DON HULSHIZER - STORY OF THE NORTH
"OUT OF GAS ON BEAVER CREEK"
DON HULSHIZER - STORY OF THE NORTH
"In March of 1950 I flew a Cessna 195 on the regular Wien mail run, FLT 323, from Fairbanks to Fort Yukon with stops at Stevens Village and Beaver on the north bank of the Yukon river.
At Fort Yukon, I picked up Evelyn Melville, the Wien Alaska Airlines company agent. She needed to go to Fairbanks.
After passing over the White Mountains, two or three miles west of
my course, due to weather, then over Beaver Creek, Evelyn said, "Look down there!" and she pointed her finger out the window. There stamped out in the snow was the word, "GAS".
I banked around and sure enough the large word gas was tramped
out in the snow over the ice on Beaver Creek.
I swung around and let down to make a low pass over the word gas.
As I flew low two men came out of the woods on the north bank of Beaver
Creek waving their arms. Then I see a red "T-Craft" parked by the river bank.
I recognized the T-Craft as Al Wright's airplane. I could see
a small cabin off in the woods. I waggled my wings and climbed back
up to about 3,000 ft. and proceeded to Fairbanks International Airport.
After I landed and took care of Wien Airlines business, I got
a Civil Air Patrol L-5. I was a member of the CAP. I scrounged around and found two 5 gallon gas cans, filled them with aviation fuel, and loaded them in the back seat of the plane.
I flew back and landed on Beaver Creek, of course I was
on skies. As I came to a stop by Al's T-Craft, he and Norman Goldberg,
a fur buyer, came out of the woods and down the bank. The said they
were sure glad to see me.
As it turned out, they had been waiting for three days for
someone to find them. When they landed on Beaver Creek three
miles up from Big Bend, they didn't know the cabin was there.
We poured the gas in the T-Craft through a chamois skin
and Al had the engine preheated by the firepot and engine cover.
Al put the fire pot and engine cover in the airplane, got back in,
and I spun the prop to start the engine. They taxied out into position and took off for Fairbanks. I took off right behind them. I took a
picture of the T-Craft in flight and we proceeded on to Fairbanks."
"Stories of the North" are original tales
of life in Alaska from early days until the present.
They are as far as possible in the words of the authors.
