Digital Bob Archive

28 July 1978 issue

MAY 13, 1893-Tuesday evening the steamer Lucy towed the new sealing schooner Emma of Douglas out of the channel on her way to the sealing grounds. She will hunt fur seals off the coast and follow them all the way to Bering Sea. The Emma is owned by Ohman Brothers of Douglas and is skippered by Captain Hansen. Crew members, all from Douglas, include Robert and Oscar Ohman, Frank Cook, Frank Tucker, William Farrell, William Wright, Victor Carlson, Bernhard Heins and James Thompson.

FEBRUARY 22, 1894-?This has been a very severe winter so far,? said John Olds the other evening, ?but it is mild to the one we had in 1882. It snowed and blew hard the middle of March that year, and then it cleared off and for several weeks the air was warm and balmy and the sun shone out bright and clear. The boys concluded that they could begin operations in the Basin, and getting lumber together they broke a trail up the canyon and carried lumber upon their backs, making several trips. At the end of two weeks of good weather, it started in to blow and snow and it kept it up until the middle of May. I remember going up the Basin on the 24th of May and the snow was so deep that you couldn?t see the cabins. It took some of the men a week to locate their cabins-they used whipsaws, thrusting them down through the snow and sounding for the roofs. We had all the water we wanted for mining that year, and I?ll never forget the Basin?s appearance as long as I live.?

NOVEMBER 14, 1912-The work of driving a haulage tunnel through the mountain from a point above the waterfront to Last Chance Basin is getting underway. The work is being directed by George Jones. The 12-ton air compressor has been hauled up the mountainside to a 20 by 50 foot compressor house 100 feet above tidewater. A regular tunnel crew of 12 men will be employed for each shift, the same as on the big tunnel now being driven in the basin. There are now 80 to 90 men on the company?s payroll and they hope to continue work all winter. (Note: This tunnel is now being used for water storage by the City of Juneau.)

AUGUST 2, 1913-A waterfront street running from the foot of Main Street to the mouth of Gold Creek may soon become a reality. The City Council at last night?s session took affirmative action and directed City Engineer B. D. Blakeslee to survey the route and draw plans and specification. The street will be entirely on piling, about 1,600 feet long and 16 feet wide. At the mouth of Gold Creek it will connect with the Salmon Creek road.

FEBRUARY 10, 1914-Players of those favorite three-handed games, pinochle and solo, nearly had heart failure yesterday evening because of a misunderstanding over a new order that had been issued from the office of the District Attorney, but it turned out that one can still frog when it is his turn. It seems that the original order prohibited the playing of cards in cigar stores and saloons. Later this was amended to permit card playing for a pastime or for cigars, but the selling of bingles for use in card games will not be permitted.

OCTOBER 3, 1916-Looming up on the side of Mount Juneau above the cemetery is a new steel tower being constructed for the Marconi wireless plant and as part of its antenna system. The antenna itself will be strung from the tower to eyebolts in the side of the mountain 1,000 feet above sea level. The Marconi Wireless Company has enjoyed splendid success since it entered the local field and two days ago, on October 1, it reduced its rates on messages to Ketchikan, Seattle and other points.

JANUARY 8, 1920-John W. Harris has opened a sign shop of his own on Second Street in the building formerly occupied by the Needlecraft Shop. John has done a good deal of work sketching specimens for the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, while many signs around Juneau are samples of his work. He is a son of Dick Harris, one of the locators of the first gold claims in this area.

FEBRUARY 20, 1920-Both the business and editorial staffs of the ?Gastineau Breeze,? the newspaper of the Douglas school, are hard at work on the double size edition for this month.

JUNE 3, 1926-The motor vessel Estabeth of the Davis Transportation Company has completed eight years of service as contract mailboat on routes from Juneau to Sitka and Juneau to Skagway, including wayports on each run. She made a total of 327,600 miles covering the two routes. In all, she made 816 trips out of 832 scheduled sailings, missing 5 Sitka trips and 11 Skagway trips in 8 years. During that time she carried 16,754 revenue passengers without a single accident involving injury to either passengers or crew.

The present crew of the Estabeth is Eddie Bach, captain; Gust Gustafson, mate; R. E. Coughlin, purser; Cliff Ainlsey, steward and cook; Pop Bayers, and R. Hobson, sailors.

MAY 5, 1928-Mike Avioan, proprietor of the Workingman?s Store, announced today the opening of a tailor shop in connection with the store. The new department will be managed by Sam Shabaldak who recently arrived from the states.

JANUARY 7, 1935-Albert Wile took over duties as Juneau postmaster this morning, succeeding Josephine T. Spickett who has held the office since June, 1926. Mr. Wile is widely known in the North and previously served as postmaster at Iditarod and then at Ketchikan first as assistant postmaster, then as postmaster.

JULY 8, 1938-The Alaska-Juneau Gold Mining Company reported the $2,564,000 in god was recovered during the first half year of operations and that this yielded on operating profit of $1,002,500. These totals compare with $2,809,500 in recovery and $1,414,300 in operating profits in the first six months of 1937.