In the Sentinel 100, 75, 50 and 25 years ago.
October 21, 1915: The big cable ship Burnside arrived in port last Saturday night and after spending Saturday in port started work on the broken cable. The break between here and Ketchikan was found only five knots off shore and was repaired. The crew then set to work and removed the approach cable from the place where it originally entered Front Street taking it up across the reserve back of the jail to the cable office. The Burnside left yesterday and took over the cable in other parts. Representative R.J. Heckman and wife and Mr. and Mrs. Mike Wadding of Ketchikan came up on the tug Falcon last Saturday, and are spending a few days here hunting on the flats and vicinity. The party made a trip to the flats last Sunday taking Wm. Taylor along as guide and returned with some ninety ducks, and yesterday a trip was made to Blind Slough where they also report good luck.
October 26, 1940: First word from his people since the German invasion of last spring was received by John Severson, longtime Wrangell resident, this week from Norway. Accompanying a letter from his mother at Kristiansund on the Norwegian coast southwest of Trondheim, were two pictures depicting the havoc wreaked in the town of about 20,000 by the German bombing of the city when the advance was made on Norway. Virtually nothing of the town is left standing, the letter reveals, and the pictures show sections of the demolished down town portion. The bombing occurred on Sunday evening, last April 28, starting at 8:15 and continuing during the night the censored letter says, the town evacuated the next day, the people, going to the country. Severson’s mother says she had nothing but one small box of food as she left the town and since that time it was indicated food has been a severe problem.
October 22, 1965: As part of the conference agenda for the coming Community Civil Defense Education Program, a Medical Self Help Course will be offered. This is a first aid type course based on what can be done by the family itself, in a disaster, when there may be no professional medical or nursing help available. The goal is for at least one person from each family to have taken the course. The hours have been arranged for the convenience of mothers who have children in school and the public health nurse urges attendance of as many individuals as possible. The course will be given by public health nurse Bea Espeseth, Verna Kaer who is a first aid instructor, and Dorothy Allen, teacher.
October 25, 1990: A Canadian trapper staged an apparent protest over gold-mining operations in the Craig River drainage last week, pitching a tent on the Bronson Creek Airstrip and bringing air traffic to a screeching halt. The half-day protest Oct. 19 apparently ended when long-time trapper David Watson - known to some Wrangellites as just “Trapper Dave” - reached an agreement with Cominco Inc. executives about the future of his claim against the huge mining concern. Expediters in Alaska and Canada as well as news media representatives in British Columbia said the coffee shops in Smithers and Terrace, British Columbia, and in Wrangell were buzzing with talk about Watson’s attempt to gain concessions from Cominco. Ralph Eastman of Cominco’s Vancouver, British Columbia, office said Watson set up camp in the middle of the airstrip, stalling flights in and out of the mine site for several hours on Oct. 19. While Eastman suggested the Sentinel talk to Watson about his motives, he said Cominco officials believed Watson was upset about mining’s impact on trapping and fishing activities in the Craig River Drainage. Wrangell residents said Watson for at least 10 years has operated a lodge and trapping operation in the Craig River area of Canada about 45 air miles from Wrangell. In recent years, the tourist operations at the Kamode Lodge apparently have not been very active, they said, but Watson has continued his trapping operations.
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