The Daily Alaska empire Newspaper, October 27, 1949, Page 1

THE DAILY ALASKA EMPIRE fOL. LXXIIIL, NO. 11,335 Burning Holes Nearing Rock; Outcome Hangs in Balance as Newcomers Pour in by Plane DILOTS. HIT NUGGETS T DONT BELIEVE STRIKE WILL PAN OUT ANCHORAGE, Alaska, Oct. 27— Several would-be Anchorage prospectors have returned, con- inced that Filhwheel, theeboom- tent town up on the Yukon lates near the Arctic Circle, is gold country. “Amateurs and proYessionals are ‘etty well convinced, but they're pfraid to leave for fear they'll miss komething,” Bill Lund, Alaska Air- Pines pilot, said on his return from [Fishwheel. Lund, with Rotert Stevenson, orthern Consolidated Airlines pi- lot, went to the Yukon area over the weekend and came up with two of- the few nuggets he said had been found at the river. “We made a hole in the ice on the edge of the main stream right near Discovery,” Stevenson sald. “We pushed our axe down into the muck and dug out some of the stream bed. It froze right in our hands. “I was all set to throw it all away but Lund kept panning it. That's when he found the first nugget.” They dug a second hole and Lund again panned a nugget in his| first . pan. “But ‘we didn’t get a thing in the next 200 or 300 shovels full,” Stev- enson said glumly. He said the pilots showed the| nuggets to a prospector named ! Gaylord. “Lord, everyone all their direction. exgited.” he shouted the news to in sight. They grmbbedi tools and lit out in every Even the old-timers got Ksked about the-value of thel gold he panned, Lund shrugged. #It's worth about 60 cents I guess. From my experience it seems the gold is at the grassroots. It hasn't traveled far yet. The near- est hill is over a score of miles away. It is surface gold, but I can’t imagine where it came from. “Everyone is getting colors (small flashes of gold) such as you might find anywhere. But I didn’t see any nuggets besides my own and Car- roll's.” Clifton Caryoll started the stam- pede when he found nuggets “the size of peas” stuck to the muck on the axle of his fishwheel, after which the boomtown has been named. That was two weeks ago. Lund and Stevenson did not file claims, STEAMER MOVEMENTS Baranof schedulec to sail from Seattle Saturday. Princes Louise scheduled sail from Vancouver Monday. Denali from west scheduled south- bound 2 p.n. Monday. to o 0o 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 o SUN RISES - SETS L] OCTOBER 28 Sun rises at 3 Sun sets at e o o 0 The Washington Merry - Go - Round By DREW PEARSON ICopyrignt, 1949, by Bell Syndicate, Inc.) 'ASHINGTON — Congressman FPranklin D. Roosevelt, Jr., has an 8-year-old son .named Christopher who may turn out to be another chip off the old block. Recently Congressman Roosevelt called his son. on the telephone in New York and asked him if he would like to come to Washington. Christopher said he would under certain con- ditions. “If I come to Washington will I be able to see the President?” asked Christopher. “I think so,” replied Congress- man Roosevelt. ‘Well,” continued Christopher, “will he let us sleép in our own beds in the White House?"” Roosevelt roared. When Christopher arrived in Washington, ‘his father drove him around the capital, then tried to park to go Inside a government building. Only a tiny spate was available, so Roosevelt asked a policeman if he could park in a et (Continued on Page Four) {of gold in commercial quéntities. By JACK DAUM (Farbanks News-Miner Writer) Written for the Associated Press) FISHWHEEL, Alaska, Oct. 27— M—The future of Fishwheel bal- anced on a knife edge today. On one side is fame, fortune and riches; on the other—disillusion- nent and despair. We should know in a few dnysl whether the pea-sized nuggets of | old found ty Clifton Carroll last ~veek touched off a boom or a ust, Prospect holes now being sunk have reached coarse sand at about six feet. Sand usually covers the gravel which lies on top of the all-important bedrock. If gold is here, it will be on the bedrock. The holes are dug by burnine ‘a fire on top of the ground for about six hours. This thaws the | ground. about a foot down and the prospector digs out the moist earth and starts another fire. It's a slow, torturous process but the only possicle method here where no heavy equipment is to be had. | Ed Farrell, a veteran of the | Dawson gold rush, has been pro- | specting