THE KUSKO TIMES
VOL. 1. NO. 17.
TAKOTNA, ALASKA. FRIDAY. MAY 28. 1937
PRICE 25 CENTS
FLOOD DAMAGE!
AT FAIRBANKS
SET ATS25,000
A1 Munson, piloting a P.A.A, plane,
rwooped down and landed on the swift .
'm:.otrr v at in front of the N. C. j
St:re and discharged a passenger.
V- l(hrnv B. Adams, returr.in.rt fi’jm-t
i'ai banks'where he has been m ad
cor. b'r .'d lu-mess r.nd pleasuve v» p.
Johnny reports that the floods ini
, 'a'r banks caused damage to the town1
to -he extent cf between <$20,000 and ;
$25,CC0. The heaviest part of tfcfej
damage being in the Garden Island >
district. Johnny was caught in the
flood while enroute to visit friends on
Garden Island and was forced to swim
from the swinging bridge to the
nearest point of high ground, being"
in the water about seven minutes. He
reached a friend's cabin which was
under two feet of water and had to
spend the night wet and cold without'
a fire, and still worse, no.food.
The F. E. is putting a large num
ber of men to work and also the rail
road is filling up their maintenance
crews to capacity, Johnny said. On
further question ing, he informed usi
that the streets are full of chechakos
looking for work and there is little
or no work for them unless the new
comer is a “good looking hasher. In
fact,” Johnny said, “I ran into - a
swell little hasher and she treated.’
m? b'ke the crown prince, but you;
rc-edn’t put that in the paper.”
Wh:le in Fairbanks. Adams met^
quite a number of oldtimers who used'
to be around this country. Dan Mc
Rea is taking it easy and enjoying
life. Lars Nelson, an old-time mail1
driver, is working in hard rock. Also
Mike Hayes, an oldtimer from Iditar
od and Bert Bern.-, former marshal
at McGrath. Bert is preparing for a
prospecting trip to Goodnews Bay.
Johnny also met up with a couple of
Fairbanks old-timers. Bill Wilson and
Rabbit Joe; he spent quit a lot of'
time with Joe and was treated as a
representative from Takotna should
be treated.
With the huge appropriation of
£447,000 for a new sewer system and
improvements on the streets of the
city of Fairbanks, good times are ex
pected this year in the college town.
Enough work is expected to be created
in these improvements to the city to
take up most of the slack in the ranks
of the local unemployed.
MAKE TRIP TO McGRATH"
VIA MOTORBOAT MONDAY
Joe Oates, Jr. and Leonard Wan
tock pushed off for McGrath Monday
morning via motorboat, making it
through the same day.
Their’s was the first boat of the
season to venture through' the ice3
filled Takotna waters “to'McGrath'. Ev
eryone in Takotna stood beside their
river steeds awaiting word of a happy
landing. On receipt of word back that
the river was clear, a number of the
motor boat enthusiasts started pre
paring to burn the waters between
h re ard McGrath to attend to much
important business.
NOW HE'S EX-KAISER
CHTCACO—Mrs. Emil Tritz became
tired of having her husband glower
at her. shake his fist and'proclaim,
*’m the kaiser.” That is- wfiat she
'"perior Judge Johir Lewe in
eking an injunction to prevent Emil
orr> ’ olesting her. “He’s been call
ing himself th» kaiser since 1915,"
she said heatedly.
USES FINGER, NOT HEAD
CINCINNATI—Patrolman J. Coch
rane got a call for help from a dis
traught housewife. Her‘husband, she
said, was battling a leaky water tank.
He found the naan of the house val
iantly plugging a hole with h3s finger.
Ten inches away was the shut-off
valve.
MODERN YOl'TH
PASADENA—Girls of'the Pasadena
jun’or college gvm class have won
their demands for a “more modest"
mrform. Comp’aining that short
shorts and eoually skimpy Blouses
* were a trifle immodest, theyrequest
ed the board of education ’o author
ize a fuller gym suit- The board
agreed.
AGAIN ON THE GO
Mr. Twitchell is again oir the go
With the moving of the ice, we have
the mov'-ng of Mr. Twit'hell. He fol
lowed the ice down and set his nets
cut, and with the help of Miss Peas
good, he has managed to supply i
few of the citizens of Takotna wit!
fr. h rrayllng, out of the water iat'
iue pan.
