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May 29, 1926 – No organized campaign has been started but nevertheless Petersburg is enjoying a “clean-up” and “paint up” period. Springtime with fine, sunshiny days has brought the painters out in flocks. Boats, houses and other buildings are all beginning to tone up. Some of the buildings downtown which have been feeling the painter’s brush are the Salvation Army hall, M.A. Missick’s tailor shop and the superintendent’s residence of the Petersburg Packing Company. A marked improvement on the latter is especially noticeable on account of the...
Wartime "Service Rolls" or "Honor Rolls" were community-created rosters that honored members who served in the United States Armed Forces during World War II. Churches and civic organizations created the rolls to keep track of deployed sons, daughters, and neighbors. They served as a focal point for community prayer and morale. Often designed as large decorative posters or wooden plaques, many featured a gold star for those who made the ultimate sacrifice. Artifacts such as these document the...
Kristina Barkfelt Please describe a specific moment or event from high school that stands out as a highlight for you. Hanging out during lunch with my best friend, Aurora, and always having lunch at the lunch table with all my friends and always having something interesting to talk about! What advice would you give to incoming freshmen? Don't try to reinvent yourself overnight. It's tempting to show up as a 'new version' of you, but lasting change comes from small, consistent shifts. Be open to...
The families of the PHS 2026 graduating class decorated their vehicles, and the community celebrated as the noise parade cruised around the Sandy Beach loop and through downtown on Wednesday evening....
May 19, 1926 – The big dredge, long-awaited by the citizens of Petersburg, is expected to begin work next week. Engineers have been sounding the channel for some time now, in preparation for the “clam-shell” dredge which will do much to clear out the Narrows. The “clam-shell” dredge clears out the silt and digs the channel deeper. Where the bottom is rocky it will be necessary to blast. Almost a new industry will be added to Petersburg for a while as the dredge is said to be 270 feet long and employs a crew of 50 men. After almost a quarter o...
Caleb Morrow is a journalism and communications student at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado. This week he arrived in Petersburg to join the newsroom as the Pilot's summer reporting intern. Morrow's path to journalism started in fourth grade, when he picked "sports journalist" on career day. During high school, when COVID shut down in-person events, he joined his school's broadcasting club that put Morrow behind a microphone doing play-by-play for football games that fans...
18 – There are no issues in the archive until May 19, 1926. Thank you for your patience. May 11, 1951 – Work is progressing rapidly at Twin Creek Poultry Farm toward completion of a modern, mechanized packing plant for fryers. Using assembly plant methods, Phil Clausen and Bob Schwartz will be ready in about two weeks to turn out a large weekly supply of high class, heavy fryers. Their laying pens are models of efficiency and cleanliness, too, and an increasing number of people are able to get truly fresh eggs of the highest quality from the...
This wolf swimming across Duncan Canal was seen last weekend by a passing vessel. The sea wolves of Alexander Archipelago are a distinct, smaller subspecies of gray wolves that have adapted to a coastal, marine-based lifestyle in the Tongass National Forest....
18 – There are no issues in the archive until May 19, 1926. Thank you for your patience. May 4, 1951 – With both a full hold and a deck load, the Zarembo was the first of Petersburg’s big halibut boats to come in, arriving in port on the evening of the third day. When the boat docked here Thursday evening she had 30,000 pounds aboard. She had 15,000 on deck the first day of the season. Per Sather is the owner of the Zarembo and Eiler and Olaf Wikan, Chris Olson, Ragner Stokke and Skipper Sather make up the crew. At press time the price was n...
After Petersburg's annual Blessing of the Fleet at Bojer Wikan Fisherman's Memorial Park on Sunday April 26, Kurt Wohlhueter and Lloyd Thynes completed the ceremony by throwing the wreath of flowers into Wrangell Narrows from the Drive Down Dock....
Petersburg Volunteer Fire Department's EMS and Search and Rescue branches took to the sea for last week's rescue drill when they practiced used the harbor security vessel to respond to an emergency that would require the use of a stokes basket to immobilize and transfer a patient from a boat into the ambulance....
