Digital Bob Archive

OCTOBER 1918 - PART 1:

The month of October was described as \"balmy\" by one newspaper, which also noted that the first snow touched the tops of the mountains around Juneau on the 15th. Until the last few days of the month the temperatures ranged from 42 to 55 degrees. Most days were rainy or cloudy. Only one day was listed in the paper as clear, and on that the temperature dropped to 34. Snow fell in Juneau on the 21st and on several subsequent days but the temperature stayed above 30, with very little wind. The Lynn Canal area, however, was hit by heavy snow and very strong winds, with catastrophic consequences, as will be seen.

Grover C. Winn, president of the Juneau School Board, announced that Mrs. Ethel J. Cragg had been named Superintendent of schools to replace F.F. Sparks, who had resigned. Mrs. Cragg had previously been principal of the high school.
Mr. and Mrs. J.W. Leivers were in Scofield, Utah, where he was working in the office of a coal company. He wrote that he liked the country but missed his friends on both sides of Gastineau Channel. (Leivers did not stay away from the Channel for long. Upon his return he worked as a photo technician until 1929 when he joined the staff of the Clerk of the District Court. In 1948 he became Clerk of the Court and soon after Alaska became a state he was named Clerk of the Supreme Court of Alaska and of the Juneau Superior Court.)

A total of $2,613.20 was raised for local flood relief in a few days, but that was far short of the losses suffered by local families during the heavy flooding of late September.

A hunter reported that he saw five large timber wolves near the Treadwell Ditch on Douglas Island. It was thought in Juneau that only a great scarcity of game on the mainland would drive the wolves to cross to the island.

The epidemic of what was called Spanish influenza that had been sweeping across the country was growing closer and closer. A news report said that it had reached Camp Lewis, near Tacoma, Washington, and Captain Jock Livingstone of the Jefferson said that the epidemic was sweeping through Seattle. A few days later Juneau doctors reported that there were five cases here and that passengers on some of the northbound steamers were afflicted.

Chief Ana Cla Hash, leader of the Crow clan of the Taku tribe, died on October 8 at Douglas, where he had lived for the past several years. He was said to have been more than 100 years old and had always been friendly to the the whites. Among his possessions was a commendation from the Navy. Three years before his death he abdicated his chieftainship in favor of his favorite nephew, Willie Jackson. His funeral was on the 11th and a procession of both whites and Natives followed the casket as the Channel Band played.