December 23, 1949 (12 pages)

re b & 4 Ff as ia AT MEETING Directors of Nevada irrigation district Friday approved a $486,000 budget for 1950 at an all-day session that lasted into the evening, punctuated by a constant barrage of criticism and demands for policy changes. The budget is an increase of $81,000 over 1949. A packed gallery contained many protestants against a tax levy of five percent in the water district and others demanded immediate corrections in claimed inequalities in assessments. One rancher voiced his protest with a wire recorder, a few submitted written protests, but the majority of them were verbal. The budget, which is subject to approval by district securities commission, was approved in short order by the board and the balance of the day was used by critics and protestants. Chairman Max Arnold was at times: unable to maintain parliamentary order as shouts were hurled across the room without waiting for recognition by the chair. i Forrest Varney, manager of the district, was target for most of the barrage. ; W. J. Erich, Lodi, was the protester who used wire recording. He claimed his marginal land js assessed at $11 per acre while highly productive orchard land is valued at only $40 an acre. Erich declared his total taxes were in excess of rental value of the property. Erich said he would go to the state legislature if he could not get relief by the district. Officials of the district advised Erich they were aware of inequalities of assessments and that a program of reassessment is now underway. Ed Piliard, rancher, said further tax increases would drive farmers of the district into bankruptcy. C. O. Armstrong, president of Nevada County Farm Bureau Federation, reported a reassessment survey is being made by the farm bureau with production or potential production being a deciding factor for assessment. He urged cooperation in the survey. E. M. Litke appeared before the meeting and demanded that domestic water served should be chlorinated and cited recent findings of the state health department which described water as polluted beyond point of safety. A delegation of landowners. of the Wheatland section in Yuba county appeared briefly and sought information concerning buying of surplus waters of the district. Board members promised . a study of the subject. . Among criticisms offered from . the floor, many of them without . formal acknowledgement of the chariman were: Failure to take advantage of bargain prices for equipment and anaterials. Purchase of needless facilities. Failure to keep the public advised of district operations. Improper and inadequate maintenance of facilities. Manager Varney attempted to convince protestants the district is rapidly gaining in economic strength and will end the year in better financial shape than in any recent year. Protestants frequently interrupted him in mid-sentence. Among the acts of the board Friday was instruction to the manager to purchase all supplies and materials by competitive bidding. The board also set up a procedure whereby ditch patrolmen would contact each other on patrols, to forestall danger resulting from accidents. Under the new procedure patrolmen must wait at boundary of patrol area until adjacent patrolman reports. Failure to report will result in search for missing patrolman. It it believed it may prevent possibility of a patrolman freezing to death if. injured and alone. Varney reported to the board that all past year’s obligations have been met. He also reported repairs to Bowman dam have been completed. Repairs of Excelsior and Gold Hill flumes have been completed Varney: reported. The Weather Friday, Dec. 16° ... 40 32 Saturday, Dec. 17 .. 40 33 Sunday, Dec. 18 ... 39 34 Monday, Dec.: 19. .. 40 27 Tuesday, Dec. 20 .. 37 16 ‘Wednesday, Dec. 21 . 40 21 ‘Thursday, Dec. 22 .. 45 24 Rainfall: Dec. 17, .42; Dec. 18, 1.20 (inch of snow); Dec. 18, .90; Volume 22, Number 67 N.C. POST OFFICE SWAMPED WITH YULETIDE MAIL A quarter of a million pieces of mail were postmarked. by the Nevada City post office for the two-weeks period ending yesterday, according to William J. Wasley, postmaster. Wasley said that a noon yesterday postal receipts for 1949 reached the $38,000 mark. The post office only needs $2,000 in postal receipts: during the rest of the year to reach the -40,000 mark and for the first time in its history enter the first class rating. ¢ Ray Spickelmier, president, and H. F. Sofge, secretary, of the Nevada City Chamber of Commerce, yesterday urged patrons of the local postoffice to purchase postage supplies for early 1950 this coming week and insure Nevada City entering the first class group. Spickelmier said a first class rating. will aid the city in obtaining a federal building, a sorely needed structure. Postal clerks, augmented by additional help, have been struggling 12 to 14 hours daily to keep the mountainous and_ recordbreaking mail processed. Wasley said