The Way We Were

April 23, 1925

Major A. A. Oles, a tax expert, will arrive on the Admiral Rogers on Saturday for the purpose of assessing the property within the corporate limits of Wrangell. At the March meeting of the town council, the matter of having the property within the town of Wrangell assessed by an expert was considered. The council was of the opinion that if an expert were employed, he would be able to prepare a tax assessment roll that would be more uniform than any of the numerous appraisals that have been made in the past.

April 21, 1950

Due to the fact that a serious typhoid fever epidemic is present in the territory, and that the danger is ever present, the people of Wrangell will be given the necessary injections to produce immunity to this dreaded disease. Injections will be given at the health center in the Federal Buidling by Dr. John O Bangeman on Monday, April 24, from 7 to 8 p.m. Many have asked about this program and parents are advised to bring their children of preschool age. Provision to immunize at least 500 people is being made. You are urged to take advantage of this opportunity, as time prevents holding this clinic more than once a year.

April 23, 1975

The long-awaited Bradfield Canal timber sale has been put on the block by the U.S. Forest Service. Bids for harvesting nearly 58 million board feet of timber, largely Sitka spurce and hemlock, will be opened May 13. The sale of the timber on the North and East Fork of the Bradfield River will mark a continuation of timber harvesting in the Bradfield Canal area following the closure of Sykes Logging Co. there in 1971 after a dispute between the logging company and Alaska Lumber and Pulp Co., which owned the contract. Wrangell in the past has been the supply headquarters for Bradfield logging operations, located about 40 miles southeast of town.

April 27, 2000

Lovers of hooligan were disappointed this year by a sparse run up the Stikine River. Alaska Department of Fish and Game’s Gordie Wood said that while the department doesn’t actively monitor hooligan, this appears to be the third year in which large numbers of the fish have not shown up. It remains to be seen whether the absence is areawide or whether just a few rivers in Southeast are affected. If areawide or just a few rivers in Southeast are affected, according to Wood, it may be a cyclical phenomena, as hooligan are known to flourish in cycles. If ocean survival is a difficulty, then it may indicate a long-term problem.