Digital Bob Archive

27 July 1979 issue

APRIL 17, 1913-James O. Plunkett has finished building a 40-foot cruising launch for himself and will use it in local waters in the passenger trade. The vessel is a beauty and built for comfort and seaworthiness rather than speed, but it is expected to make about eight knots. The vessel will be christened Lou. (Note: The Lou (sometimes spelled Lue) and her owner disappeared in 1915 and eventually Edmund Krause was convicted of the murder of Captain Plunkett and the theft of the vessel.)

APRIL 7, 1915-The entire ?old? city council was reelected yesterday over two complete opposition slates of candidates. Mayor John Reck was high vote getter with a total of 636. Other reelected with him were J. R. Willis, George F. Miller, William Geddes, C. W. Fries, William Britt and F. Wolland. The ?New Council? ticket headed by Emery Valentine included Oliver Drange, O. J. Wicklander, M. E. Russell, J. W. MacMillan, R. M. Keeney and Sam Cohn. The Socialist ticket included Lena Morrow Lewis, John Jurija, Charles Helsing, George Harkrader, Henry Lepisto, Carl Arola and E. C. Briggs. Grover C. Winn defeated Herman T. Tripp and Grafton Coleman for the school board.

OCTOBER 6, 1917-The first football game of the season was played at the Last Chance Basin ball grounds last evening between the junior and senior class teams. The seniors won the game 36-0.

DECEMBER 27, 1917-By edict of the Alaska voters, prohibition comes to Alaska on January 1. A number of bar owners were interviewed this morning as to the effect: Henry Olson says the New York Exchange will be permanently closed; Pete Carlson of the Montana will close it down and devote his time to ranching; W. A. Ferguson of Ferguson?s Bar will open a card room and soft drink parlor; The Kentucky Liquor Company is undecided; the American Bar will close and the owners will lease the premises; Tuck Flaherty of Tuck?s Place will close for two months, then reopen as a pool and billiard parlor; Carl Brophy of The Grotto will close the place and move to Canada; William Burns will close Burns? Bar; A. T. Spatz will keep the Alaskan Hotel Bar open as a soft drink place; Lockie MacKinnon will close the Mayflower Saloon but will remain in Juneau and engage in other business; Claude Erickson of the Gastineau Hotel is undecided what use will be made of the space occupied by the bar. The Old Stand will close.

OCTOBER 14, 1924-Grover Cleary and H. S. Graves, Juneau men who are partners in a fox farm at Conclusion Island, are arranging to ship 16 blue foxes to Germany to be used as breeding stock. The partners have already sent 300 foxes to different parts of the states and expect to ship 100 more in the near future. The German order is the first from a foreign country.

APRIL 10, 1925-J. Latimer Gray has been re-elected Chief of the Juneau Fire Department and will start his fourth term in that office. Other officers re-elected were Z. M. Bradford, assistant chief; P. M. Colburn, secretary; M. S. Sides, foreman of Company No. 1, and Oliver Olson, foreman of Company No. 2.

APRIL 23, 1930-In one of the most damaging fires in Juneau?s history, the entire Malony Block, a two story frame building at Second and Seward Streets, was destroyed this morning. The fire broke out shortly before 7 o?clock. Windows in buildings across both Seward and Second streets were broken by the heat. The ground floor of the building was occupied by the Gordon Store, women?s clothing, and by the Needlecraft Shop. Both lost heavily. On the second floor were the law offices of Henry Roden, the offices of Dr. H. C. DeVighne and the offices of the federal Bureau of Education. Almost nothing was saved from any of them. (Note: The site is now occupied by the Simpson Building)

MAY 2, 1936-A six-place Bellanca Skyrocket seaplane has been purchased by Alaska Air Transport, Inc., to augment the service now provided by the company?s Stinson seaplane Patco, flown by Pilot Sheldon Simmons. The new plane has a SC-1 Wasp supercharged engine.

MAY 2, 1936-The Douglas School Board has elected Martin Pedersen, high school instructor and basketball coach, as superintendent of the Douglas schools for the coming year. He will succeed Conrad H. Bowman who was not a candidate for re-election.

JANUARY 30, 1937-The Alaska Juneau Gold Mining Company has announced a pay increase for 869 of its employees which will total $85,000 a year. The average daily wage will increase from $6.15 to $6.45. Since 1915 the company has paid out $20,645,439.95 in wages. In that first year it had 301 employees at an average of $3.52 a day. The company paid out more than $12 million in wages before 1931 which was the first year in which dividends were paid to stockholders.

FEBRUARY 21, 1939-John McWilliams, 83, pioneer Douglas prospector, has completed a deal for the sale of his 11 mining claims at Yankee Basin to a Minnesota firm. The financial consideration is $25,000 and the Fairbault Finance, Loan and Building Corp. is one of the interested parties. McWilliams came to this area in 1886 and discovered the claims many years ago with several partners, all of whom are now dead.

MARCH 4, 1939-The new offices of the Northland Transportation Company on the city wharf will be open for business next week, according to Henry Green, agent for the company in Juneau. They include a passenger waiting room, ticket office and private offices. The present ticket office in the J. B. Burford Store will be closed.