February 6, 1964 (20 pages)

. February 6, 1964. Page 3. .The Nugget. Page 3 NORTHERN ‘MINES & CALIFORNIA REPORTS CIE tHE ay + Pte H+ +t $F Fk E 44 + FEE Ht +P HH “er Nevada County's Silent Enemy (The First of Three Reports) By Dean Thompson Nevada County may be a wonderful place to retire, but “it's a rough deal" totry to make a living here. This is the way Nevada County's unemployed summarize the giant problem of a county where the rate of unemployment tothe total labor force runs twice that of the state average---or more. The Yuba -Bear Project brought some relief to the county's silent enemy, the unemployment problem. And prospects are that this year will see even greater employment on the water-power construction job. But the YubaBear Project will be completed this year. And the unemployment problem will not be solved by 1965. Unemployment is a statewide subject of concern. But whereas the statewide percentage of unemployed reached an alarming 6.1 percent of the labor force in _ October, Nevada County is lucky to have its percentage of unem~ ployed dropto 12 per cent during the best seasonal increase in jobs. Why is this true? Partly because the area has never fully recovered from the closing ‘of the mines, Partly because the major “industries” that prod we e jobs in tire county“are exceptionally vulnerable to seasonal fluctuation. Statistics for the county, more specifically for the western Nevada County area, are hard to dig out. Some are obtained ona county -wide basis. Some are obtained from the California Department of Employment office in, Grass Valley which also services portions of Sierra and Yuba Counties. But there are good reasons to believe the 12 per cent minimum unemployment in the area. U.S. Census figures in April, 1960, confirmed it. The Department of Employment in Grass Valley estimates the best seasonal figure at Gerick Nominated Among 30 nominations by Con~gressman Harold T. Johnson to the three service academies, one went to Edward Martin Gerick, student at Nevada Union High School. Gérick, 17, is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Edward I. Gerick, 402 Valley St., Nevada City. He was nominated for a Merchant Marine appointment. DIVIDEND SET ; A regular quarterly dividend of fifty cents a share on Bank of America National Trust and Savings Association capital stock was declared January 21 by the bank's board of directors meeting in San Francisco, payable Feb. 28 to shareholders of record Feb. 1, 12 per cent unemployed and estimates that the unemployment increases to “at least 20 per cent” in winter months. The principal manufacturing activity reported by the research and. statistical department of the California Department of Employment is lumbering and wood products, But the report showed that this was a shrinking industry, in its comparison of July, 1962, withJuly, 1961. During this periodthere wasa drop of more than ten per cent in persons employed in this manufacturing activity. The largest number of employeesinthe area work for gov~UNEMPLOYMENT ernment---federal,” state and local, These in July, 1962, totalled 950, up 75 in one year. Second largest group was the workers engaged in wholesale and retail trade, 925, up 25 from 1961. Third were workers employed inservice iit a in 700. But the report noted that 900 workers living in the area commuted to other areas for their livelihood, ‘“because of limited w ork opportunities within the community”. (Next: “You Can Go A Long Way In Debt") TAILINGS ‘LEAD BALL IN HIS HEART’ HUMBUG April 1861 By Hollis Bentley Thecoroner was satisfied. The death of Benjamin Wheeler had been a bizarre but explainable accident andthe case was closed. The facts known about Wheeler were few but the coroner had learned that men who appeared suddenly from the vast land beyond the mountains or from across the sea, were men who cared only for gold and were, for the most part, without names and without pasts. . There was no reason to believe Benjamin Wheeler was anyone but 11:30 AM SPPOINTMENTS * FORMS AND PHAMPLETS..An unemployed worker has before him forms, applications and phamplets as Grass Valley Department of Employment worker Marnie Sanford checks to make sure that the manhas all he needs to qualify for aid under the unemployment insurance program Nevada County's unemployment of the state. rate is double that of the state average in the summer months and skyrockets to 20 per cent or more of the local labor force during the winter months. This is’true in spite of the fact that