Tuesday was peak day of ali time in the local post office.when 20,000 pieces of mail were processed through: the local office. Wasley stressed these figures do not include incoming mail. Wasley said yesterday noon's checkup revealed 1949 postal receipts were $3,000 over 1948, the previous record year. Wasley said his haggard crew. will holiday Sunday and Monday except for handling outgoing mail and special delivery. Two carriers have been handling each route during ,the rush period, Wasley said. The rural route has been making two trips daily. BUSINESSMEN AND MERCHANTS SEND YULE GREETINGS THIS ISSUE Businessmen and merchants of Nevada City, Grass Valley and area, in this week’s issue of The Nugget send their annual yuletide greetings of' their customers in Nevada City and vicinity by the medium, of the hometown newspaper. f Local businessmen “have used this method for years and have found it to be the most economical, efficient and simplest way of extending season’s greetings to their neighbors and customers. . Doing the same job by use of: individual greeting cards would cost a merchant more than a hundred dollars. With very few exceptions, the businessmen and merchants of Nevada City are represented in this Christmas greeting edition. COUNTY FAIR MASTER PLAN CONSIDERED Final obstacles in path of $200,000 construction program at Nevada county fairgrounds, Grass Valley, are expected to be removed as fair directors met with state planning officials in Sacramento Loyle Freeman, manager, said jthe meeting probably would result in acceptance of master plan for the fairgrounds. The program for which funds are available include $90,900 main exhibit building, $25,000 domestic. science building, $30,000 grading and sewage project, and $25,000 lighting installation. Livestock barns’ are included in ’95’ program. Freeman said directors are anxious to save all shade trees possible and are seeking changes in master plan to permit it. CAROLING TONIGHT Nevada City high school students and alumni will carol tonight under the direction of William Tobjassen. The group. will gather at Melton’s confectionery at 7:30 p.m., and wind up at the home of Mrs Beth Wilson for hot Dec. 19, .83. chocolate and cookies, O° doubts that any more. o° @ Just © the season and your share of joy 949, will come. Sante Claus ---just as naturally as there are children. No-one even give way to the spirit of SNOW POINT STRIKES RICH YUBA GRAVEL Eighty-two dollars worth of gold were taken from three successive buckets of muck from a 250-foot vertical shaft on holdings of the Snow Point Properties, Inc. The Beverly Hills corporation purchased 900 acres of placer ground from the UrenHegarty interests four miles west of Graniteville. The shaft, which had. been spotted from: a,surface point located over the face of old Chinese workings which date back to the early ’90s, has tapped highly satisfactory pay gravel at its first contact with the bedrock and plans have already been made to operate throughout the winter. Power for hoisting and pumping is obtained from the Pike City-Spanish power line of Pacific Gas & Electric company, which passes within a few hundred feet of the shaft. R. W. Prout, John W. Prout Jr., consulting engineer for the company, and Robert Hodge, secOFFICIALS DENY CLAIMS THAT AID REFUSED Nevada county officials refuted recently published reports an indigent family of nine had been denied medical and hospital care and emergency welfare relief. Charles W. Veale, county hospital superintendent stated Mrs. Lawson, mother of the family involved, was hospitaled Oct. 24, ‘and was transferred to another institution Nov. 9 at suggestion of Mr. Lawson. She was admitted to the hospital Saturday and three physicians concurred in a diagnosis that surgery was not advisable. Dr. Walker W. Reed, medical officer of the hospital, said her condition was not unusual among women of her age with several children. Miss Ernestine Eilerman, county welfare director, said the family has been given full assistance SUPERVISORS SET DATE FOR SANITARY ELECTION Nevada county board of supervisors by a vote, of 2 to 1 authorized an election for formation of a ‘sanitary district between here and Grass Valley and set Friday, Feb. 17, 1950, as date for such election. Costs of sanitary districts for the area of approximately 1,200 persons is estimated at $150,000. Assessed valuation of the 1,000 acre section is $1,122,000. Authorization of the: election followed a stormy all-day session at which about 25 property owners, objectors and supporters of the district, took part. The district includes Hills Flat, Glenbrook, Shady Pines, Shaw’s Hill, Memorial Hospital Tract, Glenwood, Glenbrook Heights, Orchard Glen, Town Talk, Lake Olympia and Idaho Maryland. The supervisors denied exclusion of five property owners from the district. Five district directors and an assessor would be elected. Supervisors Frank J. Rowe and