The Way We Were

April 19, 1917:

Old Glory is now in

evidence in Wrangell as never before. Almost every house has its flag. But there is one

mammoth flag, which represents the town as a whole. It is 10x20 feet in size and was hoisted last Friday on Mount Dewey. A tall spruce tree was trimmed of its limbs, and Old Glory now waves proudly several hundred feet above the town, The flag was presented to the town by Blind Ton, an old Indian doctor, who, with his crippled wife, lives near the power plant. It was no small job to climb a large tree in the cold wind and convert it into a flagpole, and the party of young men who accomplished the difficult task surely deserves great praise.

April 10, 1942:

Lew Williams, editor of the Wrangell Sentinel, was elected mayor of Wrangell at Tuesday’s election. George Gunderson, Jorgen Ronning and Dr. E. J. Wheeler were elected to the town council. Dr. Wheeler had refused to run for mayor, but was drafted by the voters as a sticker candidate for councilman. A total of 211 votes were cast in the election.

April 14, 1967: Volunteer firemen Bob Smith and

Dan Wickman left Tipton, Indiana April 1 with the new city fire truck and even with large signs on the truck they created quite a furor in several small towns enroute home. They commented that Wisconsin was much like Alaska in friendliness and hospitality. In a small town in Montana they pulled up to a gas station and immediately three police cars, with wailing sirens converged upon them demanding to know where the fire was. “We don’t know,” they replied, “We’re just on our way home to Wrangell, Alaska.” The new John Bean truck has a Ford chassis, a 500 gallon tank and equipment to pump 750 gallons a minute.

April 16, 1992:

Barring breakage, on

Easter Sunday the children of Wrangell will find out

what 1,440 eggs look like. That’s how many eggs the Elks have purchased for this year’s Easter egg hunt for local

children. The Easter Bunny has taken time out of his busy Easter schedule to make an appearance at the egg hunt, and will no doubt be bringing some candy.