Project 1947 in the West

From: jan@cyberzone.net (Jan Aldrich)
Date: Sat, 17 May 1997 21:20:00 -0700
Subject: Project 1947 in the West

Early in 1964 Ted Bloecher had just started research
on the 1947 wave. His early results were reported the
UFO EVIDENCE edited by Richard Hall.  About 72% of the
reports Bloecher found came from the states west of the
100 degree West longitude line.  These were preliminary
finds based research in about 50 or so newspapers.


Out of the nearly 5000 newspaper examined so far for
Project 1947 about 1000 come from states and Canadian
Provinces west of the 100 degree West longitude line.
The biggest concentrations of sightings are still in
the West, but there are also other concentration on
the Canadian east coast, in Texas, and Missouri.

Many "new" sightings have been discovered such as the
one below:

Between Tonopah and Austin, Nevada (enroute to Elko, NV)
Aircraft encounter, 4 July:

Raymond Harris of Burbank, California and a friend were
flying in Harris' 150 Voyager to spend the 4th of July
weekend with his parents Deputy Sheriff and Mrs. J. C.
Harris.  Harris saw 5 fast flying shiney objects.  The
aircraft was at 10,000 feet, and the objects were slightly
below that altitude.  The objects reflected the sun so
brightly that it was difficult to see details, but they
were circular in shape and brilliant.  He turned his plane
around to give chase, but was unable to catch up, and the
objects soon disappeared.  The UFO were traveling in a
southwesterly direction.  When he landed, he inquired about
the objects. No one had seen them, and no one knew what
they were.  Elko, Nevada DAILY FREE PRESS, 7 Jul 1947.

Over 250 people have contributed research to Project
1947.  Here is a brief summary of the Project 1947
research in the West.

Alaska and Hawaii:  No visits.  All Alaskan newspapers
at the University of Washington have been checked.

Yukon and Northwest Territories.  Only a very sample of
newspapers check.  No visits.

British Columbia:  The BC Archives and the University
of Victoria were ckecked.  None of the newspapers in
the Legistative Library were checked.  There are also
significant newspapers only available at local libraries.
In later years the Fort St. Johns ALASKA HIGHWAY NEWS is
an important newspaper which reprints UFO sightings from
all over the Far North and Alaska.  This weekly newspaper
should be carefully screened.

Washington:  All newspapers at the University of Washington,
the State Library, Eastern Washington College have been checked.
There are still a number of important newspaper like the
Tacoma TIMES (only available at the Tacoma Public Library
which have not been checked.)

Oregon:  Checked all 1947 newspapers at the Oregon State
Library and the University of Oregon.  The Oregon State
Historical Society was not visited.  Some eastern Oregon
newspaper have not been checked.

California:  Checked all 1947 newspapers available at the
California State Library, Historical Society and UC, Berkley.
The big collection at UC, Riverside has not been checked.
The Lancaster, California newspaper and Edwards (Muroc)
AFB newspaper DESERT WINGS were not checked for 1947 or
other times. In 1952 DESERT WINGS had an article describing
a number of sighting.  This article was later reprinted in
the Lanscaster REALTOR NEWS  of 10 July 1952.  This article
has not been found.  About 40% of California newspapers for
1947 have not been checked.

Arizona:  All the 1947 newspapers Arizona State University,
and Northern Arizona University have been checked.  About 70%
of the newspapers at the State Library have been completed.  The
University of Arizona and the Arizona Historical Society were not
checked.

Nevada:  All 1947 newspapers at the Nevada Historical
Society were check. I understand that there are more
newspapers at the University of Nevada. There were many
gaps in the Nevada collection.  Also, Nevada was not
necessarily a UFO hot spot in 1947.

Idaho:  The University of Idaho in Moscow was completely
checked.  The newspaper collection at the Idaho Historical
Society in Boise which has mostly the same items available
at Moscow was not checked.  There is enough unique material
at Boise to make a check profitable.

Alberta:  The newspapers at the Archives and the University
were nearly completed.  There are some left to be done.

Saskatchewan:  The archives at Saskatoon and Regina were
completed.

Montana:  All 1947 newspapers at the University of Montana
and all newspapers on microfilm at the Montana State
Historical Society were checked.  The Great Falls LEADER
was the only hard copy newspaper at the Society that was
checked for 1947 and 1950.

Wyoming:  The newspapers at the University of Wyoming and
the Historical Society were checked.  There are also some
newspapers at county libraries which were checked.  There
are still some left to be done.

Utah:  All 1947 newspapers at the Utah State Library and
the University of Utah have been checked.  There are significant
newspapers not checked.  Possibly, there are collections available
at Brigham Young or in LDS archives?

Colorado:  All newspapers at the Colorado Historical Society were
checked.  There are significant newspapers not checked including
the Pueblo newspapers.

New Mexico:  All newspapers at the University of New Mexico
and the NM State Library have been checked.  Up to 1996 all 1947
newspaper known to the NM Newspaper Project were checked.  The
Newspaper Project is still attempting to locate more newspapers in
currently unknow collections.

West Texas:  About 50% of the newspapers in west Texas--or all
of Texas for that matter--have been checked.  I visited 20 different
libraries and institutions in Texas.  There are still many
significant newspapers left unchecked all over Texas.

In addition to 1947 research on pre-1947 incident has been done.
I also sampled coverage of the Spring 1950 and November 1957 flaps.
Other specific references were also checked.

Any additional assistance would be most welcome.  Before starting
research, let me know.  I can supply lists of newspapers
screened for all states, Canadian Provinces and foreign
countries.

Jan Aldrich
Project 1947