Carl J. Tobiassen approved the under emergency aid provisions of the law. : . Supervisor Frank Rowe said! the family came to Nevada coun. ty after brief residences in Oklahoma, Texas, Arizona, and more recently in California. The incident was the _ outgrowth of an ‘appeal for financial help by Mrs. Beulah Smith, who lives near the Lawson. family. Mrs. Smith reported the Lawson family in desperate health and financial conditions. Mrs. Smith added she began seeking a hospital fund when city and county charity agency help was reportedly not obtainable. Mrs. Smith reported Mrs. Lawson ill in bed and unable to care for the family. The husband was taking care of the family and as a result was unable to seek work according to reports. : HOW CHRISTMAS CAME TO GRASSHOPPER HILL We received a. story this week that is an ideal Christmas story and is of special interest to this area becausé of the locale. The author wishes to remain anonymous. The story is fiction but the people are real although their names are changed. The story in its elemental form brings out the trials of the strugglers, the magnetism of the darlings of humanity, the generosity of the demi-monde, and the few seconds that are sometimes given to mean-souleg persons to look on the face of God. election. J. C Coughlan was dissenter. BAPTIST CHURCH YULE PARTY PLANNED TONITE Church school Christmas program of the Community Baptist church will be held this evening at 7:30 o’clock at the church, according to Rev. John A. MacDonald, pastor. ‘“‘The Old, Old Story,” a presentation of the Christmas story in living pictures, will be given. Following processional, introduction and prayer, recitations and songs will be presented. The main pageant will feature six pictures, “The Nativity,” “The Shepherds and Their Flocks,” “The Angel Messenger,” “The Heavenly Host;” °“Adoration of the Shepherds,” and “Adoration of the Magi.” Mrs. Legrand Sterling, Mrs. John MacDonald are directors of the program. Assisting are Mrs. Loren Sherwood, Mrs Emil Raetz, Mrs. Nellie Prentiss and Mrs. Alvin Molen. The Nugget will carry the complete cast.of the performance in next week’s issue. “HOWLING” SUCCESS Ralph Achey, manager of Cedar theatre, termed the annual “kids’ day” Wednesday afternoon a “howling” success. “Shaggy” was the picture. Candy and Santa Claus were through courtesy of Nevada City Chamber of ComThe story appears on page 8. 7] merce. WATER USERS NAME GROUPS TO STUDY NID Two comniittees were named to inquire into possible expense trimming of the Nevada irrigation district at a meeting Sunday afternoon in the cold LeBarr Meadows hall attended by about fifty members and visitors of the NID Water Users association. Named to inquire into the district business office’s efficiency were Barker Cates, Ralph Greenwell and Charles Kitts. A study of maintenance departments will be made by Guy Robinson, Louis Personeni and Dewey Cook. The meeting was kept short by the coldness of the hall. The unit expects to hold its January gettogether in Rough and Ready. Max Arnold and Herbert Nile, members of the NID board of directors; Elton Tobiassen, assessor; and Rudolph M. Smith, Nevada county and Mountain division superintendent, were members of the NID personnel attending the meeting. . Arnold told the group that at the start of the new year purchasing of district supplies and materials will be by bid, and a safety measure for ditch patrolmen has been inaugurated. They had been objectives of the association since its formation. Personeni inquired into the necessity of a watermaster and Arnold declared he thought it was a necessary position. The committees were cautioned that the motive of the association was: to give advice and not to tear the NID apart. If nothing was wrong the investigation will. not be harmful, if there is something wrong, the investigation is of value: One rancher said he believed Manager Forrest Varney of the NID was getting too much pay for what he was doing—and that he did nothing without pressure. Several farmers and ranchers inquired into what they called irregularities and inconsistencies of salaries. Specifically pointed out were Herman Retzlaff and Melvyn Retzlaff, who are listed as foremen at $3,000 per annum, and E. Keckler, a mechanic, who is drawing foreman’s pay of $3,600. Question of the necessity of Manning Miller in the business office was also discussed. Cal-Ida and Matson lumber mills near Sierraville have shut down for the winter according to the Downieville Messenger. © retary, have been upon the ground during the initial strike and are’ well pleased with ‘the outlook for future operations. Schiffner brothers have for the past year been cutting some three million feet of first growth timber from the patented portion of the property, which has never suffered from fire and was forested with trees running from three to six feet in diameter. The nearest drift diggings in gravel are on the old