“CAT" STALLED BT SNOWS
ON THE OPHIR HIGHWAY
Jo* (totes. Sr-, and Jack DeLane
pulled in afoot from Ophir at 6.00
o’clock Monday morning. They made
it to within six miles of Takotna with
the caterpillar and the snow became
so frozen they were forced to aban*
don the “cat" and hike the rest ofj
the way in.
The Hoad Commission is breaking
the road out to meet them from this
end. The last report they had made
it to within a mile and a half of Joe
Oates.' “cat” and were bucking seven
feet of snow.
-,
WATCH YOUR FISH
If anyone in cleaning a large pike
should run onto a 616 Eastman Ko
dak, it belongs to The Kusko Times'
Wandering Reporter. With eyes still
full of sleep, he dropped it overboard
early Sunday morning.
Annual School
Picnic Is Held
On Wednesday
The annual school picnic was held
Wednesday out at Little Gus Peter
. son’s place. All the children of Ta
' kotna turned out for the picnic in
cluding a number of mothers: Mes
dames Warren Alford, Frank Guskey,
Frank Larson, Ed. Miller, Woodrow
Vanderpool, George Clyde and Andy
, Miller.
Some of the ladies brought cake,
others salad or. sandwiches and Mrs.
Ed. Miller made three gallons of ice
. cream.
Freddie Oates hauled the picnickers
out in his truck. The crowd of joy
: seekers, were unable to get any fur
ther than Peterson’s place on account
of the impassable road. Anyway the
idea was to get o*it of town and fill
the children~up'on ice cream and cake.
The Wandering Reporter tagged
along and made the coffee while Miss
Peasgood arranged the eats for serv
, ing. Coffee done, the two then started
what seemed to be an endless job of
■ serving. the children, the grown-ups
helping- themselves. The children
might have complained of not getting
. enough ice cream last year, but they
fell short by half a gallon of clean
ing it all. op this time. After about
five helpings down them, coax and
- beg as one might, not another spoon
ful could they eat.
After lunch, races were held and
candy was handed out by Miss Peas
good to the winner.
Just when everyone had started to
- enjoy themselves, a storm started up
and the picnickers were compelled to
abandon their enjoyment and all were
. loaded in the truck and away for Ta
kotna and home.
The end of a nice ride, a good feed
and another school year.
Ophir Road Is Now
Broken Open For
Caterpillar Travel
The Road Commission crew finished
connecting through to Joe Oates, and
his caterpillar late Wednesday after
noon and Joe brought his “cat’ on
in to Takotna the same evening.
The road to Ophir is now broken
open for caterpillar travel,, with the
warm spring sun shining on the bro
ken surface of the road, the snow
will soon be melted and trucks will
be traveling out to the creeks and
Ophir, loaded with much needed
j freight.
WE APOLOGIZE
TO OCR READERS
The Kusko Times finally got
“stuck.” The dearth of news of
any kind compelled us to “plug”
this issue with anything in- or
der to fill out with enough read
ing matter of some kind to. keep
the paper from missing an issue
entirely. This condition was due,
r- almost entirely to the annuaT
springy “Break-up" period when
there are no planes traveling and
i4 our correspondents have Been un
able to send in their regular news
■ | budgets.
Ij However, now that the break
up is over for another year, we
expect to be back in the old swing
of things and again publishing a
normal newspaper once more,
both in size and in content*.
If our correspondents will send
a fair budget of news this week,
we shall endeavor to issue an
li eight- page paper in an effort to
i • make up tp some extent for the
r slack news weeks we have had Ux
contend with
DESCRIPTION OF
ZEP DISASTER IS
GIVEN IN DETAIL
(The following- detailed story of the
terrible disaster of the German dir
igible Hindenburg, at. Lakehurst, N.
J.r May 6 is taken from a copy .of the
Seattle Daily Times which was
brought to Takotna last week by E.
Hegg.)
Trapped in a flaming hell of high
explosive gas, 33 persons were listed
as known dead today in the crash of
the mammoth, silvered Zeppelin Hin
denburg at 6:23 last night.
The tragedy striking with light -
niing swiftness as tbe giant craft
hung aloft, preparing to moor at the
end of its 21st voyage across the
North Atlantic, left G5 sn.-vivois,
many of them terribly burned and
injured.
Lieut. Comdr. Charles E, Rosendahl.
commandant of the naval air station,
at Lakehurst, announced that 20 of
the ship’s 36 passengers and 44 of
the crew of 61 had been accounted
for. Twenty-six bodies had been re
covered at dawn.
One of the fatalities was a mem
ber of the ground crew, caught amid
the blazing debris that spilled from
the skies in a fiery rain.
