The Black Hills Weekly from Deadwood, South Dakota • Page 1

THE BLACK HILLS WEEKLY And Whitewood Plaindealer- -Established 1887 DEADWOOD, SOUTH DAKOTA. FRIDAY, JANUARY 7, 1944 OUR DEMOCRACY- -by Mat A "You cant eat your cake and have it too. CLD SAYING. WE CAN'T BUY EVERYTHING IN SIGHT- SPEND EVERYTHING WE EARN- AND STILL EXPECT TO HAVE SECURITY FOR OUR FAMILY. Wusrer MA WE CAN BUY NECESSARY THINGS AND SET ASIDE A PORTION OF OUR EARNINGS IN WAR BONDS, SAVINGS ACCOUNTS AND LIFE INSURANCE.

THEN WE WILL HAVE SECURITY FOR THE Smaller Number Called This Month From County The military call for Lawrence county for January 12, 1944, includes: Walter H. Sperling, Deadwood. Ole I. Hegre, Los Angeles, Calif. Robert A.

deRusha, Denver, Colo. Leslie Foster, Lead. Frank K. Smith, Spearfish. Frank L.

Marchiando, Oakland, Cal. Cecil O. Rowen, Los Angeles, Calif. Leo Rollin Hyde, Los Angeles, Calif. Marvin K.

Oberg, Deadwood. Clarence Matt Junek, Spearfish. Robert Weston Cole, Spearfish. Daniel Murray, Lead. John Wells, transferred from Worland, Wyo.

Vern J. Palmer, transferred from Petaluma, Calif. Duane transferred from Anaconda, Of the foregoing listed, appears the names of three or four who have been in previous calls, and whose induction was postponed by the state director of the state where they were employed. During the past week, two more Lawrence county men left for special Navy assignment, Arne A. Lagg and Early Dungey, who are properly a part of this or preceding calls.

Walter Sperling, listed above, left on Monday, Jan. 3. The balance of those listed above will leave from Deadwood on Jan. 12, or from their present place of residence on request for transfer. VITAL STATISTICS Pierre--For the week ending Dec.

25, 1943, the following number of communicable diseases were reported to the State Board of Health, it was announced by Dr. Gilbert Cottam, superintendent: Chicken pox 29, diphtheria 3, gonorrhea influenza 39, measles 9, mumps 5, pneumonia 5, scarlet fever 19, septic sore throat 1, Is syphilis 12, tuberculosis 2, and undulant fever 1. The following diseases show an increase in number of cases over the preceding week: Diphtheria 1, influenza 14, pneumonia 5, septic sore throat 1, tuberculosis 2, and undulant fever 1. Children Die From Burns in Pre-Holiday Fire Dwight, 17 months, and Caroline, three months, children of Mr. and Mrs.

Arthur Roberts, Sundance ranchers, died from burns received in a fire. at the Roberts home the day before Christmas. They were rushed to the Sundance hospital after their parents had pulled the babies from the flaming kitchen at the ranch home, near Hulett, but died shortly afterward. Mrs. Roberts suffered severe burns on her legs and feet.

She was attempting to start a fire in the kitchen stove when the, tractor fuel oil she was pouring from a can ignited and sprayed over her and the 100m. She ran from the room, plunged into a stock tank in the yard where her husband was working. They ed back to the house and dragged the children out. Two older children were in an adjoining room but escaped injury when Roberts broke a window and pulled them out. When he returned to the house the following day, he found that the fire had smothered itself and had not completely destroyed the house.

KEEP 'EN PLYING 38. NUMBER 27 LEAD MAN IS NOW IN COMMAND 7th AREA Brig. Gen. Danielson Succeeds Gen. Uhl A Lead man, Brigadier General Clarence Danielson, has been placed in command of the Seventh Corps area, with headquarters at Omaha, it has been announced by the War department.

A sister, Mrs. Silas Townsend, Lead, is very happy over the appointment. "Be has worked very hard and certainly deserves the break," she said. Two other sisters, Herbert Steir and Mrs. James Jelbert, also live in Lead.

Another sister, Mrs. Helen Brooke, is interned in the Philippine Islands, and they have had no word from her for nearly two years. A brother Harold is in business in Seattle, Wash. But if Brig. Gen.