Gold Lead property, a mile and a half south, while the last breasting of the old Derbec company, which had worked the blue lead through the Derbec shaft and their drain tunnel for 13,000 feet along the channel “toward Graniteville, is five miles southwest. The intervening area is lava capped over the channel to a depth as great as 400 feet so that it-is impossible to determine the relation of the three or more channels embraced. within this area. As a matter of fact, inspection of the U. S. geologic folio shows @ lava-capped area of glaciated gravels some three miles in width extending from Columbia Hill toward Snow Point for eight miles. It has taken a lot of courage as well as money on the part of this company, who had nothing to guide them but hearsay evidence as to the values along the worked portion of the channel, which has long been inaccessible. We believe they are entitled to all the rewards which usually goes with courageous prospecting. BLASTS PRECEDING BRUSH CREEK MILL FIRE ARE REPORTED Workmen resided at Goodyears Bar reported hearing blasts before the fire which destroyed the mill of the Brush Creek mine Tuesday night, according to Sierra County Sheriff W D. Johnson, and operators of the mine, who are investigating arson possibilities. The fire levelled the 30x60 foot mill located two miles from the mine tunnels. A’ 75-ton ball mill was destroyed, along with concentration tables; flotation cells, shaker tables, cyanide plant and other processing equipment. Wendell Ingram, resident superintendent and one of the op. erators of the mine, which has been employing 18 persons, said all power and fuel oil lines had been turned off at 4 p.m. The mine is leased from the Alpha Hardware Stores, Ltd. LOCAL INVENTOR HAS ORDER FOR 600 UNITS A. G. Reynolds, local inventor who holds patents on 17 inventions, announced yesterday he received an order for 600 units of the product of his latest invention—a new type casting machine. The new product he has constructed dies for is a lighthouse lamp. Reynolds said he has been looking for financing to keep the manufacturing the units in Nevada City but has not had much encouragement and may place it in production in the bay. area. Reynolds said production would create a small payroll that could be potentially permanent. FIRST DEGREE CONFERRED Oustomah Lodge No. 16, International Order of Odd Fellows, conferred first degree at regular meeting Tuesday evening. Re-freshments followed the meeting.

re b & 4 Ff as ia AT MEETING Directors of Nevada irrigation district Friday approved a $486,000 budget for 1950 at an all-day session that lasted into the evening, punctuated by a constant barrage of criticism and demands for policy changes. The budget is an increase of $81,000 over 1949. A packed gallery contained many protestants against a tax levy of five percent in the water district and others demanded immediate corrections in claimed inequalities in assessments. One rancher voiced his protest with a wire recorder, a few submitted written protests, but the majority of them were verbal. The budget, which is subject to approval by district securities commission, was approved in short order by the board and the balance of the day was used by critics and protestants. Chairman Max Arnold was at times: unable to maintain parliamentary order as shouts were hurled across the room without waiting for recognition by the chair. i Forrest Varney, manager of the district, was target for most of the barrage. ; W. J. Erich, Lodi, was the protester who used wire recording. He claimed his marginal land js assessed at $11 per acre while highly productive orchard land is valued at only $40 an acre. Erich declared his total taxes were in excess of rental value of the property. Erich said he would go to the state legislature if he could not get relief by the district. Officials of the district advised Erich they were aware of inequalities of assessments and that a program of reassessment is now underway. Ed Piliard, rancher, said further tax increases would drive farmers of the district into bankruptcy. C. O. Armstrong, president of Nevada County Farm Bureau Federation, reported a reassessment survey is being made by the farm bureau with production or potential production being a deciding factor for assessment. He urged cooperation in the survey. E. M. Litke appeared before the meeting and demanded that domestic water served should be chlorinated and cited recent findings of the state health department which described water as polluted beyond point of safety. A delegation of landowners. of the Wheatland section in Yuba county appeared briefly and sought information concerning buying of surplus waters of the district. Board members promised . a study of the subject. . Among criticisms offered from . the floor, many of them without . formal acknowledgement of the chariman were: Failure to take advantage of bargain prices for equipment