SitNews - Stories In The News - Ketchikan, Alaska

254: The Day Ketchikan Tried to Quarantine Wrangell; First City Mayor claimed that northern neighbor had smallpox outbreak - People are often surprised by how much "competition" there is between the communities in Southeast Alaska. Even though some of the towns are hundreds of miles apart, they are still highly competitive when it comes to industries, quality of life issues, and even sports. - More...
Sunday - May 21, 2023

253: Ketchikan Fire Boat Newell for sale; Community has had fireboats since the late 1920s By DAVE KIFFER - If you have ever wanted to own a fireboat, now is your chance. The City of Ketchikan is taking sealed bids for its 36-year-old fireboat, the Harry Newell. - More...
Thursday - May 11, 2023

252: When The First City was ‘no town at all’; Dalton first came to Ketchikan in 1889 By DAVE KIFFER - Likely, the earliest recorded memories of what Ketchikan was like at or near the beginning of its history comes from one of the original founders of Metlakatla, Simon Dalton, who first saw Ketchikan in 1889. - More...
Wednesday - April 26, 2023

251: ‘Ketchikan’ still has two buildings from the 1800s By DAVE KIFFER - It is a commonly asked question. - More....
Saturday - April 15, 2023

250: The Future Moved South in the late 1890s; Early Ketchikan was boosted when several prominent Wrangell business people relocated By DAVE KIFFER - For recent generations, Wrangell has been Ketchikan's smaller neighbor to the north, even though "The Gateway to the Stikine" has a much longer history, having been a Russian outpost and a Hudson's Bay Company settlement going back to the 1830s. - More...
Thursday - April 06, 2023

249: 'The example we want to follow'; Legendary bush pilot Herman Ludwigsen dies at 95 By DAVE KIFFER - Herman Nels Ludwigsen packed a lot of action into his nine decade life. He was a bush pilot, a commercial fisherman and an Alaskan Hall of Fame trapper. - More...
Monday - March 27, 2023

248: Ketchikan State Rep is still youngest in state's history; Terry Gardiner was also the youngest to be Speaker of the House By DAVE KIFFER - Fifty years ago, Ketchikan's Terry Gardiner became the youngest person ever elected to the Alaska State Legislature. Gardiner, who would later go to co-found Silver Lining Seafoods, would spend a decade in the state legislature and would also become the youngest person to serve as Speaker of the House, the top post in the State House of Representatives. - More...
Wednesday - February 15, 2023

247: Remembering Hyder; Hyder, British Columbia, that is! By DAVE KIFFER - Everyone knows about the twin towns at the head of Portland Canal, Hyder, Alaska and Stewart, British Columbia. - More...
Monday - February 06, 2023

246: Fifty years ago, a great novel took shape in Ketchikan; Silko's 'Ceremony' was created in a vacant law office on Ketchikan Creek; I was so homesick, I tried to remake the homeland that I missed so much.' By DAVE KIFFER - What is likely the most famous novel ever written in the First City was neither about Ketchikan nor even Alaska. - More...
Monday - January 09, 2023

245: 2022 Year in Review By DAVE KIFFER - Ketchikan finally began to move out of the COVID era in 2022. - More...
Sunday - January 01, 2023

244: Southern Southeast Alaska has Often Been the 'Gateway' to Gold By DAVE KIFFER - It always surprises some people that the most famous "Alaskan" gold rush, the Klondike Rush of 1897-98, was not really in Alaska at all. - More...
Monday - December 12, 2022

243: Seeking the Right to Vote; A century ago, Native Leaders Charlie Jones and Tillie Paul were charged with a crime By DAVE KIFFER - November 7, 1922 was a lovely day in Wrangell. We know that because Judge James WIckersham, then living in Wrangell, noted it in his diary the "fine weather." - More...
Sunday - November 20, 2022

242: Begich plane disappeared 50 years ago; Two US Congressmen disappeared on ill-fated flight By DAVE KIFFER - Even after half a century, it remains the most famous missing plane in Alaskan history. - More...
Thursday - November 03, 2022

