The Daily Alaska empire., 1934-04-25
PIONEERS WILL HAVE NEW HOME BY CHRISTMAS
Bremerton Newspaperman, N Visiting in Sitka,
 J Writes it Up
BssW. B. JESSUP Publisher, Daily News Searchlight, BremertGn. Wash.

S1lhA, AtaSKa, Apfll ZZ.-CnTlSI- mas dinner in the new quarter -of- a-million- dollar Alaska Pioneers Home is today at a point of prom Iise y Superintendent Filler Han son, following the opening of work or the new institution and a pledge from the contractors that completion can be anticipated at least week before the time set for termination, January 1, 1885.
 Activity on the construction job today consists of ground clearing, and removal of earth to make pos sible rock blasting and excavation for basements. A force of fifteen has been put. at work for the pre- liminaries, to be immediately fol- lowed by concrete layers, carpent- | CTS and general mechanical need. The general contract is in the hands of Warrack Construction Company, of Juneau and Seattle, with the plumbing and heating by Hatorf Company of Portland, and the electrical work by NePage, Me- Kinney of Seattle. In the joining of the various crafts for as much speed as possible in the construc- tion work the mechanical staffs will at times reach in excess of 100, and with all favor in assigning the places possible to go to AL askans,
 i With fulfilment of expectations today announced the Territory of Alaska will see an institution teS- tifying it's appreciation to those pioneers who made wealth and citizenship here possible. Appro- priations to total of $225 ,000 for the new Home extended over sev- eral sessions of the Territorial Legislature, only at the session of 1883 was it found the sum possible to allocate and appropriate would make possible an institution fully meeting the needs.
 Will Accommodate 180
 The new Home will accommodate with fullest convenience in each department 180 pioneers Hereto fore, and only under much service that was of an emergency char acter, could as many as 130 be served. The buildings now, demol- ished to make room for the new structure were To the greatest part the barracks and auxiliary struc- lures used many years by the U. s. Marine Corps service, and started in the earliest of the eighties. Naturally the adapting of struc- lures of such ancient construction and many years of service to pro- viding anything like modern living conditions frequently taxed the credulity of those familiar with the work as carried out and those in charge of the Home. A hospital structure, erected in recent years, is the only one of the Pioneers Home buildings to survive in the program under which pioneer serv- ice will operate in the future.
 | Problem of Change Difficult | While the old structures, now re- movedtto make room for the new, were far from what was rated as desirable they seemed a necessity and doing away, with them furn- ished a problem that was difficult,
 but which in fact has worked out
 admirably Ninety pioneers, the
 average age of whom is 73 years,
 had to be provided for regularly
 with food, lodging and such com
 forts of life as infirmities of old
 age make necessary from an hum unitarian standpoint And they
 were. The ninety were moved from
 their breakfast seats. By noon-
 time, their kitchen gear, including range and tables, as we'll as food, had been transferred, erected and lput in service for dinner Serv- ing. At bedtime each of the pio- neers found himself provided for; If unconventionally at least, with
 a maximum of comfort. So com plete is this that the first cem- plaint over what was made neees- sary is yet to come.
 It has been an interesting ex- hibition to reorganize the service of the Pioneers Home for the period of building operations. Citizens of : Sitka helped to the maximum, and in many important details were
 their efforts fruitful of good. A :, eleanup of the condemned build-
 ,ngs was necessary. All the debris
 must be removed. No appropria-
 ton money cared for that, and
 slim to the near limit was the
 sum set aside to acquire a few q small land angles needed to square I up the Home tract. Sitka saw to it that clean-up was made and v the old materials removed to places ? where m many cases some good
 could come. and owners convinced
 hat their interests lay in the di-
 rection of turning over the needed : 'eal estate at minimum figure. a Emergency Quarters
 . The l30 men of the Alaska Pie- 0 neers' Home are to be found today f xeen-eyed over each step made in