Digital Bob Archive

14 December 1979 issue

AUGUST 25, 1915-Within a week or ten days the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company will have its Juneau office open to accept messages to any part of the world in competition with the U. S. Army cable system.

?Our rates will be 25 per cent lower than those of the Signal Corps,? said Superintendent A. H. Ginman of the wireless company. The operators at the station will be J. A. Marriott and W. J. Manahan. The station has a 10 kilowatt transmitter and will relay messages through a 25 kilowatt station at Ketchikan.

APRIL 2, 1927-City Clerk H. R Shepard last night presented the City Council with a financial statement for the year ended March 31. The city has a cash balance of $5,332.90 and is absolutely free of debt.

APRIL 27, 1927-In a $90,000 deal, one of the largest real estate sales in Juneau history, the Gastineau Hotel has been sold by Claude Erickson to John H. Cann and John H. Biggs. The hotel was built in 1914 and enlarged in 1916. Cann is owner of the Apex el Nido mine on Lislanski Inlet, Chicagof Island. Biggs lived in Valdez for many years where he had a drug store and a hotel.

APRIL 6, 1934-The Miners Recreation Parlors opened today on Front Street with free beer on tap for the opening. William T. Douglas is proprietor.

APRIL 13, 1934-A new air transport company, Panhandle Air Transportation Company, has been formed here and will start operations with one seaplane piloted by Chet McLean. This is a Stinson four-place plane which has been named ?Patco.? Incorporators in addition to McLean are C. V. Kay and Mrs. C. H. Keil.

JULY 5, 1935-The Prince Robert, flagship of the Canadian National fleet and the largest passenger vessel engaged in Southeast Alaska service, arrived here yesterday on the first of four special cruises between Vancouver, B. C. and Skagway. The vessel carried 291 round trip passengers. Captain H. E. Nedden, a veteran of the Alaska run, is skipper of the 385-foot Prince Robert.

SEPTEMBER 3, 1935-With a blare of horns and loud cheers, Douglas citizens drove to Juneau over the new bridge yesterday. The first to come were Mayor A. E. Goetz and F. A. J. Gallwas in the lead car, followed by a number of other cars. It was two years to the day after construction of the bridge began. While the bridge is open to traffic, the road from Douglas is not yet ready for regular traffic. About 40 days will be required to finish surfacing the road.

JULY 3, 1937-Meeting last evening, directors of the Alaska Federal Savings & Loan Association reviewed a financial statement for the company?s first six months in business and voted a four per cent dividend from earning?s. Eleven loans have been made, totaling $55,000, all for Juneau houses.

SEPTEMBER 30, 1937-Today the great silver bird that was Tony Schwamm?s gigantic Savola-Marchetti flying boat is a broken winged victim of an early Taku wind. The twin motor craft was moored at the lower City Float, near the rock dump, when the wind struck late last night. Despite the efforts of a number of local airplane pilots and the crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Haida, both wings were badly damaged and the tail assembly crushed.

NOVEMBER 24, 1939-In what was billed as the First Annual Gold Bowl football game, the Sourdoughs yesterday defeated the Baranof Bears by a 6-0 score. On the Sourdough squad were Ross Voris, Ray Schach, Don Keating and Bill Alexander, ends; Elwyn Westall, captain and tackle; Les Chacey, Victor Ruth, Bill O?Dell and Steve Honkola, tackles; Gene Arger, Allen Johnston, Joe Fifer and Bill McCann, guards; Roy Banta, center; Jerry Allen, Tommy Greenhow and Tommy Hammond, quarterbacks; Dean Williams, Max Lewis, Bill Hixson, Jim Gillam, Harry Hughes, Breezy Lamb and Bill Foxworthy, backs.

On the Baranof Bears squad were Monte Lambert, Andy Schumney, Pat Robinson, Glenn Flint, Herman Russell, Thane Todd and George Guy, ends; Evan Ruck, Fred Lorz and John Chinella, tackles; Gene Eustace, George Chickering, Andrew Zingeres, Carl Ohmdahl and Jerry Hawkins, guards; Bob Wood, center; Jim Mailer, quarterback; Joe Selliken, Archie Gubser, Lynn Pope, Jimmy Thomas, Joe Campbell, Jay Williams, Jack Murphy and Bernie Hulk, backs.

The temperature during the game was in the 40?s and there was a light drizzle.

AUGUST 9, 1940-A week from tomorrow Joe Stocker will open his new Cafe and will operate it in conjunction with his bar and billiard establishment. The partition between what was formerly the Kaufmann Cafe and the Imperial has been removed and new furniture is being installed. The exterior of the Imperial building is also being refinished.

SEPTEMBER 30, 1940-Pioneer Juneau Insurance man H. R. Shepard today announced that sale of the insurance business of H. R. Shepard and Son to the Shattuck Agency. Mr. Shepard and his son Royal have carried on the business for 27 years. Royal Shepard will continue with Shattuck Agency and H. R. Shepard will continue to maintain the agency for Canadian National Steamship Lines here.

JANUARY 29, 1941-Y. ?Slim? Shitanda, proprietor of the Owl Restaurant and apartments, is homeward bound from a visit to Japan, according to George Tanaka who is in charge of the cafe during Slim?s absence.

MARCH 24, 1941-The Pan American airport on the Mendenhall flats is a busy place today with two Lockheed Lodestars arriving from Seattle and three Lockheed Electras coming from Fairbanks.