241: Historic Totem To Return to Kasaan; 130 year old totem was in Los Angeles, Colorado for 116 years By DAVE KIFFER - More than a half century ago a Haida totem that was carved in the 1800s was laying forgotten in a lumber yard in Los Angeles. It was going to be turned to sawdust, but then fate intervened and it spent the rest of the 20 th century in the courtyard of a Colorado museum. - More...
Monday - October 17, 2022

240: Reconciliations took decades to come; Native churches in Ketchikan, Juneau closed in 1962 By DAVE KIFFER - Last summer, the national branch of the Presbyterian Church issued a formal apology to the Native community of Juneau over the closure of a primarily Native church in the 1960s. - More...
Sunday - Octobe r09, 2022

239: The steamship era lasted a century; If you wanted to come to Alaska, Alaska Steamship was the way By DAVE KIFFER ) - On September 29, 1922, the SS Ketchikan left the dock at the Port Althorp Cannery on Chichagof Island west of Juneau near the mouth of Glacier Bay with a load of more than 3,000 tons of salmon and herring. - More...
Wednesday - September 28, 2022

238: 60 years later, 'Ernie's frogs' are still croaking; Local man flew a bucket of frogs north from Seattle By DAVE KIFFER - Alaskans have been known to occasionally try to improve upon the nature around them. - More...
Tuesday - September 13, 2022

237: Amylon led Ketchikan city government for more than a quarter century; Looking back at a long reign By DAVE KIFFER - In the world of municipal management former longtime Ketchikan city manager Karl Amylon was a unicorn. - More...
Sunday - August 28, 2022

236: Doctor Mustard or Major Mustard? Pioneering doctor was a big name in 1920s Ketchikan By DAVE KIFFER - Ketchikan has had many interesting medical professionals in the past century, but one of the most accomplished was Dr. John Mustard. Mustard traveled the world, studying in London and Vienna. He was the mayor of Nome during the Gold Rush. He was also a gentleman fox farmer. But he spent much of his medical career serving the residents of Ketchikan. - More...
Thursday - August 18, 2022

235: Aviation came to Ketchikan a century ago; Roy Jones started first commercial aviation company in Alaska By DAVE KIFFER - A century ago, Roy F. Jones flew the first airplane into Ketchikan and brought the modern transportation world to Alaska. - MORE...
Sunday - July 17, 2022

Historical Archives - Louise Harrington

14 The Amazing, Colorful and Controversial Life of Gertrud Mellenberg Schrader By LOUISE BRINCK HARRINGTON - First and foremost, Gertrud Schrader was a survivor. - More...
Friday AM - November 02, 2018

13 Ketchikan Reunion Picnic, 2006 (Photos by Carole Housholder Radasch, Heather Robertson, Candy Cloudy Bartsch, Lynda Zaugg, Bev Zaugg, and Bob Terhar) - Hugs, smiles, ice cream and visits in the park. - More....
Friday - August 04, 2006

12 Jaws-of-Life Ribbon Cutting Ceremony - Though the celebration went of without a hitch, it was not your typical ribbon-cutting ceremony. - More...
Saturday - February 04, 2006

11 Can Emergency Responders Find You? - It was the middle of the night when North Tongass Fire Department EMS Lieutenant Jerry Kiffer got a radio call that an elderly woman was having a medical problem. During the call the 911 dispatcher, located in downtown Ketchikan, informed Kiffer that the woman lived near North Point Higgins Road and gave him the woman's address. But due to privacy regulations the dispatcher could not relay the woman's name. - More...
Wednesday - January 25, 2006

10 Kayhi Class of 1965 Reunion by LOUISE BRINCK HARRINGTON , class of '65 With help and photos from Bob Caldwell, Bill Hollywood, Judy (Hopkins) Guyette, Charlene (Loomis) Taggart, Anne Lucas and Lynn (Leding) Svenson, all class of '65 - Forty years? FORTY years? - More...
Monday - September 12, 2005

