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Mountain lions are not commonly spotted in Southeast Alaska, but earlier this month one was killed on the south end of Wrangell Island. Alaska Wildlife Troopers and the Alaska Department of Fish and Game were notified that a mountain lion had been shot and killed on June 3. They took possession of the carcass and are conducting an investigation. Troopers leading the investigation declined to comment. Riley Woodford, information officer with the Alaska Division of Wildlife Conservation in Juneau, said he knew of three other documented sightings...
May 30, 1924 – A Good Suggestion. Dear Editor: Will you kindly pass this suggestion along to the ladies of your city while it will do the most good? Whilst we know conditions in hotel accommodations are not conducive to stop-overs for tourists, I would like to respectfully suggest that you form a Tourist Welcome Committee to meet all steamships, to welcome and meet all visitors and people coming to Petersburg. I know such a committee would be valuable to your town, aiding your businessmen by giving the visitor a cordial handshake, a friendly g...
The Alaska state ferry Columbia - which has been out of service since late November for its annual overhaul and repairs but was supposed to go back to work this summer - will be laid up until the end of the year. Extensive corrosion in the 51-year-old ship's fire suppression system is the reason for the extra time in the shipyard, Department of Transportation spokesman Sam Dapcevich said Friday, May 17. During the Columbia's extended absence, the Alaska Marine Highway System has diverted the...
The success of the Ktunaxa Nation to finally convince the governments of Canada and the United States to convene the International Joint Commission (IJC) to address the long-standing coal mining pollution in the Elk Valley in southeast British Columbia (B.C.) and Montana is a very big deal. The IJC is provided for and guided by the Boundary Waters Treaty, signed by Canada and the United States in 1909. The IJC studies and recommends solutions to transboundary issues when asked to do so by the national governments. While this is great news, the...
WRANGELL - One hundred and fifty years ago, the Stikine beckoned people to its rugged landscape with the promise of wealth. This was the Cassiar gold rush of 1874, a huge moment in Wrangell history, according to Ronan Rooney, historian and creator of the podcast "Wrangell History Unlocked." Rooney's newest series "Strange Customs" tells the story of the gold rush in Wrangell in three parts. The story, however, is not just about the search for gold on the Stikine. It involves a political corrupti...
The Alaska Marine Highway System’s ongoing crew shortage has eased up for entry-level steward positions but remains a significant problem in the wheelhouse and for engineers, likely keeping the Kennicott out of service again this summer. As of March 8, the state ferry system was short almost 50 crew of what it would need to put its full operational fleet to sea this summer, which means keeping the Kennicott tied to the dock, Craig Tornga, the system’s marine director, reported to a state Senate budget subcommittee on March 19. That is abo...
March 21, 1924 – Since Petersburg has been having such splendid weather and all of the snow has gone, and the frost is out of the ground, considerable building, improving of land and clearing of lots have started. Chris Wick has enlarged his house and built a splendid basement. Hans Zahl has been assisting Mr. Wick. Jack Matison and Billy Worth have built new houses and are now finishing the interiors. Anton Noried is clearing his lot and laying the foundation for his house. Mr. Noried’s lot is beside the lots of Thomas Lando and Louie Sev...
WRANGELL — Clean water advocates believe a seafood consumption survey among Wrangell residents might help in their push for higher water quality standards. Together, the Wrangell Cooperative Association and the Southeast Alaska Indigenous Transboundary Commission will conduct a survey in Wrangell to determine the quantity and types of seafood community members consume. The goal of the survey is to update the region’s outdated fish consumption rate, said Esther Aaltséen Reese, WCA tribal administrator. The metric is used by the U.S. Envi...
Even in winter, there are hot opportunities. And since the state’s prospects for economic well-being are in short supply these days — like being short of buyers for Alaska salmon, running short of energy for Southcentral residents and businesses, and falling woefully short of funding for public schools — the state needs to seize whatever unexpected opportunities arise. Alaskans have long prided themselves on ingenuity, making something anew from the discard piles left behind by others. In this case, there are six ice-class liquefied natur...
Crew shortages continue to plague the Alaska Marine Highway, the ferry system’s director told a gathering of Southeast officials last week. “Our biggest shortage is in the engineering department,” where the 54 ship engineers on the payroll as of Jan. 26 were far short of the 81 needed for full staffing, Craig Tornga told a gathering of community, business and government leaders at the Southeast Conference on Feb. 7 in Juneau. “We’re short in the wheelhouse,” he added, down eight from a full contingent of 79 in the master, chief mate, secon...
The International Pacific Halibut Commission released the halibut numbers for 2024 on Feb. 5 following their annual meeting. The IPHC oversees management of halibut along the Pacific coast — from California, through British Columbia, and across coastal Alaska. During their annual meeting in January each year, the commission adopts the total mortality limits for halibut distributed across the areas they regulate. The adopted total mortality limits for 2024 amount to a net weight of 35.28 million pounds (Mlb), a decrease from the 36.97 Mlb d...
February 8, 1924 – An interesting discussion took place before the meeting of the Petersburg Men’s Club last Saturday evening when Thos. Elsemore, at that time a candidate on the Republican ticket for the Senate, and C. Christensen, a candidate on the Democratic ticket for the House, appeared and answered questions. Both candidates frankly admitted that so far they had not worked out a platform in detail, but were prepared to act to the best of their abilities for the general good of the Territory. A feature of the meeting was a talk by Rev. Jo...
