BLM Goofs Land Patent... Fairbanks
Man Claims Stretch of Alaska Highway
FAIRBANKS OP — Somewhere
in the millions of miles of govern
ment red tape, a gross error has
been made and a Fairbanks man
is happy as a lark about it.
The man, Harry E. Underwogd,
U.S. Bureau of Land Management
to a quarter-mile of the 1,500
mile Alaska Highway.
Back in 1057, Underwood ap
plied for a small tract of land on
Harding Lake, about 50 miles
from Fairbanks, and in 1959 re
• ceived "what he thought was title
to the land.
But it now appears there was
a mix-up. Instead of being given
a patent on the lot near the lake,
Underwood was given ownership
of a 4.05-acre tract of highway.
Somewhat bewildered, Keith
Corrigall, manager of the Fed
eral Land Office here, said he
couldn’t explain how such an er
ror could have occurred.
He Owns Highway
“But as far as we are concern
ed, he owns the highway,” Cor
rigall said.
Told about the mix-up, Under
wood and his wife were bubbling
with plans Thursday for their
choice property.
“I think i’ll put up a toll sta
tion and charge people fees for
traveling through my property,”
Underwood exclaimed.
“We might even sue the govern
ment for putting paven\ent on our
potato patch,” his wife laughed.
has been issued a patent
OUR SAVIOR'S
LUTHERAN CHURCH
JOHN L. MAAKESTAD. Pastor
SUNDAY
^9:iS aan.^und^ . '
7100 p.m.—OyuHrmatton Claw
7:30 p.m. Lutheran Church Women
WEDNESDAY
7:30 p.m.—Mlgweek Masting
8:30 p.m. Choir Practice
THURSDAY
7:00 pjm.—Luther League
The error was revealed this
week by the Title Insurance &
Trust Co. here while making a
routine check.
Underwood appliect for a 0.71
acre lot near Harding (Lake de
scribe as Lot 6, U.S. Survey 3204.
He was granted official patent,
however, on Lot 6, Section 35,
Township 5 South, Range 4 East
of the Fairbanks meridian.
“I just can’t see how the error
occurred,” Corrigall said.
“We check the applications
when they come in and before we
send them to Washington, D.C.,
and the office there checks them
when they come in and when they
go out. We even re-check them
when the patents come back.”
Can't Change Patent
The official explained that the
Land Office here had no power
to correct the error. •
“Once a patent is issued only
Washington can change it,” he
When Underwood received the
patent in 1959, he had a summer
cabin constructed on the lot near
the lake. Now it appears that he
doesn’t own the cabin at all. The
cabin is owned by the U.S. gov
ernment.
To complicate matters even fur
ther, a local bank negotiated a
$1,043-34 mortgage on the prop
erty. The bank thought it was
mortgaging the house and lot.
Mrs. Doris Loennig, manager of
the Title Insurance & Trust Co.,
who caught the error, said she
thought it highly unusual. •
“I’ve seen errors made before
but I’ve never seen them deed
the highway away before,” she
said.
Underwood is an operating en
gineer and his wife a pharmacist.
“They can keep the house and
I’ll keep the road. Pretty soon
it’s going to really cost one to
travel the Alaska Highway,” Un
derwood said.
Did you know your fingernails
grow four times as fast as your
toenails—about an eighth of an
inch a month?
INTERNATIONAL
P ART S
\ PICKUPS TRUCKS
BEN YOUNG
You’ve never.seten laundry
SO CLEAN
i
NOME U-WASH
COAL 2671 ~
lock ’em all in our coola
tiie beverage of modfer
Gov. Egan and
Wendell Kay
Bury tlie Hatchet
JUNEAU — Gov. Wm. Egan
and State Democratic Chairman
Wendell Kay held a dramatic, 90
minute meeting in Egan’s office
Wednesday night which, perhaps,
signalled the_ end to their long,
public feud. *
Egan, at his news conference
Thursday morning, said the ses
sion was devoted to a discussion
of state finances, the subject over
which the state’s two top Demo
crats have tangled off and on
since the end of the 1961 legis
lative session.
Egan indicated the meeting was
an amicable session.
‘Wo fists were flying and there j
were no epithets hurled,” the Gov
ernor laughed.
Asked how he came to meet
with Kay, frequently mentioned
as a possible gubernatorial candi
date, Egan replied:
“A number of delegates here for
the Southeast Divisional Demo
cratic Convention suggested "that
it might well if I requested Mr.
Kay to come up and review the
financial situation as I see it, as
it applies to Alaska in the im
mediate future’.
we discussed the financial
problems facing us in fiscal 1963
1964, the two fiscal years which
are our immediate concern.”
Asked if either man was con
verted during the late-hour ses
sion, Egan said:
“I certainly got the impression
that the picture was clear, fi
nance-wise, to both of us, at the
conclusion of our talk.
“I gather from the tenor of our
conversation that he is fully cog-1
nizant of the fact that there is!
no ‘rainy day* financing plan
ned.”
