Valdez News
VOL. 1. NO. 12
VALDEZ. ALASKA. JUNE 2, 1950
PRICE 10c
Fire Breaks Out In Wall Of Suttich Bakery
Former Cafe Owner
Beaten io Death
In Anchorage Park
Oscar Pederson, former Valdez
store owner and cafe operator,
met death in Anchorage last Sun
day under mystery-shrouded cir
cumstances. The 51 - year - old
man’s body was discovered lying
in the park area near the water
tower, by three Anchorage boys.
He had been bludgeoned to death
with a blunt instrument, later dis
covered to be a chunk of cement,
which caused skull fractures and
cerebral hemorrhage.
■floctors said Pederson probably
died almost instantly. Police feel
he may have been slain some
where else and brought to the
spot where his body was discov
ered. A bloodstained raincoat,
found to be smeared with the
same blood type as Pederson’s,
was found almost eight blocks
from where the body lay.
Mr. Pederson had not lived in
Valdez for the past year. At the
time of his death, he was living
in reduced circumstances and was
selling cookbooks for a living.
The dead man’s movements
have not been traced since last
Thursday night, when he was
known to have registered at an
Anchorage hotel. At that time
he apparently joined four com
ponions in a prolonged drinking
bout.
Mr. Pederson, who owmed and
operated Oscar’s Food Store and
Cafe in Valdez for several years,
was a former son-in-law of editor
Sedley of the old Valdez Miner.
JEWELRY, CURIO
SHOP OPEN HERE
A jewelry shop and watch re
pair business has been opened in
Valdez by Mrs. Marguerite Mat
teson. The shop is located in the
Whalen Building, across from the
Alaska Road Commission offices.
«£t is operated as a branch of Mad
dux Jewelers in Fairbanks. Mrs.
Mattson is a sister to Douglas
Maddux, owner of the Fairbanks
business.
Present plans are to keep the
shop open through the summer
tourist season only, but Mrs. Mat
teson said if business warrants,
she will keep the shop doors open
the year around.
The shop carries a large stock
of very fine nugget jewelry,
ivory, w’atches, billfolds and all
types of souvenirs. Mrs. Matteson
also will take orders for custom
jewelry work.
The shop offers a watch re
pairing service, in addition to the
jewelry and souvenir sales de
partment.
For the present, the shop is
open in the evenings only, except
on boat days. Mrs. Matteson’s
hours are from six to nine p.m.
daily.
Visit in Palmer, Anchorage
Mr. and Mrs. William Blakes
ley and sons spent Thursday,
May 25. in Palmer, where they
underwent dental treatment.
From Palmer the Blakesleys
went to Anchorage to visit with
Mrs. Blakesley’s parents, Mr. and
Mrs. Perrin.
FORMER ANS TEACHER
INTERRED HERE MAY 26
Mary Powell McDonald, who
died of a heart attack in Valdez
Community Hospital on May 22.
was interred at funeral services
here on May 26. Services were
conducted by Father West of An
chorage from St. Francis Xavier
Catholic Church.
Mrs. McDonald was born in
Jacksonville, Fla., in 1889. She
was the daughter of Mary Eliza
beth and George Washington
Powell.
The then Miss Powell came to
Alaska in 1920 as a teacher for
the Bureau of Indian Affairs. She
taught school at Rampart, Wain
wright, Ellamar and Chitina. It
was at Chitina that she met and
married Angus McDonald in 1927.
Her husband survives her.
The McDonalds have been
: residents of Valdez for many
years now. Mrs. McDonald was
a well loved citizen, and she will
be remembered by many as a
good friend and neighbor.
Mrs. Robert Jares Is
Guest of Honor
At Birthday Dinner
Miss Helen Long was hostess at
a birthday dinner on Sunday,
May 28, honoring Mrs. Robert
Jares. Guests gathered for an
evening dinner and then spent
the remainder of the evening at
pinochle and bridge.
Guests for the occasion were:
Mrs. Florence Ingraham, Miss
Bonnie Kaser, Miss Rita Ding
man, Bill Hunt, Mr. Guthrie, Mr.
and Mrs Robert Jares and the
Jares’ young daughter, Barbara.