and anaterials. Purchase of needless facilities. Failure to keep the public advised of district operations. Improper and inadequate maintenance of facilities. Manager Varney attempted to convince protestants the district is rapidly gaining in economic strength and will end the year in better financial shape than in any recent year. Protestants frequently interrupted him in mid-sentence. Among the acts of the board Friday was instruction to the manager to purchase all supplies and materials by competitive bidding. The board also set up a procedure whereby ditch patrolmen would contact each other on patrols, to forestall danger resulting from accidents. Under the new procedure patrolmen must wait at boundary of patrol area until adjacent patrolman reports. Failure to report will result in search for missing patrolman. It it believed it may prevent possibility of a patrolman freezing to death if. injured and alone. Varney reported to the board that all past year’s obligations have been met. He also reported repairs to Bowman dam have been completed. Repairs of Excelsior and Gold Hill flumes have been completed Varney: reported. The Weather Friday, Dec. 16° ...... 40 32 Saturday, Dec. 17 .... 40 33 Sunday, Dec. 18 ...... 39 34 Monday, Dec.: 19. .... 40 27 Tuesday, Dec. 20 .... 37 16 ‘Wednesday, Dec. 21 .. 40 21 ‘Thursday, Dec. 22 .... 45 24 Rainfall: Dec. 17, .42; Dec. 18, 1.20 (inch of snow); Dec. 18, .90; Volume 22, Number 67 N.C. POST OFFICE SWAMPED WITH YULETIDE MAIL A quarter of a million pieces of mail were postmarked. by the Nevada City post office for the two-weeks period ending yesterday, according to William J. Wasley, postmaster. Wasley said that a noon yesterday postal receipts for 1949 reached the $38,000 mark. The post office only needs $2,000 in postal receipts: during the rest of the year to reach the -40,000 mark and for the first time in its history enter the first class rating. ¢ Ray Spickelmier, president, and H. F. Sofge, secretary, of the Nevada City Chamber of Commerce, yesterday urged patrons of the local postoffice to purchase postage supplies for early 1950 this coming week and insure Nevada City entering the first class group. Spickelmier said a first class rating. will aid the city in obtaining a federal building, a sorely needed structure. Postal clerks, augmented by additional help, have been struggling 12 to 14 hours daily to keep the mountainous and_ recordbreaking mail processed. Wasley said Tuesday was peak day of ali time in the local post office.when 20,000 pieces of mail were processed through: the local office. Wasley stressed these figures do not include incoming mail. Wasley said yesterday noon's checkup revealed 1949 postal receipts were $3,000 over 1948, the previous record year. Wasley said his haggard crew. will holiday Sunday and Monday except for handling outgoing mail and special delivery. Two carriers have been handling each route during ,the rush period, Wasley said. The rural route has been making two trips daily. BUSINESSMEN AND MERCHANTS SEND YULE GREETINGS THIS ISSUE Businessmen and merchants of Nevada City, Grass Valley and area, in this week’s issue of The Nugget send their annual yuletide greetings of' their customers in Nevada City and vicinity by the medium, of the hometown newspaper. f Local businessmen “have used this method for years and have found it to be the most economical, efficient and simplest way of extending season’s greetings to their neighbors and customers. . Doing the same job by use of: individual greeting cards would cost a merchant more than a hundred dollars. With very few exceptions, the businessmen and merchants of Nevada City are represented in this Christmas greeting edition. COUNTY FAIR MASTER PLAN CONSIDERED Final obstacles in path of $200,000 construction program at Nevada county fairgrounds, Grass Valley, are expected to be removed as fair directors met with state planning officials in Sacramento Loyle Freeman, manager, said jthe meeting probably would result in acceptance of master plan for the fairgrounds. The program for which funds are available include $90,900 main exhibit building, $25,000 domestic. science building, $30,000 grading and sewage project, and $25,000 lighting installation. Livestock barns’ are included in ’95’ program. Freeman said directors are anxious to save all shade trees possible and are seeking changes in master plan to permit it. CAROLING TONIGHT Nevada City high school students and alumni will carol tonight under the direction of William Tobjassen. The group. will gather at Melton’s confectionery at 7:30 p.m., and wind up at the home of Mrs Beth Wilson for hot Dec. 19, .83. chocolate and cookies, O° doubts that any more. o° @ Just © the season and your share of joy 949, will come. Sante Claus ---just as naturally as there are children. No-one even give way to the spirit of SNOW POINT STRIKES RICH YUBA GRAVEL Eighty-two dollars worth of gold