MOSQUITOES, SWAMPS
HAVE LOST APPEAL
BY THE WANDERING REPORTER
The te.ephone hne between Takotna
anu Me. rath had Wen dew toy
weeks making it very in onvenient
for everyone concerned in laKolna.
One day last week while passing
the X. C. st-re. Bill Kokkv. the man
ager. hailed me. "Say, do you want
to do a little act of kindness for the
r< si ents of this little community, as
well as for the X. C. Cc„ and get
paid for it?” Well, that sounded
pretty easy to me. Here I had been
going about doing a ittle good here
and there and instead of getting paid
it had been vice versa "Spring the
joke.” I shot back. "111 bite." The
long and short of it was that impor
tant messages just had to go through
tn McGrath and to make this pos
sible, some good samaritar. must he a
n artyr to the cause and foil w the
phone line through 17 miles of swamp
and mos uitoes and find the break.
Bill made it sound easy, but he
weLsu"t fooling me none. I wasn’t
called the “Wandering Reporter’' for
nothing, and I knew what traveling
on foot in this part of Alaska con
s :rt ed of. Anyway. I agreed t take
the job. and fix that phone line as it
had never been fixed before.
Two hours after agreeing to take
th* iob, found me in a canoe loaded
with a heavy wall phone lashed on
my pack-board, a -mall amount of
«ats (too small. 1 found out later),
a kodak hanging at my side and a
tale leaning up in the b w of the
was The first rwo miles, made in a
canoe on the placid water was a
pi--r are. One m.ght term it as “the
cuiet before the storm." 1 pulled up
where the phone line left the water
Eld took to the hi !.-. Before going
i ~y farther, it looked like a good
id a to hook up and make sure that
tve-yuh ng v.-a> ok eh as far as 1 had
come. Contact was made through to
Rill Kokko and his voice came in
st? g over the wire, but he could
be; r me only faintly, and that is the
last time he heard my voice at all
for the rest of the trip.
Every mile or so. I would stop and
hook up and test the line, stopping to
repair some of the worst spots and
h-c ng to find the real break soon.
The going was fine- for the first five
mues. until the other side of the sum
mit was reached. That is. I mean the
p ng was fine with the exception of
the hordes of mosquitoes that insist
ed on ^warming up under my head
net and even crawing through the
butt n-hoks of my shirt while keep
ing that up continual, ever-lasting
humming. As the miles slowly passed
by. the going got worse. Imagine
yourself trying to walk across a field
of over-size coiled springs., balancing
on t-.p of each coil with a 20-pound
pack on your back? Well that will
give you an idea what it is to walk
across a country covered with nipper
heads. Even that wasn’t so bad. But
a the miles wore by, things went
from bad to worse. The darn nigger
heads led me off into the swamps,
not just a little stretch of wet ground
but miles and miles of swamps, some
places being waist deep. Time and
again I hooked my toe under some
sunken water-soaked log. that had no
business being there, and pitched
head-first down under the black, mur
ky water, coming up b. wing like a
porpoise only to be met by a black
"horde of blood-thirsty mosquitoes. 1
was too far on the trait by n w to
even think of backing down. There
was nothing to do but to keep going,
and I d.d. flight in the middle of one
of these worst places, I found the
break. It looked as if something had
hooked the low hanging line and bro
■ t n it. possibly a traveling moose. 1
repaired the break and contacted Bili
K kko, and also -lack Ferguson at
McGrath- Oh. how I wanted to tell
them just what I thought of the X.
C. telephone line and the job 1 had
so willingly undertaken, but my phone
wouldn't so much as send even a
,-ound. I guess t was just a.- well,
j Here I was five miles or so from Mc
Grath and no way to get there only
j by placing one foot in front of the
I other and keeping ir.y head above
; water. After 18 hours of wallowing
through swamp and fighting an army
of starving mosquitoes, the 17 miles
to McGrath were traversed and I
stood on the banks of the adjoining
Kuskokwim and Takotna Rivers and
gazed across at the sleeping little
inland ship terminus.
