Residents Seeking Work Urged To
Contact State Employment Service
JUNEAU—Labor Commis
iioner Gil Johnson has urged
j esidents desiring full-time and
summer employment with the
various departments of the
State government to contact lo
<•31 offices of the Alaska State
Employment Service.
BROWN’S
SANITARY CLEANERS
REWARD
For Return of
SIGN
Blown away by wind
PI &-2520
Johnson said the service haj
current job openings for a wide
variety of full-time and sum
mer employment ranging frorr
clerical positions to road con
struction crewmen.
Full details are available al
State employment offices locat
ed at Fairbanks. Anchorage
Juneau, Soldotna, Ketchikan
Petersburg, Nome and Sitka.
Meanwhile, Gus Gissberg
Chief of the Employment Ser
vice, released figures showing
selected activities of the ser
vice in Alaska during Febru
ary. The Employment Servict
received applications from 1,
240 persons seeking employ
ment while employers register
ed 1,132 job openings for work
ers. The service referred 1,32;
applicants to employers am
placed 603 in jobs.
The good loser has one ad
vantage—he is always invitei
to sit in at the next game.
DEDICATED TO VOUR « HEALTH
You can always
count on us
for accuracy!
When illness strikes,
registered pharmacists
* ^ are ready here to fin
r your doctor's prescrip
tions with profession
al precision
Years of training and experience
qualify us to be your doctor's
"helpers."
PI 5-4515-PI 5-4500 *
POOR WIRING CAN MEAN
HIGHER ELECTRIC BILLS
If you think your electric bills are too high, you
might find the reason in your wiring. Perhaps you
are trying to run a 1954 line-up of electrical equip
ment on a 1944 wiring system.
Yes, it works—to a certain degree, but sometimes
the television is scrambled, the toaster is slow, the
iron won’t heat, the motors won’t start or the fuses
blow. It’s just not convenient, and besides it costs
money.
You can pay for electric wiring in two ways. First
you pay for it when it is installed. If the wires are
large enough and the whole wiring system adequate,
the first cost is the whole cost. But if you are one of
those unfortunate persons whose wiring installation
was just good enough to get by and pass code require
ments, chances are, you are paying for that wiring
system over and over again in wasted electricity.
If the wires are too small, electricity is wasted in
heating them. You have to pay for that heat. That
wasted electricity could just as well be put to work
at lighting your farm or for running your electric
motors.
Some wiremen will still sell you a 1944 wiring
installation with new material, of course, but without
the capacity you need. Why not ask your local elec
trical system to check your wiring right away to see
if it is adequate—and get their recommendations.
Think it over! Adequate wiring pays for itself
many times over in COLD, HARD CASH!
Copyright, 1954, by National tural Electric Cooperative Aisociotion
Malanuska
Electric Association
Black Gold Industry Vital to Valley
By VIRGINIA O'REILLY
Fronti«p»man Staff Writer
Matanuska Valley residents
are worried, and rightly so,
about the future of their coal
industry.
This is not a new concern.
It is one which has been dog
ging them ever since the dis
covery of natural gas on the
Kenai peninsula several years
ago and the subsequent organ
ization of the Anchorage Na
tural Gas Corp. to market it.
Until the discovery of natur
al gas, the mine operators,
chiefly the Evan Jones Coal
Co. and the Mrak Coal Co., had
a nice going business with an
assured market for their pro
1 duct. They provided year round
1 employment and helped keep
Alaska Railroad freight rates
down on consumer items by be
- ing the ARR's biggest custoin
1 er. They also provided a large
portion of the taxes levied in
■ the Palmer School District.
However, the emergence of
another potential fuel source
for the mines’ major customers,
the l ower plants at Fort Rich
ardson and Elmendorf, has
changed this happy state of af
fairs.
j Since 1959. the natural gas
industry has been trying to
grab the military market by at
tempting to convince Defense
Department officials that con
version of the plants to gas
would result in substantial fuel
savings each year.
The gas industry’s argument
has been successfully battled
down by its opponents, the coal
| i dustry and th- : 'road, who
! state the gas off.c a’s’ claims of
! substantial savings "ain’t nec
I essarily so,” not when the cost
| of conversion is compared to
! the economic impact it would
have on the Matanuska Valley
and the resulting loss of busi
ness to the railroad.
The mine operators are also
quick to point out that if they
were permitted to bid on the
military business under the
same conditions as the gas in
dustry, their price for coal
would be much lower than
what it is today.
Federal regulations permit
the gas and oil industries to bid
on 10 year contracts but the
coal industry is limited to a one
year term because it is classsed
Aurora Dog Mushers
Fun Race Winners
Winners of the Aurora Dog
Mushers Club “Fun Race” at
Echo Lake March 24 came
from as near as Big Lake and
as far as Eagle River.
In the single races A1 Hib
bard of Big Lake came in first;
Ed Carney of Wasilla, second;
and Ray Eller of Chugiak,
third.
In the family or double races
winners were Mr. and Mrs.
Barney Anderson of Palmer,
first Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Piz
zuto of Eagle River, second;
and Dr. and Mrs. Boyd A. Skil
le of Palmer, third.
GOOD FRIDAY SERVICE
AT ST. BARTHOLOMEW'S
A Good Friday Service is
planned for 11 a.m. next week,
April 12, at St. Bartholomew’s
Episcopal Church in Palmer.
The one-hour service will be
conducted by lay readers Rich
ard Demming, Roland McIn
tyre and Ray Holtz. Everyone
is welcome.
r
as a supplier, not a provider of
service.
