Siraffi Traveling
Promised for Later
IPhe motorists who travel the
newly-constructed by-pass road be
tween the Naval Station and Kod
iak are promised for the future
“afi; smooth a riding surface as is
possible,” according to a letter
received by the Mirror from E.
ff. Swick* Regional, Engineer for
the; Bureau; of Public Roads.
Numerous;’ cpmplamts have been
received; from residents here,
Swick stated.' The Bureau official
stated that his department re
gretted the inconvenience caused
users of the road while under
construction, but promised com
plete maintenance by personnel of
the BPR pending the proposed
paving of the stretch. His letter,
in part, follows:
‘The Bureau of Public Roads re
grets any inconvenience caused to
the traveling public during re
vi’ ^ ■ '
construction of a port4n of Ab
bert Road between Kodiak and
Kodiak Naval Station. This work
was performed according to speci
fications and in accordance with
accepted .construction practices.
“It is obviously not possible to
require the contractor to contin
uously maintain a smooth high
speed road through areas under
construction* Tq do so would, re
sult in prohibitively high costs
which, after all, are borne by thej
taxpayer.
“It is unfortunate that damage
has been suffered by some ve
hicles, hut the ultimate facility,
when paved, should result in re
duced operating costs for all who
travel the road. Pending comple
tion of the paved surface, every
effort will be made by BPR main
teance crews to provide the pub
lic with as smooth a riding sur
face as is possible.”
Buying or selling—Use the Class
ified Ads—They get results.
. J The Community' Baptist Church
f “Tbe Big White Church on the HUT
Rev. John Molletti, Pastor
, i Sunday School —9:45 a.m.
Morning Worship —11:00 a.m.
Youth Fellowship Groups —6:30 p.m.
Fvening Worship —7:30 p.m.
Mid Week Service —7:30 p.m., Wednesday
’‘Holding Forth The Word Of Life"
, RHOADES
Furniture Store
WES RHOADES, PROP,
Phone 4151
General Electric Dealer
Swing rockers
★ Lamp shades
★ TV Snack tables
★ Unfinished chests
★ Hide-a-bed covers
KODIAK OIL SALES
UNION OIL PRODUCTS
Unoba TPfit T5x Triton
Greases f V Motor Oils
UNION
Complete Petroleum Service
Marine Service Station
STOVE OIL - BURNER OIL
KEEP FULL SERVICE
PHONES
Dock & Plant 2411 Res. 3141
Old Gold Tales
Enthrall Club
The old days of gold mining in
the Iditarod country when more
gold per capita was taken out of
the fabulous placer area than
from Fairbanks or Nome
werei^reealtedS by Harry Donnel
ley ,senior partner in Donnelley
& Acheson, at the’ Rotary lunch
eon Tuesday at the Island Foun
tain.
Mr. Donnelley, who participated
in the riotous times of rugged liv
ing, colorful characters and bon
anza times, told the taking from
the area of over $50,000,000 in
gold, times that saw Iditarod grow
to a booming 3,000 population
town that now has not one living
character and is marked solely by
an isolated bank vault sitting for
lorn on the site, from a bank of
which he was one-time president.
Among the oddities Mr. Don
nelley described a tram of wooden
ways that was built from Iditarod,
at the rivers headwaters, to Flat,
seven miles away nearer the min
ing sites ,of the fare being $3 one
way and $5 round-trip, and of
how he used to bade passengers
goodbye, walk over the hill to
Flat, and greet the passengers
when they arrived. He said it an
easy way of making $5.
One of Alaska's rare hold-ups
involved the tram, he added. Two
men with $15,000 each in gold
pokes boarded it at Flat and soon
after it left it was discovered
another package had been for
gotten. A man was given the
package and told to catch up with
the tram afoot, but when he did
he saw everyone standing around
with their hands up, so he ran
back to town and the citizens took
chase of the robbers by the tracks
they left in the frost. They first
found the gold where it was ditch
ed in a stream and later the men
were caught and sent to prison.
As an example of the charac
ters of those early days Mr. Don
nelley told of a man who invent
ed a paddle wheel flatboat, the
paddles being attached to two re
volving cages big enough to each
accommodates a dog. At a try-out
in the slack waters at Iditarod the
crowds cheered as the dogs made
headway, and as; the man would
grab a tired dog out of first one
revolving cage and then the other
and replace with a fresh dog.
Mr. Donnelley recalled the
strange vessel made a successful
420-mile downstream trip to Holy
Cross, on the Yukon, but when
lie turned to go up the Yukon
the craft went backward and after
a losing battle the man finally
gave up the battle, the dogs and
his experimental vessel.
The great contrast between
transportation of those days, with
out even outboard motors, to the
swift planes of today was shown
in Mr. Donnelley’s stories of dog
tea mtreks, long up-river paddles,
and in his case of 400 and 500-mile
journeys by foot on business trips
throughout the country.
Morris Burnham also spoke on
vocational service as one of the
aims of Rotary. He described it
Friday
Game Night
8:30 p.m.
at
V.F.W.
as one of the widest avenues of
service because each person may
apply the principle throughout ev
ery working day. “Service,” he
said, “makes the difference be
tween' being a Rotary member
and being a real Rotarian.”
Guests at the luncheon included
Father John J. Dunne, Thomas P.
Renshaw, Comdr. Roger L. Burum,
Bob Miller and Dr. Bruce Keers.
Local Fighters
On Smoker Card
A fair crowd witnessed an in
teresting card of boxing bouts
and a wrestling match featuring
local talent, at the Fourth of July
smoker held at the Labor Temple
on the holiday.
Tommy Reft defeated SteVe Se
lig in the opening bout; Teddy
Cummings won over Jr. Wanner ,
and Danny Olson triumphed over
Larry Griffin.
Winners in the next three
matches were Lupe Tajardo, who
won over his opponent Charlie
Johnson; Terry Warner mixed
punches with Art Torgramson,
taking his bout; and Bob Melvim
was defeated at the hands of An
gelo De Guzeh.
Cliff Kamer was declared the
Kodiak champ by his defeat of
Von Cobyott in the wrestling
match that concluded the fight
card.
91
NOTICE
Dr. E. E. Bach, optometrist, will be
in Kodiak to do eye examinations on
duly 13 through 17. For an appoint
ment call Mrs. Carl Huer at 5451, or
write Box 1185, Kodiak.
FOR SALE
Surplus buildings and miscellane
ous materials on Naval Station. See
Harry Felton, Representative for
General Metals of Tacoma, Inc.
Write Box 597, Kodiak, or call Ph.
5771.
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