The Way We Were

April 27, 1922

The high school students appreciate the aid and cooperation they received from the citizens, merchants and teachers in staging their play. A great part of its success was due to the interest shown by the people of the town. Mr. Palmer accommodated us with lights in the afternoon for the matinee. The St. Michael Trading Co. made frequent loans for stage property and costumes. To Mr. Havens who donated his artwork, special thanks is due.

April 25, 1947

Twenty-six hundred bundles of cedar shingles from the Wrangell Cedar Products Co. are on the dock, awaiting the arrival of the Alaska on Sunday to be taken south. This is the first Outside shipment for Wrangell’s new shingle mill, which started operations last winter under new ownership of Charles Eslick and Neil French. The shingles are bound for Honolulu. Another load of 1,200 bundles is due to go to Alva, Oklahoma, on the first trip south of the Briggs Navigation vessel around May 1. The Oklahoma-bound shingles will go to Prince Rupert and then by rail across Canada to their destination. Not all of Wrangell Cedar Product shingles, however, are leaving Wrangell. Apparently in preparation for cleanup week, several Wrangell homes are receiving new roofs with Wrangell’s hometown product. Mayor Barnes, whose home is one of the several being reshingled, said the workman doing the job told her, “they are the finest shingles I ever saw anywhere.”

April 28, 1972

Work was on schedule this week for $98,393 in improvements by the state at Wrangell Harbor. Tom Voorhies, construction supervisor, said the work will be completed in a week to 10 days. Rebuilding of the boat grid, including a new walkway with a safety rail and new timbers, is complete. Extension and redecking of the city dock was nearing completion this week. A 26-by-17-foot extension to the dock has been built alongside the Reliance Shrimp Cannery and Wrangell vessel owners were studying the feasibility of mounting an electric hoist there to facilitate boat loading. Voorhies said the completion of dredging will be the last item on the list under the contract with Tom O. Paddock Co., of Juneau. The engineer said the scooping of nearly 4,000 cubic yards of mud in the vicinity of the dock has been slowed slightly because of debris on the bay bottom. “So far,” said Voorhies, “We have pulled out 39 stubs (of old pilings) that we didn’t know were there.” The dredging was being done by mechanical clamshells and the spoils barged into deep water in Zimovia Strait.

April 17, 1997

KSTK radio is one of those organizations that has bumped along, weathering crisis after crisis, and still managing to put together quality programs that Wrangell has come to enjoy and depend on. However, with the current slate of state budget cuts, the station faces a serious financial crunch this year. KSTK’s fund-raising drive runs April 30 to May 4. Celebrating its 20th anniversary this July, the station has survived obstacles never imagined by the group of radio enthusiasts who put their dreams together in 1976. Today, 20 years after the local radio idea was born, the station airs 24 hours a day through the efforts of many volunteers and a few full-time staff members.