The air was cool and I had become
chilled after so many hours ;n the
water. I raised the rifle and fired
three shots in the air in hopes of at
tracting someone's attention and get
ting a boat to con e out and take me
across to Dave Clough's r>ad'nouse
for some breakfast. No one paid any
attention to the shot=. The citizen'
of McGrath were evidently used to
their native drunks firing a gun and
raising a rumpus at that time of
the morning and thought nothing of
it. After an hour and a half of shiv
ering and shaking on the banks of
the Kuskokwim. I heard tie welcom
ing hum of an outboard motor and
two men pulled up in a kicker across
the river formwnere 3 was standing
and started pulling up a salmon net.
I gave two whoops and a holler and
attracted their attention. To make a
long story short, it was only a matter
of a few minutes and I was sitting at
Dave Clough's table making great in
roads on the baton and eggs and
drinking cup after cup of hot coffee.
The trip back to Takotna. which
was made with A. H. Twitchell, was
somewhat more enjoyable. We stop
ped over night at the mouth of Shorty
Creek and 1 walked up to the Road
Commission cairn and put the finger
on Mrs. E. A. Adams, who is the cook
there (and a real one at that I, for
my supper, bed and breakfast
I have been back from that trip
ong enough now to imagine that I en
joyed it. My motto was. and still is—
"I'll try anything once.”
WE DON'T BELIEVE IT.
BI T DEL SAYS ITS SO
We wonder how Del Thompson
manages to keep fooling the boss.
Del says that he is still taking it,
, easy and doing just enough work to
get by. but "Don't put that in the
paper," said Del. He is working for
Felder & Gale on Yankee Creek. The
work on the winch seems to agree
with John Peterson, for he is getting
1 "fat as a pig.”
MRS. ROOSEVELT IS CENTER
OF ATTACK IN TAX INQUIRY
WASHINGTON. July 9— Mrs. F.
i>. Kooseveh, wife of the President'
. i i c sklent of the United Suites.
......iitd' herself of a loophole to evade
-i.it-.' on part of her income. Rep.
Hamilton Fish. Republican of New
York, today told the joint congres
- nal committee that is investigat
ir,_■ tax dodgers and tax-dodging
methods.
The Representative read what he
declared was a photostatic copy ef a
contract that Mrs. Rootwvelt signed '
two years ago to make radio broad
casts He asserted the contract stip
Itt-jvi that after each of the 10 pro
.r.ms. the sponsors of the programs [
■ 11- to pay $3,000 to the American
f riend.' Service Committee of Phila- .
Ctiph.a, a charitable organization.
The Congressman asserted:
"If Mrs. Roosevelt can avail her- ‘
self of a loophole then anybody else
ir Amt: tea can do the same thing.”
Rer Fish declared the committee
should call for the income tax returns
r.tade not only by Mrs. Roosevelt but
by Janies Roosevelt, son of the Pres
cent and Mrs. Roosevelt, and secre- .
tary to the President: Mrs. Anna
Roosevelt Boettiger, daughter of the
President and Mrs. Roosevelt and
wife of the publisher of the Seattle
Post-Intelligencer; Secretary of the ,
Treasury Henry Morgenthan, Jr., the !
latter’s father, Henry Morgenthau,
Sr.. John L. Lewis, who is president .
of the United Mine Workers of Am- '
erica and chairman of the Committee
for Industrial Organization.
Re; ring to Rep. Fish, Rep. CaTl
Yin- n. Democrat of Georgia, said:
“.All of your testimony is pure and :
unadulterated hearsay. What are you
doing but trying to smear the repu
!a- ns of v cj-i~tentmned. law-abid
ing persons.'
Rep. Fish, in response, declared
that the information he had given
the committee had come from a Mr.
Darcy. 30 Rockefeller Center, New
York City, who, the congressman as
serted. came to his office and brought
photostatic copies of holding compan
ies formed in the Bahama Islands.