an estimated 900-localworkers commute to work in other areas. Seasonal nature of the area's major industry is givenas the cause of the annual winter lull in Nevada County employment. STUDENTS DONATE TO SIERRA BOND DRIVE Sierra College students last week donated $300 to the campaign funds tohelp pass the March 3 college bond issue for six new buildings at the college campus, Faculty President John Creelman reported, Executive council members voted the funds and pledged their aid. . SUPERVISORS STUDY BUS The supervisorial committee of Supervisors Gene Ricker and Tabe Bishop will study what can be done torestore bus service between Nevada City andGrass Valley. Chairman Henry Loehr appointed the two to meet with Assistant District Attorney Bill Cassettari to inaugurate the study after several organizations appeared before the board Monday to plea for county action on trans-' portation. Sparked by the Nevada City Women's Civic Club, represen~ tatives of Senior Citizens’ clubs, Grass Valley merchants, the Sierra Nevada’ Memorial Hospital and auxiliary, Grass Valley BPW, and numerous other groups that were not called upon to speak attended the meeting. Miss Adelaide Elliot told the supervisors that the Women's Civic Club thought the county should be prepared to subsidize a bus line if necessary. She said the two cities should also join ina subsidy if it became necessary. The possibility of a transportation district was also suggested, Hackett Show Off To A Good Start The opening of Beverly Hackett 's month-long showing of paintings and prints atthe Nevada City Artists’ Gallery on Commercial St. Sunday was well-attended. Mrs. Hackett's exhibit drew praise, and her print, "In MemPe m", was especially appreciated by the viewers. It is on sale for $15, the money to be presented to a scholarship fund in memory of former President John F. Kennedy. Gallery officials noted that one picture was sold during the open~ing day's exhibit. The showing will continue through February with the gallery open Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays from 2 to 4 p.m. Benjamin Wheeler, a healthy man in his 40s working, from all accounts, a profitable claim. He was a man who didn't tell tales on himself but was reportedly from the "East". Thé€re was no reason to suspect Wheeler had found something special and had been seen finding it by one of the many parasites of the gold fields who profited from other men's labor. Inasmall feeder stream of the South Yuba River when the water ran high from the melting snow and the stream bed was being churned around, Wheeler found a gold nugget his hand couldn't close around, He said nothing about it but carried it with him from then on. Wheeler often went squirrel hunting andthe last time he went was shortly after a heavy snow storm. The wind and snow had broken many branches from the oaks of the grove he entered and the deep snow had covered them as they had fallen heavily to the ground, A tree near where Wheeler sighted a big squirrel had lost a branch that in falling had left a sm all scartwo inches in circumference in the hard wood bark. Wheeler fired at the squirrel and the lead passed through the ‘tiny animal, hitting the hard wood of the squirrel's tree and dropping into the snow. But before the squirrel's body hit the ground a second shot fromthe direction of the damaged tree glanced off Wheeler's still raised gun and-tore into his body. His punctured heart burst in a fountain of blood. A man raised’himself from his Thiding place ina small creek and walked through the icy, rocky bed until he reached the place where Wheeler had crossed the stream. He tied homemade, rounded snowshoes to his feet and followed in Wheeler's tracks to the body. After taking the nugget he unlaced his web feet and turning them around, relaced them and followed Wheeler's tracks back ‘. to. the. main travelled trail, Behind was one set of tracks whose peculiarities would soften in the wind and frost before the lone miner was found, The officials investigating Benjamin Wheeler's death found a flattened lead ball in his heart. ‘They found the squirrelwith a hole through it and automatically sought the bullet in the tree, They found a splintered furrow that was like an arrow pointing to another oak where they could, clearly see a dent in the smooth hard surface completing the rebounding triangle backto Wheeler's body. Thereport tothe coroner mentioned these unusual circumstances as well asthe absolute absence of human tracks within firing distance of the body,

