THE KUSKO TIMES
VOL. 1. XO. 55.
TAKOTNA. ALASKA. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 22, 1937
PRICE, 25 CENTS
o, mmm
KoRT IN FALL
r*
8s
ROM BREDIS
(Special Corresp'ndent)
Crorge Ttsmstead, who has teen em
ployed by the G oodnews Mining Com
pany, acc.dentaily stepped ftom a
dredge p:r.-con and fell into the
dre : ,e pond—a fall cf about nine to
12 f=ot late Friday evening of October
lit. A .cording to the doctor’s report,
he - stained a brek n thigh bone and
i- hired his right knte.
oterpillar tractor was sent imme
y to Platinum, a distance of
nln: miles, for Mrs. Florence
who ws formerly traveling
e .;r the Ku-kobwim district.
T ot Oscar Winchell arrived the
f Homing day, but the weather was
• in-.- ruble, so it was necessary to
v ntil Sunday noon when the
. . r c.eared : efficiently to take o£T.
i.c g direct for Painy Fas?, Pi
I . V, Inchell stopped once at Napam
u:e to refuel. After two attempts to
c’ or the Pass, it war necessary to re
t r rc McGrath, as a heavy fog boil
ed in irons the Anchorage sida of the
1 ass.
ui.e next day it was potsiDie to pro
~ ed to Anchorage where the plane
;j. Pitot. Chet Frown reliev
*>. T. inchell ar.d • proceeded to
ks in accordar_e with Mr.
Fs wishes. He is a brother of
It mstsad, who s bookkeeper for
news, Olsen and Deadwood
.. r. r.~ Joropanies at Fairbanks.
lire. Hurst accompanied the injured
rr r t- the Fairbanks Hospital. Dr.
is in charge of the core there
d that George would probab
_y te laid up for more than six
months.
EF.IHF ITEMS FROM PLATINUM
Sunday, October 10
Lady E2rber Here For Few Days—
Hiss Aiyce Forsgren is spending a
few days in Bethel giving permanents
and c. ing barber work.
Making Repairs to Plane—
F ik. Ray Peterson is at Platinum
making a few repairs on his plane. He
states that he will be ready for bus
iness in a few days.
r ngs in Supply of Meat—
Fi t Jack Peck brought in the week
ly supply of meat for the mines last
Vi tdnesday.
r n From Fairbanks—
' -1 Leo Moore a~d passengers,
E rbert and Mrs. Florence
arriv: d Thursday afternoon.
E-: r: is from Fairbanks and is
. . r~e f Government m iring loans.
M . E "st was returning from Fair
v,ar. ? where she had accompanied a
I at . nt to the hospital.
rV.'r.m A'isitor—
Mr. Thar.e. of the International
X kel Co., of Juneau, is a Platnium
visitor. Mr. Thane came in yesterday,
October 0th with Pilot Amundsen.
MS ALASKAN PUT
INTO V INTER QUARTERS
The crew of the MS Alaskan, Capt.
E. W. Miller, Chief Engineer Andrew
Jli’hr, and First Mate Oscar Sakar
• ■ v - ,• beaching the Alaskan and
putting everything in ship-shape for
the w.r. er and are new all heme en
joying a few comforts of life.
The Alaskan arrived in McGrath
from Eethel too late to make it up
the Takotna River and so was forced
into winter quarters at McGrath.
Oscar Sakar’s home is at Grooked
Creek. He plans on leaving for there
in the near future and spend the win
ter trapping.
TFn POBERTS OPENING
EEER DISPENSARY HERE
E. R. ‘•Ted” Roberts recently pur
chased tVarren Alford's residence and
•= r.ow busy remodelling the building
in rrpP*rat:on for opening up a beer
-'isrersary to be known as “The
Miner.” having applied for a beer dis
pensary license. .
Jim Davidson and Pete Marks are
doirg the work of remodelling the
building.
Mr. Roberts is well-known in this
section, having been engaged in bus
iness here before. He was employed
durrg the last season as engineer on
the Felder & Gale dredge on Yankee
Creek.
“It isn’t wrong to take a girl out
and not spend money on her,” ob
serves a gossip.
But If* very, very difficult.
WHAT’S DOING IN McGRATH
By Special Correspondent
Last Freighters—
Ted McAdams and Corley Anderson
-n-cre the last freighters to leave foT,
Tak.tna with a load of freight.