the streams of Alaska since 1900. He has his hole, down five feet and should hit bedrock in about two days. A BREEZE NOW “Why this is nothing,” said Ed as we walked away from the hole where he had just lit a new fire.; “In the Dawson rush there wasj {a line of holes two miles long with fire and smoke coming out of each one. In those days a man didn’t | mind a little work.” Farrell thinks the modern pro- spector is lazy—‘“expects to have |the gold jump up and hit him in | the face.” He also remained optimistic de- i spite the absence of even an ounce Statt | | “That doesn't indicate a thing. {In the Fairbanks jke years ago | there weren't onéstefith the indi- cations shown here so far,” he ex- plained, “We are finding color consistently and a few nuggets have been taken out—that'’s enough to warrant a few days’ working and burning out a hole.” Meanwhile, dozens of newcom- |ers are pouring in each day. Three planes landed on Magoffin Field{ before 8 a.m. yesterday. The field "—a quarter mile stretch of river sufficiently frozen to support 450: horsepower planes — was mmer.l after Jim Magoffin, first bush pi- lot to land on it. 'GOVERNOR LEAVES | FOR MEETING WITH ' BUREAU OF BUDGET Gov. Ernest Gruening left to- day by Pan American Airways for | Washington, D.C., where he will meet with the Bureau of Budget. After the Budget hearing, he will go to Salt Lake City Utah, for a ‘ mgeeting of the governors of the Western states, Alaska and Ha- wail. The meeting will ember 6, 7, and 8. Governor Gruening expects to eturn to Juneau in time to greet the commanding officer of the United States Coast Guard, Ad- miral Merlin O'Neill, and Secre- tary of the Treasury John w. Snyder, who will visit Juneav about November 13. be held No- TWO HUNTERS OVERDUE; COAST GUARD IN SEARCH The Coast Guard inaugurated a search this morning for two hunt- ers three days overdue in the boat St. Anna out of Ketchikan, they announced here. Mrs. Val Raden of that city call- ed the operations office, stating that her husband and a Mr. Grub, ! —Residents tent village represent a fairly ac- | i the scene said there was none of “ALL THE NEWS ALL THE TIME” JUNEAU, ALASKA, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27, 1949 MEMBER ASSOCIATED PRESS PRICE TEN CENTA FISHCREEK NOW POPULATED BY CROSS - SECTION By Jack Daum Fairbanks News-Miner Staff Writer (Written for the Associated Press) FISHWEEL, Alaska, Oct. 27.—@® of this gold-secking curate cross-section natives, old-timer business men. The old-timers are-a quiet group —going about their business with the calm efficiency born of many years of experience in the north. Their entire equipment for a month’s stay in this treacherous wilderness is carried in a large pack. A tent, a collapsible stove, a few pounds of dehydrated vegetables mnd dried meat, an axe and a gun are all these redoubtable .charac- ters require. But the cheechakos—Indian for newcomers—arrive like motion pic- tuce stars on an ocean voyage. Huge bundles of clothing, canned ‘ood, fancy lanterns, heavy stoves and many small comfort items are viled on the river bank in hurried lisorder. ! of Alaska— cheechakos and | No Face on Barroom Floor in Fairbanks; Bonanzflnheard of FAIRBANKS, Alaska, Oct. 27—(® —As the first “gold strike” excite- ment was subsiding, some old Al- aska hands threw cold water today on gold prospects of the new min- ing claim area at Fishwheel. At the same time, air lines here | said reports of plane loads of gold|{ rushers flying in from the states| were not sutstantiated. Pan Am- erican Airways, Alaska Airlines and Golden North Airways said there was no increase in passenger traf- fic from outside. The report ot several plane loads arriving came| from Washington, D.C. yesterday. One of the bluntest ‘‘cold water” reports came today from Tom Wil- son, a steamfitter who returned from the Yukon River gold rush scene. “There is no gold in Fishwheel,” he sagl. He said he had talked to 20 men who staked claims but ound no gold. “It's a shame to get those poor devils up there who don’t know anything about this Arctic weath- er,” he declared—“poor cheechakos in plain stateside overgoats; no heat; no food, no nothing but hope that apparently has sprung from somebody’s dream.” | Residents of this city, closest to the Yukon River rush area 160 miles away, were amused at tales; of an influx of prostitutes