join.
In addition to the drill and sol
diers duties the Guard has a well
organized, formidable Basketball
team. Flans also have been made
for two firing ranges and an act
ive program of rifle competition
with 22’s and 30 calibre rifles.
The drill hut is in the process
of being prettied up, there will
will be a Day room where the juke
box will live, a snack bar which
will serve the quick energy to
give a burst of speed needed for
the last few minutes of a card
game.
Men interested in joinyig the
Guard are invited to drop in at
the City Police Station and talk
with Bob Jackson the C. O. or
talk to one of their friends who
is a Guardsman. Drills are lielJ
each week for two hours and
Guardsmen get a credit of one
day for the training.
Continuing Boom Seen
Tourism in 1955
Hundreds of inquiries about tra
vel in Alaska are pouring in to
the office of the Alaska Visitors
Association during the winter mon
ths. according to Rernice Morgan,
Executive Secretary of the Assoc
iation.
If the interest shown in this
correspondence is any indication
of the volume of tourist traffic for
the coming year, we can predict
a boom year for the 1955 Alaska
Tourist Season.
Any one who has information
about musical contributions made
by Alaskans either in recordings,
or printed form, are asked to
write this to the Juneau office of;
the A.V.A.. A survey of Alaskan j
music is being made in the interest ;
of tourist information.
Hydro-Electric Permit
Request Goes to FPC
(Special dispatch to the Seward 1
Seaport Record)
Washington — Application for a
preliminary permit for a proposed
hydro-electric project on Crescent
and Carter Lakes. Kenai Penin
sula, Alaska, has been filed with
the Federal Power Commission by
the City of Seward, Alaska.
Site of the proposed development
is 32 miles north of Seward. Plans
for tjiie project call for a low dam
across the outlet of Crescent Lake
which would raise and back up
water into Carter Lake; a channel
cut between the upper end of
Crescent and Carter l^akes; a low
dam and intake at the outlet of
Carter Lake; 5,000 feet of -pipe
line and penstock; a powerhouse
with initial Installation of 4,500
horsepower and ultimate installa
tion of 14,000 horsepower. The
powerhouse would be located on
the effluent of Carter Lake approx
imately 3.000 feet from its junc
tion with I’pper Trail Lake.
Power generated by the project
would be used by the City of Se
ward and would be sold to other
municipalities and electric assoc
iations' on Kenai Peninsula for
public utility purposes.
A preliminary permit does not
authorize construction. It is Is
sued to give the holder priority
while conducting surveys ’and in
vestigations necessary to prepare
application for an FPC license.
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HOSPITAL FINANCING PROBLEM
POSER FOR CITY COUNCDJHEN
The City Council session got
underway on schedule Monday
evening, with all Councilmen ex
cept Blair present. The City Man
ager was also back from his re
cent trip outside to the City Man
ager's conference in St. Petersburg
Florida.
Following the reading of the
minutes of the previous sessions
citizens present were asked to
present whatever business they
had to the Council for considera
tion.
Mr. Heinbaugh was the only
there with a problem, and he
showed the Mayor and Council a
bill which he had paid the Brady
Construction Co. for connecting
up a couple of sewer lines. From
the bill, it appeared that he had
been charged for a couple of Y's
which should have been installed
as a part of the project which the
City paid for. Heinbaugh asked
that the Council consider taking
off the price of the two Y's from
his regular sewer assessment. The
matter was referred to the City
Manager for investigation and re
port.
HEALTH OFFICER
Mrs. Hull was present to bring
a recommendation of the Health
Council that the Regional Health
Officer for South Central Alaska
Health District be appointed City
Health Officer.
Under this arrangement the Re
gional Health Officer would act
as City Health Officer with a local
ly appointed trained Sanitarian do
ing the work of inspection and
making recommendations for the
improvement of health standards
of the area. In any case where
disciplinary action was dee m e d
necessary, the Regional Health
Officer would make an inspection
and report and decide what action
was warranted.
Some discussion was held by
the Council regarding the recom
mendation and it was decided to
approve the recommendation if
after corfiaetiug Dr. Staff it was
found that no legal physician is
interested in having the job.
CITY MANAGER'S REPORT
City Manager O'Hara was next
on ibe floor and gave a report of
his findings while in Washington
in behalf of the City and.the Cham
ber of Commerce. He credited
much of his success in getting to
see many folks in Washington to
Mr. Clark who is public relations
man for Alaska Steamship Com
pany in Washington. He was also
assisted by the delegate to Con
gress' office though the Delegate
was vacationing in Hawaii at the
time.