C v Kon'g Returns—
Lit. Konig returned home from
• •.: on -with Straniberg & Sons at
Folgar.
Goes to Anchorage—
Oliver Anderson left for Anchor
age recently cn a business trip.
Frank Mortimer, manager cf the
Alaska Rivers Navigation Company,
.■otnplet ng the company's business
here, was an Anchorage passenger en
route to Seattle.
Freighting For Myntti—
L.n Goodman has also been busy
freighting to Folgtr and Ophir for
Strar.dberg and Mike Myntti, respect
tive.y, between his passenger trips to
Anchorage.
Eav? Good Season—
The motorship Sea Wolf returned
to McGrath from the Takotna River
in time to lighter W. J. Widman’s
freight from the steamer Langley,
and have begun to haul out their
- ,,_:iprr.ent on the ways near Wid
r.tan’s sawmLL They have enjoyed
a very good season, having a good
stage of water on the Takotna River
during ail the latter part of the sum
mer.
Langley in Winter Quarters—
The Alaska Rivers Navigation
Company’s steamer Wallace Langley
and four barges have been put into
winter quarters in the Takotna River
just above McGrath, ending a very
successful season. Capt- Murray,
Chief Engineer Robert Good, and
Chief Steward Frank Costa left on
the 16th, passengers with Pilot Sas
seen in the Star Air Service’s big
Pilgrim. Ikey Hayes, first assistant
engineer and one fireman remained a
few days conditioning the engines
and equipment for winter storage.
Renews Acquaintances—
Pilot AJ K.-nson arrived from Fair
banks after a load of passengers in
one of the P.A.A. Pilgrims, and re
nt-wed many old acquaintances.
I^a'-es For Farbanks—
Miss Hcttle Crawford and children
were passengers for Fairbanks with
Pilot A1 Mcnsen. Her husband, Leroy,
is in the employ cf the Samson Hard
ware Compry at Fairbanks
Mast of Crew Leave—
- Fil: t Chet Brown, flying the Star
Air Service's tri-motored Fcrd,
freighted a load from McGrath to
Folger and trok most of the Strand
berg crew in to Anchorage.
Leaves For Fye Treatment—
Evan Jones was a pai .enger with
Pilot Momen, for Fairbanks to con
sult I>r. Noble rick, eye specialist.
Jack Stewart and Bill Foley were also
passengers with Monsen for the inter
ior metropccs for medical attention.
Drilling Crew Leaves—
Mr. Peacock, engineer for the F. E.
Co., Fairbanks, Pick Storch, driller,
and another member of the drilling
crew irom iiocr. Creek, vrere passen
gers for Fairbanks with Fiiot Herman
Lendahl on the 18th.
Shonbeck Is Visitor—
A. A. Shonbe.k was a recent vis
itor in McGrath checking and ship
ping freight received on *he Langley
te Ganes Creek with Pilot Sasseen.
He left for Anchorage and expects
to return in a week.
Comes Down to Check Freight—
Ole Blinabeim was in McGrath to
meet his freight aboard the Langley,
coming in for his new store in Ophir.
He has had most of it transported to
Ophir by Pilot Sasseen in the Pilgrim.
The low stage of water allowed the
use of the bar in the Kuskokwim be
:ow Spragues for a landing field. The
freight delivered to the planes there
by Oddie Hall&on 'and ‘Dick Call 1 ton.
SIDELIGHTS OH TRIP
DOWN THE KOamWiNI
Eapidly Expanding—
Mr. and Mrs. White at Story River,
received six tons of freight on the last
trip of the MS Alaskan from BetheL
The Whites are building up fast. They
have constructed a new warehouse
and have a new store building under
construction.
Likes The Kusko Times—
Tom L. Johnson of Aniak, said that
he used to take lots of papers and
r .ngarir.es, but now that The Kusko
Times is alive again, he has dropped
cvcry:h'ng but one Outside paper and
takes The Kusko Times. This way he
gets it ail and doesn’t have so many
papers around to clutter np the at
mosphere.