were taken from three successive buckets of muck from a 250-foot vertical shaft on holdings of the Snow Point Properties, Inc. The Beverly Hills corporation purchased 900 acres of placer ground from the UrenHegarty interests four miles west of Graniteville. The shaft, which had. been spotted from: a,surface point located over the face of old Chinese workings which date back to the early ’90s, has tapped highly satisfactory pay gravel at its first contact with the bedrock and plans have already been made to operate throughout the winter. Power for hoisting and pumping is obtained from the Pike City-Spanish power line of Pacific Gas & Electric company, which passes within a few hundred feet of the shaft. R. W. Prout, John W. Prout Jr., consulting engineer for the company, and Robert Hodge, secOFFICIALS DENY CLAIMS THAT AID REFUSED Nevada county officials refuted recently published reports an indigent family of nine had been denied medical and hospital care and emergency welfare relief. Charles W. Veale, county hospital superintendent stated Mrs. Lawson, mother of the family involved, was hospitaled Oct. 24,

‘and was transferred to another institution Nov. 9 at suggestion of Mr. Lawson. She was admitted to the hospital Saturday and three physicians concurred in a diagnosis that surgery was not advisable. Dr. Walker W. Reed, medical officer of the hospital, said her condition was not unusual among women of her age with several children. Miss Ernestine Eilerman, county welfare director, said the family has been given full assistance SUPERVISORS SET DATE FOR SANITARY ELECTION Nevada county board of supervisors by a vote, of 2 to 1 authorized an election for formation of a ‘sanitary district between here and Grass Valley and set Friday, Feb. 17, 1950, as date for such election. Costs of sanitary districts for the area of approximately 1,200 persons is estimated at $150,000. Assessed valuation of the 1,000 acre section is $1,122,000. Authorization of the: election followed a stormy all-day session at which about 25 property owners, objectors and supporters of the district, took part. The district includes Hills Flat, Glenbrook, Shady Pines, Shaw’s Hill, Memorial Hospital Tract, Glenwood, Glenbrook Heights, Orchard Glen, Town Talk, Lake Olympia and Idaho Maryland. The supervisors denied exclusion of five property owners from the district. Five district directors and an assessor would be elected. Supervisors Frank J. Rowe and Carl J. Tobiassen approved the under emergency aid provisions of the law. : . Supervisor Frank Rowe said! the family came to Nevada coun. ty after brief residences in Oklahoma, Texas, Arizona, and more recently in California. The incident was the _ outgrowth of an ‘appeal for financial help by Mrs. Beulah Smith, who lives near the Lawson. family. Mrs. Smith reported the Lawson family in desperate health and financial conditions. Mrs. Smith added she began seeking a hospital fund when city and county charity agency help was reportedly not obtainable. Mrs. Smith reported Mrs. Lawson ill in bed and unable to care for the family. The husband was taking care of the family and as a result was unable to seek work according to reports. : HOW CHRISTMAS CAME TO GRASSHOPPER HILL We received a. story this week that is an ideal Christmas story and is of special interest to this area becausé of the locale. The author wishes to remain anonymous. The story is fiction but the people are real although their names are changed. The story in its elemental form brings out the trials of the strugglers, the magnetism of the darlings of humanity, the generosity of the demi-monde, and the few seconds that are sometimes given to mean-souleg persons to look on the face of God. election. J. C Coughlan was dissenter. BAPTIST CHURCH YULE PARTY PLANNED TONITE Church school Christmas program of the Community Baptist church will be held this evening at 7:30 o’clock at the church, according to Rev. John A. MacDonald, pastor. ‘“‘The Old, Old Story,” a presentation of the Christmas story in living pictures, will be given. Following processional, introduction and prayer, recitations and songs will be presented. The main pageant will feature six pictures, “The Nativity,” “The Shepherds and Their Flocks,” “The Angel Messenger,” “The Heavenly Host;” °“Adoration of the Shepherds,” and “Adoration of the Magi.” Mrs. Legrand Sterling, Mrs. John MacDonald are directors of the program. Assisting are Mrs. Loren Sherwood, Mrs Emil Raetz, Mrs. Nellie Prentiss and Mrs. Alvin Molen. The Nugget will carry the complete cast.of the performance in next week’s issue. “HOWLING” SUCCESS Ralph Achey, manager of Cedar theatre, termed the annual “kids’ day” Wednesday afternoon a “howling” success. “Shaggy” was the picture. Candy and Santa Claus were through courtesy of Nevada City Chamber of ComThe story appears on page 8. 