Danielson isn't careful his son may catch up with him. The son, Willis, is nOW lieutenant colonel, and is stationed at Ft. Benhing, Go. He has served a year in Iceland. Brig.

Gen. Danielson was born In Lead, the son of the late Mr. and Mrs. Ole Danielson. He WAS graduated from Lead high school, and from West Point in 1013.

His first tour of duty was at El Paso, Texas. He went from there to Ft. Riley, and was later sent to Hawaii. Since Pearl Harbor, he has been in Hawaii and more recently in Washington, D. He became brigadier general last March.

He visited in Lead a couple of years ago. Your Car Will Carry a Green Sticker In '44 It's, time to buy your 1944 car or truck license, Frank Rainey, Lawrence county treasurer, pointed out this week. Before a license can be issued, drivers must have their certificate of title, last year's registration card and a headlight test certificate not over six months old. Last year's registration card must be left on the car or truck. Green stickers for passenger cars and orange stickers for trucks will be issued.

These stickers must be displayed on the lower left-hand corner of the windshield. All car owners should bring all necessary papers when making application for licenses, Rainey said, and added that he hoped folks wouldn't wait until the last week. About an inch of snow was added Monday to the Christmas night accumulation of five or six inches. But temperatures hovering just above zero, prevented further snow until Thursday afternoon when a light fall came. Cold was general thrubut the Black- with all parts getting some snow.

Divorce Suit Heard In Circuit Court WINTER A hearing in the suit of Isabel Quick vs. Michael Quick, Whitewood, was still in progress Thursday before Judge Turner M. Rudesill. It began nesday. Plaintiff is suing for divorce and is represented by John T.

Milek, Sturgis. The defense attorney is Clinton G. Richards, Deadwood. USES To Aid Employers Here The U. Employment Service of the War Manpower Commission will furnish complete service to workers in this area, A.

W. Sandell, Black Area representative of the WMC, stated this week. The field represntative will have his office in the city hall court room in Lead from 1 p. m. to 4 p.

m. on Thursday of each week. Persons unable to call in person during scheduled hours are invited to write or telephone for appointments at some other time. The telephone number in Lead is 2059. Employers in and around Lead and Deadwood may call contact the USES representative with labor supply problems or questions on the Black Hills area employment stabilization plan.

Workers who are available for employment are invited to contact the representative for information in local job openings, other essential jobs, or war production training. to contact the field If workers or employers are unable Thursday, arrangements may be made for appointments by writing to the Rapid City office of the USES, Mr. I Sandell stated. Nine Tests For Oil Are Planned In South Dakota This Summer Though at least 56 South Dakota oil tests drilled in the past forty have failed to show oil in commercial quantities, the search will go on with undiminished vigor in 1944, John. P.

Gries, associate professor of Geology at the School of Mines and Technology, Rapid City, says. Thirty-two of these have deep tests. At least nine tests are planned for next summr. Because South Dakota lies immedlately east of two oil and gas producing states, Montana and Wyoming, and because surface indications for oil are favorable in many places, there is a persistent hope that commercial oil fields may be developed in this state, he declared. Drilling in 1943 was limited to two tests.

An 8000 foot hold drilled by the Carter Oil company in Harding county, the Harding School Lands, No. 1, turned out to be dry. It was the deepest test ever sunk in the state. A hole drilled by the Woodward Oil half a mile north of Ardmore in Fall River county, turned out to be a good natural gas well. South Dakota's first oil test was on the Eklund ranch north of Sturgis in 1904.

The first steel oil derrick to be brought into the state was set up over the test of Ardmore Oil company in 1913. 1921 was the peak exploration year, with 13 test holes in progress at the same time. A big artesian well was struck west of Bear Butte, in the Black Hills- -so big that drilling was abandoned and the well has been flowing rate of over a million gallons of water a day since. Eventually the runaway stream was trapped to form Bear Butte Lake. The most spectacular show of oil was encountered in the Red Canyon well, drilled three miles north of Edgemont in 1925.

Oil, not in commercial quantities, and a large amount of gas were encountered and the well abandoned. Four years later, in 1929, a charge dynamite was set off at the bottom of the well to loosen the casing preparatory salvaging it. The blast hurled the four years' accumulation of oil into the air and launched a temporary oil boom that resulted in the drilling of at least three nearby tests, all fruitless. The three deepest wells ever drilled in South Dakota are the Harding county 8000 foot tests previously mentioned, 8 well drilled in the same vicinity by the Carter Oil company in 1939-40, which bottomed at 7980 feet, and the Hunter No. 1 drilled north of Wall by the Gypsy Oil company in 1931.

