The Way We Were

August 1, 1912: After a very successful season of Stikine Flats fishing in which the value of Wrangell as the location for a cold storage and mild curing establishment was fully demonstrated, the Columbia and Northern Fishing and Packing Co. have commenced extensive improvements on the old Fort Wrangell Brewery building necessary to convert it into a first class cold storage and mild curing plant. The entire building has been reshingled, double walls are to be built, tight floors laid and an elevator installed. The “T” of the wharf has been lengthened 20 feet on the east, making more room for handling fish. Another branch of the industry is being formed by the purchase of the hull on the Telegraph, which will be remodeled and fitted out for seining and operated by the firm.

July 30, 1937: Charles Thompson and Jack Urata have started a new industry here by utilizing what has been heretofore waste by-products. They are packing salmon eggs for shipment to a Seattle firm. The eggs are first treated in a brine process before being packed in barrels. At Seattle some are processed into bait, others made into caviar and the rest dried and ground to be used in fish hatcheries. At present the eggs are secured from the ARB and Diamond K canneries and packed in the warehouse at the rear of Wrangell Hotel, where the young men have leased space for their operations.

July 27, 1962: Alta Neyman, daughter of Mrs. Dorothy Neyman and Wrangell's Fourth of July Queen, sponsored by the American Legion and Auxiliary, is leaving next Wednesday for Seattle and the World's Fair. Petite Miss Neyman won the trip to the Fair when she won over other candidates a competition to be Wrangell's Fourth of July Queen.

July 30, 1987: Wrangell's Youth Litter Patrol has been named recipient of the Rose Award for July from the Spruce Up Wrangell Committee. Those receiving the Skunk Cabbage Award were the people who have abandoned their junk cars on Lemieux Street between Ash Street and the Alaska State Housing Authority apartment complex. Residents of the neighborhood have repeatedly complained to the city about the eyesore and some attempts have been made recently to locate the vehicle owners. The Litter Patrol, a team of youths headed by Sandy Armstrong, has been working this month to pick up litter across town. Members of the team are Tracy Younce, Teresa Younce and Maylee Martin; while Becky Watson will be joining the team soon, Armstrong said. Litter Patrol members on Monday said they had collected 312 1/2 cans, during a four-hour clean-up period that morning. On Tuesday, in just two hours the team picked up 329 cans they said. They also declared a broken bowling pin as their most unusual piece of garbage to date. Armstrong and the team members were making the job enjoyable - and they said they hoped to compose poems about their garbage collections soon.