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The Chief Shakes Tribal House restoration project is more than halfway to completion, thanks in part to good weather and the hard work of the adzing team involved in the renovation. “If I had to put a number on the total project, I’d say we’re about 65 percent done,” said Project Manager Todd White. “We expected to salvage about 30 percent of the existing Tribal House, but that number turned out to be closer to 7 percent, creating additional work. But even with the additions, we’re still on-time for the 2013 re-dedication.” The Shakes Island tr...
With coats of stain covering the walls, and the majority of framing complete, the Chief Shakes Tribal House is more than halfway toward completion. According to project superintendent Todd White, the work continues and brings the finished house closer to reality every day. “The walls have been up for some time, but now the roof is halfway done and the adzers are doing everything they can to keep the cedar flowing to the island,” White said. “If I had to put a number on the total project, I’d s...
Peggy Wilson Why are you running for this newly created seat in the Alaska State Legislature? I feel I have a good understanding of the legislative process and know what is reality and what really can be accomplished through legislation. I am not a quitter. I am in this thing for the long haul. Some legislation takes a long while to put in place like my bill forming the SEASWA (Southeast Solid Waste Authority) and another of my bills forming MTAB (Marine Transportation Advisory Board). Capital...
By Greg Knight Sentinel writer In Tlingit culture and history, there is a concept of a house outliving its structure – and that the physical presence of any building carries forward in spiritual connotation long after it has fallen to the ground. With that concept in mind, Ken Hoyt of Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium’s native foods program in Wrangell helped organize the building of a community smokehouse for all residents of the island. More than two-dozen Wrangellites came out to...
A largely forgotten piece of Wrangell history may soon come to light, with the awarding of a Sealaska Heritage Institute grant to research the 1869 Bombardment of Wrangell. SHI received a one-year National Park Service Battlefield Preservation grant to document the 1869 bombardment through oral history work with elders. The work will be done in partnership with the Wrangell Cooperative Association. “This is the first ever Battlefield Preservation Grant awarded to an organization in Alaska to s...
The rear wall of the Chief Shakes Tribal House stands completed, with adzed and stained cedar planks having been placed firmly in their spots late last week....
The Wrangell Cooperative Association welcomed one of the earliest and largest contributors to the Chief Shakes restoration project to Wrangell last week, as members of the Rasmuson Foundation paid the Tribal House and Carving Shed a visit on June 25. “The Chief Shakes Island Tribal House restoration is exactly the type of project the Rasmuson Foundation likes to get behind,” said CEO Ed Rasmuson, who before becoming President and Chairman of the Board for National Bank of Alaska spent two years running the Wrangell branch after the tenure of...
When the Eagle totem at Shakes Island came down for renovation in September 2011, it was a beginning for the renovation project on the island – a project that would take more than a year and see the Chief Shakes Tribal House gutted down to its bare framework of original cedar. Another milestone in the life of the house came last week when workers raised the first newly adzed corner post for the building on June 15. The cedar plank, which is part of a batch of wood acquired by the Wrangell Cooper...
The Tribal House restoration on Chief Shakes Island was awarded another grant last week, with a $222,000 award from the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust inching the project towards full funding. After submitting and revising the grant multiple times beginning in 2009, Wrangell Cooperative Association received notice on May 24 that the grant had been approved. The trust put no restrictions on the grant distribution, and with the paperwork now officially signed, the entire amount will be paid in a lump sum. “We extend our congratulations on your r...
The Wrangell Cooperative Association was on the receiving end of financial help from the State of Alaska last week as Governor Sean Parnell included the Chief Shakes Tribal House and Carving Shed on the list of House District 2 initiatives for 2013. “Alaska’s cash position is as strong as it’s ever been,” Parnell said in his annual Budget Message given in Anchorage on May 14. “We start from a position of strength.” The WCA submission was just one of eight Wrangell projects receiving funding in the new budget. The Governor appropriate...
