*
THE RUSRO TIMES
■ VOL. GUI. i:o. ?:>.
TAKOTNA, ALASKA, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1933.
PRICE, 23 CENfS
' May Bui d
Road to Forks
' CHEIF ENGINEER OF A. R. C.
V WRITES ENCOURAGING!^?
OF PROJECT.
Regarding the.: petition circulated
• some time ago for the construction
of a road between- bere and Nixon
Fork, the need of which was made
most apparent1 during the season just
closed, the following was recently re
• ceived by Stanley J. Nichols from Ike
P. Taylor, chief engineer of the
Alaska Road Commission, and augurs
well for the early undertaking and
. completion of t hat project:
“Juneau, Sept.
‘ “Stanley J. Nichols et ail.,
.McGrath, Alaska:
^‘Receipt is acknowledged of peti-j
t tioa forwarded by Mr. Fred ‘■Spach io
f. this office requesting the construction
, of a Toad from McGrath to Takotna.
’ The desirability of a road from Ta
' kotna, at least as far as the mouth
of the Nixon Park, is fully recognized |
by this office. A reconnaissance and j
i report covering this route will be
made and am dffiort will be made to
«. obtain funds for its construction.
“An ‘.estimate for the construction j
< nf this jHjrficm of the project has,
been included in a request for adfli-,
tionai funds forwarded by the Gov
<■ ernor’s /office to the Administrator of
Public/Wprks. Very truly yours,
“‘IKE P. TAYIOIW*
“Chief Engineer.” ,
DRIVE FOR REPEAL DRY
LAW ALMOST AT END'
WASHINGTON. — The favorable
votes of 36 .Slates are necessary to
repeal the eighteenth amendment, or
the national dry act. Thirty-four j
States have alread yvoted favorably,
the assent of only two others being |
necessary to assure its adoption.
The States lifted to vote on repeal j
November 5B are North Dakota and j
-South Dakota. ’On November 1 votes ;
will be held in South .Carolina, North :
Carolina, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsyl- j
vania and Utah.
If the necessary number vote in
favesr of repeal on these dates, .actuol
repeal rwi3 tie in effect December 6,
after ratification in the convention.
Dave Strandherg, well known min
ing operator, in charge of operations
of the Cripple Creek -Mining Com
pany, arrived here a few days ago,
leaving -almost immediately for Flat,
! on his way to Anchorage, to ,:jdan his
■ family foor the winter.
Among recent arrivals from Crip
ple were .Martin Anderson, G. .L
Jones, and Gunner, Albert and Elmer
' Hedberg, three brothers, who depsnft
j ed a few days afterward for Anchor
! age.
Among recent .departures for fhe
Outside wane Mrs. J. P. Taylor and
daughters, Grace and Bessie, to join
Mr. Taylor at Seattle.
r Archlfe Riggins, after a visit ®f a
few days, took airplane for Andhor
a'ge en route to his heme in San Fran
cisoo.
THE MUKLUK TRAIL
By Bob Bartlett.
WASHINGTON, Sept. 2.-rSeventy
million dollars was set aside this
week by the Public Works Adminis
tration for rivers and harbors pro
jects. Wrangell Narrows was an
nounced as one of the approved pro
jects. Although preliminary an
nouncements did.not.so state, it is as
sumed that $142,000 will be allotted
for .work on the Narrows.
Delegate Dimond is endeavoring to
have many other deserving Alaska
projects approved, but, as is general
ly known, allotments for rivers and
harbors .and for public buildings are
being made much slower than for
other types of public works.
According to information given, the
Delegate by John Collier, Commis
sioner of Indian Affairs, immediate
action-will be had on the building pro
gram in Alaska. The following pro
gram was submitted by Dr. Paul W.
Gordon, Director of Education, and
was approved-by th eCommissioner:
Buckland—School and teacherage,
$9,000.
Tetlin—-School and teacherage, *6,
680.
< - Quigillingok—14,500.