Intimations that the mystery ex
plosion “might have been caused by
sabotage” came from German dirig
ible experts at widely separated
points—from Dr. Hugo Eckener, vet
eran former commander of the ill
fated craft, in Cra, Austria; and from
Count C. C. von Zeppelin, a nephew
of the famed German inventor of the
lighter-than-air craft, in Chicago.
By a strange coincidence, both
promptly suggested sabotage as a
possible cause of the tragedy.
“I cannot grasp that flames have
turned ‘our pride’ into a smashed
skeleton,” muttered Dr. Eckener,
when informed of the explosion. Doz
ens of the survivors, catapulted or
stumbled dazedly from the holocaust,
hovered between life and death to
day in hospitals nearby the scene of
the disaster.
Scores of spectators witnessed the
sudden, shocking tragedy. One instant
they waved greetings up to the pas
sengers standing in the windows of
the observation compartment.
Then, in a flash, a cannonading ex
plosion jarred the huge cigar-shaped
craft, a streak of flame lashed out,
and the Hindenburg plummeted clum
sily to earth.
In the span of seconds before flames
enveloped the silvery fabric of the
world’s largest dirigible, some of the
passengers and crew jumped, crawled
or were hurled clear of the falling
ship.
Others were trapped in the blazing
! stern, their screams audible to the
comparatively small crowd gathered
bo witness what they considered a
“routjpe” arrival of the Zeppelin.
What happened to the airship that
had made so many safe crossings to
; this and other countries remained a
j mystery.
Carl Weigand, skipper of the
1 steamship Deutschland, who rushed to
i Paul Kim bail Hospital at Lakewood
j to see Captain Lehmann, quoted him
! as saying:
j “I don’t know what happened. She
j just went up.”
“Something strangs caused that
tragedy,” said Gill Robb Wilson, state
aviation inspector, announcing imme
diate federal and state investigations.
) There was an explosion, he said, in
i No. 2 gas cell stern.
“In all my 21 years rrf flying ex
perience I have seen crack-ups, ex
plosions, flaming airplane.-,” he said,
“but nothing measures up to the ex
plosion of the Hindenburg.”
YOUTH DIES ON DAY HE’S WELL
NEWARK—Sickly all his life. John
Mathews, 15. celebrated Saturday
when the doctor told him he was
completely cured and would need no
i more medicine. His aunt, who had
been caring for him, suggested a
movie but John decided on a bali
; game. An hour later he was dead.
' killed by a 35-foot fall from the
i school roof where he climbed to re
! trieve a lost baseball.
3 PASSENGERS TO McGRATH
A. H. Twitchefl left for McGrath
early Wednesday morning with three
passengers, Miss Jeanne K-.th, who
Is returning to her home at that place,
Ed Adams and George Christo. Mr.
Adams is taking three sled dogs
down with him to put in summer camp
and expects to bring back the Road
Commission boat and two men whe
will be employed on the road crews
in. this, district.
El ECTRIC CLIPPERS BELIEVED
USED HERE FOR FIRST TIME
What is believed to be the first, el
ectric clippers to have been used in
Takotna, were put to work off the
light plant at the home of Ed. Adams!
Tuesday night.
Mr. Adams had the honor of being
the first person to have his hair cut j
the modern way in Takotna. Miss
Ethyl Peasgood following second and
Mrs. Adams an easy third. The Wan
dering Reporter was the owner and
operator of the new Oster clippers
wh'ch work on either D.C. or A.C.
and run like a charm.
John Peterson was an arrival in
Takotna from his ground on Yankee
Creek to replenish his supplies.
M.S. Alaskan Goes
To McGrath To Get
First Load Freight
The M.S. Alaskan pulled anchor
late Monday night and quietly slip
ped away, McGrath bound. This is
ihe first trip of the season. Ted Mc
Adams, Andy Miller. Dallis McRob
erts and ‘Takotna’ Bill Nelsen, ship
ped under Capt. Ed Miller as the
crew. They expect to load up with
freight at McGrath and return to
Takotna immediately.
LATER—The Alaskan left Mc
Grath yesterday loaded with freight
for Felder & Gale and Ganes Creek
dredging companies with a total of
50 tons on the boat and barge. The
M.S. Whipporwill, following in the
wake of the Alaskan, is carrying
about 10 tons. The boats ae expected
to arrive in Takotna sometime tomor
row.
The M.S. Langley brought the
freight to McGrath from down river
where it was unloaded late last fall,
and then pulled anchor for the first
trip of the season Bethel bound.
