Letter to the Editor:
No Gold in Grain Raising
Says Sterling Area Farmer
Dear Editor;
1 am amazed at what I read
in the paper now-a-days. I see
where the grain producers real
ly have a bonanza at the pres
ent time. SAYS WHO? You
should try to get some informa
tion out of the ASC office, and
>ou will surely change your tune.
In the first place, one has to
contact the office in Fairbanks;
they in turn will wait their us
ual 20- or 30-day period, then
send you a notice they aren't set
up to handle loans in Homer —
they are set up to handle them
from the Palmer office. I had to
call them in Fairbanks. If you
wish to call Phil Johnson, call
around 4:30 or 5:00 p.m. If you
call earlier he is in school, if
you call later the office is closed.
Anyway, it took two days for me
to get him on the phone.
1 now have a letter from M r.
Drenton of the experimental Sta
tion in Palmer informing me that
Mr. Nash, who is supposed to
handle the business and contact
me, asked him to wTite and tell
rue that my grain carried 26%
moisture at the time of harvest.
Now, I do not know if I will
ever hear from Mr. Nash, or see
him, or in fact, I do not know a
darn bit more than I did three
weeks ago and I am $30 shorter
lor phone calls.
I’m going to tell you how you
can go into the grain business,
and to get some satisfaction from
the ASC. First, clear a good 100
acres of ground (that will cost
about $10,000). Next go out
shopping for fertilizer (you might
just as well buy that locally be
cause you can buy that cheaply
ami get a lot better service than
elsewhere) that will cost you a
bout $2,000. Next, get good seed,
Which will cost you about $850.
bocal seed is far better because
5t takes any seed one year to
acclimatize itself.
Next, get a good combine—
they only cost $3,000, and then
comes the small item of a gran
ary—which costs about $2,000 for
anything decent. You can not get
the loan if you don't have a good
place to store the grain. Oh,
yes, I’d about forgot, the dryer,
too, if you want the loan; which
costs all the way from $750 to
$7000. We will use the figure
$2,000 because the cheaper set
ups will not dry fast enough to
keep you going once harvest be
gins. The better are the cheaper.
Now we are harvesting, and
that costs about $7.50 per acre;
that is about $750, and that is
cheap. When the crop is harvest
ed you’d do well to stop and
figure this thing out. You have
spent $20,600 and if you have a
good crop—say around 40 bush
els per acre, you end up with 90
tons of grain. That is worth ap
proximately $9,000 this year.
You should be able to borrow
$4,950 through the ASC. Please
do not try to figui-e any wages
out of this—you might run short.
It is impractible to try raising
grain under 100 acres.
Now I wish to state it is only
through the sterling efforts of
Mr. Phil Johnson and his ASC—•
(no one else would have it) —
and the irest of the agriculture
departments that we are so boun
tifully blessed with here in Alas
ka that makes it physically im
possible to encounter such an
achievement.
I do feel that it would be well
for our honorable legislators and
congressmen to take a good long
look at agriculture in Alaska and
draw up rules and regulations
for Alaska that would fit our
needs. Next, I believe, they should
renovate the departments of ag
riculture and toss out most of
the so-called employees that are
so over-worked from looking after
the welfare of the lucky farmer,
(signed) Lew Fields,
Sterling, Alaska.
Alaska Employs
600 in Oil-Gas
Development
Information on Alaska’s young
petroleum industry has been
made available by the Independ
ent Petroleum Assoc, of Ameri
ca, According to the Association
magazine, “The Oil Producing In
dustry in Your State,’’ there are
COO persons employed in Alaska
crude oil and natural gas pro
duction.
Under mineral lease in the
state on Jan. 1, 1961, were over
34 million acres. Of this total,
only 12,160 acres had then been
proved productive of oil and/or
gas.
The value, at wells, of crude
oil produced in Alaska during
1960, was $1,228,000, while nat
ural gas production was valued
at $18,000. The average field
price of Alaska crude oil in I960"
was $2.20 per barrel.
PARKER’S I
SERVICE STATION
OPEN 24 HOURS A DAY
PROMPT FRIENDLY MINUTE-MAN SERVICE
MECHANIC ON DUTY —CAR WASH
Gas459/10c Lube $3.00
FREE CAR WASH
WITH LUBE JOB AND OIL & FILTER C HANGE
LEAVE YOUR CAR FOR SERVICE
USE OUR COURTESY CAR
The 4 ROYLE PARKERS
SERVICE STATION —BARBER SHOP —BAR
RESTAURANT — LOUNGE — BANQUET ROOM
PRIVATE DINING ROOM —LIQUOR STORE —MOTEL
Open 5 a.m. to 1 a.m.
On the Kenai Spur Road in Ridgeway
. l,1'j miles west of Soldotna “Y”
New Land Orders Restore 5272 Acres
In Alaska Back to Public Domain
Some 5,272 acres of land are
to be restored to the public do
main in Alaska, according to or
ders published recently in the
Federal Register. These parcels
are located in the Seward Town
site area, (Federal Addition) and
in the Anchorage area (East Ad
dition).