This reached a depth of 5001 feet. Longest drawn out test was the Shiloh hole ten miles north of Ardmore, where drilling went on intermittently from the late '20's until 1937. A small flow of warm water still issues from the top of the casing and the tumbled James De Marsche Killed In Action THE LOCAL RETAIL TRADE PICTURE As evidence that the campaign for early Christmas shopping achieved some success, November sales at department stores in western South Dakota were 34 percent higher than for November of a year ago. The change from the month of October was negligible, however, sales averaging in November per cent lower than those for October For the eleven months of 1943. sales at first, stores were 31 per cent higher than for the same period in 1942.

Meade County Man Is Found Dead Sheridan Orr, 57, bachelor rancher, was found dead at his home Dec. 31, by a neighbor, Ed Barnes. The body was found in the kitchen of the ranch, 15 miles northwest of Sturgis, with bullet wound in the. head. A .22 calibre a rifle was found nearby.

A coroner's inquest was held at! which verdict of accidental shooting by himself, was reached. Funeral services were held Sunday afternoon at Sturgis, with Rev. 0. D. Erskine of the Presbyterian church, in charge.

Burial was in Bear Butte: cemetery with Ed Barnes, John Keffeler, Albert Keffeler, Frank Jones, Dean Wood and Lloyd Orr as pallbearers. He is survived by his mother, Mrs. John Orr, Sturgis, two brothers and three sisters. Homestake Scrap Iron Totals 125 Carloads The Homestake Mining company has shipped to date, since the inception of the program in the late fall of 1941, a total of 125 cars of scrap iron. Of the total amount, 117 cars were steel, seven manganese steel and one was copper and brass.

The total of all classes of scrap included in the shipment amounted to 11,417,498 lbs. or 5,709 tons. A medium-sized tank requires 38 tons of steel and a cargo ship of the Liberty type, requires 4,500 tons. An anti-aircraft gun requires 14 tons of steel; a 16-inch howitzer requires 756 tons of metal. According to these figures the Homestake scrap drive has produced enough metal to build ten 16-inch howitzers or one Liberty ship and 30 medium-sized tanks.

During the summer students were employed on the project, and in some cases older employes of the company were helpful in locating old dumps. One was uncovered at the old foundry site that produced over 100 tons. A railroad crane and tractor crane were fitted and a powerful electro-magnet was utilized in the reclaiming and shipment of the scrap. Receives Wounds In Pacific Battles Pfc. James (Jimmie) DeMarsche, radio' operator in the U.

S. Marine Corps, died from wounds received in active duty in the Pacific combat zone, according to word received, Monday from the War Department, by his ents, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph DeMarsche, Lead. The wire stated that a letter would follow.

Pic. DeMarsche was born Rosebud, in October, 1921, and Anst Lead youth to lose his life combat in this war. He came to Lead with his parents early in life. He was graduated from Lead high school in entering the service immediately atterward, and going overseas November 3, 1942, He is survived by his parenta, two brothers, Opl. Jos.

M. DeMarsche, student at the Ohio State University, at Columbus; Ronald, Lead; three sisters, Mrs. F. M. Schulte, Gainsville, Texas, and Alma and Joan of Lead.

Divorce Granted Blanche Righdenour, Deadwood, Was awarded a divorce from Lyell Righdenour, Deadwood, Wednesday in circuit court, by Judge Turner They have no children. Plaintiff was represented by Francis J. Parker, Deadwood. WALL Triplet daughters were born Dec. 31 to Mr.

and Mrs. Oscar braum, Creighton, at the Wall hospital. The babies weighed and pounds respectively. Mother and daughters are "doling Dr. Geo, W.

Mills, attending physician, said. The couple have one other child, two years old. Conscientious Objector Gets Five Year Term "Sage Brush" Artist Dies Dr. Will Frackelton, 74, pioneer Wyoming dentist, who made his rounds by horse, died Dec. 28 in an Evanston, Ill: a hospital.