In January The Petersburg Borough Assembly unanimously voted to award the construction contract for the Blind Slough Hydroelectric refurbishment project to McG/Dawson Joint Venture for an amount not to exceed $5,744,000. The Petersburg Borough Assembly unanimously approved an ordinance in its first reading that would rezone a lot located at 10 N. 12th Street for commercial use. The rezoning was requested by the Petersburg Indian Association ahead of their prospective purchase of the lot, which h...
With the rusty Matanuska out of service pending repairs, the Kennicott scheduled for tie-up due to lack of crew and the Tazlina in the shipyard to add crew quarters, the state ferry system’s draft summer 2024 schedule is limited by the number of vessels in service and looks about the same as this past summer. The Columbia would make a weekly northbound stop in Petersburg on Sundays and a weekly southbound visit on Wednesdays on its run between Bellingham, Washington, and Southeast Alaska. The marine highway system released its draft schedule D...
Staff for Gov. Mike Dunleavy quashed the publication of a new Department of Labor and Workforce Development report examining the competitiveness of teacher pay in Alaska, an act that current and former staff say could damage the apolitical reputation of the division that publishes state economic data. “This is data that typically is available to the public, and it’s never good to suppress good, objective data,” said Neal Fried, who retired in July after almost 45 years as an economist with the department. The report, which had been the cover... Full story
During a virtual public open house last Tuesday evening, Alaska Marine Highway System Marine Director Craig Tornga gave a brief update on the status of the agency's capital improvements as well as its operating challenges. Operating challenges "Crewing is still a big struggle for us," Tornga said. The system operated six ferries all summer, though it had hoped it would be able to recruit enough crew to run the Kennicott as a seventh vessel. But "we have crews for about five and a half (ferries). There is a large shortage across the national...
October 26, 1923 – Sea water burns at Prince Rupert. What might have been a serious fire causing much damage to property was narrowly averted on the waterfront yesterday afternoon, says the Prince Rupert News. Gasoline had been spilled on the surface of the water from pumping the scow at the Prince Rupert Boat House. A passer-by coming along threw a match into the water after lighting his pipe and the combustible liquid still floating immediately ignited. The flames ran up to the scow occasioning a great deal of smoke and coming perilously c...
Alaska officials who say the stars are aligned for the long-dreamt, long-on-the-odds multibillion-dollar North Slope natural gas project are confusing shiny stars with black holes. Like the black hole the state already has poured close to a billion dollars into over the past two decades, thinking that international markets would like expensive Alaska gas better than lower-risk, less costly gas from anywhere else. But unlike black holes, where the force of gravity is so strong that nothing escapes, the Alaska gas line dream continues to survive...
The state wants to send the Matanuska, the oldest vessel in the Alaska Marine Highway System fleet, into a shipyard for the equivalent of a full-body scan. Management wants to find out just how much of the ship's steel has rusted, and how far the rust has eaten into the thickness of the metal. The 60-year-old Matanuska has been tied up at the dock in Ketchikan since last November, waiting for the state to decide whether to repair the vessel and restore it to working order, or give up on the...
September 28, 1923 – Testifying in her action for divorce in Judge Hall’s court, Mrs. Otto Burkhardt branded her husband, Frederick Otto Burkhardt, the wealthy Alaska salmon packer, as an arsonist and testified that he purposely set the fires which destroyed the cannery at Chilkoot in 1919 and for which $290,000 insurance money was collected [$5,206,870 today]. Her testimony reads as follows: “I followed him down from the house to the cannery. He did not see me or know that I was there. I watched him go in and, from one end of the canne...
August 31, 1923 – The cannery of the Petersburg Packing Company, this year will set a new high mark for number of cases of salmon packed, having already exceeded their previous high mark set in 1918 and with still a week to run. This concern also has the honor of having the largest pack put up by any single cannery in Alaska this year. Although the salmon run is properly over there are still enough fish being caught to keep the plant going for another week on part time, which will add several thousand cases to their season total. At the c...
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Petersburg’s continually hazy sky hints at the wildfire conditions being battled by our neighbor to the South and East. Firefighters successfully prevented wildfires from destroying more structures in a scenic region of British Columbia, authorities said Monday as the prospect of rain raised hopes for the effort to contain the flames. Fire Chief Jason Broland said fire crews made more progress in the West Kelowna area known as a summer destination for families. He reported no new property losses in the pre...
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has again rejected a request to list Southeast Alaska's Alexander Archipelago wolves as endangered or threatened. The wolves, found in Southeast Alaska and British Columbia, range among the region's large, old trees and are a subspecies of gray wolves. Putting the wolves on the Endangered Species List, either as endangered or threatened, likely would have resulted in new restrictions on development, logging and construction in the region, and the state of... Full story
August 17, 1923 – Word has been received from Juneau that a force of men will arrive here soon to finish the Petersburg Scow Bay road this fall. The money necessary has been appropriated and the appropriation has been approved by the Secretary of Agriculture. The work will be under the charge of the Bureau of Public Roads and it is intended to put a full gravel surface over the entire roadway and to fix the road bed wherever necessary to hold the surfacing. Sand and gravel will be taken from either Five Mile or Sukoi for this work, and a b...
JUNEAU - The gray, two-story home with white trim toppled and slid, crashing into the river below as rushing waters carried off a bobbing chunk of its roof. Next door, a condo building teetered on the edge of the bank, its foundation already having fallen away as erosion undercut it. The destruction came over the weekend as a glacial dam burst in Alaska's capital, swelling the levels of the Mendenhall River to an unprecedented degree. The bursting of such snow-and-ice dams is a phenomenon...