While in Washington Mr. O'Hara
met with several officials includ
ing representatives of the Bureau
of Budget. Department of Defense.
Interior. Bureau of Reclamation.
Maritime Commission, iaibor and
many ethrs.
In discussions with the Defense
and Interior Departments the Man
ager said he received assurance
that the Seward Railroad Dock
would be replaced, regardless of
w-liat the Seatrain decision was.
However, no definite plans for a
start of construction have been
made.
The City Marrager also discussed
the possibility of the City obtain
ing title to the, Ajjn?- pock. How
ever. Washington officials advised
that this request would have to
be channeled through the Alaska
Commander’s office.
Mr. O'Hara was also told about
the same story which the Railroad
Manager had told local citizens
regarding Seatrain service and its
history. He also heard rumors
that the Alaska Steamship Com
pany was being the favored one
to serve Alaska.
LAGOON AREA
A letter was received from the
Bureau of Land Management in
which they gave the City formal
notice of the withdrawal of the
application of the Alaska Railroad
which had some years ago sought
to have the lagoon area withdrawn
from .entry so it could be used for
railroad yards.
The Bureau suggested that the
City should enter an application
for a special use permit on the
area so that it would have first
claim on the area once the land
was made available for disposal.
At present it is classified a tide
lands and is not subject to entry.
HOSPITAL
A letter was received from Foss,
Malcolm & 'Olsen saying that they
believed that the Seward Hospital
was on the list for appropriation of
funds during the 1956 fiscal year
which will .start next July. The
firm which has been hired to make
the preliminary plans for the hos
pital was asking what action the
Council wanted them to take on
the advance planning for the pro
ject.
The Council discussed the mat
ter of finances again as they had
at the previous session but could
find no solution of how th^Hos
pital could be paid for. —"
The main problem seems to be
that originally it had been suppos
ed that a $100,000 grant would be
made by the W.S.C.S.: however,
it appears at this time that the
funds were promised only if the
San were closed down. At this
point it looks like Seward taxpay
ers would be called on to pay the
Cfty’s half of the cost of the pro
ject, less whatever contribution
could be raised from local citizens.
Territorial Legislature and other
sources.
Since it seems to be the opinion
that most people voted for the
Hospital because they did not
think it was going to raise their
taxes, the Council was somewhat
reluctant to take that means of
raising the City's share of the
t ort even though .they are legally
| able to do so.
LIQUOR LICENSE
One last Liquor License applica
tion was received Monday evening
and it was from the Seward Trad
ing Company. The application was
approved unanimously by the
Council.
| SEWER ASSESSMENT
The question of what the 1 %
, charge was on the recent Sewer
i Assessment notices w a s raised,
and it was explained that this was
the charge for interest already
paid, out of the General Fund, by
the City.
Kenai Peninsula .
Power Grid Forming
As a result of a meeting in An
chorage last week it would ap
pear that by the time Seward gets
its first unit of Hydro-electric pow
er in operation most of the power
users on the Kenai will be set up
to tie into the system which will
provide some of the cheapest pow
' er in the Territory. •
| . In a meeting between the City
of Seward. Homer Electric Associ-*
1 ation and Co-op No. 17. with REA
officials and Chugach Electric As
sociation, preliminary' discussions
' were held to plan a Generation and
Transmission Pool on the Kenai.
Under the plan, Seward would
generate the electricity and sell it
at a small profit which would be
substantially below the cost of
present diesel generation costs.
Approval of a Revenue Bond
issue to pay the cost ef the project
will have to be voted in Seward
before the plan )o develope Cres
cent Lake can go any further.
Record Want Ads
Get Results
NEWSPAPER ADVERTISING IS ECONOMICAL
Don’t be fooled by the ‘.‘economy” of flier advertising schemes. They
are not cheap, and they don’t keep your message before the pros
pective custoiper.
Ever See the Streets Littered With Fliers?
Or the Waste Basket in the Post Offoce Full of Handbills?
The circulation of a Newspaper and the articles of interest it con
tains assures that the public will hang on to nt—and your ad.
A Newspaper Advertisement of this Size
Would cost you $6.89 per issue, and would carry your message to
more than 600 Seward and Moose Pass area home's. The. postage
alone on such a mailing would cost you $9.00.
THE SEWARD SEAPORT RECORD
Is the answer to your advertising problem.
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