The Daily Alaska empire., 1946-10-02

proximately 600 persons, and has long needed adequate additional housing facilities, the ANS head said
 In the fire at Hoonah in 1944, 76 houses were destroyed, also ap- proximately seven stores. The stores are not being rebuilt under the Hoonah Project provisions, which are only concerned with housing construction.
 The results from the new housing project will be watched with special interest, MT. Foster said, due to the present high rate of tuberculo- sis among Hoonah residents.
 Slough Filled
 One of the main sub-contracts under the Hoonah Project was the filling in and grading of a large slough just behind Front sreet. Long mosquito breeding health hazard, the slough and surrounding swamp were filled in with 25,000 cubic yards of beach gravel The swamp is the land site, now solid and sanitary, on which the houses of the project stand. The slough and swamp fill-in job was started by the eco many years ago. MT. Foster declared, but due to made quate funds it was never completed.
 A full-time ANS nurse, Miss Es- ther Book, was recently transferred from Nome to Hoonah. She will have charge of supervising health conditions there, and of recording town health statistics which are expected to improve with the elim- nation of the contaminated slough condition and the presence Of ade- quate housing.
 Besides the ecriIa. building of the houses and the clearing, grading and drainage of seven acres of timber, the project has been re- spttlsible for: The building of several new streets; installation of a complete sewer system, a water system, and power lines the laying of mile and a half of water pipe leading from the settlement to a dam, built before the war by the CCC, to impound a Hoonah water supply, and electrical wiring of all homes.
 Six-ROOm Houses
 The houses themselves are of concrete piered foundation, and are built of wood frame with red ce- dar siding and shingles. They each consist of six rooms. Fire preven- tion was considered in spacing the structures 20 feet apart and in equipping the area, now five times that of the former village destroy cd by lire, with an adequate supply of fire hydrants and water lines.
 The residents of Hoonah have built a $l0,000 power plant for use in the new settlement and sur rounding homes.
 The last figure quoted as the overall cost of the project was $56O,- 900. This quotation was given last May MT Foster said the ANS of flee here had received no new quo tation since that time.
 The project has been underway since clearing of the ground began in February l945. At that time, Frank Crutsinger, Chief; and Paul E. Hickox, Construction Engineer , or the FPHA Regional District No. i7, Headquarters in Seattle, were in charge These men were later succeeded by Jesse Epstein and V. L. Logan, respectively
 Contractors were Alaska Con- struction Company. Sub contractors were Territorial Construction Com pany, Juneau; J. w. Mckinley. Ju- i, neau; Yelton Plumbing Company , Longview, Wash; Clarence J. , Campbell, shingling sub-contractor now deceased
 l H. B. Foss of this city was archi- . tect and Hugh B. Antrim, Civil Engineer and Designer.
 Finished By May Fred Geeslin, Administrative Of- , ficer of ANS. said the project was : actually finished May "A. 1946 Dur ing the summer, however, residents 7 of Hoonah are away from town ? working in canneries and at other s seasonal jobs.
 This summer 21 families worked t at Excursion Inlet and 30 were al t Icy Straits. The remainder of the families slated to occupy the new s housing project were scattered : throughout Southeast Alaska g For the past two winters, since : fire destroyed their homes, many g of the native families have lived s in temporary housing at Icy Straits and Excursion Inlet.