The Way We Were

March 14, 1912: The Jefferson, brought Messrs. Hall and Gunderson, of South Bend Washington, who will immediately start the construction of a cannery at Burnett Inlet on the west coast of Etolin Island about thirty miles from Wrangell. Full crews of workmen and materials for erecting the buildings will be landed at Burnett Inlet by the Santa Ana which sailed from Seattle Sunday. Two boats have been purchased for the work, one sixty-footer for taking care of the fish and smaller one to run between the cannery and Wrangell. The cannery will be equipped with machines of forty thousand case capacity. Sanitary cans will be used entirely but the machinery for making the cans will not be installed and the cans will be shipped up as needed. Messrs. Hall and Gunderson are experienced men in the canning line. Mr. Hall having been Superintendent of a cannery at South Bend, and Mr. Gunderson, head trap man of the Lake Bay cannery.

March 12, 1937: “Love Pirates of Hawaii,” a two-act light opera which is being presented by the seventh and eighth grades of the Wrangell Public School at three performances this week scored a big hit last night at the first evening presentation. A matinee was given Wednesday afternoon which was largely attended by students of the school. The play is given in the high school auditorium. With only one setting necessary, a garden scene at Miss Palmer's private school for girls in Hawaii, and the actors on the floor level instead of on a stage, an innovation here, the performance moved smoothly. The actors came from the hall or the library without the usual unavoidable behind-the-scenes confusion. To those who feel that there is a lack of musical talent in Wrangell, last nights performance was a revelation. The tuneful choruses were sung with a vim and the solos were most pleasing.

the sweet voices of the girls who had the leads blended will with the stronger tones of Arnt Sorset as the bold Pirate Chief who came to capture the school, and Bernard Iverson as Lieutenant Wood of the U.S. Cruiser, Tennessee, disguised as a pirate, who had come to see his sweetheart.

March 16, 1962: Cole and Paddock of Juneau entered apparently low bids for the construction of six ferry terminal dock structures for the state's Marine Highway System, Public Works Commissioner Richard A. Downing announced yesterday. Three other bids on the dock construction were opened yesterday, but Cold and Paddock was the only firm to enter bids on all six structures. The firm already holds the state contracts for construction of transfer bridges for ferry terminals. The Juneau firm entered bids of $76,085 for dock structures at both Haines and Skagway; $61,500 for the Juneau dock; $63,289 for Petersburg; $63,426 for Wrangell and $50,314 for Sitka. Downing said the successful bidder will be required to start work within 15 days after receiving notice to proceed, and complete the work by Sept. 15.

March 12, 1987: The old gym was locked this week by the city after Superintendent Dick Barton terminated school use of the facility with a letter to the City Council. City Manager Joyce Rasler announced at the close of Tuesday's council meeting that she received a hand-delivered letter late in the day from Barton turning the gym over to the city. Barton's letter said he had been directed to convey the building to the city. An official vote on conveyance by the School Board, however, was not expected until a special meeting March 26. Barton's letter did not say by whom he had been directed to take the conveyance actions, although Board President Allen Ferris, in an interview Tuesday night, said he had directed Barton to write the letter after he conducted a phone poll of all board members Tuesday, It was a unanimous vote, he said.