GEORGE A. PARKS TO BE GOVERNOR OF ALASKa.
George A.Parks has been nominated by President Coolidge and con
firmed by the Senate to' be Governor of Alaska to succeed Governor
Scott C.Bone, whose term of office expires June 15th.
The new appointee has* been a resident of Alaska for sixteen
years and is one of the best informed men on Alaskan conditions
ever named for that office. He has been in the Alaskan field
service of the General Land Office of the Interior Department since
1907, his duties taking him to every part of it in both winter and
summer. He began as government practical miner in Alaska at a sal
ary of $1320.00 and has worked his way up to the position of assist
ant supervisor of surveys and public lands. Parks graduated from
the Colorado School of Mines in 1906 and €am<& to Alaska as a mining
engineer for several private mining companies, later being appointee
practical miner of the General Land Office in 1909. He then be
came mineral examiner for the Interior Department, his duties cons
ing of examination of homestead and mineral claims. In 1918 he re
signed from the government service to enter the Engineer Corps of
the Army during the World war and was commissioned a first lieu
tenant and promoted to the rank of Captain.
At the end of the war in 1919 he re-entered xne Axas*cu vx^
of the Interior Department being advanced to the position of chief
of the Held Division of Alaska, having charge of public lands in
Alaska. He was made superintendant of townsite sales for the
Alaska railroad and had supervision of the disposition of all town
sites along the railroad. He also acted as trustee in the sale of
many other government townsites in Alaska. In 1924 he was ad
vanced to the post of Assistant Supervisor of Surveys and Public
Lands in Alaska, which placed under his control the entire admin
istration of public lands in the Territory, including their survey
and disposition under the various homesteading and mineral acts of
Congress,
Mr.. Bone, the retiring governor, was for may years a newspaper
man of prominence and had charge of the publicity department of the
Republican national committee during the campaign of 1920.
COLONEL ROBERT H. ALLEN APPOINTED NEW CHIEF OF INFANTRY.
Colonel Robert H.Allen has been appointed Chi el'of to
succeed Major General C.S. Farnsworth, who retires March 28th.
General ^arnsworth will be remembered as the first Ohiei oi in
fantry and also one time Commandant of the School of Infantry.
Colonel Allen was born July 19, 1870, in Virginia. He enlisted
in’Troop D,8th Cavalry, on June 8, 1893, and served m the ranks
until October 31st, 18.95, when he was appointed a second Lieutenant
of Infantry. He served thru all the grades of Infantry, reaching
the rank of Colonel (temporary^) on August 5,1917 and of Colonel
July 1st, 1920. n 9 ~
During the World War he served successively as Acting-Chief ox
Staff 85th Division; Commander Depot Brigade, 85th Division; and
Commanding Officer of 337th Infantry. In October 1918, he was trans
ferred to the 356th Infantry of the 89th Division, and commanded
that regiment during the closing operations of the Meuse-Argonne
offensive. For his services in that battle he received the Dis
tinguished Service Medal. Shortly after his return from France,
Colonel Allen entered the Army School of the Line at Fort Leaven
worth from which he graduated as an honor graduate in June, 1920.
He ha4 been Assistant Commandant of the General Service Schools
since June 1923. The Colonel has bean especially commended by his
superiors for his services at the General Service Schools.