In the Sentinel 100, 75, 50 and 25 years ago.
July 17, 1913: A terrible accident occurred in the Sheep Creek tunnel of the Alaska Gastineau Mining Company on Tuesday at 5:20 a.m. resulting in the death of one and injury to a score of the workmen. One man was killed, three seriously injured and eight bruised and powder burned. The full crew night shift working under shift boss Miller was preparing for another round of shots with three machines working. After the previous explosion it was noticed that a small portion of the charge in one of the holes was not exploded and as usual the men were warned of this condition by the shift boss. The accident was caused by Jim Harrington, the only man to lose his life, in charge of the machines. He permitted his drill to creep over until it slipped into the old hole and came in contact with the powder. The result is told in the injuries to the members of the crew that worked with him.
July 8, 1938: After several days of brilliant sunshine during which encouragement was felt that the spell of rainy Fourths which for several years past has been Wrangell portion, might be broken, it began to rain during the night of July 3rd and with the exception of brief intervals, it rained all day the Fourth. The committee in charge of arrangements for the Chamber of Commerce, which sponsored the day's celebration, cancelled the two-hour program of streets sports planned for the juvenile population. As part of the day's entertainment the committee had arranged with the Coliseum Theatre to hold a matinee, which was free to all under 16 years of age. Manager J.R. Brown presented a fine program which was enthusiastically received. “The matinee certainly saved the day,” Leo McCormack, committee chairman, said later “and it would have been impossible to buy so much entertainment for so many children in any other way for the $15 which we paid the Coliseum.”
July 12, 1963: Kenneth Lanting with a 65-pound king, is leading in Wrangell's King Salmon Derby which comes to a close at midnight Sunday, July 14th. Mannie Landstrom is in second place with a slightly smaller king- 64 lbs, 8 ounces. Third in line is Chuck Martin with a 62 lb, 8 ounce fish. First award is a round trip ticket to any place in the U.S. plus spending money. The Derby Committee today expressed its thanks to all the businesses, entrants and others who made the derby a record success.
July 7, 1988: Wrangell is losing part of its history to a lack of maintenance at the old cemetery near the Little League ballfield, members of the Cemetery Committee say. Carol Elliott, Barbara Angerman and Lynne Campbell, appearing at a recent City Council workshop, urged the council to hire more than a part-time maintenance worker to bring to repair and groom the old cemetery grounds. Fallen gravestones, moss six inches deep covering grave markers and overgrown grasses are just some of the items needing repair and maintenance. Discussion of the cemetery came as the council mulled possible capital and maintenance needs of the city in the next 6 years. Members of the Cemetery Committee attended the workshop to urge council members to include some items they wanted on the overall capital projects list. The city has appropriated more than $40,000 in the coming year to build an access road into the newer Sunset Gardens Cemetery on the upland side of Zimovia Highway. In addition, funds are budgeted to mark out the plots in Sunset Gardens to help in locating graves. But in the old cemetery on the water side of Zimovia Highway, Cemetery Committee members said much more labor is needed. They presented the council with an old photograph of the cemetery - taken sometime around the turn of the cemetery - to demonstrate how fine the area once looked.
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