December 7, 1916: President Wilson recently signed a proclamation setting apart an area of thirty-eight acres within the Tongass national forest, Alaska, as the Old Kasaan national monument. The tract embraces the abandoned Haida Indian village of Old Kasaan, situated on Prince of Wales island, in South eastern Alaska, about thirty miles west of Ketchikan. The village of Old Kasaan was abandoned by the Indians about ten years ago, and among the relics which remain there are about fifty Indian totem poles, five or six of which are classed as exceedingly good specimens. In the deserted village there also remain eight large square buildings, which were originally constructed according to the peculiar plan of the Haida Indians, and which, it is stated by those best qualified to know, represent the best specimens of Haida architecture that now exist.
December 5, 1941: Ten men will answer Wrangell’s second call under Selective Service for duty in the U.S. Army, it was announced by the Draft Board this week. While Wrangell was asked to furnish only eight men in this call, it was short on the first call and is calling two more to make up the initial quota. The men are scheduled to leave from here Monday aboard the Denali for Chilkoot Barracks.
December 2, 1966: Walter J. Hickel, Anchorage businessman, will be sworn in Monday, December 5, in Juneau as Alaska’s second governor under statehood. Hickel, a Republican, edged out Gov. Wm. Egan, Democrat, in Egan’s attempt at re-election. Although Hickel takes office Monday and will start setting up his administration, the official inaugural and an inaugural ball will be held in Juneau on January 14.
December 5, 1991: The book is officially closed on wood waste penalties resulting from the mound of wood waste that became known as Mt. Seley. The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation has agreed to drop $347,500 in fines to Alaska Pulp Corp. The fines accumulated as a result of wood waste permit violations at the Wrangell sawmill. A press release from APC said the fines were dropped because of “extra environmental work” done at the mill. APC has agreed to pay $7,000 to reimburse costs incurred by ADEC to oversee and monitor the mill’s efforts to reduce excess wood waste at Mt. Seley. George Woodbury, APC vice president of timber operations, said, “We understand ADEC concluded that $1.5 million of the mill’s wood waste costs went beyond the terms of the consent order signed in April 1989 with former mill operator Wrangell Forest Products. Our added pollution prevention efforts and costs more than offset any potential fines.” Woodbury said the mill has spent more than $9.3 million over the past two years to remove the excess wood waste at Mt. Seley and other sites around the mill.
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