Lady Goid Rusher
Dies at Long Beach
Mrs. George Treat, who crossed
the Valdez Glacier to Slate Creek
in the rush of 1903, died recently
in Long Beach, Calif., it was
learned here this week. Mrs.
Treat’s brother was one of the
original discoverers of gold at
Slate Creek in 1902.
The pioneer woman stampeder,
then Mrs. Harriet Straus, packed
in across the hazardous glacier
trail with the men who estab
lished the workings from which
a million dollars in gold was later
mined.
Mrs. Straus was married to
George Treat in Valdez. Her new
husband was owner and promoter
of the Cliff Mine, which also pro
duced a million dollars in gold.
NURSE'S FATHER
SUFFERS STROKE
Miss Rita Dingman, local Pub
lic Health nurse, received word
last week that her father. Henry
Dingman of Fort Madison. Iowa,
had suffered a stroke on May 21.
Since that time, Miss Dingman
has heard several times from
home, and she reports that her
father is now much improved.
(Rita tells .us that she sends
the “Valdez News” home each
week, so that her home-town
folks can see what goes on in
j Valdez and Palmer, and the sur
rounding areas. We would like
to take this opportunity to send
Mr. Dingman our best wishes for
a speedy recovery, and also to tell
him that we are enjoying his
daughter very much.)
NELSON Of CHITINA
SPONSORS BUILDING
OF COPPER RIVER ROAD
Work on the Copper River
Highway, which is being private
ly financed by C. A. Nelson of
Chitina, has progressed to Fox
Creek, two and a half miles south
of Chitina, it was announced in
the Cordova Times last week. Mr.
Nelson is paying a road crew to
convert the road bed of the old
Copper River and Northwestern
Railway into a highway.
Mr. Nelson reports that the
work will be pushed as rapidly
as funds are available. He says
the railroad grade is undamaged,
with little work necessary for the
conversion to a highway. Bridges,
of course, are washed out and will
constitute the major construction
problem.
i Labor Commissioner Tells
Rules for Employing
Minors on Seine Boats
Minors who are 16 and 17 years
of age may be employed aboard
seine fishing boats, providing the
j boat owner files proper registra
I tion notice with the Territorial
I Department of Labor, commis
I sioner Henry A. Benson an
nounced this week. Registration
forms may be secured from Mr.
Benson’s office or from local
school superintendents.
Work for 16 and 17 year old
boys is permitted aboard trolling
boats, without registration.
Air-Lanes Medics Help Fight Disease,
Heal Injuries In Arctic Wasteland
Medicine by radio is the plan
the Alaska Native Service has
devised to care for the health of
native tribes scattered throughout
Alaska. ANS has created clinics
of-the-air, in which doctors con
tact member stations daily to in
quire about the health problem of
the villages and to prescribe
treatment for illnesses and in
juries.
One such clinic, that operated
by Dr. E. Stuart Rabeau, physi
cian in charge of the Alaska Na
tive Service hospital at Kotzebue,
takes care of an area inhabited
by 6,500 people. Dr. Rabeau’s
clinic boundaries extend from St.
Michael on Norton Sound, to St.
Lawrence Island, King Island,
Little Diomede, Wainwright,
Shungnak and the Bering Sea.
All manner of ailments, even
fractures, gunshot wounds and
minor surgical operations, have
been treated through the clinic.
Often the physician prescribes
emergency treatment that saves
a life until a plane can be dis
patched to move a critically in
jured or ill patient to the hospital.
This is the way Dr. Rabeau’s
clinic works: At six o’clock each
evening he begins calling the 18
stations of his clinic. Usually the
ANS teacher is the person who
receives his call. On reports of
sickness or injury, the doctor asks
for a detailed description of symp
toms and then recommends the
procedure to be folloived. In the
event of an emergency, each out
post station can signal the doctor
with an urgent call for help.
