The Way We Were

Feb. 12, 1925

Owing to the unusually heavy snow in this vicinity, deer have been forced down to the beaches where large numbers have died while all are so near starvation that they can scarcely walk without falling over. The Wrangell Commercial Club, in an effort to get something done that would relieve the situation, sent two cablegrams to Washington to Dr. Nelson, head of the U.S. Biological Survey. A cablegram was also sent to W. W. Terhune, who represents the Biological Survey in Alaska. Mr. Terhune stated that five tons of hay would arrive in Wrangell on the Admiral Rogers. For a few days it looked as though the deer would be exterminated in this vicinity, but now that some measure of relief is being given there is hope for the preservation of the seriously threatened deer family.

Feb. 10, 1950

Work of the local Girl Scouts in conducting tourists around town during the summer has gained national attention, Mrs. Frank Webb, Girl Scout leader, said this week. National Girl Scout headquarters sent a letter to Mrs. Early Intolubbe at the Wrangell Institute, commenting on the girls work, together with an article which appeared in the Girl Scout official publication recently.

Feb. 12, 1975

Wrangell has “a lot going for it” with its volunteer fire department, according to a state official who conducted a seminar for the local firefighters here last week. Robert Smith, program coordinator for the state Department of Education’s Fire Service Training Program, said he found Wrangell to be protected by a fire department with “high morale, good equipment and good training.” He said, “It looks like the community has a lot going for it where fire protection is concerned.”

Feb. 10, 2000

Meetings are underway to plan exhibits for the Elsie and James Nolan Center now under construction. According to museum director/curator Theresa Thibault, several meetings have already been held with community members. So far, they have identified four major time periods for which they would like to have exhibits and will soon be looking at the collection to see which items fit the time periods: Early Wrangell history including Native history, dating from more than 10,000 years ago to the 1830s; “Contact,” during which Native people came into contact with Western civilization, dating from 1834 to 1902; the Territorial Period, from 1902 when Alaska became a territory to statehood in 1959; and 1959 to the present, which will be called the Statehood or Community Period, when Wrangell became solidified as a community.