So far, the skirmishes be
tween the gas and coal indus
tries have been centered in the
hall of Congress and in the
catacombs of the Pentgon.
However, the battle moved
to the home front recently
with an announcement from
Robert Baldwin, president of
the Anchorage Natural Gas
Corp. that conversion of the
military power plants to gas
would result in a 10 per cent
rate reduction to domestic cus
tomers in the Anchorage area
and Soldotna.
Coal industry officials look
on Baldwin’s announcement as
an attempt to gain public sup
port of the conversion. They
also note that it appeared to
be timed to influence the high
Defense Depaitment officials
taking part in the first Nation
al Defense Seminar in Anch
orage.
According to coal spokesmen,
the gas industry has been mak
ing a concerted effort this year,
i t^o get the money for convert
ing the power plants to natural
gas included in the 1963 defense
1 budget. Part of the gas indus
try’s argument has been that
the conversion would have no
real economic impact on the
Matanuska Valley and the fed
! eral government would be sav
ing money at the same time.
In view of this claim, a little
study as to its validity seems to
oe m oraer.
Figures supplied by Hugh
Matheson, superintendent of
the Evan Jones Coal Co., show
that the military has a contract
to purchase 170,000 tons of coal
from Evan Jones during the
current fiscal year.
Mrak Coal Co. has a con'tract
to sell the military another 60,
000 tons during the same per
iod. In addition, Mrak supplies
the Chugach Electric Assoc,
with 40,000 tons annually un
der terms of a three year con
tract with CEA.
This total tonnage of 270,000
is all shipped from the mines
on the Alaska Railroad, thus
making the coal industry the
railroad’s biggest private cus
tomer and worth about $600,
000 in business each year to the
railroad.
Evan Jones, Mrak and a third
mine owner, Paul Olmin, also
produce about 20,000 tons for
the domestic market and this
tonnage is carried from the
mines to the markets in trucks,
owned by other businesses.
Evan Jones and Mrak agree
that if they lose the military
contracts, they would have to
shut down their year round op
eration. Closing of the two min
es would throw 106 full time
employees out of work, result
ing in the loss of a $1 million
annual payroll.
Olmin is not affected by the
military business since he deals
only in the domestic market
and mines only in the summer
time.
According to Matheson, clos
ure cf the mines W'ould also
affect 20-30 employees of the
Alaska Railroad because the
CEA tonnage of 40,000 tons per
year could not offset the loss
of 230,000 tons to the military
installations. He also stated the
railroad would undoubtedly
have to raise its freight rates
to CEA and the other custom
ers, who use the railroad for
freight shipments.
Since no business is an is
Buried money
doesn’t grow
... but steady
savings do!
Put your money to work earning more money
for you. Small sums, deposited regularly in a
savings account here, quickly grow to substan
tial amounts. Start saving . . . keep saving!
Thanks to our higher interest rate paid on sav
ings, your money grows even faster, at
A* AT AN Us KA
id
PALMER, ALASKA
Open Daily 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Thursday Evenings 6 to 8 p.m.
land, closure of the mines
would cause other ripples in
the economy of the Matanuska
Valley as well as the Anchor
age area.
At the present time, the min
ing interest is the Palmer
School District’s largest tax
payer in addition to being the
largest single group of private
employers in the district. The
closing of the coal mines would
throw the tremendous share of
the tax burden they now carry
on the shoulders of the other
valley businesses and residents.
And, with the formation of
borough government in the im
mediate future, looming as an
other drainage of tax revenues,
the loss of money from the coal
industry assumes even more
importance.
In addition, the mines are
responsible for a large amount
of business in both Palmer and
Anchorage because they pur
chase most of their supplies
and services in these two areas.
Then, consideration should
also be given to the residents
of Sutton, the closest commun
ity to the mines, and the place
most of the mine employes
have chosen to buy their homes
and rear their children.
Compared to the estimated
$1 million a year savings in di
rect fuel costs to the federal
government, promised by the
gas company if the military
plants are converted to its pro
duct, the resultant overall ec
onomic loss is overwhelming.
There is one bright spot on
the horizon for the mines, how
ever. That is the proposed con
struction of two 44,000 kilowatt
minemouth steam plants-one at
Sutton and the other at Healy
to increase electrical genera
tion facilities in Alaska.
Coal spokesmen say construc
tion of the plants does not
mean they will not continue to
fight to retain the military
business. They feel there is
room in Alaska for the develop
ment of all the fuel resources,
coal, gas and oil.
TWO HOLES are drilled at the same time by
this machine, designed and built by per
sonnel of the Evan Jones Coal Co. The
high speed did s take only a few r.-.oments
to prepare holes 12-14 feet deep, which
are later filled with explosive and deton
ated to uncover new coal bearing areas.
- *■« y. -». , ^:>w,
COAL IS HAULED to the Evan Jones wash
ing plant by this Kenworth truck power
ed by a 275 horsepower Cummins diesel
engine. The capacity of the Ken worth
is 17 tons of raw coal.
DON DELAND, seven year employe of the
Evan Jones Coal Co., checks a wheelbar
row load of ammonium nitrate, which is
used along with dynamite to blast rock
and coal loose at the coal mine. Until
the famous Texas City explosion a few
years ago, ammonium nitrate was used
only to fertilize the ground. But the ex
plosion, which caused many casualities
and tremendous damage in Texas City,
pointed the way for its use in mining
operations.