The Way We Were

Dec. 22, 1921

A live Chamber of Commerce for Wrangell promises to be a reality. Last week, half a dozen citizens who styled themselves organizers sent out invitations to the business and professional men of the town to attend a meeting in the Wrangell Hotel dining room. The meeting was called to order by Mayor Grant. Leo McCormack was elected temporary chairman. The chairman called for the reading of some correspondence which the organization committee had with the Juneau Commercial Club. The correspondence showed that the Juneau organization functions under a board of directors, with five permanent committees and whatever special committees may be necessary. After some discussion in which a number of citizens participated, it was decided to proceed with the work of organizing along the same lines as the Juneau body.

Dec. 20, 1946

To make room for new and extensive stock expected to arrive soon, the Mildred Pierce Shoppe is remodeling and enlarging its quarters. In the new stock a complete line of the famous Love dresses for girls is expected, besides many other items of interest to milady. During the remodeling, Mr. and Mrs. E. J. Chase, proprietors of the shop, have put many garments on sale to make way for the new stock.

Dec. 31, 1971

About 20 bulls were taken in the abbreviated Stikine River area moose season this year, the state Department of Fish and Game reported. The drainage was open from Oct. 15-31 only and, according to Bob Wood, game biologist, between 100 and 125 hunters went in after moose. The take, he said, compares with an average of 30 bulls generally taken out of the Stikine drainage. He blamed the low take on a halved season plus bad weather. In a controversial move, the department shortened the season and moved it from September to October in hopes that a lowered kill figure would help build up the herd.

Dec. 19, 1996

The official focus of the upcoming Alaska Legislature will be “Jobs, jobs, jobs!” That’s good news for the fishing industry, because you can’t talk about jobs without paying serious attention to the state’s largest private employer. Alaskan fishermen harvest everything from sea cucumbers and snails to salmon and king crab in over 50 commercial fisheries occurring throughout the year from Ketchikan to Kotzebue and far out into the Bering Sea. Those catches contribute lots of cash to state coffers – second only to the money pumped in by Big Oil. Each year, nearly 6 billion pounds of seafood are harvested in Alaska waters worth $1.25 billion. And that’s just the dockside value paid to fishermen. Unfortunately, the real money is being made elsewhere. Alaskans are losing their shirts on salmon, because the world market is awash with fish, and we have more salmon than we know what to do with. It’s time for Alaska’s policy makers to turn this trend around.