The Daily Alaska empire Newspaper, October 26, 1949, Page 1

THE DAILY ALASKA EMPIRE VOL. LXXIII, NO. 11,334 “ALL THE NEWS ALL THE TIME” JUNEAU, ALASKA, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 1949 MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS PRICE TEN CENTA Truman Signs Bill Boosting Minimum Wage ef Pr_qulled Fighter - B_o_ml__)gr OLDTIMERS ~ GOLD FIND i Veterans of Klondike Rush Conclude with “Wait and See” SEATTLE, Oct. 26. (AP)—A/| bunch of the boys were whooping | it up—in an octogenarian way-| in the Savoy Hotel lobby. Subject? Alaska’s new Fishwheel gold strike. £ Conclusion? Doubtful, and see. The old-timers, all veterans of the Klondike Gold Rush of 1897- 98, weren't holding a formal con- vention. They just gather from| time to time in the Savoy lobby, a traditional sourdough hangout, to rehash the old days. Spry little John Palm, who car- ried the mail for 35 years from | Fairbanks to Circle, some 20 miles| from the Fishwheel discovery on! the broad Yukon River flats, said| he'd believe it when he saw the| gold. John is 83 years old, and an alumnus of the Klondike. L. V. Stanely, 73, another for- mer Fairbanks man, said: “This place they call Fishwheel| is smack out in the Yukon flats, 50 miles wide and split with/ channels. It must be 150 to 200! feet to bedrock there, and you won't find the mother lode under, those conditions. I'd like to believe it, but I think this is really what | | | | | but wait { “Riyer ice knocked off some gra- twel. way up, in the hills and de- Fishwheel. Not much of it there and no point in wasting your time looking for it.” R. E. “Dupont” Murphy, a com- | parative youngster in his 70s—he; only retired in 1943—tried to chide the old timers into rallying their! old battle cry of “Gold!” but Tony Stanich, 87, wouldn’t hear of it. Female Influence at Gold TALK OVER Camp: Coffee at Two Bits Is Worth More than Pannings By JACK DAUM (Written for the Associated Press) FISHWHEEL, Alaska, Oct. 26. (AP)—Two women and a coffee |shop have come to Alaska’s latest gold-happy community. This booming tent town, extend- ing for nine miles along both sides of the cold and sluggish Yukon FISHWHEEL IS TENTED ONRIVER Now Covers More Territory than Fairbanks—Regqu- lar Boom Town By JACK DAUM Fairbanks News-Miner staff writer (Written for the Assoclated Press) OUS instrument where man’s most the same time there would be no FISHWHEEL, Alaska, Oct. 26— The town of Fishwheel—nothing but just that a week ago — now covers more territory than Fair- banks, the metropolis of north cen- tral Alaska. Fishwheel, as this strung-out line of tents is known in_ this gold- fevered Yukon River area at the Arctic Circle, three miles from Discovery stake, and upstream $ix miles. Prospectors who have been rush- ing into the area by airplane, are now spread out on both sides of the river, with claims mushrooming on the north banks as well as the south, where most activity had extends downstream ' ! River, blinked today at the arrival wiol the women. One of them is Evelyn Grinnell, the wife of a Fort Yukon trapper, and the second of her sex to ar- |rive. She immediately set up a 'coffee shop in her tent—equipped | only with a Yukon stove, a cotfee- | pot, a box of cups, doughnuts and | some sandwiches, | Evelyn is doing a thriving busi- { ness, | Coffee—25 cents a cup. Cotfee | !