Aug. 12, 1926

The Alaskan Aerial Expedition headed by Lt. Ben H. Whyatt arrived in Wrangell on Monday. Owing to the exceptionally favorable prevailing weather, the aerial photographers were able to complete their mapping operations in this vicinity in two days, leaving here for Petersburg early Wednesday morning. There is little general interest in the technical details of aerial photography, but there is intense interest in the results obtained in Alaska, not only interest in Alaska but in the United States and especially in Washington, D.C. During but a few weeks of actual flying in Southeast Alaska by the naval forces engaged in this work, much has been learned of the actual possibilities for future development in this section of the country.

Aug. 10, 1951

With fish harvests slacking down in all areas this week, it looked like Wrangell’s Farwest cannery was about to annex a fishing capital crown or at least put up the largest Alaska pack. A. R. Brueger’s Farwest started canning steady two weeks before seining opened, putting up troll and gillnet fish – most canneries in Southeast Alaska weren’t operating yet. On the opening day in Anan Creek, Farwest received 125,000 fish while six Ketchikan canneries reported 100,000 fish received. This morning, Brueger said his total pack was within several hundred of 50,000 cases – and that is counting two half-pound cases as one. 

Aug. 11, 1976

Wrangell may become the base of operations for tours up the Stikine River if Bob Henning, publisher of Alaska magazine, can find a buyer and operator for his 50-foot Stikine Princess, built specifically for such trips. The 34-passenger craft was two years in the building at Edmonds, Washington, near the offices of Alaska Northwest Publishing Co., publishers of Alaska magazine. Henning believes there is a “good market” for selling Stikine River tours to out-of-state tourists. He said his new vessel is faster and better designed for passenger travel than tour boats that ran the Stikine 20 years ago. Henning said the glass-hulled boat traveled upriver in nine hours, 42 minutes, and after an overnight stop in Telegraph Creek, B.C., headed back to Wrangell in five hours. Henning said the boat used 600 gallons of fuel on the round trip and averaged 18.7 miles per hour up river and 33.1 mph back home. 

Aug. 9, 2001

The city council met in a brief special session Aug. 2 to discuss two contract awards: The bid of $269,000 by Rock-N-Road Construction was approved; they will remove oil-contaminated soil that has been stockpiled from the Wrangell Institute to an on-site storage area. And a bid received from Valley Detroit for a turbocharger for a generator at the city’s electric plant was approved for $20,940.