Convairiety, Volume 7, Number 4, February 24, 1954 Page: 4 of 8
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Page 4
CONVAIRIETY
February 24, 1954
GOLD BUGS—Search for gold adds zest to outdoor jaunts for these Pomona j fully into pan on chances of finding nugget. At right is Bill Hibbard at mine site,
men. At left is George Dynes working sluice box, while R. F. Dempsey looks hope- j Miners center operations in San Gabriel Canyon.
Living Afloat
Convair Couple Settle Down to
Housekeeping at Water Level
Not content to live just over-
looking the waters of San Diego
Bay, a Convair couple decided
recently to live ON them.
However, their idea of ship-
board living is a far cry from the
cramped quarters usually asso-
ciated with life on the bounding
main.
The home of Mr. and Mrs. Guil
Dean is a unique houseboat that
riyals most homes ashore in con-
veniences.
Dean, a member of Dept. 6 at
San Diego, started homebuilding
with a surplus Navy landing craft
for “foundation.” This was chop-
ped off about two feet above the
water line and a flat deck added.
This overhangs the hull about six
feet on one side forming a porch.
(A pontoon gives the overhang
extra support and eliminates ex-
cess rocking.) The floating home
is 12 by 34 feet overall and part
of it is two-story.
Rooms include a kitchen-living
room combination, workshop and
storage room, bathroom with all
the fixtures, and an upper deck
bedroom that overlooks every-
thing. Utilities include hot and
cold running water, butane for
cooking and heating, electricity
for light.
“We named our home the
‘Dodo,’ after that now extinct bird
that couldn’t fly,” Dean said.
However, the Dodo isn’t entire-
ly helpless and doomed to stay
tied to the shore for life. An out-
board motor gives the houseboat
a certain amount of mobility,
enough to shift from one mooring
to another.
The Deans performed much of
the work of construction them-
selves, though contractors were
employed to build the major
framework. Carrying material
over the long floating dock to
which Dodo is moored, they in-
stalled plate glass windows, hung
doors, installed plumbing and wir-
ing, decorated and painted. The
final touch, yet to be performed,
will be a flower garden!
Dean estimates he has invested
about $3,000 in his floating home
in direct dollars alone.
Dominating the interior is a
nine-foot mural depicting a Baja
California shoreline scene. It was
CiS
painted by Allan Stover, also of
Dept. 6.
“Some probably will question
our sanity at living on the water,”
Dean said, “but I believe we
would have done it even though
there were a premium price in-
volved. We prefer it.
“We can cast off any time the
‘neighborhood’ gets crowded . . .
and where else can you fish with-
out leaving your favorite chair?”
Forty WAFs Tour
Fort Worth Plant
Forty WAFs toured Convair
FW Division recently during
their stay at Fort Worth for the
Southwestern Stock Show and
Exposition.
The group comprises a WAF
band from Lackland AFB, San
Antonio, which performed at the
show.
While at Convair they were
briefed by Lt. Col. C. Savage.
AF plant representative. Burt
Lambert, Dept. 3, and Larry
Hayes and Malcolm Holloway,
Dept. 2-5, accompanied the WAFs
on a tour of the plant.
Nugget Hunters
Pomona Gold Miners Hit Rich
Payoff—in Health and Exercise
A strange—and highly con-
tagious—malady has overcome
Convair Pomona’s W. D, “Bill”
Hibbard and George Dynes (both
Dept. 27).
But even though they may ap-
pear slightly delirious at times,
they aren’t suffering, and neither
are they dangerous. They have
“gold fever.” Hibbard and Dynes
—and now several other Convair
Pcmcftta people—spend most of
I told Wilbur that if he DOES
buy a dairy farm he MUST in-
stall modern machinery ... I
just won’t have a lot of cows
around!
DOWN TO THE SEA—This is new floating home of Guil Dean (Dept. 6 SD). He estimates it
has cost him about $3,000. Inset shows Deans at galley.
Convair Appetite at San Diego Varied But Hearty
As Plant Vending Machines Click Forth Carloads
Convair San Diego has a big
appetite when it takes time out.
In addition to food and drink
brought from home or purchased
at lunch counters or cafeterias,
Convair SD each month consumes
from plant vending machines:
Candy, peanuts and cookies
enough to fill a freight car;
30,000 gallons of coffee and soft
drinks; a quarter of a railway
carload of chewing gum; a quar-
ter of a carload of cigarettes.
