84-1-H Iglal pt. 2 71498 HEARINGS BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON TERRITORIAL AND INSULAR AFFAIRS OF THE COMMITTEE ON INTERIOR AND INSULAR AFFAIRS EIGHTY-FOURTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION PURSUANT TO H. Res. 30 TO AUTHORIZE THE COMMITTEE ON INTERIOR AND INSULAR SEPTEMBER 20, 1955-MCKINLEY PARK PART 2 Printed for the use of the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs Garner B. Hanson, manager, McKinley Park Hotel Wayne D. Jacobs, Assistant Superintendent, McKinley Park, Richard G. Prasal, park naturalist, National Park Service Anchorage, Alaska-September 21, 1955: Statement of- Fred Axford, member of the Anchorage Port Commission. --... Phil R. Holsworth, commissioner of mines for the Territory of Hon. Wendall P. Kay, speaker of Territorial house of repre- William H. McKinley, superintendent, municipal light and George Matkin, city engineer, Anchorage. George W. Nichols, city comptroller, Anchorage. Lee Ricketts, representing North Pacific Fisheries Association__ Maynard L. Taylor, Jr., mayor, Anchorage. Statement of Anchorage, Alaska-September 22, 1955: John M. Asplund, chairman, Anchorage Chamber of Commerce Robert B. Atwood, chairman of the Alaska Statehood Committee. Edgar Paul Boyko, corporation counsel, Chugach Electric Asso- Page 3 1 28 101 81 92 114 21, 63 33 38, 74 104 20 19 56 42 230 273 195 265 133, 260 John E. Croul. Jr., manager of the Anchorage Chamber of Victor Fischer, executi, e secretary, League of Alaskan Cities.. George D. Jackson, Anchorage Chamber of Commerce port committee Bruce Kendall. William J. Moran, United States Commissioner, Anchorage and Whittier Precincts, Third Division, District of Alaska; accompanied by Mr. Parsons. Alaska Department of Public Health.. A. W. Morgan, superintendent of schools, Anchorage Independent School District; accompanied by Dwight H. Newell, assistant superintendent of schools; Don E. Fridley, assistant superintendent of schools; and Julia H. Cato, school district tax assessor_ Alfred A. Owen, Jr., member of the Alaska Senate, Third Division, Anchorage. 195 176 281 224 257 248 121 189 Anchorage, Alaska September 22, 1955 -Continued E. Bradford Phillips, vice president, Arctic-Alaska Travel Service and director of the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce_ Ray Plummer, attorney at law, Anchorage_ Reginald N. Whitman, general manager, Alaska Railroad; Lt. Gen. J. H. Atkinson, United States Air Force Commander in Chief, Alaska Command; accompanied by Brig. Gen. Thomas R. Stoughton, United States Army Chief of Staff, Alaska Command; and Col. Carl Y. Farrell, district engineer, Alaska George E. M, Gustafson, Anchorage_ ALASKA, 1955 TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 1955 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, McKinley Park, Alaska. The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 1:10 p. m., in the lobby, McKinley Park Hotel, Hon. Leo W. O'Brien (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Mr. O'BRIEN. The hearing will come to order. Will you identify yourself for the record, your full name and title, please. STATEMENTS OF RICHARD G. PRASAL, PARK NATURALIST, AND Mr. PRASAL. Richard G. Prasal, park naturalist. Mr. PRASAL. Park naturalist. Mr. ABBOTT. And you, Mr. Jacobs, are assistant superintendent? Mr. ABBOTT. Now the purpose of the subcommittee's stop at McKinley National Park is certainly multifold. The staff members and some of the subcommittee members have consulted with Conrad Wirth, the Director of the National Park Service, from time to time. He asked particularly that if it were possible we stop at the park and look over the hotel facility; having the advantage of consultation with the people in the area office at San Francisco, those problems were somewhat pointed up. I wonder if either or both of you gentlemen would just describe for the record and for the subcommittee members a little of the history of McKinley National Park, with particular reference to its operations, the attractions, and the visitor load as you have seen it. Then we will come, I am sure, as questions occur to the members, to some of the problems you have here. If you wish to include some comments on any proposed boundary changes, that would be quite in order. You can proceed in your own way. Mr. PRASAL. As far as the history of the area is concerned, McKinley is relatively a new park, and even the knowledge of the mountain is a relatively recent thing, for actually the mountain was not known until about the mid-1800's. The Russians at that time reported it from the seacoast. Soon prospectors started venturing toward the interior of Alaska, and, interested in gold, they did not publish too much about the great mountain. |