September 19, 1918
Ensign W. Kerr, financial representative for the Salvation Army for Alaska arrived in Wrangell yesterday. He has been on a trip as far northward as Atlin and Carcross collecting for local and war work. The Ensign stated that instead of having a harvest Thanksgiving effort and a war work drive at different times the two are being combined into one effort. The drive in Wrangell will take place Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
“We have 50 ambulance cars on the war front,” said Mr. Kerr. “Three hundred ‘huts’ where refreshments and other necessary equipment are provided for the comfort of the soldiers.
“The Salvation Army has 100,000 men engaged in war work of one sort of another, and this does not include a single chaplain or person engaged in religious work. These people are doing just what their hands find to do.
“The Salvation Army felt that Alaska should help in this great work,” said Ensign Kerr, “and sent me out to see what I could do. The people of other towns in the North have come to the front nicely, and I am here to receive what aid the people of Wrangell see fit to give.”
September 24, 1943
A great many things are done in the name of patriotism, some of which would have to be stretched pretty far to get within shooting distance of the word patriotic. One of the latest in this category emanates from Ketchikan where the editor of the Chronicle breaks out with a plea to hunters to be sure and kill their two deer each because “there are more than enough bucks” to go around. “Actually,” says the Chronicle, “a large amount of meat that could well be taken is wasted by being left to die at the hands of natural enemies.”
The thing, then, to do, we take it, is to stick an American flag in your hat and sally forth to do your “patriotic” duty by killing your limit. After all, there is excess in a government controlled elk herd in Oregon, therefore we must kill off these Sitkan deer, brothers. Or, better yet, perhaps somebody should report this great “surplus” of deer to the Truman committee.
September 19, 1968
If you are alert these days when you are fishing in Southeastern Alaska, you may be rewarded with a glimpse of a unique and remarkable animal, the sea otter. They are again in this part of Alaska, after a long absence – and in the story of their demise and eventual reappearance is an intriguing one which takes us back two hundred and twenty six years, to a bleak Aug. 26, 1742.
Sea otters, it was learned, were abundant along the American coast from the Aleutians to California. Soon Russian adventurers embarked eastward in quest of furs. Voyage after voyage sailed to Alaska and returned laden with rich furs to invest in a lucrative trade with China. By 1900 sea otters were almost extinct. In 1911 the International Fur Seal Treaty included a provision protecting the few remaining sea otters. Since then, sea otter populations have re-established themselves and they are again numerous today in the Aleutian Islands and Prince William Sound. However, between their present ranges is a 2,000 mile long gap, the coasts of Southeast Alaska, British Columbia, Washington, Oregon and Northern California. Formerly this area supported great numbers of sea otters.
This summer, in an ambitious effort to begin filling this gap, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, in cooperation with the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, moved planeload after planeload (302 in total) of very irritated and protesting sea otters from Amchitka Island in the western Aleutians to southeastern Alaska.
September 16, 1993
This year’s moose hunt opened Wednesday and knowing the rules for taking a moose are more complicated than ever. So, complicated that the Fish and Game Department displayed an exhibit in Angerman’s that illustrated the complexities of this year’s moose hunting rules. If you go hunting, you might want to take a copy of the regulations with you – or an attorney.
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