Unalakleet—$16*000.
- 'Diomede—r$10,00Q.
Douglas—Community center and
. school, lover grades, $9,500.
With freighting and other neces
.sary expwiaes^ the total sum amount
ed to $64)000, but since the program
was approved the Office of Indian Af
fairs was informed a deduction of 10
per cent must be made, and Dr. Gor
don will revise: the progra min aceord
^ ence with-, the* new figures. Local la
• bor will be employed , wherever possi
t ... hlf> -ar>d local materials will be used
wherever they are available.
To those engaged in the Alaska
gold industry and to all others de
pendent upon that industry, the “New
Deal” this week had a concrete mean
ing.
By a stroke of his pen President
Roosevelt increased the value of their
product approximately one-third
when he signed an executive order
permitting the export of newly-mined
gold and assuring for it the .prevail
ing world price, which is now about
$29 an ounce. Formerly the Amer
ican gold miner has received a fixed
price of $20.67.
Delegate Dimond has been among
those who all summer have been urg
ing the issuance of such an order. He
has beeen in. telegraphic communica
tion with various miners, banks and
others upon the subject. Some of
those to whom information was re
cently given are the Miners & Mer
chants Bankr of Home, the Miners &
Merchants Bank of Iditarod, Carl
Whitham, president of the -Nabesna
Mining Corporation, and -Earl R. Pil
grim of Fairbanks.
is not easy, or even jwssime, to
calculate what the order will mean to
Alaska. That is because dfcthe great
ly accelerated development, of gold
properties which is bound. to follow
removal of the expartjiaau,an acceler
ation which will sendspapipg produc
tion in ounces as.welfc fcttifoUars.
Last year’s gold •otftmuk was worth
roughly f 10 JOflUhhBaiQhddjkhe present
situation prerv*aed‘ thph».'the value
would have hee£9ltiyj6f)(b!ODO.
Lode minep ofptratina ■* throughout
the winter w|ll derive* eons tan t benefit
from th eorder fiwm now oq, but with
the end of the current1 mijving season
JCwtorf on 9)
Alaska Road
Commission
'Nosvas
«LSVd oxumci ciaHsnd
-.WOOD*' MHO V\ (IOOf) HD JIV
Foreman E. A. Adams, •■with his
road crew, recently returned to Ta
kotna from-Medfra, where they have
done sonje good work on theroad
from the Landing to Nixon Mines.
The .first ;six niiles were greatly im
proved by ^corduroying .and ditching;
bridges and culverts were installed
and the right-of-way cleared to a
width of 30 feet. In gpite of the loss
new corduroy by lire during season,
the work.:of construction mas ccarried
on with good results.
Mr. .Adams with a small .crew-are
now camped at Mile 13 on the Ophir
Takotna and are planing this system
of roads, .and 'hauling gravel tk> the
low spots where the road sunk this
! past summar. The roads in this sec
tion of the district .are considered to
be in th ebest condition they have
ever .been before.
I Assistant Engineer Fred J., apach
' of the Alaska fioad -Commission re
! cently returned from an inspecton
trip over ..the road system at Flat, and
reportts that he dias a eraw of-14 men
still .working there; the -old .Otter Dis
covery road has had the aligTntieajj^
changed from Mile 1 1*2 east across
the tailings along the left limit] of.
•Otter1-creek past. Pete M«wo*,ie^%.
.buildings to a point between Mala
mute pup, -aft Fred !kpd>erg’s work
ings, and Frenk -Salens’, .neat* the
mouth of Granite creeks thence in a
southerly direction across flat to
i the mouth of Slate creek .dye®, thence
| up the right limit of glate creek to
the Uotila & Ogris dragline. The
road is completed to «within • three
fourths mile of the dragline. This
work entailed the construction, pf ten
bridges, the laying and covering with
gravel 3250 feet of corduroy and 4.1-.2
miles of side-hill grading, which was
i first stripped of two feet of heayy.
