*'• SJWf
THE NOME NUGGET
Published Monday, Wednesday and Friday by Ae
NOME PUBLISHING CO.
Nome, Alaska
Telephone 445-2381 $1.50 Per Month
P.O. Box 66 $16.00 a Year
James F. O’Sullivan. Publisher & Editor
Ed Jocius, Foreman
Entered at second class matter October 14, 1943, at Hie
post office at Nome, Alaska, under Act of March 3, 1179.
3R’S AREN’T WHAT THEY USED TO BE
f\0‘
%ckTA6&
iKPfiXS—.
Alaska's Principle City
rpHE ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES, if no one else, recognizes Nome
as the principle city in Alaska. In the September issue of AIR
TRAVEL, the news supplement of the Official Airline Guide, the
Ethiopian Airlines, with TWA as their General Agents in the
U.S., has their route mapped out for advertising purposes.
Although Alaska is not on their route it appears that the
Ethiopian Airlines knows something of our state. They have shown
a map of Alaska in their advertisement and the only city shown
on this map is that of NOME. The significance of this is singular.
. . . NOME is known throughout the world. We, who live here,
sometimes forget our heritage and it should be pointed out occa
sionally to our own, as well as the rest of the world, that we are
in fact very much alive and well known.
As a good Alaskan, it is not too comforting to find that
Nome is still considered by some as the principle city in Alaska,
however this helps to offset some of the publications which seem
to overlook us entirely. Let's continue to plug Nome and North
western Alaska, wherever and whenever we can.
Grassroots Opinion
AZTEC, N. M., INDEPENDENT-REVIEW: ' The family
household in the old days was a busy, happv place, with the big
kids taking care of the little kids, mother was kept busy in the
kitchen, cooking, ironing, sewing and peeling and cooking vege
tables out of the garden or cellar and chopping off a chicken’s
head and picking it. The old man worked twelve hours a day for
three bucks to keep the household going. For some reason in those
days folks were paying their bills, the divorce courts had no busi
ness, folks were not suing each other for an easy buck, and no
one was having a nervous breakdown, and nobodv knew what a
tranquilizer was. Isn’t it odd how the)’ lived?”
Printed Forms
Deeds — Bills of Sale
Promisary Notes — Drill Logs
Location Notices
Check Registers — Receipt Books
Proof of Labor
Power of Attorney
Also Notary Public
at the ■
Nome Nugget
kcilh Mallier
Named GPI Head
Keith Benson Mather, notec
Australian physicist, has beer
named Director of the University
of Alaska's internationally recog
nized Geophysical Institute.
Mather was appointed by joint
action of the University and the
National Academy of Sciences
The Act of the United States Con
gress which established the In
stitute calls for the head of the
Institute to be approved by the
Academy President. Dr. Frederick
Seitz, current president, gave un
qualified approval six months ago
of the University’s choice and
commended University President
William R. Wood for selecting “A
man who has so well demonstrated
his ability to assume responsibili
ty for the directorship.”
Mr. Mather distinguished him
self as a physicist in Australia
before coming to the United States
in 1961 on a Fulbright grant as a
research geophysicist and profes
sor of physics at the Geophysical
Institute.
He served on the faculties of
the University of Adelaide and
University of Melbourne, Austra
lia; University of Ceylon, Ceylon;
the University of Birmingham,
England, and Washington Univer
sity at St. Louis, Missouri.
The Geophysical Institute, which
Mather will head, was established
in 1950 at the University of Alas
ka and delicated to the mainten
ance of geophysical research con
cerning the Arctic regions. The
study of auroral-zone phenome
non continues to be its prime task
and responsibility, though its work
since the International Geophy
sical Year has broadened in scope
to include such areas as seismo
logy, vulcanology, and meteoro
logy.
The Institute today has more
than 30 research grants and con
tracts and a staff of 175. This year
approximately 30 graduate stu
dents in geophysics will be en
rolled at the University on mas
ter of science anl doctoral pro
grams and participate in many of
the major research projects.
Air Safety Meeting Slated
A safety meeting for the bene
fit of all local airmen will be con
ducted at the FAA flight service
station at 7 p.m. on Wednesday,
Sept. 11. All interested persons are
cordially invited to attend and
participate.
