OLDEST NEWSPAPER IN ALASKA—MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS
61th Year No. 134
NOME, ALASKA, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 11, 1953
Per Copy 15c
Army Warfare Center
C hicf Tours Special Forces
Operations in Alaska
FORT RICHARDSON — Major
General William P. Yarborough,
Commanding General of the U S.
Army Special Warfare Center,
Fort Bragg. N.C.. arrived in Alas
ka Saturday.
Accompanying General Yar
borough to Alaska are Colonel
William E. Evan-Smith, command
ing office, 7th Special Forces
Group, 1st Special Forces; Lieu
tenant Colonel James B. Toohey,
Special Warfare Center assistant
chief of staff for operations, and
Lieutenant Colonel Richard L.
Coppedge, Special Warfare Center
surgeon.
The Special Forces officers are
coming to Alaska to inspect the
training of Special Forces Detach
ments with the famous Eskimo
Scouts of the Alaska Army Na
tional Guard.
During the five-day inspection
tour, General Yarborough and par
ty will visit Special Forces sol
diers training at eight different
locations, including Barter Island,
Pont Barrow, Wainwright, Kotze
bue, Kivalina, Kiana, Noorvik and
Nome.
GOLD BILL ADVANCES
WASHINGTON — Legisla
tion to subsidize domestic gold
mining and increase mineral re
search was approved by a Senate
Interior subcommittee last week.
One bill would authorize the
federal government to support a
portion of the cost of mining do
mestic gold. Mining firms would
be compensated for the increase in
production costs over those of 1940,
the year in which American gold
mining hit its production peak.
The price of gold, pegged at $35 an i
ounce, would be unchanged.
GVEA Blames REA for
Canceling Nuclear Plant
FAIRBANKS UP) — The Golden
Valley Electrical Association —
with criticism tossed at the Rural
Electrification Administration —
revealed Saturday it has dropped
plans for a nuclear generating
plant.
The GVEA said it was doing so
because the General Electric Co.
was abandoning the small nuclear
pant business.
GE, in a letter to GVEA, said
it was withdrawing from the field
because of the lack of demand for
the small plants. GE indicated this
was due to obstacles raised by
REA.
“The tactics of delay and un
reasonable design and guarantee
requirement by the REA Washing
ton, D.C., office has at last borne
the bitter fruit of arrested Alas
kan development,” the GVEA
charged.
The association said it plans to
construct a $500,000 coal-fired
mine-mouth plant in the Healy
area.
Parent - Teacher
Conferences Scheduled
All This Week
Parent teacher conferences will
be held in the Nome Elementary
School November 11-15, during
-American Education Week. Teach
ers have scheduled conferences at
definite times with each parent,
and are planning on keeping on
| schedule
In order to facilitate the con
ferences. elementary classes will
be dismissed as follows: Morning
shift at 10 a.m., regular shift at
2 p.m., and the afternoon shift at
3 p.m. each day, Monday through
Friday, of this week. Seventeen
teachers will have a total of more
than 400 conferences.
President Leads Arlington Rites
WASHINGTON UP — President
Kennedy placed a red, white and
blue wreath at the Tomb of the
Unknowns at Arlington National
Cemetery today to honor the na
tion’s war veterans, living and
dead. Several thousand persons
watched as the President strode
to the Tomb of the Unknowns.
With him was the Marine com
mandant. Gen. David Shoup.
While the crowd stood silent,
the President, helped by an Army
sergeant, placed the wreath in
front of the Tomb of the Unknown
Soldier and between the unknowns
of World War II and Korea.
As a bugler played taps, the
President stood at attention. Ar
rayed behind the President were
his military aides, Veterans Ad
ministrator John Gleason and Lu
ther Skaggs, head of the Medal of
Honor Society.
Also present were Secretary of
Defense McNamara, and represen
tatives from all the services.
The ceremony was at 11 a.m.
EST, the hour the guns stopped
firing along World War I’s West
ern Front 45 years ago.
Shoup, who won the Medal of
Honor in World War II, was chos
en to deliver the chief address.
Today We Salute Our Veterans
Government Looks for
New Short-Haul Plane
A proposed government-industry
program to stimulate the develop
ment and production of an eco
nom:cally-feasible, short-haul, pas
senger-cargo aircraft was an
nounced last week by N. E. Halaby,
Administrator of the Federal Avia
tion Agency.
The aircraft would be designed
primarily to meet the needs of
United States local service airlines
and the short-haul operations of
other airlines in this country and
abroad. This market presently is
dominated by the DC-3, an aircraft
which dates back 27 years.
Concurrently, FAA also proposes
to undertake an economic analysis
to better illuminate the potential
market for the short-haul trans
port. Current estimates range from
700 aircraft to more than 1,000.
—The aircraft should carry 14
to 24 persons and be capable of
converting to partial or all cargo
operations in a few minutes.
—Crew should consist of pilot
and co-pilot.
—Additional payload should be
between 500 pounds.
—The non-refueled range should
include four 100-mile segments
with adequate fuel reserves for in
strument operations and provi
sion for optional added tankage.
—Aircraft should be able to
operate from airports with 3,000
foot runways.
—Cruise speed should be at
least 200 miles per hour.
—The propulsion system should
consist of at least two turbine en
gines of minimum size.
SMALL TRACTS NO LONGER
AVAILABLE ON UNCLASSIFIED
ALASKA LANDS
It was announced last week, by
the Bureau of Land Management
that the public can no longer file
small tract applications on un
classified public domain lands.
This order became effective No
vember 1, 1963. This is another
step in the Bureau’s policy of
updating the public land laws. The
small tract closure has no effect
on the other land laws such as
homesteads, homesites, trade and
manufacturing sites and head
quarters sites.
