The Way We Were

June 17, 1921

The high school closed last Thursday after a very successful year. An increase in the number of instructors and the seating capacity enabled school authorities to care for the largest number of pupils ever enrolled at the Wrangell school during a school year. Even with the added room, some of the grades were crowded. A full four-year course has been given during the past two years by alternating certain subjects, and three pupils have graduated from the school.

June 14, 1946

Vic C. Monahan, operator of the Cascade Pole Company of Tacoma, is in town this week prospecting the river for red and yellow cedar poles, with the view of having them shipped south for manufacture into boxes, chests and lining for home clothes closets. Although Mr. Monahan was not yet ready to reveal the full scope of his planned operations, he said prospects look good to start logging operations here.

June 18, 1971

That motorcycle “gang” shooting around Wrangell this week was comprised of members of a camper caravan from Florida. The group, Taylor’s Caravan, is on a trip throughout Alaska and includes 20 people traveling in eight campers with two large motorcycles and 10 small motorcycles included among their equipment. Wagonmaster Bentley Tayor said the group traveled to Prince Rupert, British Columbia, where they got aboard an Alaska state ferry and plan to “travel every road and trail we can in Alaska.”

June 12, 1996

The top priority in Wrangell’s annual “wish list” for funding to the state legislature is the water filtration system, under a federally mandated program to clean up the city’s muskeg-tinted water. As City Manager Scott Seabury explains, the federal EPA requires that water “look like water,“ and Wrangell does not meet the standard for clarity. The water filtration project is slated to cost $3 million. That includes $1 million for the tests and engineering to determine which new system will work best for the city’s water. The other $2 million would be actual construction of the filtering system. The city and state would share the costs, with the state picking up 70%.