;. British possession. One of the hold
ing companies was formed by James
Roosevelt, the congressman declared.
The congressman was informed
that, the revenue laws permit the
deduction from an income of money
given to charity up to 15 per cent
of the income.
Mrs. Roosevelt, who is in Wash
ington. declined to comment on Rep.
Fish's statement.
Clarence Picket, executive secre
tary of the American Friends Ser- .
vice Committee, declared today in
Philadelphia that Mrs. Roosevelt tern- 1
suited with the Treasury Department
before making arrangements for her i
radio talks and that the Treasury’s
tax experts said the receipts from the '
programs given to the committee
would not be subject to taxation.
ALASKA MAY GET CHECK—
To the Governor of Alaska, the
cancelled check of $7,200,000 that the
L'nited States in 1867 gave to Russia
in payment for Alaska, will be trans
ferred, if congress enacts the hill ap
proved today by the House committee
n Territories. The cancelled check is
now in the possession of the Depart
r.-.en: of the Treasury. If transfer
red to the governor, it will be placed
in the Alaska Museum at Juneau.
Send in your Subscription to The
KUSKO TIMES today. j
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GENERAL MERCHANDISE
mcgrath
ALASKA
PHONE SERVICE INAl GI RATED | ]
BETWEEN SEATTLE JUNEAU j
SEATTLE. Jny 8—A government | j
-ommercial telephene service be-\
ween Seattle and Juneau will t-e in-11
iugurated today. Col. George E.! j
Kumpe. officer m charge of the Al-: .
»ska commuziicat ion system said. J_,
The service will permit telephone :
service between Juneau arcs am pci- ;
rate line in the United States, it was
snnounced.
The Seatte receiver will be connect- I
*d directly with a long distance tel- ;
•phone line. The now radio te'ephone
banne! will also link the radio cora
n unication which stretches in a
>,9c6-mile circuit over Alaska with
.he United States.
The radio telephone system is not
lew. hut it has beer withln-ld from
teneral public use until a voice
scrambling device to make conversa
ion a secret could be perfected.
The Alaska-United States chain of
155 miles will be one .of the first Un- |
ted States systems made available
'or public use.
The Alaska Communication Sys
em announced rates over the new
•adiophone will be on the basis of $9
or the first three minutes with the
iddition of $3 per minute thereafter, j
Nights and Sundays will be some
what cheaper. The rates thar. . wall the
15 for the first three minutes and
E2 for each additional minute.
In talk nag to places outside of 5e
ittle. the usual long distance charges
will be added to he initial charge.
WASHINGTON. July £—-Del.. An
il ony J. Iiintond said that he would
Participate in .the ceremonies today
nattEuratri.g the United States-Al
iska telephone system.
“'Riis mS.;al!ation is but a prelim
nary step in the pro<rram designed
o ultimate!, serve the entire Terri
fy -Mask*,” Delegate Dim nd
idd«d.
HEWITTS
PHOTO SHOP
MCHORAGE, ALASKA
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1
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HR. AND MRS. FRED SOINI PROPS
i
Meals at Regular Hours
FINNISH BATHS I
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DOG BARNS
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JUST ARRIVED ON THE BOAT !!!
RflEINLANDER - BUDWEISER
TABST BLUE RIBBON
We Have Lots of BEER on Hand NOW
ALSO A LARGE-SHIPMENT OF ALL KINDS OF
— SELECTED WINES —
TAKOTNA LIQUOR STORE
RUBY McUORMIC'K and JOE SIBONA, Props.
THE DUBOIS BLDG. TAKOTNA, ALASKA
FRESH SHIPMENT!!!
BAR CANDIES - TOBACCOS
SILTED PEANUTS - FRESH SNUFF
SOFT DUNKS
“WHERE OLD FRIENDS MEET’
TAKOTNA CIGAR STORE
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THE DUBOIS BLDG. TAKOTNA, ALASKA