He. was born in Milwaukee, June 24, 1870, and went to Sheridan, as al dentist in 1893. Among his patients were many old timers, Buffalo Bill, Calamity Jane, and other characters of the old west. He published his advenure; in a volume entitled "Sagebrush Dentist." CITY COUNCIL HOLDS ROUTINE SESSION The Deadwood council met in regular session Monday night to 'transact routine business. The First National Bank was named as depositary for city funds.

Mayor A. B. Mattley presided, with Councilmen A. Treber, L. R.

Stanley, W. E. Pearson, Angelo Rich and Ralph Kuykendail present. 140 SOCIAL SECURITY CLAIMS LISTED IN DISTRICT Altho serving an area which is largely agricaltural, the Rapid City field office of the Social Security Board today reported that 140 claims for monthly payments under the old-age and survivors insurance program had been filed during 1943. "'The fact that many elderly citizens who are eligible to file claims are continuing in employment to further the war effort, has caused many to postpone filing for the monthly payments to which they are entitled once they are 65," said Arthur L.

Gulberg, manager of the office. Area Around Hydro Plant Is Posted Rifle bullets will kill persons as well a3 deer, and for this reason the area immediately surrounding the plant buildings and residences of the stake Mining company's Hydro Elec1 tric plant at the mouth of Spearfish Canyon, been posted for the forthcoming seven day open season on anterless deer, it was announced Tuesday. The action has been taken with the full knowledge and hearty approval of Dave Harris, deputy game warden, as a precautionary measure, for the protection of the men on duty and of their families and of others who may reside and work in this area, in the hope that a serious accident may be averted. The section posted will include an area approximately 500 yards in all directions from the group of buildings comprising the old Hydro Electric plant located at the mouth of Spearfish can-, yon and present plant buildings and residences. To avoid the shooting of any firearms and especially high powered rifles in this area, the wholehearted cooperation of all sportsmen is earnestly solicited.

The relatively deep snow in the higher levels of some sections has forced many deer to range the lower valleys and it is not uncommon to see several of these animals inside the corporate limits of the towns, Harris and in other rather thickly populiated camps is and communities. One of of areas just south and east the city of Spearfish and includes the mouth of Spearfish Canyon. As many as seven or eight deer have been seen from the plant buildings early in the evenings. They would make excellent targets, Harris pointed out, but a miss might send a high powered bullet crashing thru the window of a building. Raymond Hanson, Meade county, was sentenced to five years in federal prison, for violation of the selective service act, by Judge Lee Wyman, in federal court here Thursday.

Hanson, classified as a conscientious objector, 13 a member of Jehovas Witnesses and failed to report for duty for work of important nature to the war effort with the government. He entered a plea of not guilty, waived jury trial, was tried by the court and found guilty. He was represented by Francis J. Deadwood, who was appointed by the court. The government was represented by George Philip, Rapid City, U.

S. district attorney. down derrick may be seen from the Ardmore-Cascade road. Fall River county leads the state with 14 tests, Prof. Gries says.

Pennington and Custer counties have had seven each; Meade county six, Butte county five, Haakon and Harding four each, Shannon, Staniey and Ziebach, two each, and Jackson, Perkins and Lawrence one each. The period between 1915 and 1919 saw five tests; between 1920 '24, a high of 21 tests; between 1925 and eight tests; between 1930 and '34, eight tests; between 1935 and '39, only one, between 1940 and 1943, a rise to ten, Prof. Gries said. Thirty-two deep oil tests, of the total 56, have been drilled in western South Dakota, none indicating oil in commercial quantities, according to Prof. Gries.

Out of the 32 deep tests, only 21 were drilled as a result of surface mapping or geophysical studies, the rest without geological basis. By Kansas definition, a wildcat is any well drilled over two miles from a proven pool, and all South Dakota wells, including many drilled by major oil companies, are thus wildcats, Gries pointed out. While it is ly impossible to find an oil well in 1 a spot where some type of surface exploration doesn't indicate it may exist, favorable indications mean only that oil may have accumulated there. The only way to be sure of the presence of oil is the hard way of drilling--you have to And it. Particularly during the past five years, surface studies and drilling have been going on hand in hand, in this territory.