In another order, 4,438 acres
have been (restored that were
withdrawn in 1901 for lighthouse
purposes in Alaska. Located in
the Fox Islands, more specific
locations are: Ugamak Island, 1,
300 acres; Rootok Island, 2,500
acres; Egg Island, Bever (Beav
er) Inlet, 300 acres, and at the
entrance to Sumner Bay, Unalas
ka Island, 338 acres. The State
of Alaska will have a preferred
light of selection to these lands
until March 7. 1962, after which
unselected acreages will be sub
ject to the general public land
laws. Inquiries may be made at
the Anchorape Land Office con
cerning the areas.
In the Caribou Creek-Matanu
ska River area, bordering the
Glenn Highway for 1.5 miles, 600
acres were released by a recent
order, but 287 acres near Sheep
Mountain were withdrawn im
mediately for use of the Dept,
of the Army's Alaska Communi
cations System, leaving 313 ac
res that were (released. The state
has the preferred right of se
lection until Dec. 7, 196i, after
which unselected acreages will be
open to the general public land
laws. Further inquiries may be
made at the Anchorage Land Of
fice.
In another land order, 407 ac
res at Beaver Dam, 640 acres
each at Chistochina, Copper Cen
ttr, Gakona and Tiekel, 450 acres
at Workmans and 55.29 acres at
Coppei Center, all withdrawn for
the use of the Signal Corps. The
state will have a preferred right
of selection until Dec. 12, 1961,
under which the land laws gen
erally will apply. The Anchorage
Land Office has further infor
mation.
Former air navigation, admin
istrative and recreation sites in
the Anchorage area (1,377.2 ac
res), Girdwood area (0.55 acres),
ar.d Moose Greek area (10 acres)
are restored under another order
published recently. The state will
have a preferred right of selec
tion until Dec. 12.
District Head
Named for 1961
Demo Fund Drive
Ruth Haley Dodds, Anchorage,
is heading the 1961 Dollars for
Democrats Drive in the South
central district as chairman for
tire fund raising campaign cur
rently being conducted through
out the month of October.
Mrs. Dodds’ appointment w a s
announced jointly by Wendell P.
Kay. state chairman of the Dem
ocratic State Central Committee,
and Helen M. Fischer, Democrat
ic national committeewoman.
Mrs. Dodds, an insurance
ciaims representative, has been
Democratic precinct chairman for
the past year and three years
prior to that acted as secretary
for Anchorage precinct No. 1.
Alaska Produces
Some 246 million cubic feet of
natural gas were produced in
Alaska during 1960.
Caribou Hunting
Reported Good
The Denali Highway leading
to McKinley Park is currently
providing the best caribou hunt
ing for residents of the South
Central and Interior portions of
the state, the Department of
Fish and Game advised recently.
By Sept. 10 at midnight, 2849
hunters had taken 1703 caribou
in that area, far more than had
been taken near either Steese
or Taylor Highways or from the
Lake Louise area.
Moose hunting was reported to
have been excellent in all areas,
including the Livengood Road
and the Steese Highway out of
Fairbanks, the Taylor Highway
out of Tok Junction, and the
Kenai, Matanuska Valley, Denali
and other areas accessible by
road, as well as remoter areas
accessible only by airplane.
The Department maintains
hunter checking stations in sev
eral areas, through which are
obtained figures on total har
vest, hunter success ratios anc
other information needed foj
proper management of t h <
state’s game populations. De
partment biologists are request
ing that successful hunters
whenever possible, turn in tht
lower jaws of all big game tak
en, either at the checking sta
tions or at Department offices
The jaws are used to determine
the ages of animals taken; thi;
information, compared over i
period of years, provides a clut
to population trends and herd
conditions.
THANK YOU...
A sincere thank you to all
our friends for their past pat
ronage of the Cottage Bakery.
We have leased the bakery
to John and Estella Rohwed
er.
We ask you to give them
the same fine support we en
joyed.
Thank you again,
Roy and
Leora Knoblock
CHILDREN’S
SNOW PANTS
QUILTED LINING
SIZES 3 THRU 8
special s549
GIBBS APPAREL
“The House of Values”
SOLDOTNA Phone 262-4802
FREEZING WEATHER!
IS JUST AROUND
Winterize Your Trailer
• SAVE FUEL
• SAVE PLUMBING
• BE COMFORTABLE!
For all materials and
free advice see—
H
tB
M
O
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5B
SOLDOTNA SUPPLY
SOLDOTNA Phone 262-4251
TOWNE CAFE
NOW OPEN IN TOWNE CENTER
Next to United Sales in Soldotna
Noon Special.$1.65
Burger in the Basket.50c
Vi Fried Chicken in Basket.$1.65
Steak Fingers in Basket.$1.50
16 oz. Top T-Bone or Rib Steak ..... $4.50
Open 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.