\vith doughnuts or sandwiches—50 ,cents, | INDIAN WOMAN FIRST | { First woman to arrive was the | wife of a Fort Yukon native who' !Lrought her along with him to/| |share the frigid life of this gold| mining camp on the rim of the | Arctic. They walked over the tundra for two days to get here. The woman, a rather attractive Indian with jet black hair, smiled shyly as she| | walked ty with a large pack on| her back. Her husband, thin and| | impassive, twisted his wrinkled | | features into a large grin when| comebody yelled, “Hi, Joe.” He carried a rifle, an incongru-| i precious tool is a pick or shovel. The first showing of gold in this | area was made 12 days ago by Clifton Carroll, who spotted pea- £ized nuggets in the muck on his| lishwheel axle, Claims since have| |spread up and down from what is! now known as the “discovery| ;clalm." { Colors have been found consis-| tently along a two-mile stretch of | river shore adjoining Cnrroll's} claim and there have been a few nuggets found in the frigid pans. | I have not been to the farthest| claims upstream, but reports keep| coming down of “colors” and a few | rice-sized nuggets being panned. WARNING IS ISSUED TO STAMPEDERS Bush Pilot Giés Important Advice to Those Rush- . ing to Fishwheel FISHWHEEL, Alaska, Oct. 26. (AP)-—A bush pilot gave a grim warning tcday of the severe hard- ships and possible tragedy ahead unless gold-happy prospectors swarming into this central Alaska | region take proper precautions to| withstand the rigorous arctic| weather. Jim Magoffin, owner and. opera-; tor of Interior Airways, urged to-| day that all pilots bringing pro- spectors into the strike area screen | them for sufficient heavy clothing, | bedding and food kefore taking| them away from the populated centers into the open. “The temperature here can drop to 20 Lelow overnight,” Magoffin asserted. “If it does there is ter- rible suffering in store for many of these fellows.” “There’s not enough planes to get them out before they freeze. Should the weather close down at chance of even Helping them.” QUIZ GOVT. ON STRIKE | IN INTERIOR WASHINGTON, Oct. 26—(P—| The Federal government is getting| many letters—and some telephone 1 been concentrated until today. Even now, when there is still a 50-50 chance that the gold content “You don't find gold worth stam- peding for on ‘the Yukon flats,” Stanich said. “I hope it’s true, but/ I don’t think it can be.” Stanich founded the famed pack rated, aspects of boom - town train restaurant in Skagway in|growth are evident everywhere, 1897 and later made’ a fortune in| Fishweel now boasts four airplane the stampede in Atlin, B.C. landing strips—more than any “Make your money in business— other community in Alaska, includ- not out on the creeks,” he coun- ing military centers. seled. Fishwheel was visited yesterday | by George Ward Price, correspon- fidem for the London Daily Mail. i{He's stopping over in Alaska en- route to Australia. Coverage of Gold Strike Belieyed _Jvenitay & ok selpd busioess i g e ner” fi oes, & Ea!y; jllfl like “III "wai.stcoat and fnur-in-ehanfi xe\eck- tie, Price presented a contrasting KETCHIKAN, Alaska, Oct. 26— appearance among the parka-clad in the area may be highly over-| Colors are minute specks of flake! calls—asking about the new goid| {gold, commercially worthless but|strike reported from Fishwheel, Al- often indicative of more gold some- | agkq. where nearby. The official word it has is that LIKE PARK AVENUE |the extent and importance of the Some gold seekers now are liv-|gold deposits is not definitely ing in the lap of Aretic luxury;|known. those whose claims are adjacent to|, Fred J. Weiler, manager of the a landing field have fixed their|Interior Department land office at ’tems in the best Statler fashion,|Fairbanks, advised the department with stoves, sitting facilities and|that several plane loads of gold improvised tables, | In the true tradition of the northland, anyone is welcome to| wWeiler said in a telegram: come in and share the warmth| «New reports received in my of- and swap tales. Prospectors already | fice today disclosed further discov- are eager for news from home. {ery of large nuggets. The tent where I am now sitting “lnforn{ Washington staff I sug- Ibelonss to Charlie Biederman, F.|gest not to resign and come to Al- = Alexander, Robert Alexander,|aska, best claims already taken.” |C. V. Johnson and Robert Barenz.