Exploration for oil consists first of trying to locate, from the surface, accumulated. high points Much where of oil western may South Dakota has been carefully mapped by plane table, partly by the State Geological Survey but mostly by the major oil companies. Where surface rocks are not well exposed, newer, geo-physical methods are used, Prof. Gries points out. The seismic method using a charge of dynamite and recording the vibrations of rocks, the gravity meter which measures the pull of gravity at any given point, and the magnetometer which measures the magnetism of rocks, all have been used over large areas in western South Dakota by the Geological Survey and by major oil companies.

Tho the war has largely halted exploratory work of this kind, thru gasoline and tire shortages, drilling has been going on, on the basis of information previously collected. Several of the larger oil companies have favorable areas under lease which have not yet been tested. Spurred on by the war time need of oil, nine more drills will bite hopefully into Western South Dakota's rolling plains next summer. Army Engineers Carve Alcan Highway Swiftly Out Of The Wilderness On a bleak, sub-zero morning in the spring of 1942 the first Army Engineers ever to set foot in the rough wild country of Western Canada, arrived at Dawson Creek, British Columbia. They were faced with a challenge that required stamina and courage, yet at the same time offered high adventure equal to the pioneering of ancestors.

The project at hand was to build betore winter a 1600-mile road across an unmapped, unchartered, and unknown wilderness of British Columbia, the Yukon. and eastern Alaska in a country where brown bears and had lived without man's inter ference, a country thick with minerals, furs, and timber. The main purpose of the road was to provide a means of furnishing unprotected Alaska with supplies and war materiel from United States and Canada- since the sea route was menaced by enemy action early in the war and the air route was inadequate for military needs. Altho it is a military road today, in peacetime the highway will be a means of opening millions of square miles for tourists, fishers and big-game hunters, not to mention accessibility to an empire rich in natural resources such as timber, coal, oil, gold, copper, antimony, radium, quicksilver and tungsten. Despite criticism and abuse heaped the project by skeptics a and critics upon who said that a road could never be built in time to be of service in this war, the Alaska Military Highway was officially dedicated and opened to military traffic on November 20, 1942-in record-breaking time of less than eight months.

An international highway to Alaska had been talked about for 30 engineering commissions years had studied the possibilities of such a project and numerous reports were submitted--but it took the jolt of an attack on Pearl Harbor to bring to realization the urgent need of an overland route to Alaska. was located to serve The highway the air route across the Canadpresent ian wilderness, cuts thru deep forests, rivers and streams, crosses roaring and of the road is winds thru scenic mountain es. The highest point but dozens of peaks of more 4212 feet, in full view along than 11,000 feet are the way. More than 200 and timber bridgthrown across streams es were rivers; some 6000 required. native-pole Pontoon culverta for drainage were bridges or ferries were used to get men and supplies across the larger waterway.

From far and near came men from nearly every trade and profession. 'I addition to ten thou and soldiers there were six thousand civilian workmen under direction of the Public Roads Administration. Little settlements boomed with activity cabins that had been vacated by miners were again Besides being confronted by MOWItainous terrain, deep muskeg, torrential stream, heavy forests, and frozen swamp, the men worked under toug conditions. Frigid nights, mud, rain, hot days, black flies, gnats, and millions of thirty mosquitoes wet a only a few of their hardships. Survey parties were the first white men to set foot in parts of the little known hinterland.

The objective of the Engineers wes build a pioneer road which would ba passable during the following winter. This was made possible by the strategy of "attacking" the project from sev-. sral points at the same time. The main. construction crews assembled at Dawson Creek.

One regiment "battled" its way to Fort Nelson in a rush to get there before the spring thaws broke up their only passable route over frozen muskeg. They made it. and started building the pioneer road west from Fort Nelson while others were working north from Dawson Creek. Other regments landed at Skagway, went to Whitehorse, and split there, working both directions out of Whitehorse. This plan of "attack," the pluck and determination of troops and contractors' workmen, and modern tractordrawn earthmoving equipment made possible the completion of the pioneer road.

Construction of the original highway was directly under the Corps of Engineers the U. S. Army. Altho the improved pioneer route was fini hed in 1942, numerous plans for improvement under the direction of the Public Roads Administration, including permanent bridges, grading, paving, widening and straightening, are being carried out. The Alaska Military Highway project will go down in history a one of the colossal achievements of man.

The highway is a real tribute to those men who proved to themselves and the world that they have all the spirit and fight of their pioneer forefathers..