The M.S. Seawolf is being loaded
in McGrath with 150 barrels of oil
and other freight for Takotna and
was expected to leave for here this
(FridayI morning.
WARNS OTHERS TO PAY
BUT FCilGETS TO HERSELF
ARKANSAS CITY. Kas.—Mrs.
Marie Snyder, clerk of Cowley County
district court, recently finished pre
paring and mailing 2,500 notices to
delinquent taxpayers.
This job done, she had time to open
her own mail. Included was a notice
from the county treasurer informing
her that she was on the delinquent
list. Worrying about other people’s
taxes, she had forgotten to pay her
own.
CHICAGO—Counsel for Mrs. Laura
M. Hart, 44, related in divorce court
h w her husband spanked her when
she came home late. Judge John C.
Lewe locked at Mrs. Hart, who weighs
more than 200 pounds, and asked, “He
—he did what?” “Turned her over
his knee."
“That man shouldn’t get divorced,”
the judge observed, “he should get a
medal.” _
I MARYSVILLE, Cal.—Garlic as a
i delicate seasoner for salad may be
1 ail right but a gar.ic plant in a com
munity is a public nuisance, accord
ing to* certain elements of the com
; munity here. They have asked the
city council to suppress a local indus
try as detrimental to the city in gen
eral.
Subscript!
THE KUSKO TIMES,
Takotna, Alaska.
Enclosed find
i Times for .
I f
i i
(CV >ear,
I i
j Name_._
i
Address_
!
P.A.A. PILOT IS
FIRSTTO ARRIVE
AFTER BREAKUP
A1 Munson, piloting a P.A.A. plane
was the first plane to land alter the
break-up on pontoons in Tatol'. a.
He unloaded his one lone pass.n
ger, Johnny Adams, and left for Me
Grath with Miss Ellen Re'dv Sh
remained over night in McGrath
while Pilot Munron made a hr
trip to Bethel, returning Tuesday
morning to Takotna with Miss Reidy.
Miss Reidy reported the town of
McGrath pretty well under water.
The water being two feet deep at the
back of Mrs. McLean’s store and up
to the top of the kitchen range in
Dave Clough's roadhouse. “It was a
pretty sight when I left that morn
ing,” Miss Reidy said, “not a riffle
stirred on the water. It was smooth
as glass broken only by the partly
submerged houses thrust ng the:r
dark, ugly heads up like serpents of
the sea. The ground floor of most -f
the houses was under water, with the
exception of the N. C. Stops, wh
seemed to be safe from flooding, and
a few other houses, inlluding Pete
Michels’ and Miss Keiths’.
NEW MARSHAL ARRIVES
TO ASSUME HIS DUTIES
A Mr. McDonald, who has teen
appointed United States Deputy Mar
shall at McGrath recently, succeed
ing: Bert Berry who resigned to go
prospecting in the Goodnews Bay
country, arrived in McGrath Monday
with Pilot A1 Munson from Fairbanks
to assume his new duties.
Although a newcomer to this sec
tion, it is understood that Mr. Mc
Donald is an Alaskan having been
engaged in mining in the co”ntrv
around Ruby for some years. He is
expected to make a visit to Takotna
shortly on business and to become ac
quainted with the people.
ADAMS RETURNS
E. A. Adams, George Christo and
and Warner Alford arrived in tt>~
former’s motorboat from McGrath
at noon today. Albert Ivey and Curley
Anderson, acompanied by the latter’s
wife and five children, are following
in the Road Commission boat and
pulling Joe Oates’ barge beh nd. At
the time of this writing, they had not
appeared, but are expected to arrive
within a short time. Ivey and An
derson will be employed by the Road
Commission this summer. They have
been so employed for the past sev
eral esasons.
SPRING HAS CAME! !
Spring is here; Mike McRob -rts
followed in the footsteps of Jack De
Lane and had his beautiful lock=
sheared as close to his head as it was
possible to come Wednesday night.
Next! Don’t be backward boys, step
right up.
WILL START WORK SOON
Waino Puntilla was in town early
this week and reports that he expects
to start operations on his dredge on
Little Creek in a few days. He re
turned Monday taking his horse along
to break trail so that the caterpil
lars can get through.
LEAVE FOR McGRATH
Woodrow Vanderpool and Warren
Alford left in Woodrow’s motorboat
for McGrath Tuesday afternoon.
ion Blank
scription to The Kusko
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six months. *e>.no.)