Ray Caudle, FAA Station Man
ager, reports that an FAA flight
standards inspector will be at the
Nome Airport on Wedneslay, Sep
tember 11, to transact any official
business, including written exam
inations. All interested airmen are
invited to contact the local flight
service station chief, Mr. Arley
Evans, for an appointment. Phone
2226.
DO IT ALL
WITH ONE CALL
☆
Modern Laundry
&
Dry Cleaners
☆
Complete Dry Cleaning
&
Laundry Service
☆
FOR PICK - UP
Dial 2491
Jim * Ruth McLean
Proprietors
State Fire Control Record Set by BLM
This year the Bureau of Land
Management has held forest fires
in Alaska to only 14,336 acres.
Average size of the 206 fires was
70 acres per fire.
During the peak of the season,
15 to 20 widely scattered lightning
fires a day were suppressed. This
makes 1963 one of the most suc
cessful years on record.
During the past 25 years the
average area burned has been
nearly one million acres a year.
In the dry summer of 1957 more
than five million acres went up
in smoke.
According to Denny Hess, Chief,
Branch of Protection for BLM in
Alaska, the good record for 1963 is
the result of fast initial attack,
more smokejumpers, good support
by borate bombers and native
ground forces. Intensive training,
better weather forecasting, and
favorable breaks in the weather
also contributed.
Another record was set when 21
top fire-control personnel and
BLM's DC-3, a smokejumper
plane, were sent to Boise, Idaho,
for two weeks to assist during a
critical run of fires in August.
Alaska fire personnel are highly
trained and experienced. But in
previous years Alaska has had to
import many outside supervisors.
For the first time, the tables were
turned this summer.
Forty-seven smoke jumpers
were trained at BLM's jump cen
ter at Fairbanks early this spring.
Twenty more jumpers were bor
rowed from the U. S. Forest Serv
ice for six weeks. When all avail
able jumpers were on going fires,
25 more were flown to Alaska
from Missoula, Mont., for five
days to help cover new fires.
With a total of 92 smoke jump
ers at peak of season strategically
located at Fairbanks, McGrath and
Anchorage, it was possible to keep
the fires small. This has been im
possible in other years with few
er jumpers all at one base of op
eration. Heretofore, not more than
47 jumpers have been available.
Six B-25 borate tankers under
contract were strategically moved
between Fairbanks, Galena, and
Anchorage to cover predicted
lightning periods. They were used
to drop fire-retardant chemicals
just ahead of the burning areas.
Stepped up pre-season training
of nearly 700 native fire fighters
paid off when many were gath
ered up from the isolated villages
as ground forces to support the
smoke jumpers. Better training of
all BLM fire control personnel
also paid dividends during criti
cal periods.
Fire control is launched from
two major bases of operation, An
chorage and Fairbanks, under the
direction of two fire control offi
cers, James Scott and Richard Le
Dosquet. Within these two dis
tricts are other decentralized bases
throughout the state. The more
important are at McGrath and Del
ta under fire supervisors Bill Ad
ams and Wally T \ en.
According tc ,’oger R. Robin
son, state direct : for 3LM, Alas
ka’s greatest renewable resource
is her forest cover, and the big
gest management problem is wild
fire. An estimated 80 per cent of
Interior Alaska's 225 million acre
of forest and range lands requir
ing protection have been burned
over one or more times in the
past 70 years.
There are no lookout towers in
Alaska — and very few roads,
bulldozers or fire trucks. Here,
firefighting is mostly a job for
aircraft and men on foot. Vast dis
tances, long daylight hours, high
temperatures, dry, flashy fuels,
frequent lightning strikes, bad ter
rain, limited equipment, and man
power all combine to make BLM’s
task of protecting the public lands
from fire one of the toughest as
signments of its kind in the Uni
ted States.
The tiniest known livng organ
ism — a virulent cell that causes
some forms of pneumonia—is still
a thousand times larger than a
hydrogen atom.
Arctic Sanitary
Service
CALL 2631
ANYTIME FOR PICKUP
Office Open Daily 4-6 p.m
Millers & Merchants Bank of Alaska
"The Friendly Bank"
FULL BANKING SERVICES
To Northwestern Alaska Since 1904
— BRANCHES IN KOTZEBUE and BARROW —
Moonlight Water the Year ‘Round
“Direct From the Springs”
Naturally Softened and Pure
No Tank to Small . . . No Bucket Too Large
Dial 2475 - 9 to 5 o'clock
Dial 2280 - After 5 & Weekends