| the states “with more expected.” seekers already have arrived from | (P—New Yorkers still have a tough time, apparently, with Alaska geo- | tholes and panned tailings where graphy. The Ketchikan Chronicle got a query yesterday from a New York newspaper about providing on-the- spot covérage of the new Yukon River gold-seeking rush. Ketchi- kan is the Alaska City most dis- tant from the scene—about 1,200 airline miles. The Washington Merry - Go - Round - By DREW PEARSON iCopyrignt, 1949, by Bell Syndicate, Inc.) —_— ASHINGTON—President Tru- man's warning that there must be a tax increase recalls the fact that Bureau of Internal Revenue ex- perts estimate they could collect close to a billion dollars more an- nually without increasing taxes— if they had better income-tax en- forcement. Two years ago the 80th Congress chopped off a huge army of in- come tax examiners, a group of hard-working, underpaid public ser- vants who have the unpleasant but necessary job of checking on peo- ple’s income taxes. While part of this cut personn:l has been rein- stated, the tax examiners are still woefully understaffed and able to inspect only a fraction of the re- turns. On top of this has developed another tax-payment deterrent— namely, delays and wire-pulling in the prosecution of tax frauds. When the average taxpayer sees certain big shots getting away with spectacular tax violations, natur- — e (Continued on Page Four) | prospectors among whom he strode along the Yukon. He inspected pot nuggets and colors have been found. “Very colorful,” opined Price in his clipped British accent. GOLD HUNTERS AT ANCHORAGE LERY, - FISHWHEEL FIND ANCHORAGE, Alaska, Oct. 26.— Biederman is now here alone, his! partners having returned to Fair- banks Sunday after staking claims. Biederman, a trapper from Eagle, Alaska, now is finishing the job of blazing boundary lines and sink- TELEVISION Air For‘;g" s This “heavily-armed F-84E Thunderjet, a high-speed long range fighter has become the Air Force's first jet propelled fighter-bomber by reason of its versatility. It is equipped with 32 five-inch high velocity jaircraft rockets and has six M-3 50 cal. machine guns as fixed equipment. (” Wirephoto from Deparament of Defense. 10 LIN'S POKES ARE SEATTLE| GOLD STRIKE More Nugg_elis, Gold Dust Found in Vault-Value Is Now $10,000 SEATTLE, Oct. 26. (AP) — Yet more gold belonging to the late Carl W. Jolin was uncovered yes- terday in a safe deposit box. Glen S. Corkery, counsel for the “sg2cial administrator, William E. Walker, said it consisted of gold “dust” in two pokes in a box at the Seattle Trust and Savings Bank. Jolin, 70, retired Alaskan sour- dough, died of a heart attack Thursday while watching the stock market, in which he was an in- vestor. Ever since his nuggets and gold dust have been coming to | light. Most of them were found by | Corkery and Walker stowed in old | grips in Jolin’s basement room in {a shatby rooming house. | Corkery said the gold found | Tuesday is worth about $1,400. It |makes a total of 369 ounces of {gold and amalgum discovered to ate, worth altogether about $10,- | | di G0o. POKES FROM GLOVE3 | With Union Oil Company stock land U. S. bonds found in the box |along with the gold Tuesday, the | estate’s value has now risen to around $28,000, Corkery said. Three of the pokes found were |made out of women’s long-sleeved | gloves—a frequent device of old- | time prospectors when they could |not obtain enough chamois-skin pokes, said Corkery, prospector. The safe deposit box was discov- vted by persistent searching. Cor- himself a First J Defenseof RAILLINK Northland | BILL SIGNED Iismm:dj BY T_RUMAN Pacific Northwest, Alaska |ocation Survey Legislated! Always Vulnerable, ' o 1.400-Mile Rail Says Marshall Gap to North 26 — B — Gen.