"NEWS FROM THE OIL CENTER OF ALASKA"
ED KEI7HAHN
m 1 T7 . „ 1 HiS'IORY MUSEUM 4 LIBRARY
lhe Kenai FenmsulaNEAJAWSKA 1112
SECOND YEAR
June 9. 1961
10c a Copy
Number 38
City of Kenai Purchases Land for Dock and Harbor
Dog Saves Dyer From Lake
Dyer, the 2 '/2-year-old boss of
the VanDevere homestead on
Parson’s Lake, owes his life to
his dog “Woody.” Dyer, son of
Lester and Betty VanDevere,
Mail Hearings
To Be Held
Governor William A. Egan
said today he has asked Post
master General J. Edward Day
to have departmental represent
atives hold public meetings in
Alaska’s coastal communities
to explain recently announced
plans for transport of mail to
Alaska by truck.
He told the Postmaster Gen
eral he has “noted general con
cern in Coastal Alaska, perhaps
arising from limited knowledge
of plans.”
Egan suggested meetings be
held in Ketchikan, Petersburg,
Wrangell, Sitka, Seward, Cor
dova, Valdez, Anchorage, Ju
neau and possibly other com
munities at which the proposal
would be explained fully.
was chucking sticks in the lake
and having a grand time until
he forgot to let go of one par
ticularly large limb.
Dyer went plumb out of sight
and “Woody” promptly plunged
in and emerged towing Dyer by
one sleeve.
They both thought it fun and
are still going strong but Betty
is watching they don’t do it
again.
Cordova Airlines President Merle K. Smith explains his
company's plans for increased service in the Kenai-Soldotna
area as Soldotna Chamber President Red Grange listens atten
tively.
Cordova Airline Officials Meet With Soldotna C. of C.
Cordova Airlines President
Merle K. Smith, Mrs. Smith,
and his party were guests of
honor at the last meeting of the
Soldotna Chamber of Com
merce. Main business of the
meeting was a discussion by
Traffic and Sales Manager
Morgan Richardson, of the in
creased freight and passenger
service on the Soldotna Field.
Service is currently being
supplied by a Super-Widgeon
and F.A.A. approval is being
sought for DC-3 flights.
The Kasilof field has been
checked out and will become a
flag stop for the airline with
Kasilof Postmistress Mrs. Isabel
Heckcl as agent. Other local
agents are Joan Hollier, Kenai,
and Red Grange, Soldotna.
Freight for Kasilof, Cohoc
and Clam Gulch will be routed
to and from the Soldotna field
by auto.
Plans are also underway for
two special weekly flights to
deliver perishables to the Kenai
and Soldotena fields.
A C.A.B. hearing was held
in Anchorage last week on Cor
dova s application for an op
erating permit. Attending from
Soldotna were Mr. and Mrs.
Don Wilson, Mr. C. E. Goodrich,
Betty Merrel, and Beula and
Red Grange, who testified in
behalf of Cordova. What will
probably be the final hearing
will be held on June 17.
A complete, current sched
ule of Cordova Airlines flights
in the area appears elsewhere
in this issue.
ATT & Campgr'nd Access Road Open
Red Olsen, Soldotna’s man of
many talents and incidentally
the local road building genius
has completed an all-weather
Anchor Point Salmon Derby
The first annual Anchor
Point King Salmon Karnival
will be held June 15th through
June 18th in Anchor Point,
Alaska. The event is sponsored
by the Anchor Point Chamber
of Commerce. There will be
fun and prizes for everyone.
Prizes for the youngest per
son to catch a King and the old
est, for the fisherman who trav
eled furtherest to the Karnival,
largest fish for each day, and a
trophy and prize for the largest
King caught during the Karni
val. Mom won’t be forgotten
either for the first lady to get a
King will receive a prize.
In addition to the fun of
catching a King in Anchor
River and qualifying there will
be more fun. Saturday night,
June 17th at 9 p.m. there will
be a Fishermen’s Shindig
Dance. Come as you are and
bring the kids. Sunday after
the fishing closes at noon a
free Fish Feed will be on the
River ban for all holders of a
KING SALMON KARNIVAL
registration card and their fam
ilies.
Anyone can enter the King
Salmon Karnival at anytime
between the starting hour of
12 noon Thursday, June 15th
until noon Sunday, June 18th.
Registration is $1.00 per fisher
man for the four days. You
may keep your fish and enter
as many Kings as you are lucky
enough to catch.
Every fisherman who enjoys
King Salmon stream fishing
should find this event the high
light of the fishing year. What
more can he ask? His favorite
kind of fishing and lots of fun
besides. Watch the papers next
week for a list of the rules gov
erning participation in the An
chor Point King Salmon Kar
nival.
road to the airport and the new
public camp ground. Tables
and grills arc available. En
trance to the area is just across
the Soldotna bridge at Tachicks
Freight. Keep right for the air
port and left for the camp
ground.
Progress Days
Will Feature
Rodeo & Parade
A Rodeo will be the main
feature of the first annual Sol
dotna Progress Days celebra
tion to be held on July 8 and 9.
