They Busted the Mold’ After Arehie ...
^RCHIfc HRGCSON, inveterate character of the Arctic Circle,
| | lits the residents of Candle with their excitement these
< -us. An .hie and John Belobraidich are partners in a mining ven
cire called the Avon Enterprises.
I his operation is a small scale version of the spectacular mining
actiMtv which saw Candle in its heyday — aout 1915-16, and is
eing conducted on the ground formerly owned hy the Havenstrite
1*1 uijcompany, and more recent
ly by Jack Bullock.
They are mining what is known
as Candle No. 2 which is roughly
two miles up Candle Creek from
the town 'above Discovery, for the
benefit of the old-timers). Theirs
is a unique operation — in fact,
everything about Archie seems
unique. They are using a system
that has been used in this area
in the past but is not seen much
now.
With operation of a pump, pro
ducing 300 feet of head and put
tmg out 3,500 gallons per minute
obtained from a reservoir, they
are forcing water through a four
inch line into the base of a 12
inch pipe which raises 20 feet to
an 80 foot riffle. Running the pump
is an old 160-horse Murphy Diesel
groaning along with five of its six
cylinders, and moving ground up
to the base of the flume pipe is a
D-7. which Archie claims is most
ly 35 years old — says they made
it out of several old Cats found
around the property he purchased
about three years ago.
One man hydraulics the earth
brought up by the Cat into the
base of the flume pipe and the
tremendous lift created by the
pumped water takes the rocks,
muck — and gold — up to the
riffle where it races down the 80
feet after making the customary
deposit.
Archie claims that over 50 mil
lion was taken out of Candle
Creek during the Gold Rush, and
that he is methodically going af
ter what they forgot, didn’t know
about, or mined inefficiently. He
was quick to imply that he is not
getting rich, but proving that he
knows what he is talking about
at least. With an operation of this
type, two pieces of equipment and
three men in addition to himself
and John, they are doing the job
efficiently, at any rate.
Last year they used the same
sort of an operation on ground
called the “Magnolia,” and Archie
concedes that he did pretty well.
In that area they dozed back un
der the permafrost in order to
take out the previously untouched
ground.
With remarkable fortitude, Ar
chie sent his crew back under for
a distance of 30 feet in a 200-foot
perimeter. Although the perma
frost was 50 feet thick, the roof ;
threatened to cave in on them, i
so they suspended the operation
until next spring when the ice .
will have fallen and they can cut '
back in again. It was in this adven- <
ture that the crew dug out several \
mammoth or mastadon tusks and •
bones. i
Another very interesting item 1
unearthed, according to our old <
friend, was a complete Red Fox. 1
It looked, stated Archie, as if it i
had been killed just yesterday, i
Frozen stiff, it was in a perfect (
state of preservation, and although
an attempt was made to save it 1
for game officials, it deteriorated 1
almost immediately upon thawing, |
“I’m sixty-nine years old," i
stated Archie, and this, we find, is 1
r
one of the youngest 69-year-old
men we have met. This jovial, fast
i talking old-timer is the picture of
health and happiness. He runs —
not walks — everywhere he goes, i
He sets a fast pace for his wife
j Linda, but she is the calm, de
’ tached sort of a person that is
good for Archie. The Ferguson res
idence is over in the “Hollywood” J
section of Candle, according to the
early day layout of the town.
This spring Archie and Linda
returned from their usual winter
in Guadalajara, Mexico, by way of
the Alaska Highway. Deciding that
he needed a vehicle which would i
take him from his home to the camp
— through whatever — at a speed '
of at least 40 mph., he purchased i
a 4-wheel-drive pickup, put a 16- j
foot boat on top and 4V£ tons of
merchandise for “Linda’s Store”
in back, and drove it to Anchorage
this March.
Out of this trip came yet another
story to add to the dozens for
which Archie is famed. Quote — |
“When I approached the customs
I knew I had to do some fast talk- j
ing to get through, because I!
didn’t have my vaccination shots, j
You know if you take those guys’
minds off w’hat they’re supposed
to be doin’, sometimes they forget
to ask all of them questions. Linda
and I were in the truck with our
cat — his name is Hercules — sit
ting between us. He’s a big white
cat and has been all over the coun
try with us.”