; moss. 1
The .Chicken crqek road '4s now
l graveled the entire distance to the
I Duffy camp, and some of the road
j crew are at present working on a road
| change at the head of Willow creek,
j which will cut off considerable dis
tance in .travel plus same steep
grades.
rne ersaton areuge .on iriai creen.
was still operating October 1 and also
the Riley dredge on Otter creek. Some
of the hydraulic operators were just
shutting down .for the. season at this
time, due to the shortage of water.
It is estimaed that. 250 tons of
equipment and supplies were brought
in to Flat this season, according to
the records of the Day Navigation
Company and the Ira Wood Naviga
tion Company.
Although the gold production of
this camp has not como up to last
year’s record, due to the shortage of
water, the operators will do . fairly
well, considering the higher price
they will receive for the yellow metaL
A contract was recently awarded to
Harry Ekstrom of Cripple for the
construction of a 34-foot bridge
across Silver creek, on the.Poonnan
Ophir trail. The old bridgewas de
stroyed by fire this past summer.
*' ..
Haps Erickson was a recent de
part ture for the Outaide.
Andy Hansen was a recent visitor
here for .a couple of days.
AMONG THE AIRPLANERg.
H. W. Barnhill, noted flier, .arrived
at Anchorage Sunday with Mrs. Rus
sell Merrill and her two children, and
Pilot McLean, who was 'flying for
Southeastern Alaska airplane cam
planes last year. They flew up from
Seattle in a Lockheed Viga plane, j
They made several stops on their i
way up and were forced to land at
Icy Bay, where a week was spent,
being forced to submit to the r.gorous
weather conditions prevalent at this
time of year. They ran quite Short’
of griib .and 'lived for:» while -on a
fox that Mr. Barnhill succeeded in
getting'with a rifle. The fliers finally
arrived at-Seward, \where the Stinson
Junior was assembled cmfw rrifw ff
Junior .nyinoplane, belonging to the
same company, was assembled. Barn
hill iflenv the .Lockheed to Anchorage,
and Pilot McLean the Ktinaon. Find -
ing the airplane business at Anchor
age pretty well crowded, Mt.l Rarn
,hi5 sold the Stinson Junior to the Mc
Gee. ^Airways, following w‘Hicsh it is
deystood- Jfr. Barnliill left op the
Lockheed for Ja»neap,,at whjch.iplace
-he will operate this winter. -it is
stated that he plans on getting an
other .ship similar 'to the :Lockheed,
with pontoons.
Mrs. Merrill, it is understood, will
remain ip Anchorage for .the present,
her children now being in attendance
at school .at that place.
■ Pilpt_ Art,'Woodley K Jut at An
chorage very soon with a new five
pl§eKi4rplan*, tflJjrjj)J»fe the one .he
jyayjiymaar.
! |A. ; Yallqy; j%dng .£• ..air
plang -Aiaskan, returned here ^Sunday
last from 'Anchorage, at which place
hjs shipL received i;a $boj:ougjh (jpver-;
•hauling and made C9mpletely up to
date. - *
r -PerQy^.Huftbard, well. Jcnojwn Fair*,
banks flier,, is reported to have su£»
fered a serious loss at (Fairbanks re*
cently, when hisj> girplane and -hangar
were destroyed by fire, representing
a lass of several thousand dollars.
51 cGRATH RADIOPHONE
READY FOR OPERATION
'She N. C. Company’s near electric
lighting plant at McGrath k. now in
fine working order, giving, a large
volume of light hoth in the aimn store
and warehouses..,. Also ready for
operation is the.now radiophone, de
signed, to serve the people of this in
terior section in place of the local
radio .station, the services of which
at this place fire practically at ad
end. The installation of the new
radiophone at McGrath, as well as
the N. C. lighting plant, was under
file supervision of Howard Mason, a
noted expert,-who, incidentally, was
with Sir Hubert Wilkins in his Arctic
explorations and wi|h Commander
Byrd in his .Antarctic expedition.
