The Way We Were

May 31, 1923

The first aerial mail ever received through the Wrangell post office came from Lake Bay Wednesday morning, having been brought by the seaplane Northbird piloted by Roy Jones with Glen Day as engineer. Mr. Jones stated that the flight from Ketchikan to Lake Bay was made in 55 minutes. Arriving here, it soon became known that the Northbird had brought mail and there were many visits to the post office with the result that about a dozen persons received letters within 45 minutes from the time they had left Lake Bay. While the Northbird was here several local people had the thrill of a flight over the city.

June 4, 1948

Last Friday evening the Seattle Police drill team arrived in Wrangell on the steamship Alaska on their return trip to Seattle. The team was met at the boat by Chamber of Commerce President Thor Hofstad, who presented the members and their families with passes to a show presented for them at the ANB Hall. The show was attended by a large number of townspeople, although it was intended mainly for the visitors. The Alaska Native Brotherhood generously donated the hall for the event. At the close of the program, the police quartet sang several numbers.

June 8, 1973

State and city police confiscated nearly $360 worth of beer, wine and hard liquor from the high school graduation party at the Elks Club on May 30. The party, a graduation-night tradition, was planned by the seniors and not a school-sponsored event. In the past, city officials and the police either have looked the other way or cooperated as students partied, danced and drank. One year, the police department even provided chauffeur services to the students. Not so this year. State Trooper Robert Koslick and Sgt. William Klein of the Wrangell Police Department entered the Elks Club and observed numerous drinking violations. “There were 16-, 17- and 18-year-olds with drinks in their hands,” Koslick said. “We confiscated all the booze and poured out what was in the glasses,” the trooper said. Rob Luce, a graduating senior, did much of the work to set up the party. Luce said he had talked with Mayor Don House, City Manager Herb McNabb and Sam Privett, an Elks Club trustee, and that he had repeatedly told each of them there would be drinking at the party “so that there would be no misunderstanding.” He said he was given the impression that the students would be permitted to hold their traditional party. “Would we have held the party next door to the police department if we didn’t think that it was OK?”

June 4, 1998

A strange-looking eel was caught in a shrimp trawl by Dan Doak last week while he was shrimping between Babbler Point and Mill Creek in the Back Channel. “Dan said it was the first one he’d ever seen, and he’s been shrimping here for years,” said Leland Phillips, from Sea Level Seafoods. After spending time in the freezers at Sea Level and Fish and Game, it was finally identified by Fish and Game biologist Gordan Woods as a slender snipe eel. The slender snipe eel usually prefers deep water but is attracted by lights and it is sometimes caught by fisherman near the surface, as was the case with this specimen. The eel is known for its long beak-like recurving jaws. It can grow as long as 57 inches. Phillips said this eel was about 30 inches long, and had a beak that was as hard as a bird’s.