“Well, I asked those guys if they
ever saw such a big cat before.
This customs guy looked at that
cat and asked what kind he was. j
I told him it was a special cat —
it was half cat and half rabbit. I (
don’t think he believed me right
away, so I told him a bunch of (
stuff about how I have to bring
in lettuce and cabbage because „
that is all he eats.” 1
“I told him about all of the guys
that I had been bothered with out- i
side to let me put the cat on exhi- c
bition. Pretty soon this fella and f
the other guy there got to tellin’ 1
each other that its nose sure looked
like a rabbit and the legs were s
sure rabbit legs — anyway they j
convinced each other that it sure i
was the first half cat-half rabbit c
they ever saw. v
“They got so excited about it h
that they was tellin’ the tourists,
and pretty soon a guy came o
through that got real interested, o
I told some friends about the big F
joke on those guys and pretty soon i:
one of ’em sent me a clipping out
of the Fairbanks paper. I sure did
get through that guard place too.
Anyway, they got to talking so
much about Hercules they forgot
to ask me about my shots.” The
clipping read as follows: “Would
like to buy, or information, lead
ing to offspring resulting from
mating of rabbit and cat. Clay
Childress, Lawrenceville, Illinois.
It is presumed that Archie will
live forever, and will, as long as
he is alive, and long after he’s
gone, continue to provide us with
a good laugh, for he is a True j \
Alaskan Character.
DID YOU KNOW WE GO TO BETHEL? —
We Do .. .
EVERY MONDAY AND FRIDAY.
MUNZ NORTHERN AIRLINES
Lawman Misses
His Prisoner
TACOMA l/ft — Pierce County
charges of being a fugitive against
j Thomas S. Browder, under indict
ment in Alaska for alleged secur
| ities fraud, and already under $25,
000 bail from a Texas court were
dismissed here Monday by Justice
of the Peace Willard S. Hedlund.
Browder, who was originally
held in Texas as a fugitive on a
warrant from Alaska for securities
fraud, was released by the Texas
! Supreme Court on a writ of ha
i beas corpus after posting bail of
$25,000.
He was then charged on two
misdemeanor counts in federal
court for the Southern District of
Washington and was released on
$1,500 bail.
The State of Alaska requested
the Pierce County prosecutor’s of
fice to arrest Browder on a fugi
tive warrant when he appeared
: here Monday, according to Nels
! Nelson, chief criminal deputy pro
seutor.
| However, on Monday Nelson re
j ceived a call from the authorities
in Alaska telling him that their
agent, who had been sent to pick
| up Browder, had by mistake gone
to Texas, where he is supposed
to live. Nelson was asked to ask
the court for a continuance until
the Alaska agent could get to Ta- j
coma.
:
The law, Nelson said, allows the
court to grant such a continuane
when the agent is not in court to
take custody of a prisoner, but in
this case the court dismissed the fu
gitive warrant against Browder
and as far as Pierce County is
concerned there is not now any
thing against Browder.
The court was asked by the pro
secourtor for a continuance and
that a benhc warrant be issued
which we denied. Nelson said if the
court had not dismissed the char
ges, a bench warrant could have
been issued and the FBI could have
then entered the case and helped
to apprehend Browder as a fugi
tive under a charge of unlawful
flight to avoid prosecution.
7 Die In Rest Home Fire
RIGGINS, Idaho, — Seven
patients, all men in their 80s,
died Tuesday in an early morning
fire that burned a mountain rest
home to the ground.
About 35 others were evacuated
safely.
The seven who perished were
in the south end of the sprawling,
one-story wooden building near
where the fire was believed to
have started.
The home, in its sixth year of
operation, is about 14 miles south
of Riggins on the Little Salmon
River in West Central Idaho. It
is about 130 miles north of Boise, j
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Lost Missile Was
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11 n
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. UP —
- The first American space payload 1
- with wings rocketed down the At
; lantic missile range today, but af- |
? ( ter several hours recovery vessels
. failed to find it and officials feared
’ it may have sunk in the sea.
i The shot was the first in Pro
; ject Asset, which is testing tech
; niques for developing manned
spacecraft with wings.