09 Kayhi Nifty-Fifties Reunion By LOUISE BRINCK HARRINGTON, Photos by BOB TERHAR (Class of '59) - One hundred and seventeen people attended the "Kayhi Nifty Fifties Reunion," held in Ketchikan over the Fourth of July weekend. - More...
Tuesday - July 26, 2005

08 Beimler: Local Blacksmith & Teacher of Viking Ways - People swarm around the blacksmith shop located next to Salmon Landing in downtown Ketchikan. A sign above the shop reads "Local Blacksmith." The blacksmith in his leather apron, old hickory shirt and suspenders draws locals and tourists alike. His wares, made from bright copper and shiny steel, glitter on the table. - More...
Monday - June 13, 2005

07 Decades Old Mural Repainted by Original Artist - A big bash will be held soon at the Arctic Bar to celebrate completion of a mural by Lawrence "Snapper" Carson.
- More...
Thursday - April 28, 2005

06 Boat Builder Preserves History in 3-D - Take a good close look at these boats. Start with the Evening Star and observe her smooth lines, high white mast and forward-style house. On her stern sits a dory full of bright orange buoys, coils of ground line, a set of oars. And don't miss her green canvas staysail, covered baiting table and deck loaded with ground line anchors, flagpole markers and other fishing gear. - More...
Saturday - January 08, 2005

05 Old Clover Pass School Stirs Memories Of A Much Simpler Life - Just a short photo-type story about Clover Pass School - that's how this article started out. Just put together a few "then-and-now" photos plus a few memories from former students, add it all together and-bingo-an article. - More...
Monday - November 08, 2004

04 Nautilus V; A dream come true - "Our darkest hour was when we were sitting in Florida and the work on the boat just wasn't progressing. Nothing was happening. We were about to get kicked out of the condo we were renting because it was the busy season in Florida. And we were spending money like a drunken sailor." - More...
Saturday - July 17, 2004

03 Kayhi Class of 1964 Holds 40th Reunion (Photo Essay) - The Kayhi Class of 1964 gathered over the 4th of July weekend to celebrate their 40th reunion. Sitnews caught up with them during a picnic held at the Ketchikan home of Judy (Henley) Berg (Class of '62). Back in 1964 the editors of the class yearbook wrote in the front: "We, the staff of the 1964 Williwaw, hope you will always find pleasant memories in our book."
- More...
Monday - July 12, 2004

02 Exploring The Alaska Rainforest Sanctuary...New growth, old growth, red cedar, yellow cedar, corduroy roads and cross cut saws.
- More...
Saturday - June 05, 2004

01 Vice, scandal and corruption in the First City!.... Extra! Read all about it! Vice, scandal and corruption in the First City!

The headlines flashed across the front pages: "Grand Jury Demands Arrest of Police Captain;" "Police Chief Charged with Keeping Bawdy House and Malfeasance," "Grand Jury Requests Removal of District Attorney."
- More...
Wednesday - November 26, 2003

Historical Archives - June Allen:

93 Remembering Gordon Zerbetz and the old Stedman Hotel
Tuesday - February 20, 2007

92 The Stedman Barbershop to join roster of memories
Friday - September 15, 2006

91 Paul Wingren: Legendary Groceryman...
Sunday - February 12, 2006

90 A Ketchikan 'Auld Lange Syne'...
Thursday - December 29, 2005

89 Alaska's Constitutional Convention: 1955; Honoring its 50th anniversary...
Friday - September 16, 2005

88 Alaskan Chris Leding: 1886-1975; A Norwegian adventurer...
Thursday - April 07, 2005

87 A Personal Tribute to Tom Coyne on St. Patrick's Day...
Thursday - March 17, 2005

86. It's Iditarod Race Year 33! a ghost story of the southern route...
Friday - March 04, 2005

85 Ketchikan's 'Rotary Wheel' Still Turning; Hardworking club celebrates a century...
Wednesday - February 23, 2005