The Way We Were

In the Sentinel 100, 75, 50 and 25 years ago.

April 22, 1915: According to reports, the Canoe Pass Packing Company has bought or leased a plot near the steamer wharf in Cordova and will move one line of machinery from the cannery at Canoe Pass and install it in the new location at once. The Canoe Pass cannery is of two lines and was built in 1912 and operated only in that year. Earl West and Jack Myers made a trip to the Hot Springs up the river last week. They report considerable snow up there and also of the remarkable number of Moose tracks up the valley; as from the looks, there are a great number wintering in that locality. N.J. Svindseth has received a large number of flower seeds for feed distribution. The seeds have been selected by the government for this section, and if you have a garden or flower bed call at the Follensbee Barber Shop and get a package.

April 19, 1940: (By Winifred Williams) Watching, last Tuesday afternoon, the raising of Na-chee-su-na, the largest of the totem poles on Shakes Island, which raises straight and superb over the low roof of the Shakes Community house, one could not help but give pause and try to visualize the same procedure in generations past before white man's block and tackle were known to the Natives of Alaska. The Na-chee-su-na totem is fifty feet high with a circumference at the base of about ten feet. It is carved from a single, tall, straight cedar. Standing in the warm, sunshiny afternoon, watching the men, like ants scurrying around a maze of ropes and tackle, shouting orders and warnings as the great pole slowly rose and feeling the strain of the ropes and praying that they would hold, the scene changed, in our mind's eye, into generations long since past.

April 16, 1965: The annual King Salmon Derby will get under way Sunday, April 25 and end Monday, July 11. Special Derby Days will be May 29, 30 and 31. Special awards will be given for the largest fish caught in these three days. Fishing area is the same as last year with one exception; Snow Pass is not in the fishing area. Complete area will be mapped out on the derby window as soon as possible. Weighing in of fish will be on the new scales which are to be set up on the street end of Wrangell Cold Storage. All fish must be weighed on these scales. Bob Wickman, at Wrangell Wharf, will be available to weigh fish during week days. Others will be announced later.

April 19, 1990: Wrangell voters can begin applying for absentee ballots next week for a special election slated for next month to decide whether the local sales tax should rise from 5 to 7 percent. The City Council at its April 10 meeting approved the ballot question for the sales tax hike. The 2 percent increase should raise about $480,000 a year in income for the city. Voters in October 1989 approved a ballot question that requires all sales tax increases to receive voter approval before going into effect. The special election on the tax question is scheduled for May 22. Councilmen, at their April 10 meeting, were to consider a plan to boost the sales tax just 1 percent. But Mayor Don House led the discussion, saying he favored a 2 percent sales tax boost instead. City Manager Darrell Maple said his draft budget, scheduled for release this week, anticipates a 5 percent sales tax and increase in property tax from 9 mills to 16 mills. But taxpayers testifying before the council during the past two meetings have opposed any plan to boost property taxes. Instead, they have urged the council to seek the 2 percent sales tax.

 

Reader Comments(0)