On Missing Murdered Indigenous Peoples Day, Tuesday, May 5, Petersburg Indian Association organized a noise parade to raise awareness of the high rates of violence against Indigenous peoples in the United States and Canada, and to urge advocacy in Alaska which has the country's highest rate of MMIP and where Alaska Native women experience violence at a rate nearly ten times higher than the national average. During the parade (pictured right) Leann Marie Johnston and Priscilla Brusell displayed...
18 – There are no issues in the archive until May 19, 1926. Thank you for your patience. April 27, 1951 – In November we may berate the weather. In January we may say, “I’ve had enough of this damn country.” In January more than one man came home to announce, “Yep, I’ve given up fishing.” But as May 1 rolls round Alaska is a thrilling and a good place to be. The fleet’s going out and most of those men who quit fishing are going down the dock with a bedroll on their shoulder, ready to take their chances with their brother fishermen. Here’s...
For nearly a week, the upstairs hall at the Sons of Norway filled with the soft rhythm of brushstrokes, bursts of laughter, and the quiet concentration of artists practicing a centuries-old Norwegian folk tradition. Seventeen participants gathered for daily rosemaling workshops hosted by the Muskeg Maleriers earlier this month, focusing this year on the Os style, a regional form known for blending whimsical Telemark elements with geometric design, old Hordaland motifs, and bright color....
Characterized by their multi-part, interchangeable construction, these antique smoking pipes are often referred to as "Hunter's Pipes" because the hinged metal cap on the bowl was designed to shield the wind for outdoor use. The rich orange-brown color of its large, curved bowl is a patina that develops naturally over time as the pipe is smoked and tobacco oils are absorbed into the meerschaum, the soft white mineral it was carved from. Typically pipes of this style and construction date from...
18 – There are no issues in the archive until May 19, 1926. Thank you for your patience. April 20, 1951 – One of the most disastrous fires to hit Petersburg in many years occurred early Wednesday when the interior of Ted Reynolds’ Harbor Bar and Liquor Store and of Winnie’s Cafe were gutted by fire. Heavy smoke damage was suffered by Helen’s Shop and there was slight smoke damage to the city office. The alarm was turned in at 5:25 a.m. by Mrs. J.L. MacKechnie who saw smoke drifting by her window in the Coliseum apartments, adjacent to and ov...
The musical call of sand hill cranes could be heard high above Petersburg all throughout the past week as the iconic birds migrate north to their nesting and breeding grounds in the wet tundras of Western Alaska....
A small herd of Sitka black-tailed deer strolls down main street in downtown Petersburg. Forage-stressed deer, low on body fat, grazing on ornamental shrubs in town has been an unfortunately common sight in recent months, as the prolonged winter snow on Mitkof Island restricted access to the local deer population's preferred winter sustenance of evergreen forbs and blueberry bushes....
A return trip to Petersburg last week on Sunrise Aviation granted a view out the window of LeConte Bay and the terminus of the LeConte Glacier shimmering in the silver light of spring....
18 – There are no issues in the archive until May 19, 1926. Thank you for your patience. April 13, 1951 – Adolph Mathisen’s new boat, the Harmony, is a beautiful addition to the Petersburg halibut fleet. The Harmony is a 48.9 foot boat with a 14.7 foot beam. It was originally built for Gundar Iverson at Port Angeles and Mathisen powered it with a General Motors diesel. It has 26-ton net capacity, galley above deck and is equipped for both halibut fishing and seining. Mathisen went south just before Thanksgiving and has been working most...
Petersburg Medical Center announces a call for artists’ proposals for artwork to be installed in the new Wellness, Education and Resource Center (WERC). This facility is completed and currently open to the public. PMC invites artists to submit completed pieces and/or proposals for custom pieces that are inviting and stimulating, contemporary, and generally represent the people of Petersburg, the area’s nature-based environment, and Petersburg’s unique history. The deadline for proposals is May 31, 2026. Artists may submit up to three piece... Full story
This sedimentary rock, a natural history artifact, was found near Port Camden on Kuiu Island and contains the fossilized imprints of alder (Alnus sp.) leaves. Fossilized alder leaves in Southeast Alaska are identified by their simple, ovate-to-elliptical shape, sharp double-toothed margins and pinnate veins. Alder leaves, along with birch and willow, are common fossils found in the sedimentary rocks that lined the shores of historic water bodies throughout the Northern Hemisphere. Cenozoic-age...