and gamblers, Persons returning from either and the existing conditions weren’t conduciye to them. In fact, the old-time gold rush- ers would hardly recognize Fair- banks as the over-grown settlement they once knew. Gambling is under official ban were. Even slot machines and punch Loards are inoperative. The only open card games are “pan,’ indulged in by some of the old- timers. ACS Construction Measure Is Signed WASHINGTON, Oct. 27—®— President Truman today signed a bill calling for a $7,663,212 expan- sion of the Army's Alaska com- munications system. The program will include new construction of buildings and in- stallations at 28 points in Alaska and at Adak in the Aleutians. e 0 0 9 0 0 3 0 WEATHER' REPORT (This data is for 24-hour pe- riod ending 7:30 am. PST.) In Juneaw—Maximum, 49; minimum, 44. the boat's owner, left October 22 at 3 am. for Gardener Bay on a|e hunting trip and were due back|e October 24. . Gardener Point is on the south- | ¢ east end of Prince of Wales Island. | e This afternoon the Coast Guard |e Headquarters here announced that e an Annette Island based Cdistie Guard aircraft had sighted the fish- | e ing vessel St. Ann in the north|e arm of Ingraham Sound on Prince | ® f Wales Island. . One man was sighted aboard the | e fishing vessel ,and assistance was|e apparently not needed, the Coast|e Guard said. At Airport—Maximum, 46; minimum, 42. 0 0ececceco FORECAST (Juneau s Vielnity) Variable cloudiness. Occas- @ sional rain showers tonight e and ; Friday. Cooler Friday. e Low tonight 35, high Friday e 2. - PRECIPITATION (Past 24 nours ending 7:30 &.m. today City of Juneau—.79 inches; since Oct. 1, 1191 inches; since July 1, 33.12 -inches. At Airport — .33 inches; since Oct. 1, 539 inches; FROM YAKUTAT since July 1, 20.69 inches. Louls Ness of Yakutat is stop- ping at the Branaof Hotel. 'lat the Baranof Hotel, YUKON GOLD SEARCH O i e w Prospectors set up camp on I to right are: Solomon Flitt, Joe Peters, Earl Hurst, and Sam Gambling. pan in Gambling’s kand, and the Yuken stove, which is standard camp equipment. The scene of the strike is called Fishwheel. Press Photo) o biscovery Islapd on the Yuken River, near Fairbanks, Alaska, where gold was reported discoverd October 21. Left Huist and Gambling are veteran Alaska prospectors. Note the gold BIG CUT FOR NAVY DISCLOSED Storm Also Caused bf Re- ports Admiral Denfeld fo Be QOusted BULLETIN — WASHINGTON Oct. 27.—M—President Truman today lifted Admiral Louis E. Denfeld from his post as Chiet of Naval Operations. Mr. Truman announced to a news conference that he was act- ing on the advice of Secretary of the Navy Matthews that “for the good of the country” Denfeld should be transferred “to other | duties.” Washington has been buzzing with reports that Denfeld would be ousted since the Chief of Na- val operations delivered a bitter criticism of present military pol- icies to the House Armed Services Committee on Oct. 13. There have been reports that he wil be succeeded by Viee Ad- miral Forrest Sherman. President Truman declined to say whether Sherman will get the post. He said he did not know what duties would be assigned to Denfeld. WASHINGTON, Oct. 27—(P— Plans for a 56,200-man cut in the Navy were disclosed today in the midst of a growing storm’ over reports that Admiral Louis E. Den- feld will be ousted as Chief of Naval Operations. Rep. Arends (R.-Ill) said he had been informed that Denfeli (Associated ARMY DOCTOR GETS BJG PURGE Dkoast cowtrouzs, STARTED ON (10 UNIONS I3 The mysterfoul’ epidemfe *Which | struck down three tiny’ Dutch Har-| bor children is completely under| control, it was announced today| by Dr. Grace E. Field of the Ter-| ritorial Health Department, acl—} CLEVELAND, Oct, 27.