The new radiophone is declined to he
of the very latest tWk an^piqat effi
cient, and is now ready for qperaiion.
Ur. and Mrs,.Fred Duboisrwere re
cent airplane-departtures for Anchor
age^ headed fan^he Outside. This is
their first vi^itj.io the Outside in
almost 26 yeaff-. 'Eheyuwill.probably
put in the. in San Francisco.
W. N. Cqjjj^jJVnchorage attorney,
arrived at a couple of days
Emil Anderson, - manager of 'the
Yankee e^fe!^ dredge, was. a recent
dparture -far &e’ Outside, -headed for
his home a£'Berkeley, Calif.
Lawrence iKfr)sy" and Carl Peterson
among those who recently arrived.
Activities
At Crtpple
RESrWE’OF REASON’S OPERA
TJONS; TKA NSPORTATfON
A IUO’JI.VNHK'jM’..
CKERPLE.—>44n aocmmt*J>f the un
uaua dry season, .placer operations on
Cripple creek .and .(Coloaade creek
have heen -very smaiL
Hard ,& -Wilson cleared otF .eansid
..erable bedrock, considering the small
amount, of ,waW
The Cripple Creek Mining Com
pany, operating on what is,known as.
the Qresrtherg Jft Colwell ground,
were unable, on account of the low
stage of water, to lfmd their 4313
drag line on the creek. However,
they jiow have all| the heayy/parts at
the landing, and but,a few tons six
miles .below,, which will hethauled by
tractor as aeon the .ground freezes.
They will Jthen assemble the.machine
and.xun.it out, on its own power.
The company has a ditch of about
a mile in length about 30;par cent
completed, a lot of ground stripped,
and sluicing plant ready for for early
work next season.
Sid Paulson, on Colorado -creek, did
considerable work, but, like the rest,
was greatly handicapped Jjy lack of
yvater.
_ ^ Thjjr pectjpn -is wty promising for
mining.,;with modern machinery.
Tran sport atiorvhoWRvec, is.a serious
factor in delaying development of the
.section.
If there was a landing .'field an the
creek, so that one cquld get supplies
by .plane during the.swrater, And a
tra^pj road from thp landing to the
jCreeJjs^ that would to some extent
splve^many of our difficulties.
. On the other hand, if the proposed
road between Jtuby apd Takotna were
^nished, that would for all . time set
tle the trainspartatiorv problem. There
is only SO, miles to cvnneest. Twenty
jtwjd miles of very good road.to Ophir
is . already constructed, and from
.Ruby to P^onnan spine 65 miles is
. .already built, leaving a gap of , 99
miles still,d,o be constructed.
To( show,<jh<^,diffic)jltieB,of freight
ing, as staged by I)ave ..Strandbera,
manager of.the Cripple Mining Com
pany: “One machine, left HeJy Cross
the 8th of June, and did not land this
load at Cripple until the 1st of Sep
tember. It was frozen in-on its sec
ond trip close to the North Fork.
Therefore,” says Mr, Strandberg. “it
is essential for the development, of
the country that connecting roads and
landing fields be. constructed as span
as possible. Forty-five miles of road
from Cjphir would -ceyinect .with 3Lus
kokwpm water transportation. -and
ahout«an «<p*al amount of .goad would
connect with the ‘Yfijcon transporta
tion; ajrstepi. Ap, it now stands it is
fine of th emost isolated spots in
Alaska,” declares Mr. Straadberg.
Frank J.. Guskey and ^Chris \Petep
sen returned?, here a couple of day*
ago from a brief business visit at Mc
Grath.
Jalien A;1 Hurley .Fairbanks .attor
ney, • wastamo^ yegterday ^arrivals
at McGrath.
.. .
Half dan -Wiig was among those
Ar|fw^drecently. from Gane$, to
settle dojpotjior the arinter.
Rhber%,j^t^Lowrie .and Axel Akr*
dahl/werer^cent arrivals it* t
creek.