7] merce. WATER USERS NAME GROUPS TO STUDY NID Two comniittees were named to inquire into possible expense trimming of the Nevada irrigation district at a meeting Sunday afternoon in the cold LeBarr Meadows hall attended by about fifty members and visitors of the NID Water Users association. Named to inquire into the district business office’s efficiency were Barker Cates, Ralph Greenwell and Charles Kitts. A study of maintenance departments will be made by Guy Robinson, Louis Personeni and Dewey Cook. The meeting was kept short by the coldness of the hall. The unit expects to hold its January gettogether in Rough and Ready. Max Arnold and Herbert Nile, members of the NID board of directors; Elton Tobiassen, assessor; and Rudolph M. Smith, Nevada county and Mountain division superintendent, were members of the NID personnel attending the meeting. . Arnold told the group that at the start of the new year purchasing of district supplies and materials will be by bid, and a safety measure for ditch patrolmen has been inaugurated. They had been objectives of the association since its formation. Personeni inquired into the necessity of a watermaster and Arnold declared he thought it was a necessary position. The committees were cautioned that the motive of the association was: to give advice and not to tear the NID apart. If nothing was wrong the investigation will. not be harmful, if there is something wrong, the investigation is of value: One rancher said he believed Manager Forrest Varney of the NID was getting too much pay for what he was doing—and that he did nothing without pressure. Several farmers and ranchers inquired into what they called irregularities and inconsistencies of salaries. Specifically pointed out were Herman Retzlaff and Melvyn Retzlaff, who are listed as foremen at $3,000 per annum, and E. Keckler, a mechanic, who is drawing foreman’s pay of $3,600. Question of the necessity of Manning Miller in the business office was also discussed. Cal-Ida and Matson lumber mills near Sierraville have shut down for the winter according to the Downieville Messenger. © retary, have been upon the ground during the initial strike and are’ well pleased with ‘the outlook for future operations. Schiffner brothers have for the past year been cutting some three million feet of first growth timber from the patented portion of the property, which has never suffered from fire and was forested with trees running from three to six feet in diameter. The nearest drift diggings in gravel are on the old Gold Lead property, a mile and a half south, while the last breasting of the old Derbec company, which had worked the blue lead through the Derbec shaft and their drain tunnel for 13,000 feet along the channel “toward Graniteville, is five miles southwest. The intervening area is lava capped over the channel to a depth as great as 400 feet so that it-is impossible to determine the relation of the three or more channels embraced. within this area. As a matter of fact, inspection of the U. S. geologic folio shows @ lava-capped area of glaciated gravels some three miles in width extending from Columbia Hill toward Snow Point for eight miles. It has taken a lot of courage as well as money on the part of this company, who had nothing to guide them but hearsay evidence as to the values along the worked portion of the channel, which has long been inaccessible. We believe they are entitled to all the rewards which usually goes with courageous prospecting. BLASTS PRECEDING BRUSH CREEK MILL FIRE ARE REPORTED Workmen resided at Goodyears Bar reported hearing blasts before the fire which destroyed the mill of the Brush Creek mine Tuesday night, according to Sierra County Sheriff W D. Johnson, and operators of the mine, who are investigating arson possibilities. The fire levelled the 30x60 foot mill located two miles from the mine tunnels. A’ 75-ton ball mill was destroyed, along with concentration tables; flotation cells, shaker tables, cyanide plant and other processing equipment. Wendell Ingram, resident superintendent and one of the op. erators of the mine, which has been employing 18 persons, said all power and fuel oil lines had been turned off at 4 p.m. The mine is leased from the Alpha Hardware Stores, Ltd. LOCAL INVENTOR HAS ORDER FOR 600 UNITS A. G. Reynolds, local inventor who holds patents on 17 inventions, announced yesterday he received an order for 600 units of the product of his latest invention—a new type casting machine. The new product he has constructed dies for is a lighthouse lamp. Reynolds said he has been looking for financing to keep the manufacturing the units in Nevada City but has not had much encouragement and may place it in production in the bay. area. Reynolds said production would create a small payroll that could be potentially permanent. FIRST DEGREE CONFERRED Oustomah Lodge No. 16, International Order of Odd Fellows, conferred first degree at regular meeting Tuesday evening. Re-freshments followed the meeting.