June 30, 1921
A letter received from Col. Steese by Mayor Grant yesterday contains the necessary information about the road to the Standard Oil dock and reads as follows: Mr. J. G. Grant, Mayor, Wrangell, Alaska: As I wired you yesterday, we will proceed immediately with the construction of about 2,200 feet of road, connecting Wrangell with the Standard Oil Dock to the north. Mr. Joseph Ulmer, Territorial Divisional Commissioner, will come to Wrangell on the first boat after the Fourth of July to make the final location surveys and open bids. He will make such visits later as may be necessary
to check up on quantities
and certify payments. While clearing and grubbing is going on, we will arrange for construction, utilizing local labor and supplies to the greatest extent possible.
June 28, 1946
The Wrangell Post Office will be advanced from its present third-class status to a second-class post office on July 1, according to word received from the Post Office Department in Washington, D.C., this week. Advancement to second class comes as a result of greatly increased postal business during the past year. With the change to second class, longer hours will be inaugurated at the post office. The postal window will only be closed while mail is being sorted. Alaska now has four first-class post offices. There are 13 third class and 171 fourth-class offices. Wrangell will make the seventh office of the second class for the territory. It is necessary for a post office to do $10,000 a year in business, at least, to be eligible for second-class rating.
July 2, 1971
A $1.5 million state road project, which includes construction of a new, faster route between town and the airport, is nearing completion. Everett Stitz, superintendent of the Burgess Construction Co. job, said the company expects to easily meet the deadline of July 15. The job got underway in June 1970 and included clearing for building 1.2 miles of new road between Zimovia Highway and the airport, plus a spur road opening up new lands to the south for 1.7 miles. The construction firm also has seal-coated Zimovia Highway from the ferry terminal to the Alaska Wood Products Mill, using 1,500 tons of crushed rock which came here by barge from Ketchikan for final surfacing. The construction firm provided jobs last season for some 40 men. About 25 men have been working on the completion phase of the work this year.
July 4, 1996
Playing in the mud has taken on a new perspective for the Kirk Garbisch family. Together, Kirk and his three children have been busy rolling their sleeves, kneading clay, throwing it on a wheel and creating colorful, creative pottery at home, at school and downtown at a portable site by the City Dock. Garbisch, along with his children, Alyse, 15, Lindsay, 11, and Tyler, 8, has developed a family business this summer producing pottery and ceramic pieces finished in the raku style. With the aid of a small portable kiln, glazed pieces of pottery are fired for 45 to 60 minutes at 1,750 degrees Fahrenheit. Garbisch then carefully opens the kiln, removes the pieces with tongs, and the process of raku begins. The pottery is placed in an old barrel packed with paper and sawdust that then are set ablaze with the steady flame from a propane torch. With the lid tightly on, the barrel becomes a furnace where metals in the glazes change color depending on whether they’re touched by smoke, flames or oxygen.
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