The sleek craft rode a Thor
rocket more than 35 miles high
j and then streaked back througn
the atmosphere to a splashdown
in the Atlantic Ocean about 1.000
miles southeast of Cape Canaveral.
Tracking devices followed the ve
j hide throughout the 20-minute,
9,000-mile-an-hour flight.
The Air Force reported the As
j set craft hit in the planned land
; ing zone and ships and planes be
: gan to search the area.
Several hours after the launch
ing, the payload had not been
sighted. Recovery was important
so that officials could determine
how well the vehicle survived the
i jarring journey.
Purpose of the Asset flights is
to verify structural soundness of
the spacecraft and to determine
how well various materials with
j stand atmospheric re-entry heat
up to 4,000 degrees fahrenheit.
The $34 million program will
provide data for developing
manned spacecraft which could re
I turn through the atmosphere from
orbit, maneuver over thousands of
square miles to select an appropri
ate landing spot, then touch down
on a jet field like an airplane.
Astronauts Sell
Life Stories
j WASHINGTON — The as
| tronauts who are to pioneer a
path to the moon, have struck gold
; on earth.
They have signed to tell their
private stories in a million-dollar
deal with Life Magazine and Field
Enterprises Educational Corp., I •
publishers of the World Book En- :
cyclopedia.
The 16 astronauts already in
the Gemini and Apollo program
signed contracts that will bring
each $65,000 over the next four
years — a total of $1,040,000.
By the end of the four years_1
1967—the two-man Gemini teams !
are expected to have orbited the
earth in missions lasting a week
or more and will have rehearsed
techniques for a rendezvous in or- |
bit with other spacecraft.
I". ~ ' -
Wien Airlines Traffic
From Fairbanks—Mr. and Mrs.
Ralph Fondell and family, Alice
Hudson, Arnold Blake, Nels Nor
din, John Phillips, Carlos Flores,
Charles Snyder, L. E. Hough, Mr.
and Mrs. LeFleur, G Dufseth, R.
Workman, L. Shanks, Joe Husa,
From Kotzebue — Dr. Harrison,
Cliff Short, Flora Lee, Ruby Out
water, Capt. E. Braly,
For Kotzebue — Mr. and Mrs.
Lewis LaFleur, E. S. Lesby, Ralph
Donaldson, S. G. Croell, Chris
Jones, Maurice Kelliher, R. D.
Hollingsworth, Jack Chutts.
For Fairbanks — Mr and Mrs.
James Woodward, Bob Blodgett,
Eric Maybach, A. B. Hatting, R.
E. Somaduroff, Mr. and Mrs. L. A.
Scott, Jean Heber, C. F. Bartley,
Pete Walsh.
In and Out
With Alaska Airlines
To Nome from Anchorage — Mr.
and Mrs. Stanley Morgan, Jerry
Newman, Eugene Stierle, Mr. D.
Anderson, J. Poling, Fred Sloan.
Sam Mogg, D Beyer, E. Smith, D.
Hart, W Nurmels, O. Harvey, W.
Ronald, William Karcagi, James
Riggan. Ted Young, L Olson, Rob
ert Mott, Archie Pool. Bill Zuback.
Vic Johnson, James Schultzman,
A. Forsythe, Robert Rogers.
From Kotzebue — Mr. and Mrs.
D. Ferguson, Mrs. Lena Hanna.
To Unalakleei — Steve Martin,
Nils Collins, Eugene Rudolph,
Charles Wilson.
To Anchorage — Arthur Nagoz
ruk, George Bayer, Paul Nuglene,
Rev. David Blackburn, Don Per
kins, Felix Taylor, D. Beyer, Quin-i
ton Hawthorne, George Vantassel.
Thomas Abbott, William Oden. L.
Bowman, E. Lanfen, D. Evans, B.
Mohley, E. Reynolds, D. Hart, H.
Adams, Clarence Irrigoo, Laura
Shanks, Elaine Smith, John Moor,
Lawrence Mattson, Peter Luke,
W. Evans, K. Wise, E. Kelly.
I*o Kotzebue — E. Devine, Mr.
and Mrs Gary Longley and chil
iren.
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