The Wrangell sentinel., 1954-04-09
THROUGH THE SENTINEL PERISCOPE

At Long Last A Bride

At Long Last A Bride
 It begins to look as if Wrangell is going to reverse the old adage of often a brides maid, but never a bride" and become a bride herself. She'll be June bride too if Paei- fife Northern Timber Company is the successful bidder on some three billion ct of timber being offered for sale by the Forest Service in this area on June 9. (See newsstory elsewhere in today's paper).
 Az Al Anderson up on the DeYel- opment Board in Juneau puts 1t, Wrangell appears to be a commun- ity that will soon be literally busting its britches." And he means, of course, the industrial de- yelopment in the area through the establishment of a sawmill and lat CT pulp mill.
 There is every reason to believe that Pacific Northern will be the successful bidder at the June g auction. The timber being offered is patterned to it's request. It has mst the qualifications, financially and otherwise, required by the For est Service for becoming a bidder on such vast tract Of course. the game is never over until the whis- tic blows, but at the moment. the prospects of Wrangell becoming lumber and pulp center appears very bright.
 iurhf ha FnI1 fn nf ftavs Fsa here that Wrangell can be thankful to one man more than any other for the timber development in this area. The man is former Regional Forester B. Frank Heintzleman who is now Governor.
 For more than a quarter of a century, Heintzleman worked for orderly timber industrial. develop ment in Alaska. He saw especial opportunity in Wrangell because of the great stands of spruce, hem lock and cedar which are immed- lately adjacent. He knew that as stands were cut back in the states and Canada, the pulp and lumber industry would come to the vast raw timber market that Alaska had to offer. The first big move was the Ketchikan pulp plant which will soon be in operation after several years of preliminary work. Wran- gall appears destined to be the cen ter of the second large movement to acquire Alaska timber
 More than five years ago Hein- tzleman said, "if We can get the Portland group interested. you'll sec big development in the Wrangell area" Pacific Northern is apparently the answer to that pre- diction, thanks to B. Frank Hein- tzleman.
 In Hot Water
 Meanwhile, the Governor is in hot water on statehood and may appreciate a few kind words. He's getting quite a few unkind ones about his recent suggestion to Speaker Joe Martin of the House of Representative that Southeast Alaska and the more heavily popul- ated areas of the Westward and Interior be made into a state and let the northern areas remain in Territorial status.
 It's along the same line of the plan advanced by Grant Jackson of the Miners and Merchants bank in Nome and Ralph Lomen of the Lo- men Commercial Company last winter They based their proposal of division on the economic grounds that the northern areas, including most of their own Sec ond Division, just couldn't support statehood (Periscope, Nov. 13, 1953.)
 Urging the enactment of the bill recently passed by the Senate, the Governor said:
 Rather than delay further the granting of Statehood on this ground (referring to financial a. bility to support it), I suggest that it might be well to consider for immediate statehood that portion of the Territory that is developed; that embraces all the larger metro politan centers and in which S5 per cent of the population resides" !" He then outlined the area roughly as north to the Brooks range, west to include Kodiak, east to the Can adian border and south to Dixon Entrance.
 The all-Alaska for statehood ad- vocates are beating the drums, and most of it right in the Governor s ears. They want none of it. Cyril Coyne up in Skagway is reported as demanding the Governors resigna-