Digital Bob Archive

FEBRUARY 1918 - PART 4:

S. Zynda leased his five-story Zynda Hotel at Third and Main Streets to Lockie MacKinnon and W.A.C. Baldwin was named as manager. MacKinnon, a longtime resident, was no stranger to the hotel business. He and George Miller built the Circle City Hotel on Third Street in 1896. The name was chosen by MacKinnon who had just returned to Juneau after mining in the Circle District of northern Alaska.

In another local hotel deal, Jules B. Caro and James McCloskey purchased the furniture and fixtures of the Alaskan Hotel at a creditors' sale for $2500. Caro, McCloskey and Charles E. Hooker erected the building and leased it to the Alaskan Hotel Company, owned by P.L. Gammel and Frank McCoy. There was a gala opening on September 16, 1913, but the business did not thrive. After the sale it was announced that Caro and McCloskey would operate the hotel themselves, with McCloskey as manager. The former bar would be converted to a soft drink parlor and pool room.

The Juneau newspapers were publishing letters from Gastineau Channel residents serving in the armed forces. One letter came from Craig Condit, son of Presbyterian minister James Condit, who was in France with an Oregon regiment.

In the fall of 1917 the Juneau camp of the Alaska Native Brotherhood adopted a resolution calling upon the Native people to abandon tribal relations and assume \"white man's ways.\" A meeting in February passed a resolution that every property owner in the Native village must be taxed according to the value of the property; that a $3 poll tax should be paid by all able-bodied males between the ages of 21 and 50, and that a tax should be levied on dogs.

Alaskans were given a blanket extension for filing income tax returns and the filing date became April 1 instead of March 1.

The Juneau High School basketball team at the end of the 1917-18 season, claimed to be the champions of Southeastern Alaska. It had defeated two local town teams: the Hoover Boys by scores of 47-26 and 35-24 and an all-star team from the Methodist Church, score not reported. Then it beat a team from Metlakatla twice, 23-22 and 30-11. Late in February the basketball team chartered the gasboat Iowa for a trip to Sitka to play the Sitka Athletic Association and the Sheldon Jackson School. Making the trip with Coach Vernon G. Genn were Wilbur Burford, captain; Roy Torvinen, Clement Hodges, Joseph Acklen, Donald MacKinnon and Joe McLaughlin. It was a rough trip to Sitka in the little Iowa and the team was hard hit by seasickness. Some of the boys had not fully recovered when the first game started but they managed a 33-30 win over the Athletic Association on what they described as the worst floor they had ever played on. By then three of the boys had what may have been a touch of flu and they forfeited the SJS game for the only blemish on their record. The Juneau team sent a challenge to Anchorage, which claimed to be the champions of western Alaska, but the challenge was not accepted.