| WASHINGTON, | SEATTLE, Oct. George C. Marshall said today| Oct. 26—(M— that the Pacific Northwest and president Truman signed a bill Alaska have always been “in an today which may lead to an ev- extremely delicate situation in the engual railroad link between the | event of war because of the com- ynjted States and Alaska. paratively ~easy "fiight distance| The legislation authorizes him to | across the Bering Sea.” Jenter into an agreement with Can- | General Marshall arrived here'ady for a survey to determine the | this morning in his first west coast pest route for such a link. stop of a national tour to mmnm--‘ There now is a 1400-mile gap ize himself with Red Cross chap- petween Canada's railroad system ! ters through the country. He took and the government-owned Alaska | office as American Red Cross pres- Railroad. The Senate Foreign Re- ident Oct. 1. |1ations Committee reported the rail- He said in a press conference road link is needed because present that the Pacitic Northwest and water and highway routes are in- other coastal states have bee"‘adequate to serve Alaska. vulnerable to 'wartime attack “ever gpecifically the legislation ca"SI since the airplane became a major for a location survey for a rail- instrument of warfare.” road from Prince George, B. C., to “There is no question about the Fairbanks, Alaska, where it would | delicacy of this situation,” he said. connect with the Alaska Railroad. | ‘I am, however, now associated This would be a northerly exten- vith the Red Cross, not the mili- sion of the British Columbia gov- tary, and therefore can make 1O ernment’s Pacific Great Enstern} omment as to whether or how Railway which now rambles 347 these defenses can be strength- miles through B. C. from Squamish ened.” |t0 Quesnel. pEIERSB“RG HO[DS has proposed to extend the south- MEMORIAL SERVICE, ern terminal of the Pacific Great| Eastern — now at Squamish — 40| miles south to Vancouver. There it would connect with® lines running | up from the United States. British Columbia also may con-! NEW LAW SIGNED BY PRESIDENT Labor Leaders and Others Called to White House to Witness Ceremony WASHINGTON, Oct. 26— President Truman signed legisla- tion today raifing the minimum wage from 40 to 75 cents an hour and called it “a major victory” for his administration. In a statement, Mr. Truman ex- pressed ‘“regret" that the legisla- tion exempts some workers, who previously had been covered by the Fair Lacor Standard law. He added: “But the improvements made by the new law will go far toward achieving our basic purpose of assuring minimum labor standards necessary for health, efficiency and seneral well-being of workers. “The enactment of the Fair La- bor Standards amendments of 1949 is a major victory in our fight to promote the general welfare of the people of the United States.” The President called labor lead- ars and others to the White House for the ceremgny signing the measure. Plunges To Death AL s 3} . 4 LONDON, Oct. 76—(#—The Hon-~ orable Peter Beatty, son of & famed admiral and grandson of Chicago merchant prince - Marshall Fileld, gr., plunged to his death today from a sixth floor window in the fashionable Ritz Hotel. He had just been told he was soing totally blind. The 39-year-old race horse owner fell to the ground at the rear of the Ritz, whith is in Piccadilly, in the center of London. STAMPEDE MAY REVIVE BOATING ON'YUKON RIVER PORTLAND, Ore, Oct. 26. (AP) —Yukon River boat Captain Wil- liam Makl was hopeful today the Alaskan gold prospecting rush to Fishwheel will revive traffic on the :ig sub-arctic river. “I don't know, but I hope that this will mean more business for DEAD DUCK HUNTERS struct 80 miles of rail to run its line north from Quesnel to Prince PETERSBURG, Alaska, Oct. 26 George. —(P—Memorial funeral services will Army engineers estimated seven ing prospect holes. ! The tent is about 8 by 10 feet| and very warm. In the middle ot the earth