. February 6, 1964. Page 3. .The Nugget.. Page 3 NORTHERN ‘MINES & CALIFORNIA REPORTS CIE tHE ay + Pte H+ +t $F Fk E 44 + FEE Ht +P HH “er Nevada County's Silent Enemy (The First of Three Reports) By Dean Thompson Nevada County may be a wonderful place to retire, but “it's a rough deal" totry to make a living here. This is the way Nevada County's unemployed summarize the giant problem of a county where the rate of unemployment tothe total labor force runs twice that of the state average---or more. The Yuba -Bear Project brought some relief to the county's silent enemy, the unemployment problem. And prospects are that this year will see even greater employment on the water-power construction job. But the YubaBear Project will be completed this year. And the unemployment problem will not be solved by 1965. Unemployment is a statewide subject of concern. But whereas the statewide percentage of unemployed reached an alarming 6.1 percent of the labor force in _ October, Nevada County is lucky to have its percentage of unem~ ployed dropto 12 per cent during the best seasonal increase in jobs. Why is this true? Partly because the area has never fully recovered from the closing ‘of the mines, Partly because the major “industries” that prod we e jobs in tire county“are exceptionally vulnerable to seasonal fluctuation. Statistics for the county, more specifically for the western Nevada County area, are hard to dig out. Some are obtained ona county -wide basis. Some are obtained from the California Department of Employment office in, Grass Valley which also services portions of Sierra and Yuba Counties. But there are good reasons to believe the 12 per cent minimum unemployment in the area. U.S. Census figures in April, 1960, confirmed it. The Department of Employment in Grass Valley estimates the best seasonal figure at Gerick Nominated Among 30 nominations by Con~gressman Harold T. Johnson to the three service academies, one went to Edward Martin Gerick, student at Nevada Union High School. Gérick, 17, is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Edward I. Gerick, 402 Valley St., Nevada City. He was nominated for a Merchant Marine appointment. DIVIDEND SET ; A regular quarterly dividend of fifty cents a share on Bank of America National Trust and Savings Association capital stock was declared January 21 by the bank's board of directors meeting in San Francisco, payable Feb. 28 to shareholders of record Feb. 1, 12 per cent unemployed and estimates that the unemployment increases to “at least 20 per cent” in winter months. The principal manufacturing activity reported by the research and. statistical department of the California Department of Employment is lumbering and wood products, But the report showed that this was a shrinking industry, in its comparison of July, 1962, withJuly, 1961. During this periodthere wasa drop of more than ten per cent in persons employed in this manufacturing activity. The largest number of employeesinthe area work for gov~UNEMPLOYMENT ernment---federal,” state and local, These in July, 1962, totalled 950, up 75 in one year. Second largest group was the workers engaged in wholesale and retail trade, 925, up 25 from 1961. Third were workers employed inservice iit a in 700. But the report noted that 900 workers living in the area commuted to other areas for their livelihood, ‘“because of limited w ork opportunities within the community”. (Next: “You Can Go A Long Way In Debt") TAILINGS ‘LEAD BALL IN HIS HEART’ HUMBUG April 1861 By Hollis Bentley Thecoroner was satisfied. The death of Benjamin Wheeler had been a bizarre but explainable accident andthe case was closed. The facts known about Wheeler were few but the coroner had learned that men who appeared suddenly from the vast land beyond the mountains or from across the sea, were men who cared only for gold and were, for the most part, without names and without pasts. . There was no reason to believe Benjamin Wheeler was anyone but 11:30 AM SPPOINTMENTS * FORMS AND PHAMPLETS....An unemployed worker has before him forms, applications and phamplets as Grass Valley Department of Employment worker Marnie Sanford checks to make sure that the manhas all he needs to qualify for aid under the unemployment insurance program Nevada County's unemployment of the state. rate is double that of the state average in the summer months and skyrockets to 20 per cent or more of the local labor force during the winter months. This is’true in spite of the fact that an