Asked to comment on Egan’s
version of the meeting, Kay said:
“Hie Governor has given a very
complete summary of our conver
sation. The meeting, wa^interest
ing and 1 appreciate the oppor
tunity to review the state’s fi
nances in detail.
HMy statements concerning
taxes were in fact made the day
following the land sale and were
not ‘an •'old statement a reporter
worked into a new story.’
“Further, I was referring to the
statement concerning economic
development at Ketchikan- when
I indicated that this statement
was not intended to be an attack
on anyone, as I indicated from
Sitka Wednesday.
“These corrections are made in
the interests oif accuracy, and to
complete the picture. Again, our
conversation was_ most interest
fe*” __ '
More than twice as many peo
ple drown in bathtubs as in swim
Thm'i Alwtyi Soanoihtng
★ special ★
For Yon at Th#
Bible Baptist Church
SUNDAY
School 10:0
nrrently Studying the
Book of Exodus)
B-52 Superbomber Sets
12,000-Mile Non-Stop
Flight Record
• MADRID, Spain UR — A new
U.S. B-52H superbomber roared
into the Torrejon Air Base near
Madrid Thursday after a record
smashing 12,519-mile flight from
Okinawa without refueling.
The plane and its eight-man
Air Force crew headed toy Maj.
Clyde Evely, 39, of Petersburg,
Va., broke the old world distance
mark of lil ,235.6 miles without
refueling. It had been held through
the first 15 years of the jet age
by a propeller-driven U.S. Navy
plane named the “Truculent
Turtle.”
The huge Boeing superbomber
had been in the air 22 hours and
10 minutes and had spanned two
oceans and the North American
Continent when Evely set it down
on the base’s 15,000-foot runway,
the longest in Western Europe.
The average speed was 575 miles
an hour.
Waiting on the runway to pin
the Distinguished Flying Cross
on Evely and his crew for their
achievement was Maj. Gen. David
Wade, Commander of the U.S.
16th Air Force with headquarters
at Torrejon.
The Air Force claimed the new
mark subject to confirmation by
the International Aeronautic Fed
eration. Federation representa
tives checked the Okinawa
Madrid flight tooth from the
flight itself and from other check
points.
Greece protects its children
from me portrayal of violence.
Youngsters under 16 cannot see]
any film or stage show depicting
violence. Even guns and knives
pictured in movie stills at the en
trance of theaters must be cover
ed with patches of paper.
Bernstein Concert
Enjoyed Despite Weather
Despite the weather, a pleased
crowd of concert-goers gathered
in the Multipurpose Room of the
School and enjoyed the showing
of the New York Philharmonic
Concert in Moscow, conducted by
Leonard Bernstein.
First in a series of three filmed
concerts, it featured Bernstein
giving an interesting introduction
to the likenesses between Russian
and American music. The orches
tra played shortened examples of
both.
The second reel included an in
troduction to the Russian com
poser Shostakovich, and the com
plete First Movement cxf his 7th
Symphony.
Plans are to obtain the other
two concert films and they are
tentatively scheduled for showing
the last week in February and
the latter part of March.
FREE NEWSPAPERS . . .
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. UD —
The sun failed to shine in St.
Petersburg yesterday and it meant
free editions of the St. Petersburg
Evening Independent.
Fifty-one years ago the Inde
pendent started giving away its
edition any day the sun didn’t
shine on the city. Yesterday was
the 213th time the paper had to
make good on its offer, and jt
was the first time since July 19,
1961.
ALL
Santa Claus
Pictures
Are Now Ready
OTTO SCHULZ
Polet’s Arts & Crafts
Miners & Merchants Bank of Alaska
THE FRIENDLY BANK
FULL BANKING SERVICES
To llorihwestern Alaska Since 190*
— BRANCH, OFFICE IN KOTZEBUE —
Crossword Puzzle
ACROSS
1. Crowns
7.'Red fruit
13. More readily
14. Judged
15. Oak fruit
16. Five days
17. Factors
18. Carols ,
19. Climate
23. Printers’
measures
26. Withered
27. Needlefish
30. Look at
32. Girrssname
33. Banded
shield: Her.
34. Surpass
36. Hydro
phobia
38. Nickname
39. Droop
40. English
letter
42. Plunder
46. Barium:
chem.
48. Meadow
50. Harass
. Silkworm
. Rodent
. Supplication
Grimace
Takes off
Answer to Pauls
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DOWN
1. Rugged rock
2. Contest
3. English
school
4. Mousy
mammal
5. Made rigid
& Seniors:
abbr.
7. Apex t
8. Not closed
9. Lesser
10. Stake
11. River duck
12. Unequal
things
20. Dry
21. Element
22. Listen
23. Adam’s wife
24. Stir
25. Part
27. Grating
28. Beer
29. Thing: law
31. Cry
33. Musical
instrument
35, Publication
director
37. Makes irate
«0. Trees
41. Slender
43. Allow
44. Musical
syllable
45. Snake
46. Reared
47. Songs
49. Exist
51. Sight organ
53. Myself
55. Exclamation