Digital Bob Archive

29 June 1979 issue

JANUARY 14, 1909-A crew of five men has been kept busy at Douglas trying to keep the ferry float free of ice. With the high winds and cold temperatures of recent days, the waves wash over the Douglas float and much of the water remains in the form of ice which builds to a depth of two feet or more if not constantly chopped away.

MARCH 12, 1913-A new corporation has been formed to be known as the Worthen Lumber Mills. The company has taken over the property known as the Shattuck Mill. H. S. Worthen and the Alaska Supply Company are the principal stockholders in the $50,000 corporation. New machinery is now being installed to increase the capacity of the mill to 50,000 feet per day and it is expected to be in operation by April 1.

APRIL 23, 1913-The 7th issue of ?The Totem,? the Juneau High School?s annual publication, is ready to go to the press. Miss Mamie Morgan is the editor with Lessie George and Trevor Davis as her assistants. Others on the staff this year include Alice Tibbets, Alma Sowerby, Paul Carpenter and Russell Casey. Contributors include Edward Beatie, Albert King, Margaret Dudley, Charles Skuse, Cordelia Davis, Eugene Nelson, Waino Hendrickson, Cedric Davis, Gladys Swenson, Georgia Caro, Irma Peterson, Dewey Erickson, Edward Sweeney, George Nelson and Emmanual Sweeney.

JANUARY 6, 1915-Cahrles E. Naghel had been elected president of Igloo No. 6, Pioneers of Alaska, succeeding Martin George. H. B. LeVevre is first vice president; John Rustgard, second vice president; Trevor Davis, secretary; Emery Valentine, treasurer; Rev. A. P. Kashevaroff, historian; Captain J. T. Martin, sergeant-at-arms; Benjamin Bullard, chaplain; and G. H. Whitney, trustee.

AUGUST 24, 1917-Permission has been received from the U. S. Department of War for the Territorial Road Commission to dredge a channel through the bar at the north end of Gastineau Channel. Such a channel will allow small fishing boats to come from Chatham Strait and Icy Strait without making the long run around Douglas Island. An Act allowed the Road Commission to use road funds for this purpose was passed by the 1917 Legislature. Drag line scrapers will be used to perform the work.

JULY 17, 1924-W. G. Johnson, manager of the Juneau Hardware Company, has announced that his firm has been named Juneau agents for the Oakland Motor Company line of General Motors cars. This is the lightest six-cylinder car on the market and makes from 20 to 25 miles per gallon of gasoline.

NOVEMBER 8, 1924-The Sanitary Grocery will open Monday, the 10th, in its new home on Front Street it was announced today by Gunnar Blomgren, proprietor. The new Blomgren Building has a frontage of 50 feet on Front Street and 100 feet deep. It is to be occupied by the grocery company and the Sanitary Meat Co., of which A. J. Ficken is manager. The building was constructed by G. E. Krause, contractor. It has a basement and is so constructed that a second floor can be added later. Employees of Sanitary Grocery include Z. M. Bradford, A. Zenger, Samuel Feldon and George Griggs. R. H. Stevens will keep the books for both the grocery and the meat company. Both stores were formerly located on Seward Street. (Note: The first floor of the building is now occupied by the Ben Franklin Store.)

NOVEMBER 30, 1932-The organization of the Alaska Salvage & Wrecking Company has been completed by Captain A. J. LaGasa, Chester K. Tripp and A. T. Koski, all of Juneau. Captain LaGasa is an expert deep sea diver. At the Harri Machine Shop recently he made a metal diving suit which has been tested and proved satisfactory.

APRIL 14, 1938-The Alaska Transportation Company steamer Tongass, Captain Eldred Hansen, arrived at Juneau this morning on her first Alaska voyage. She brought 300 tons of cargo and four passengers to the channel. Built in Oregon in 1915 for the Pacific Coast lumber trade, she sailed as the Wapama until purchased by Alaska Transportation Company this spring. (Note: The vessel, with her original name restored, is now a part of the San Francisco Marine Museum.)

AUGUST 16, 1938-Juneau?s waterfront is a busy place these days with 17 steamers making regular calls here. They include these vessels:

Baranof, Mt. McKinley, Aleutian, Yukon and Columbia of the Alaska Steamship Company.
Northland, North Sea and North Coast of the Northland Transportation Company.
Tongass and Chatham of Alaska Transportation Company.
Princess Alice, Princess Louise and Princess Charlotte of the Canadian Pacific Line.
Prince George, Prince Rupert and Prince Robert of the Canadian National Line.

FEBRUARY 8, 1939-The largest single fire loss in Juneau?s history occurred at an early hour this morning when the Goldstein Building was completely gutted, leaving only the exterior walls standing. A mattress fire had occurred earlier in one of the apartments and after the blaze was presumed to have been extinguished, the mattress was taken to the basement. There it apparently burst into flames some hours later. The elevator shaft acted as a flue and soon the entire building was in flames. It would probably have spread farther than it did had a Taku wind, which has been blowing for some time, not died just as the fire started. The total loss was set at $250,000.

Tenants in the building were: First floor, United Foods Store, Charles Goldstein Co., furriers, and Juneau Insurance Agency. Second floor, Juneau Medical and Dental Clinic and apartments of three doctors. Third floor, General Insurance Co. of Alaska, Dr. John Geyer, dentist; offices of Civilian Conservation Corps; J. C. Cooper, CPA; Dr. Sidney S. Steves, Chiropodist; Harold Foss, architect; Gil Rich, Oscar Hunt and J. S. Jeffries, sales sample rooms, and two apartments; Fourth floor, Allamae Scott, beauty shop; Alice Clark, beauty shop, and 18 apartments; Fifth floor, George B. Grigsby, law offices; KINY Station and studio, and 19 apartments.

KINY will be able to continue broadcasting from the station it recently built on the rock dump.