The Nome Nugget

Joseph Flackne
Named Labor Relations
Officer For U.S.E.D.

Joseph T. Flackne - who has maintained residence in Alaska since 1929, although filing many key posts in the United States has been appointed labor relations officer of the legal branch for the U. S. Army Engineer District, Alaska.

Flackne succeeds Howard M. Gray who after two years in Alaska is transferring to his former post with the Fort Worth, Texas, District of the Corps of Engineers.

Flackne has an unusual record in Alaskan research and development. He was graduated from the University of Alaska in 1934, earning his way with the U. S. Biological Survey Wild Life Experiment Station at College, including research with caribou, reindeer, mountain sheep, buffalo, yak and musk oxen.

After graduation he was made superintendent of the University of Alaska experiment farm at Fairbanks.

In 1936 he became Alaska's first Agricultural agent stationed in the Matanuska Valley colonization. His territory included the Anchorage area, Kenai Peninsula and Kodiak.

When Public Employment offices were established in 1937 he became first director, selecting and training personnel for location and installation of new offices, including Juneau, Ketchikan, Anchorage, Fairbanks, Cordova, Kodiak and Nome, and for a time during World War II with branch offices in the Aleutian Islands.