Recently, an accidental shotgun
wounding at Candle was handled
by the clinic. The marshal, who
called the doctor, had adminis
tered all of the first aid he knew
in treatment of the 13-year-old
patient. Following the advice that
came to him through the ah’ from
Dr. Rabeau„ the man applied a
tourniquet to the correct artery,
cleaned the wound and reset a
shattered arm bone. Today this
boy has only a long scar on his
arm to remind him of the acci
dent.
Dr. Rabeau’s radio log shows
that his air-prescriptions have
treated cases of asphyxiation,
burns, fractures and childbirth
Bush pilots, missionaries and
traders co-operate with the air
clinic in reporting epidemics or
cases of isolated villages which
need medical help. Recently Sig
Wien told Dr. Rabeau that a no
madic tribe of Eskimos, then lo
cated in Anaktuvuk Pass, was
suffering from what he believed
to be whooping cough and flu. Dr.
Rabeau flew to the area, where
he found most of the tribe lying
ill. This experience he considers
one of the highlights of his Alas
kan doctoring, for the Eskimos he
treated are believed to be one of
the last nomadic tribes in Alaska.
Dr. Rabeau was interested to
learn that the tribe confounds
most of the theories of modern
medical science by their habits
of diet. The tribe lives almost
exclusively on meat, eating the
flesh of caribou, sheep, and ptar
migan all winter long. The diet is
varied somewhat in the summer,
when the nomads camp by a fresh
water lake to fish and to pick a
few wild berries.
Summing up his experience of
the past four years in the north
ern interior. Dr. Rabeau com
ments that “Jack London and Rex
Beach never could have over
dramatized the life above the
Arctic Circle. Remember it is not
all romance, though — there is
plenty of hard work to be done
and many a person who should
be getting medical attention is
still without it. That’s my job.”
TIRE, WATER DAMAGE
ESTIMATED AT $1,000
DY OWNER SUTTICH
Fire which resulted in an esti
mated $1,000 damages broke out
at Suttich’s Bakery and Cafe
just at the dinner hour on Sat
urday, May 27.
The fire was concentrated
around the chimney area of the
building, and volunteer firemen,
who quickly answered the eve
ning alarm, found it necessary to
chop through the roof in several
places near the chimney before
the blaze was extinguished.
John Suttich, owner of the
establishment, said he thought,
deteriorated insulation between
the bakery oven and the wall
caused the blaze.
Principal indoor damage was
due to water, which ruined a con
siderable quantity of flour and
sugar in the bakery kitchen, Mr.
Suttich said. Structural damage
to the building was not great.
Entomologist Promises
Coming War on
Valdez Sand Flies
Plans now are nearly complete
for installation of an Aerosol
spray unit in Valdez to protect
the Valdez playground this sum
mer, Charles Wilson, entomolo
gist with the Alaska Health and
Sanitation Activities announced
this week. Mr. Wilson said he ex
pected to have the unit installed
at Valdez next week.
He explained that the unit
works by compressed air, which
blows a fine spray into the air
over the area to be protected. The
spray kills all insects in the air.
The pest the entomologist will be
particularly spraying for at Val
dez is the sand fly.
Protection is only temporary,
I but the unit can be turned on
! whenever the pests make it nec
| essary, it was stated. Mr. Wilr '
j said the process was still so;
what experimental, but tests ;
being continued and the process
is being improved each summer
season.
i A similar unit to the type
planned for Valdez was installed
! at King’s Lake Camp at Palmer
1 last summer, as protection against
1 mosquitoes.
Mr. Wilson said he planned to
; enlist the aid of the Alaska Road
Commission at Valdez in develop
ing spray equipment that will
blow a fine pest-killing fog over
the playground area.
No further work is planned for
Valdez this year, with the excep
tion of the Aersol spray unit, it
was stated.
VALDEZ POPULATION
REPORTED TO BE 560
Population figures for the city
of Valdez were released today by
Merle Anderson, in charge of
census work for the area. He re
oorts that the 1950 figure, for the
town only, is 560. The 1939 cen
! sus figure for Valdez was 529.
Mr. Anderson said he hoped to
■ be able to release figures on Pal
| mer and the Mananuska Valley
.1 next week.