—(P— ing director. | The CIOS confident right-wing She talked with the Anchorage|majority planned today to expell branch of the department by lele-:;,[ lemt three—or maybe all 12— phone this morning and was told|unions whose leaders have shown an Army doctor was acle to get!pro-Cemmunist sympathy. into the isolated outpost, and also| A resolutions committee under that Lauris Parker, sanitary en-'the United Auto Workers' hc:ldI gineer for the department, had walter P. Reuther, stood ready toj arrived. "fight it out on the floor of next No more illnesses were reported, week's conventicn if necessary. | and water and food tests have Tt js determined to oust the three | peen made by the engineer, With unions mest critical of Philip Mur- ! negative results, she said. Parker | ray's leadership, the Electrical arrived at the naval base after a Workers, with nearly 400,000 mem- tour of inspection of water sup- bers, the Farm Equipment Workers plies at Attu and Adak. {with akout 50,000, and the Mine, Nature of the disease was stilliMill and Smelter Workers numb- unknown, Dr. Field said, and it ering around 100,000. may be several ‘weeks until it 18| The plan of action decided upon known, pending return of the doc- by the pewerful right-wing faction tor and engineer. Meanwhile, she _put subject to plenty of pressure | stressed the doctor’s report thal pefore it can be put into - effec: complete control was noted, and calls for kicking out the three un-: ro further trouble was expected. 'jons next Wednesday. — A biz question mark is what would happen to Harry Bridgesi "of the Longshoremen and Ben Geld | BabYI “ Is COId fcf the Fur and Leather Workers, II’I |.0Ild0|| ’I‘odayxr the rightist coup succeeds. Bridg- es leng has spearheaded the left- wing criticism of Murray in the CIO LONDON, Oct. 27.—P—London’s and Geld admits he is a member temperature dropped to 33 today— the coldest weather since early las of the Communist Party. spring. Cooking, heating and light ng in many areas were hnmhered'sos. SHIP AFIRE. ’ 1] by the first power cuts of the sea- | | CALLS FOR HELP| Fur Take Prediced % SAN_ FRANCISGO, O, 1—ih— High in washinglon | A Chinese passenger ship is burn- |ing between Formosa and the | Chinese mainland, Globg wireless 27.—(M—About | reported today. 2 An SOS was intercepted from the Kiangyuan, (tonnage not round from “Matsu to! i SEATTLE, Oct. $200,000 worth of furs will be trap- | ped by Washington hunters this S.S. year, O. L. Resner of the State|available) Game Department’s Fur Resources | Pwo Foo.” Division said today. | The captain of the ship mes-| The primeipal take will come|saged: “We have no fresh water. from muskrat, of which 55474 were | Can't get going. Burning. Want to trapped last year. | get pacsengers off." | | STOCK QUOTATIONS | NEW YORK, Oct. 27.—Closing quotation of Alaska Juneau mine stock today is 37, American Can 96%, Anaconda 29, Curtiss-Wright 7%, International Harvester 28%, Kennecott 49%, New York Central 10%, Northern Pacific 14%, U. S Steel 25%, Pound $2.80%, | Sales today were 1,760,000 shares. | Averages today are as follows: | industrials 190.36, rails 49.10, util- TIDE TABLE OCTOBER 28 Low tide 0:35 am., 13 ft. High tide 7:20 am., 128 ft. Low tide 1. pm, 67 ft. High tide 6:52 p.m., 13.7 ft. SEATTLE GUEST .D. L. Hyde of Seattle is registered | sional UNLOADED; ARMED GUARDS AT DOCK THE DALLES; Org., Oct. 27— —A pineapple barge, cause of river- front violence hers a month ago, was being unloaded today - under { protection of shotgun guards and a court order. It was resumption of riot-halted work, coming swiftly on the heels of a restraining order issued late yesterday by Circuit Judge Malcolm W. Wilkinson against CIO longshoremen. The order pickets this left. A non-union unloading crew, hired by the Port of The Dalles, then went to work. The first sling load of the canned pineapple, des- tined for a San Jose, Calif.,, can- nery, was moved to a boxcar standing on a spur track teside the terminal. Sheriff's deputies—some of them farmers dressed In work clothes— stcod by with shotguns over their arms. the they was served on morning and CONGRESSMEN SEE DEDICATION OF DIESEL SHOP ANCHORAGE, Alaska, 27 —{P-—Four members of a Congres- fisheries subcommittee at- tended the, dedication of the $2- 000,600 new diesel shcp of the Al- aska Railroad yesterday, and today were to fly in an Air Force plant to Kodiak. The committeemen -are Reps Victor Wickersham (D-Okla), Thor Tollefson (R-Wash), John Allen (R-Calif.) and Territorial Delegate E. L. Bartlett. The group is to visit Fairbanks tomorrow for dedication of the $7.