Fairgrounds are being prepared
on the Suthard property across
the road from the Royle Park- -
ers Cafe.
Plans are underway for a
parade complete with band and
gorgeous girls and special e
vents. Concessions will be han
dled by the Soldotna Chamber
of Commerce and arrangements
for space can be made through
Red Olson or Red Grange. Cor
dova Airlines is planning spe
cial roundtrip flights from An
chorage for the affair.
The Kenai City Council is
still working on tax equaliza
tion cases and held another
meeting last Monday.
Since their last regular meet
ing two Executive Board meet
ings have been held during
which the City has acquired
several plots of land from the
B.L.M. for recreation, a city
dock, a city dump, and a small
boat harbor.
Eighty acres were acquired
in the Beaver Loop area for a
city dump and Councilman Sam
Hayes says that work will pro
ceed on that development in
the near future since that is
“most urgent.”
Fifteen acres were purchased
for a city dock in the vicinity
of the present army dock and
it is expected construction of
the dock and warehouse facili
ties will be initiated this sum
mer.
The site for the small boat
harbor is near the Coyle home
stead off Beaver Loop Road.
The City also purchased sev
eral small plots on the North
Road for recreation areas.
Kalifonsky Protest Answered By Dwyre
Deaths By Fire
Show Tragic Rise
Alaska is setting a tragic
record this year, according to
F. E. Kester, director of the
Health and Welfare department
vital statistics bureau. There
already have been 26 deaths
due to fire this year, he said,
adding that “from 1955 through
1960 Alaska averaged about 20
deaths from fire each year. We
have already passed that mark
in 1961 and the year is not yet
half over.”
The greatest number of
deaths from fire for any recent
year in Alaska was 37 in 1951,
he said, “and unless greater
care and means of prevention
are taken the next seven months
can see 1961 surpassing that
figure.”
Contributing to the high
number so far this year have
been the many multiple deaths.
According to the Bureau of
Vital Statistics records, there
have been three cases where
four deaths ocurred in one fire,
one case where three deaths oc
curred and the recent Juneau
tragedy in which six lives were
lost when a two-story frame
house burned.
Alaska has always had a high
death rate from fires, Mr. Kes
ter pointed out. For the last
six years, Alaska’s rate aver
aged 9-1 per 100,000 population
and the previous years of 1949
through 1954 the average rate
was about 15. This is nearly
four times the national rate
Methodist Church
Vac. School
The Vacation Church School
of the Kenai Methodist Church
opened May 29th and will con
tinue through June 11th. Ses
sions for ages 3 to Junior High
are being held from 9:00 to
11:30 each week day morning.
The staff for the school in
cludes: Nursery, Mrs. Marion
Peterkin; Kindergarten. Mrs.
Wilma Thompson and Mrs.
Julie Donchak; Primary, Mrs.
Joyce Carver, Mrs. Idell Gee
and Mrs. Jane Fair; Juniors,
Mrs. Pat Fulcher, Mrs. Marian
Graff and Mrs. Doris Gibson;
and Junior Highs, Mr. Daniel
Harlan. Other workers in the
school include Mrs. Fern Han
son, Mrs. Mavis Cone, Mrs. Mae
Hakala and Mrs. Mary Ann
Harlan.
R. G. Dwyre, acting district
engineer for the Alaska Divi
sion of Highways, has answered
a protest from Kalifonsky
Beach fishermen concerning the
method of getting gravel to be
used in construction of a road
extension in the area.
The state, Dwyre said, found
during the course of investiga
tion that the “gravel acquisition
was not going to be very prac
tical or reasonable and so we
have made adjustment accord
ingly.” He stated in his letter
to Clinton Ducker that the state
would keep the area as beauti
ful as it now is and it is not the
intention of the state to destroy
any existing facilities.
The letter came in answer to
a protest from Ducker and
other beach fishermen com
plaining about the attitude and
methods used by the state road
crew in construction of the ac
cess road.
Ducker said a representative
from the Bureau of Land Man
agement, from whom the fish
ing sites are leased, also came
to the area for a personal in
vestigation.
Most Autos On
Sterling Hiway
While traffic on the Sterling
highway six miles east of Sol
dotna showed the greatest per
centage of increase over other
state check points as compared
with last year, the increase for
April against the preceding
month was only 8.5 percent.
At the check point traffic in
creased 30.8 percent over last
year. The nearest figure to
compare with the peninsula ac
tivity was an 18.7 percent in
crease on the Glacier Highway
a mile north of the Juneau
city limits.
Only at the Fairbanks-Nenana
highway did the traffic drop
as compared with last year. The
drop over last year was nearly
35 percent.
Shrine Circus
Buses For Kids
Busses will be provided to
take kids from the Kenai-Sol
dotna area to the Shrine Cir
cus in Anchorage on Saturday,
June 17th. The busses, provid
ed again this year by Burton
Carver, will leave the Sky Bowl
at about 7:00 a m. For further
details contact Red Grange at
Soldotna.