Members of the Wrangell Cooperative Association, along with visitors from other communities in Southeast Alaska, joined together on Tuesday, May 22 to bless planks of cedar to be used in the renovation of the Chief Shakes tribal house. The wood, which is a portion of 12 logs donated to the project by Sealaska Corporation, was taken from native lands near the Cleveland Peninsula on Prince of Wales Island. WCA office manager Carol Snoddy said the ceremony was special because the current delivery...
Wrangell is one step closer to a budget as the Borough Assembly passed their 2012 draft budget with little fanfare last week during their regular session meeting at City Hall. Comment came, however, during the public hearing held before the regular meeting – and saw one local businessman asking for a reduction in the current 7 percent sales tax levied on goods and services sold in Wrangell. Ernie Christian, manager of Otteson’s True Value, asked the board whether a reduction to 5 percent might be feasible for the community. “Thinking back...
The Chief Shakes Tribal House on Shakes Island is nearly empty. The intricate artwork has been taken out, as have the approximately 70-year old cedar floor beams, exposing electrical wires and the house’s foundation. The removal is part of the restoration project expected to cost nearly $1.1 million on the tribal house, which has been described as “Wrangell’s Washington Monument.” Restoration work began last week, and artwork and totem poles from the tribal house are now being stored the Nolan Center, where they are on display in the museum....
Feb. 29, 1912: William Neill returned on the Jefferson from the Sound where he had been on business regarding the new river boat to ply on the Stikine. Plans for the new boat were drawn up by L. E. Geary and company of Seattle, noted designers of speed boats. The Telegraph II will be a twin screw, funnel stern, shallow draft boat, 64 by 14 feet and will be powered with two 32 horsepower, 4 cylinder N&S motors to drive her against the current of the Stikine. Work on the hull started Monday. They expect to have the boat ready for work as soon as...
Sealaska will donate twelve cedar logs to the Wrangell Cooperative Association (WCA) to use towards the renovation of Chief Shakes Tribal House on Shakes Island. WCA requested the six red and six yellow cedar logs late last year through Sealaska’s log donation program. Sealaska — a native corporation — announced last week its board of directors had approved of the donation request. The logs will be used to replace the corner posts of the 70-year-old Shakes House. WCA had requested Sealaska’s log donation because it had run out of the resourc...
Over the next year, the over 70-year-old Chief Shakes Tribal House on Shakes Island will be restored, and Todd White is now on board as project manager. When talking about the project to restore the tribal house, which has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1970, White is obviously proud to be a part of it. White, of White Construction, said he has been working in the private sector since 1984, and completed over 21 community projects in Wrangell. “What I bring to the...
January The Wrangell School Board found $128,451 in additional, unspent funding from a federal program. In passing their 2011 budget, the board also accepted an $8,300 grant for the Upward Bound program. Master carvers Steve Brown and Wayne Price visited Shakes Island to begin discussions on the renovation of the Tribal House and to propose a traditional tools class. The US Forest Service began a scoping project for an Environmental Impact Study regarding timber sales and road construction for...
In the language of the Tlingit people, there is a saying that goes, “Sh yaa.awudaneiyi a kwaan,” which means “Respect people, respect yourself too, and other people will respect you.” The late Dr. Walter Soboleff, a Tlingit Elder, spiritual leader and past chair of the Sealaska Heritage Institute Board of Trustees, coined the quote in years past – and it never had more meaning than last week at the National Native Heritage Assembly held on November 29 at Wrangell High School. The assembly,...
The Rasmuson Foundation is making the dream of a new totem pole carving facility and the completion of the Shakes Island renovation a reality after making a $450,000 grant available to the Wrangell Cooperative Association. A $135,000 portion of the grant is earmarked for a new carving facility to be located on the property on Front Street at the former location of the Alaska Native Brotherhood hall. “The WCA has been awarded a grant for $450,000 for the renovation of the Chief Shakes Tribal H...
A revival of the art of traditional boat building is underway in Wrangell. That resurgence is taking place as one man seeks to keep history alive with an old-fashioned technique and rendering to work from. Josh Lesage, a volunteer on the Chief Shake Island renovation project and native of Canada, is currently building a vessel at the SNO building that will be used by him and his partner, Bianca Martin, when they return to the Yukon later this year. “I got into boatbuilding out in Whitehorse a...