- 500,000 Alaska Railroad yards. Their itinerary thereafter: Nome via Barrow Saturday; re- | turn to Fairbanks Sunday; leave | FPairbanks by rail Sunday afternoon for Mt. McKinley National Park; arrive at Anchorage Monday night; and then conduct fisheries survey hearings at Anchorage, Juneau, and Seattle. Inspections at Kodiak, Nome, ‘Fairbanks, Seward, Cordova, Sitka, Petersburg, Wrangell, Ketchikan and Metlakatla, also ave scheduled SOROPTIMISTS MEET ON FRIDAY NOON Joseph. M. Morgan, chief of Al-| aska Investigations Office, U. S Reclamation Service, will be the speaker at the Soroptimist Club luncheon tomorrow noon at the Baranof Hotel. p All members are urged to take ities 38.81, | guests, DINEAPPLE BARGE FORD PENSION will be asked to resign in the | “next day or two” because of tes- timony he gave the House Armed Services committee on differences n the armed services. Arends demanded in a state- ment that the committee convene to meet this “insult to Congress.” He said the committee had pro- PLAN GETS OK; | terminal | HISTORY MADE DETROIT, Oct. 27.—(M-—The au- tomobile industry marked anothe: milestone in its labor relations his- tory today. Ford’s $100-a-month pension plan, first in the industry, was approved Applying to Ford’s 115,000 pro- duction workers, the plan was ac- cepted in a vote by the Ford rank and file membership of the CIO United Auto Workers, Unofficially estimated to cos $30,000,000 a year, the plan will be paid for entirely by the company It is the major part of a 10 cents an hour package and in general follows the recommendations of President Truman’s fact-finding commission in the steel dispute. Late last night the union an. nounced “overwhelming” approva from the rank and file. on the vote at Ford's big Rouge plant. C(OUNCIL MEETS EARLY | '50 CAN HEAR SCHAPIRO In order that the mayor and six councilmen, like all Juneau, may support (and hear) the Schapiro concert tomorrow night, the spe- cial meeting of the Jureau City Council ~has been scheduled for 7:20 pm. It will te a short session, ac- cording to Mayor Waino Hendrick- son, who says that only two mat- ters of business will be presented. These are the salary ordinance and the hiring of certain city em- ployees. NOBEL AWARDS STOCKHOLM, Oct. 27.—(®—The 1949 Nobel Prize for medicine was voted today to two European doc- tors for their study of and work with human and ‘animal brains. They are: Dr. Antonio Caetano Deabru Freire Egas Moniz, 175, onetime foreign minister of Portugal, cited for developing an operation to help persons suffering mental {linesses by nections to the brain Dr. Walter Rudolph Hess, 68, of Zurich, Switzerland. Members of the Japanese Parlia- ment will visit the United States this winter to study democracy in action. General MacArthur will choose the group. And the visit will e timed during the next ses- Congress. glon of | This was based to large degrec | ering some of the nerve con- | of ‘present militdry’ ‘policies that they could speak their minds free- ly without fear of retaliition. The Defense Department tudget inspector said that in line with a scheduled reduction in size of the operating fleet by next June 30, a corresponding decrease w.ll be made in Navy and Marine per- sonnel. He sald a cut of 56200 men and officers of the Navy and Marine Corps is planned. The current strength is abont 516,000. An Army reduction already has been announced. Secretary Gordon Gray said earlier this week that a total of 30,000 draftees and one- year -enlistments will be released. This will bring Army strength down to about 630,000. |Cold Weather Tests in Ardic Are ___Suuesslul SEATTLE, Oct. 37.—P—Special cold weather tests in the Arctic have been passed with flying colors by a Boeing Airplane Company B |so Superfortress, company officiuls announced today. The plane was subjected to a minimum flight temperature of 85 degrees Fahrenheit below zero in one two-hour period, and to pro- longed periods at temperatures ranging upward from 40 degrees Fahrenheit below zero. The tests were conducted by crews based at Ladd Alr Force Base, Alaska. Confidence Voled For British §ofl. LONDON, Oet. 27.—P—A Con- servative motion of no confidence in the Labor government was de- feated 353 to 232 In the House of Commons tonight. MIDNIGHT FIRE Juneau Fire Department answer- ed a fire alarm at midnight, at a house directly behind the Ordonin Hotel on South Franklin iStreet. There was no fire; only a hot oil- stove. No damage. Alarm was 1-7 There’s a big manhunt in pro- gress in and around Wilmington, Delaware. Eight convicts, two “of them life-termers, troke out of the New Castle county prison last ! night. They locked up two guards, land a third guard was used as & i living shield to get the convicts jout of the jail, )