Parent Has Fine Home—
Denny Parent has a real h me es
ablished at Crooked Creek. 11*3 trad
ing post and rrodhouse combined, is
as modern as modern can be in such a
far away spot. The woodwork is ail
natural finish and the living quarters
are large and roomy and the cake
those Parent girls, Mary and Alice,
put out, can’t be beat. The Wander
ing Reporter will vouch for that. We
will be looking forward to news from
Crooked Creek this winter.
New Trading Posts Established—
Sleetmute is getting to be quite a
little village. Nick Mellick will soon
have his new up-to-date store build
ing finished. Across from Nick’s place
George Clyde and his father-in-law,
Bill Liske have just established a
small trading post which they hope
to see grow. George has been employ
ed as radio operator at Bear Creek
for the past several seasons. Across
from Clyde, two miles below Mellick,
L. L. “Red” Shaw has a new trading
post miner construction. Shaw is a
new arris&i from the other side. Pre
vious to coming here, Shaw worked
for Charuncey Peterson of Anchorage,
driving taxi and running a bus be
tween Anchorage and Palmer. The
new trader spent one season with the
Alaska Guides and is quite familiar
with* fur, having put in a few seasons
trapping on the Sauintna River
Will Keep limes Posted—
M. W. Godding:, schoolteacher at
Napamute, promised the Times re
porter, daring his recent visit there,
to keep the paper posted on happen
ings at, that point this winter. Mr.
Godding taught in Napamute last
year. He spent his summer vacation
in Southeastern Alaska.
Gaston Arises to Greet Them—
While Outside last summer, Mrs.
Fred Walters and Mrs. Chris Nerby
heard that Gaston St_ Cair had died
and was huried in the Seattle grave
yard. They spent a number of fruit
less hours looking for the grave. On
their arrival back to Bethel in Sep
tember, who should they meet but
Gaston, himself, stepping along as
frisky as ever.
The War Is On—
It looks like the two traders of
Sloetmute and Napa mute, Nick Mel
liek and Sam Voi-h. would try to get
along once in awhile. A short time
back, Sam made a trip up to Sleet
mute and called on Nick. He visited
the latter’s greenhouse, going through
with a salt shaker in hand, and strip
ped it bare of ripe tomatoes. After
apologizing to Nick for raiding the
greenhouse and appeasing his anger!
by complimenting on his fine veg
etables, Sam bearded his boat and de
parted. Nick gave a sigh of relief and
thanked his lucky stars that he had
gotten rid of Sam without losing any- •
thing more than a few tomatoes. His
thankfulness was short-lived. Too late
he discovered that Sam had made off
with his fine, freshly killed moose
head. Nick saved Sam’s life by pul
ing him out of tbe river when he had
broken through the ice with a pair of
snowshoes on, a few years back. He
thinks now that maybe he should have
pushed down instead of pulling up.
FINISH ROOF JOB—
Charles O'Halloran, with the help
of Frank Mackey, has finished putting
on a new galvanized roof on the Ta
kotna roadhouse in preparation for
winter.
SafiacTlbfc- -fi>r. -The Knsko Times.
CHRIS PETERSON RETURNS
HOME FROM HOSPITAL
Chris Peterson, “the Daddy of Ta
kotna." having built the first building
here, returned recently from a six
months siege in St. Joseph’s Hospital
at Fairbanks.
He feels greatly improved in health,
be said, and was strong in his praise
of the treatment accorded him by the
Sister* and Doctor Carter at the Hos
pital.
He had been troubled with high
''lood pressure which seriously affect
ed the heart action. His condition
was considered very serious at the
time he was taken to the hospital
last spring. He has had his time quite
well occupied since returning home
renewing acquaintances with his num
erous friends here.
Bethel Is At
Last Coming
Into Its Own
Bethel is like a sleeping volcano; it
lay smoldering through the years and
then when hope of the town ever
becoming something, began to w’ane,
the eruption took place.
The businessmen and residents
awoke with a start to find themselves
sitting on a bo:!ing. seething pot—
overnight the lid had blown off.
Now Bethel is a booming little sec
ond Seward, the Gateway to the great
Kuskokwim country and a supply base
for the famous Goodnews str.mpede.
The money has been appropriated
for the large up-to-date $350,000 gov
ernment hospital,, construction of
which is expected to start next spring.
Fifty thousand dollars is now being
spent in the construction of a large
airfield, the work being carried on by
the ARC under the foremanship of G.
Biggs.