In fact, SD Division purchases
are so large that Davidson Bros.,
operators of the plant vending
machines, receive shipments di-
rect from the manufacturer. So
says Ed F. Feeney, supervisor of
the crew of 15 that services the
more than 400 pieces of equip-
ment at both Plants 1 and 2.
(Incidentally, the vending ma-
chines are particularly important
to Convair because a percentage
of the profits accrues to the Con-
vair Recreation Association, form-
ing the CRA’s main source of in-
come.)
Feeney pointed out that Con-
vair employees are non-conform-
ists when it comes to vending
machine habits. Although in most
localities coffee drinking varies
with the seasons, Convair SD
gulps 20,000 gallons of coffee a
month regardless of the season.
The same trends are noted at
Pomona Division, where Davidson
Bros, also operate the vending
machines.
Feeney also added these facts
about Convair’s appetite:
Over 100 brands of candy are
rotated through machines but
Hershey’s account for half the
sales with peanuts ranking second
in popularity; cigarette machines
located near office areas dispense
more “king size” packs, while
those in the factory areas sell
more “regular size” packs; as
many people buy candy bars sell-
ing for 10 cents each as those
selling for a nickel; vitamin pills
have continued to increase in
sales since they were offered for
the first time recently.
Keeping track of the vending
machines at both plants is an
around-the-clock task. Drink ma-
chines are serviced twice daily
and the stocks in candy machines
alternated every second day. Rec-
ords are kept on each machine to
insure that a variety of brands
will appear regularly.
BATTERY—Typical scene in Convair SD plant, showing battery
of vending machines. Latest addition is vitamin tablets.
their spare time searching for
gold in San Gabriel Canyon, about
40 miles from Pomona.
“All we have to do to spread
the ‘disease’ is to show our collec-
tions of nuggets, and the new
‘victim’ is ready to ‘head for the
hills,’ ” Hibbard said. “For gold
panning is an ideal hobby for
those who like outdoors life.
“As hobbies go it is inexpen-
sive, it’s relaxing, and there is al-
ways the excitement of the possi-
bility of ‘striking it rich.’ And
it’s also a lot of fun,” he added.
Gold found in San Gabriel Can-
yon is in placer (or free) form,
usually in nuggets deposited
among the sand and gravel of a
former bed of the San Gabriel
River. The bed has long since
been covered over with rocks and
soil and now is high above the
present bed of the river.
Gold may also be found occa-
sionally in the present river bed,
where it has washed down from
the original placer deposits higher
up in the canyon, Hibbard said.
“All one needs for placer min-
ing is a strong back, the patience
of a mule, and a small amount of
basic equipment which can be
made or purchased for a few dol-
lars,” Hibbard said. “A little
knowledge of geology is helpful,
but not absolutely necessary.
“We do our mining by remov-
ing gravel from the old river bed,
which is exposed in certain areas
on the side of the canyon. Then
we carry it down to the present
stream and ‘wash’ it, using either
a sluice box or a prospector’s gold
pan. If gold is present, it will
remain in the bottom of the box
or pan after the sand and gravel
have been washed away. That is
because gold is much heavier than
the other materials.”
Actually it isn’t quite as easy
as it sounds. There is sometimes
a long haul from the mine to the
water, and many loads of sand
and gravel are sometimes hauled
before a single nugget of gold is
found.
“But on the other hand, pros-
pectors working in the canyon
have occasionally uncovered
pockets of nuggets worth several
hundred dollars,” Dynes said. “It
is a matter of record that sub-
stantial amounts of gold have
been removed from the canyon,
and it’s reasonable to assume
that plenty is left.”
At present Hibbard and Dynes
are considering several ideas
which they believe will eliminate
much of the hard labor involved
in their mining venture. One of
these is a pump to bring water
up to one of the mines they are
working. This would enable them
to run a sluice box at the mine,
rather than carrying the gold-
bearing gravel and sand down to
the water as they are now doing.
“Although we’ve been mining
in the canyon for several months,
we’ve actually found only enough
gold to keep our interest alive,”
Hibbard said. “The main payoff
we’ve received has been the exer-
cise, fresh air, and relaxation.
“But, of course, we wouldn’t
mind supplementing this ‘income’
with a nugget or two!” he added.
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Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Corporation. Convairiety, Volume 7, Number 4, February 24, 1954, periodical, February 24, 1954; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1117946/m1/4/: accessed August 15, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company, Fort Worth.