In the Sentinel 100, 75, 50 and 25 years ago.
May 11, 1916: L.T. Watson, mining man from the Stikine country, is in town this week. Mr. Watson states that the mining outlook for his country was never better and is looking for a number of prospectors to go into the country this spring. Mr. Watson reports that the past winter has been an exceptionally good one for furs and states that one of the largest catches in the country will come down the river as soon as navigation is on in good shape. Mr. Watson also put in a good word for the work being done by the Department of Public Works of Canada in the blasting out of several bad riffles and otherwise making the river safer.
May 23, 1941: Headed by Manager A.L. Dorks, for years widely known in the fishing industry in Alaska, first of the Farwest Alaska Company Crews arrived in Wrangell this week to prepare for this season’s operations at the old Diamond K Cannery which Farwest has operated the last several years. Dorks, who has been in the Alaska fishing industry for a quarter of a century, succeeds J. Frank Wright, who is now in the lumber business, as manager of the local enterprise. B.H. Claghorn, long identified with the fishing industry here, is back as head of the business office and Frank Born is again on the job as storekeeper, Einar Ottesen, for many years with the late Frank S. Barnes, will be cannery superintendent.
May 23, 1966: The largest class in the history of Wrangell High School will be graduated in the high school auditorium Friday night. Graduation of the 33 members of the class of 1968 will begin at 8 p.m. Donald Dickey of Juneau, secretary of the Alaska State Chamber of Commerce will be featured speaker for the program. The program will open with an invocation of Rev. Robert Hillyer, pastor of the Baptist Church. Mike Massin, class salutatorian, will welcome those attending the event. Janet Luce, valedictorian of the class, will express the ambitions and desires of the class. Massin is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Matthew Massin and Miss Luce is the daughter of Mr. Raymond Luce. The Rev. Mathias Burger of St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church will give the benediction. Diplomas will be presented by Dr. Gary Floyd, dentist and chairman of the school board. The class will be presented to Dr. Floyd by Ed Frandsen, high school principal and class sponsor. Robert Grand is also a class sponsor.
May 23, 1991: Funding cuts for Alaska’s public schools were averted during the 1991 Legislature, but the fate of capital project funds weren’t as certain. As the Legislature wound down Tuesday, lawmakers were relieved that Gov. Wally Hickel had allowed a school funding bill to go into effect. Lawmakers had been bracing for a veto override vote, which ultimately wasn’t necessary. Meanwhile, however, a Senate plan to dole out $160 million for various capital projects seemed in danger of at least some line-item vetoes. John Manley, press spokesman for Hickel, said the governor was anticipating some cuts in the $8 million per Senate district earmarked by the Senate. At risk would be the nearly $2 million in capital project funds the District 1 delegation identified for Wrangell. “The governor has said he may be willing to cut it (capital project dollars), but I don’t know whether he’s said how much,” Manley said. “We’ll just have to see when the dust settles.”
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