floor is a Yukon stove, which resembles a gasoline drum with a vent cut near the bottom to supply air to the burning wood. ‘There’s a plentiful supply of dry! wood within 15 feet of the tent. | A stovepipe extends through the tent roof. Cardcoard cartons are PICTURES OF GOLD STRIKE SEATTLE, Oct. 26—(M—Televis- jon pictures have keen taken of the gold strike at Fishwheel, Alas- ka, and are enroute to San Fran- (M—Some Anchorage people have set out for the Fort Yukon area, {but the old-time gold hunters here are viewing the nugget reports cool- y.. Experienced prospectors express {the belief that most of the promis- ing claims already have been &tak- ed out in the area where a fish- wheel came up with nuggets frozen to the hub. Some say the country there is too flat for a good strike land the report that bedrock is 200 {feet or more down is discouraging. The Anchorage Times said there was no basis to reports that fren- zied gold seekers were chartering | taxicalys to rush to Fairbanks, Ithe jumping off spot for the flights ito the Fort Yukon area. The re- {ports were that the taxi fare had |been boosted above $400. The news- paper noted that the Anchorage- Fairbanks train fare by streamliner |was only about $25 and an airplane {flight about $35. FROM OREGON CITY Mr. and Mrs. Allan Morelock of Oregon City, Ore., are registered at the Gastineau Hotel. ¥ laid flat on the ground to provide insulation for our sleeping bags. Our food locker contains, eggs,| proadcasting Co., said today. bacon, bread, flour, powdered milk | Wagner said he believed the pic-| and dehydrated vegetables. Bied- | o5 were the first for television | erman’s partners keep him supplied | jyxen at the site of the strike on| with food. |the rim of the Arctic and among| The temperature rose sharply the ipo firgt pictures ever taken for last two days and Dow touches|ielevicion in Alaska. | five degrees above zero. But W know, it will drop to 15 or 20 below tonight. i cisco for processing. Willlam J.| Wagner, president of the Alaska/ | l Fairbanks, flew T plane to Fishwheel on October 24 SUSPENDED EXCITEMEN after an attempt to get in the pre- Everybody here is hvlng in 8 yious day had failed because of bad xw ;::k st;pfrndtd E:fi:;f“:‘:‘r‘wwenther, He took with him a 16 They shake their pans *|mm camera, a wire recorder and 'x;le: am?xiix:; :;e:,rllg @ trace o1} 3 portable power :::nt to operate g I | the recording machine. nlt ett:k:; s::;valsh gfner’i‘xf:':‘::] Beside taking plctt‘uus, Fletcher ugg! -the-: d- of fumor and_heated speculation 0 TSR U, o0 SRR Mgt through the camp like an. electric| o "o e Broadcasting System. STEAMER MOVEMENTS It seemed today that the camp; imight be on the brink of discov- Baranof scheduled to sail frorz | Seattle Saturday. 3er1ng whether this latest gold strike lis in truth a potential bonanza or! another thin deposit of color. With iwide area of river bank, and pan-| Princes Louise scheduled to ning continuing - steadily, , some sail from Vancouver Monday. definite conclusions probably can| Denali from west scheduled south- prospect holes being dug over a )be reached in a few days. jbound 2 p.m. Monday. | Jolin lived & very frugal I kery and Walker received from !the coroner the dead man's keys. {Two of them looked like box keys. A locksmith identified them as |those to Seattle Trust and Sav- ings Bank boxes. | Corkerly said all the gold and | other assets will be turned over to | the Bank of California, named exe- | cutor in Jolin’s will. He bequeathed !it all to a sister in Sweden. lite, Corkery said. PIONEERS T0 MEET ON FRIDAY EVENING The monthly meeting of the €| Jim Fletcher, manager of KFRB, Pm:e:;s :‘i ’ dAlflSkfl ;‘lfloo '.):oi ’: W:‘:J Managers are requested to take in a chartered -© hel iday evening starting at| the meeting. & o'clock in the Odd Fellows Hall [168M ‘osters to the ’ according to announcement