estimated 900-localworkers commute to work in other areas. Seasonal nature of the area's major industry is givenas the cause of the annual winter lull in Nevada County employment. STUDENTS DONATE TO SIERRA BOND DRIVE Sierra College students last week donated $300 to the campaign funds tohelp pass the March 3 college bond issue for six new buildings at the college campus, Faculty President John Creelman reported, Executive council members voted the funds and pledged their aid. . SUPERVISORS STUDY BUS The supervisorial committee of Supervisors Gene Ricker and Tabe Bishop will study what can be done torestore bus service between Nevada City andGrass Valley. Chairman Henry Loehr appointed the two to meet with Assistant District Attorney Bill Cassettari to inaugurate the study after several organizations appeared before the board Monday to plea for county action on trans-' portation. Sparked by the Nevada City Women's Civic Club, represen~ tatives of Senior Citizens’ clubs, Grass Valley merchants, the Sierra Nevada’ Memorial Hospital and auxiliary, Grass Valley BPW, and numerous other groups that were not called upon to speak attended the meeting. Miss Adelaide Elliot told the supervisors that the Women's Civic Club thought the county should be prepared to subsidize a bus line if necessary. She said the two cities should also join ina subsidy if it became necessary. The possibility of a transportation district was also suggested, Hackett Show Off To A Good Start The opening of Beverly Hackett 's month-long showing of paintings and prints atthe Nevada City Artists’ Gallery on Commercial St. Sunday was well-attended. Mrs. Hackett's exhibit drew praise, and her print, "In MemPe m", was especially appreciated by the viewers. It is on sale for $15, the money to be presented to a scholarship fund in memory of former President John F. Kennedy. Gallery officials noted that one picture was sold during the open~ing day's exhibit. The showing will continue through February with the gallery open Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays from 2 to 4 p.m. Benjamin Wheeler, a healthy man in his 40s working, from all accounts, a profitable claim. He was a man who didn't tell tales on himself but was reportedly from the "East". Thé€re was no reason to suspect Wheeler had found something special and had been seen finding it by one of the many parasites of the gold fields who profited from other men's labor. Inasmall feeder stream of the South Yuba River when the water ran high from the melting snow and the stream bed was being churned around, Wheeler found a gold nugget his hand couldn't close around, He said nothing about it but carried it with him from then on. Wheeler often went squirrel hunting andthe last time he went was shortly after a heavy snow storm. The wind and snow had broken many branches from the oaks of the grove he entered and the deep snow had covered them as they had fallen heavily to the ground, A tree near where Wheeler sighted a big squirrel had lost a branch that in falling had left a sm all scartwo inches in circumference in the hard wood bark. Wheeler fired at the squirrel and the lead passed through the ‘tiny animal, hitting the hard wood of the squirrel's tree and dropping into the snow. But before the squirrel's body hit the ground a second shot fromthe direction of the damaged tree glanced off Wheeler's still raised gun and-tore into his body. His punctured heart burst in a fountain of blood. A man raised’himself from his Thiding place ina small creek and walked through the icy, rocky bed until he reached the place where Wheeler had crossed the stream. He tied homemade, rounded snowshoes to his feet and followed in Wheeler's tracks to the body. After taking the nugget he unlaced his web feet and turning them around, relaced them and followed Wheeler's tracks back ‘. to. the. main travelled trail, Behind was one set of tracks whose peculiarities would soften in the wind and frost before the lone miner was found, The officials investigating Benjamin Wheeler's death found a flattened lead ball in his heart. ‘They found the squirrelwith a hole through it and automatically sought the bullet in the tree, They found a splintered furrow that was like an arrow pointing to another oak where they could, clearly see a dent in the smooth hard surface completing the rebounding triangle backto Wheeler's body. Thereport tothe coroner mentioned these unusual circumstances as well asthe absolute absence of human tracks within firing distance of the body,