Areas which are suitable for
small tract development will be
so classified by the authorized of
ficer of the Bureau of Land Man
agement. Notice of these openings |
will be published in the Federal
Register and will also be posted
in the Land Office. Upon publica
tion in the Federal Register, the
classified lands will be open for
small tract applications.
ATTENTION — THOSE
OF TOOTH ACRES
Dr. W. E. Alexander, dentist [
from Anchorage, arrived in Nome .
on Sunday. He is set up at the ;
Hospital and will handle patients 1
for the next two or three weeks
— or until there is no further de
mand for his services. Dr. Alex- '
under was last here about three :
months ago. Persons interested in
a s services should phone for an
appointment — commencing
today.
Builders Develop Permafrost Science
After 2.‘> Years’ Alaskan Experience
Permafrost or cold earth con
struction is the type done in a ma
jor portion of Alaska where the
frost does not leave in seasonal
thaws.
A budding permafrost science is
emerging from 23 years’ experi
ence building in Alaska. During
this period beginning prior to
World War II, a military defense
establishment was built mainly un
der supervision of the U.S. Army
Engineer District, Alaska. The de
fense construction was the first
large coordinated effort in the
fre world to build in permafrost.
The cold hard facts of permafrost
all had to be learned, often pain
fully.
The permanently frozen or cold
earth is a legacy of the prehis
toric ice ages. The great ice sheets
have retreated from much of the
land they once covered but the
chilled earth, frozen to depths of
1,500 feet in some places in Alas
ka, still is frozen.
Short summer seasons in arctic
Alaska thaw the tundra that cov
ers permafrost areas to depths that
vary from 18 inches to six feet
from the surface. Beyond that,
the ground doesn’t thaw except
under unusual conditions that pre
vail on a construction project
I where the insulating mat of tundra
| has been removed, exposing frozen
ground to thawing.
Early work on the Alcan High
way by Army Engineers was frus
trated by the rapid thaw of per
mafrost after the bulldozers had
cleared the right-of-way for the
1,600 mile road. The clearing
promptly became bottomless hog
baths of mud and water. The en
gineers, then very new to the task,
sought to firm up the roadbeds
with fill when available, or with
trees taken from the right-of-way,
but they soon learned that the cus
tomary way of making good road
beds wouldn’t work in permafrost.
The ultimate solution was to leave
the tundra cover intact and build
on top. This method succeeded in
lowering costs and speeding con- l
struction of the Alcan. The meth
od is still followed by roadbuilders
on Alaska and Canada permafrost.
After the war, it was not always
possible to set heavy construction
like a cup on a tablecloth. The
problem of foundations has been
the object of practical research
by the Alaska District for the last
17 years, when the military bases
were being built at Fairbanks. The
hospital at Fort Wainwright is one j
Gail Croell Honored at L-A
COLLEGE—Gail Croell, daught
er of Mr. and Mrs. S. Croell of
Nome, was honored last week for
scholarship achievement during C■'
annual fall meeting of the Asso
ciated Women Students at the Uni
versity of Alaska.
Miss Croell. a sophomore major
ing in German, received a rose in
recognition of attaining a grade
point average of at least 3.0 (eqtii- j
valent to a B* last semester.
The fall meeting is one of sev
eral funct ors the \WS sponsors j
to promote the welfare of women ;
on campus, encourage scholarship |
and nerve the University. I
of the monuments to modern con
struction in permafrost. The multi
story structure has foundations that
rest on gravel fill placed after a 20
foot strata of permafrost was ex
cavated.
The military station at Bethel is
located on a field of permafrost
that is deeper and warmer than
usual. It is called marginal perma
frost because its temperature is
only a degree or two below freez
ing. Excavation not being prac
tical. the engineers decided on
piling foundations.
The wood and steel piling was
set in drilled holes and mechanic
ally frozen in place during the cold
winter months of 1956. Attached to
each was a device to refreeze the
ground if it starts thawing. Thus
the stability of the foundations
was guaranteed.
Each project presented different
problems. At Barter Island the per
mafrost is frozen water. Doubtless
ly the island would dissolve if
thawed. Kotzebue permafrost is a
kind of ice about the consistency
of ice cream under a layer of
tundra. The Texans who claimed
Alaska would be smaller than the
Lone Star State if it thawed were
wrong. The thawing would lop off
a few land masses the size of Tex
as counties but would leave enough
to make two of Texas and a bit
! left over the size of Rhode Island.
The study of permafrost is be
coming of major importance to
scientists of the free world who
foresee the time when cities the
size of Seattle are built on the
cold, cold ground of Arctic Alaska
and Canada. The work of Army En
gineers has proven it can be done
and that research pays.
U-A President Chosen
For Executive Board
Of Yukon Power
FAIRBANKS U* — Dr. William
Wood, president of the University
of Alaska, has been elected to the
! executive committee of Yukon
Power for America, Inc.
Wood will be vice president at
large. His election fills the 11
member executive committee.
Yukon Power for America. Inc.,
was organized recently to pro
mote the proposed Rampart Dam
on the Yukon River.
The committee decided junior
membership would be made avail
able to school children for 25
cents, adult membership for a min
imum of $3, and business mem
bership for a $50 minimum.
A brochure explaining the Ram
part Dam proposal was presented.
The committee okayed the printing
of 40,000 copies.
Saturday’s meeting was the first
held by the executive committee.
They will meet here again on
Nov. 30.
» The Harpoon <t
Lois of folks are vets _.
over 22 million. Next go
around will probably make
it 100% ... or zero.