made by Jack Kearney, secretary. The Pioneer’s auxiliary will hold also a separate meeting at the came hour. STOCK ouo_uTuons NEW YORK, Oct. 26--(P—Clos- ing quotation of Alaska Juneau mine stock today is 3%, American Can 96%, Anaconda 287%, Curtiss- Wright 77, International Harvester 28%, Kennecott 48%, New York Central 10%, Northern Pacific 14%, U. 8. Steel 25, Pound $2.80. Sales today were 1,620,000 shares. Averages today are as follows: industrials 189.08, rails 48.63, ut- ilities 38.72. be held tomorrow at the Peters- years ago it would cost $112,000,- purg Evangelical Lutheran church 000 to build the missing link. Sen- for three Petersburg duck hunters, ator Magnuson (D-Wash) said re- drowned a week ago Sunday in cently the cost now would be close | Frederick Sound. The duck hunt- to $200,000,000. He and Rep. Jack- ‘ers were Mr, and Mrs. Connor Kin- son (D-Wash) authored the survey 'near and James Miller. | measure. | Organized searching for the body Magnuson told a reporter he |cf Connor Kinnear, still not recov- | planned to propose to James E. ‘cred. ceased this week but several | Webb, Undersecretary of State, that fishing boats were dragging .the ' a commission be set up to negotiate area near the mouth of the north with Canada for the survey. He said President Truman had |arm of the Stikine River yesterday. e expressed the opinion that the ap- pointment of a commission would be satisfactory’if the details could be worked out with the State De- partment. | BASKFTBALL MEET | cCity League basketball team | managers will meet tomorrow at 8 |pm. in Room 1 of Juneau High | | 8chool. SEATLE GRATIFIED SEATTLE, Oct. 26.—(P—Seattle civic leaders expressed gratification today at President Truman’s sign- | ing of an Alaska railroad survey e 00 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 oy ¥ ® | E. L. Skeel, chairman of the Save | 2 ® | Boeing-Defend Seattle Committee, |& ® |said: “This is a great stride for- | |® ® ward in the committee’s program | o for the fortification and develop- » ® ment of Alaska as a keystone of s 'iPaumc defense.” ? | | . & | OCTOBER 27 i High tide 6:04 am., 136 ft. o/ Low tide 11:41 am, 56 ft. High tide 5:38 p.m., 152 ft. SUN RISES - SETS OCTOBER 27 Sun rises at 8:00 a.m. BSun sets at 5:23 pm. e o0 00 00 00 : BRANT ARRIVES HERE The PFish and Wildlife Service vessel Brant arrived in Juneau to- day and will leave for Seattle and | an overhaul tonight. The vessel brought several FWS @ |boats and motor launches to Ji- # |neau for repair. ®| The Brant is commanded by Leo| e |J. Collins. L TIDE TABLE eececvesece the boats next year,” the veteran i river pilot said. He returned to his home here after the summer season piloting | the steamer Alice between Nenana and Fort Yukon. He explained the Government, which operates the river boats as a service to river towns despite the financial loss, has been talking of retiring the old steamers. He sald .the boats would be needed to haul heavy mining machinery to the new gold field. ‘The captain reported the old Co- lumbja and Snake River steamer Barry K, towed to the Yukon in Alaska for wartime service, has been beached at Nenana. He said her hull was getting soft. The old steamer for many years hauled sacked grain between landings in eastern Washington and Lewiston, | Idaho. DISCUSSION OF GIRL $Z0UT AIMS WILL BE HEARD THURSDAY P.M. Mrs. Elton Engstrom, Girl Scout Executive Council publicity chair- man, will conduct a series of radio programs at 8:15 o'clock Thursday afternoon, starting tomorrow. The purpose of the program will be to acquaint the public with the aims and activities of Girl Scouts. Mrs. Pauline Washington, direc- tor of the Senior Scouts, will par- ticipate in the discussion tomorrow afternoon and will interview two gjrls, Shirley Casperson and Mary Lou Fagerson, who attended the conference in Michigan last sum- mer.