The way we were

August 8, 1918

Capt. A.B. Conover and James Wilson are in town this week from Glenora. They brought with them a nice collection of furs. Capt. Conover also brought with him the skin of the glacier bear killed by Arthur Bannon of Portsmouth, Ohio, two months ago. It will be shipped to Mr. Bannon together with the skull. It is a most beautiful skin, and one for which Bannon refused an offer of $400 from a fur buyer. Capt. Conover states that this is the only glacier bear he has ever known of being killed in this region, and the Captain has probably seen as many bear as any man in British Columbia.

August 6, 1943

Wrangell – Petersburg district fish pack was still holding a lead over the 1942 figures at last week’s end, according to computation by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service.

The district’s three canneries operating under the salmon concentration plan had 82,271 cases up to last Saturday night compared to 78,146 for the same period last season when seven canneries operated in the district. Reports indicated there was no big run developing to compare with the great peak year of 1941 but belief is the pack will be above average. Other districts for the most part are reported at about normal.

Pack figures for the district canneries through August 7 follows:

Farwest – Wrangell – Reds, 4,534; kings, 27; pinks, 14,159; chums, 11,082; cohoes, 1,243; total 31,050 cases.

August 8, 1968

Wrangell residents will be able to watch television next week, officials of WPTV said.

“It may only be a picture of a calendar,” J.E. Crane, vice president said. “But we’ll have a picture.” Crane said full programming will begin Sept. 1. Lester Whitker was hired as manager of the Wrangell office and quarters were obtained in the Kadin Building.

August 12, 1993

In a project which benefits the mill and the State of Alaska, APC is constructing a bulkhead on the water side of the mill yard, directly behind the loading dock.

When completed the bulkhead will allow logs to be off-loaded directly from barges to the mill’s sort yard instead of the current practice of dropping the logs into the water, rafting them and pulling them to shore where they are lifted with a crane.

The project also aids the state, allowing an expansion of Wrangell’s airport apron to be completed at a much smaller cost, according to Barry Lybarger, technical engineer for the Department of Transportation.

“It was a good deal for us to find someone willing to remove the rock for a fee.” Lybarger said. “It would have cost us an extreme amount of money to pay a contractor to remove the rock.”

Lybarger said the apron expansion will allow more space for private airplane storage and make the airport a safer place.