Digital Bob Archive

30 June 1978 issue

JULY 5, 1886-Juneau celebrated the real Fourth of July (Sunday) as the steamer was due in and it was feared her arrival might interfere with festivities if held over until Monday.

There was a salute fire at 6 a.m., followed by the ringing of all the bells in town. At 9 a.m. a general picnic was held on the new wagon road. At 2 p.m. under the grand marshallship of U. S. Marshal Barton Atkins, a procession of all citizens formed at the wharf and, headed by Marshall?s Band, marched to the front of Willoughby?s Hall, where the following exercises were held:

Reading of the Declaration of Independence by John G. Heid; oration by D. A. Dingley. Thence to the bell tower where the fire bell was dedicated and there was an address by D. H. Murphy. A number of patriotic airs were played by the band.

This was followed by these contests:

Foot race, 100 yard, won by E. O. Decker; running high jump, won by J. McLaughlin; Single scull race, Capt. W. Moore, winner; ten yards running jump, E. O. Decker again; Canoe race, Stickeens against Auks, won be Stickeens but nearly a dead heat; boat race, four oars, won by Tom McCully?s crew; three-legged race, Rudolph and McLaughlin.

JULY 5, 1888-The Fourth of July started off with a bang at sunrise when Dennis Foley fired a salute on the anvil in front of his blacksmith shop. Later in the morning there was a parade on Front Street with Dr. F. S. Reynolds as marshal. The patriotic program took place at the Opera House at 11 a.m. with a reading of the Declaration of Independence and orations. This was followed at 1:30 p.m. by various contests on Second Street, including foot races, broad and high jump, hop skip and jump and a three-legged race.

A horse race took place on the beach near the Indian village, with three entries. ?Pigeon-toe,? owned by Charles Salley, won, with ?Juneau,? Dr. Reynold?s entry, not far behind. The horse entered by Richard Blake was well in the lead when it shied near the finish and threw its rider.

There were no entries for the single or four-oared race and the sailing race was cancelled because there was not a breath of wind, but the canoe race, with six entries, was worth seeing. Each canoe had 12 paddlers. Two of them were from Metlakatla, one was from Wrangell and there were three local canoes, one Taku and two Auk. The race was about three-quarters of a mile down the channel, around a stake boat, and return. The Taku canoe, which had won in the three previous races, was in first place with one of the Metlakatla canoes in second. There were no entries for the women?s canoe race.

Final event of the day was a tug-of-war between Douglas and Juneau, which Juneau won.

JULY 5, 1892-Juneau had a bang-up Fourth of July with salutes fired at sunrise, noon and sunset. There was a big parade with the Juneau Cornet Band leading the way, followed by members of the Grand Army of the Republic in full uniform, members of the Fire Department and several fraternal organizations. The march ended at the Opera House where John S. Bugbee was orator of the day.

Sports events were held on Second Street and there were running and jumping contests for both whites and Indians. The tug-of-war, for a $25 prize, four canoes entered the big race this year, with a $20 prize to the winner, the Taku canoe. It was planned to have a greased pig, but the pig got away. Final event of the day was the baseball game in which the Juneau City Baseball Club, captained by J. A. Snow, came from behind to beat Douglas.

JULY 5, 1896-The parade this year formed in front of the Occidental Hotel and the route was down Front to Franklin, up to Third, over to Seward and down to the Decker Hall on Front Street where the exercises were held. There were numbers by the Glee Club and the band and Mrs. L. Levy read the Declaration of Independence.

At noon a 21-gun salute was fired and this was followed by a baseball game and sports. A special feature was the double hand drilling contest with teams of three men using two hammers. The contest ran for 15 minutes and the deepest hole was driller by Riley and Welch of Sheep Creek who took the $150 prize.