The Northern Commercial Company
store, nnder the able management of
Oliver Anderson, has installed a $40.
000 refrigeration plant from which it
supplies the local, Goodnews and sur
rounding area with fresh frozen
meats of all kinds, frozen vegetables
of every variety, and ice cream for
the children.
The company has also established a
talkie motion picture house and shows
are a weekly occurrence.
The Moravian Mission has opened
up a public library containing hun
dreds of good bocks and high class
literature. A large, well-constructed
school building takes care of the eight
grades and a complete high school,
employing four teachers.
All in all. Bethel is just budding
and from the size of the bud, it prom
ises to blossom out into another Al
askan metropolis.
FRANK LARSON BUYS
CABIN FROM ED ADAMS
Another real estate transaction took
place recently when Frank Larson
purchased the newly constructed one
room compact cabin located on Front
Street from E. A. Adams.
Frank is now busy building an ad
ditional room of the same size, on the
rear. Andy Miller is helping Frank in
the work. The addition is almost com
pleted. Joe Oates, Jr. hauled the logs.
The place will be used for a home
for himself and family. The large
building next door, in which they have
been living, will be convened into a
crpenter shop and storage place.
Patient: “Why, this pill’s only
about the size of a pinhead! What
is it?”
Nurse—“It’s a headache tablet for
yoo, sir.”
SAM WAGNER
TELLS MINING
ATTALKEETNA
In a letter received by E. R. ‘Ted"
Roberts last week from Sam Wagner,
former resident of Takotna who left
here last spring to go mining in the
Talkeetna district. Sam gave all the
details regarding the mining activity
tf the past season. Sam wrote the let
ter from Anchorage where he expects
to remain for about a month after
which he will return to Talkeetna.
The following article contains inter
esting excerpts from the letter:
“I saw Gagen here and had a few
words with him. Also saw George
Christo and Grover Gurtler and Mrs.
Rasmussen, who was cooking for Nek
Vibe.
"I jost gat here bout two weeks
ago and had quite a season and it
looks good and shows up still better.
I found a half-mile of ground at the
head of Mills Creek where I ran about
1200 feet of open cuts and the result*
are way up from a dollar to as high
as $7.00 a yard in the gravel and no
bedrock yet. I reached a depth of nine
feet and no doubt a couple of feet
more will reach bedrock. I have had
several chances to have a p'art put
on it and have made a deal with a
well-known party here and am taking
m a 40HP diesel "cat,” trai er, 150J
feet of pipe and a general mining
outfit.
i am leaving irom i auceetna alter
the freezeup. It is really too early to
figure on it yet. I would rather put
in another summer and punch a lot oi
holes in it and remove the doubt
which is always in one's mind in the
mining game. Of course,* we have a.
fair-sized bit of ground—20 claims al
told—and the claim where the values
show is a half-mile long and contains
about one-half million square feet of
bedrock surface, or workable ground
I am adjoining Pass Creek w here
this spring, the Peters Creek Mining
Company took that -135,000 option
and they were prospecting on it near
ly all summer. They sunk some SC
odd holes and no “blanks.” The own
ers were working on it all summer
and the ground shows up very gooc
being shallcw and carries values of
about 30 cents per foot and is nearly
400 feet wide. It looks as if the values
arc all over the whole width- about
five feet deep and practically no rocks.
It surely is some nice piece of placer
ground and they have plenty of water
to work it. I am not so fortunate on
my property as the water supply is
not so good and there fire lots of rocks
there, but the values seem to be bet
ter.
I he Willow Creek section is show
in up in a big way. The dragline on
Peters Creek hung up a record of
over $300,OtO for the season, ihis is
a dragline with a grizzly and convey
or belt running on a track on grooved
wheels, or, in other words, a “dry
land dredge.” It no doubt is the most
up-to-date rig of its kind in Alaska
and saves more gold than any open
flume affair. There will be a couple
more of the same kind in operation
here the coming season. The more the
better.
“Well, Ted, I must ring off ao give
my regards to all my frier.da”
Working with Larson—
Andrew Miller is home now for the
winter and is helping Frank Larcat
build an addition on the letter’s newly
purchased cabin. Andrew put in the
season as engineer on the Alaskan.
“That makes a difference,” sale
a little boy as he snipped off the left
ear of one of the twins.
t
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