Ketchikan: Alaska Marine Highway Celebrates 50 Years - Since its start 50 years ago, the Alaska Marine Highway System has grown to connect an area covering 3,500 miles and 35 port communities, from Alaska to Canada to Washington. Now in its 50th year, the Alaska Marine Highway has grown to 11 vessels and averages 330,000 passengers and 110,000 vehicles a year.

Chilkoot
Captain Lloyd H. (Kinky) Bayers Collection, 1898-1967.
Photo courtesy Alaska State Library - Historical Collections

In the Beginning

The story of the Alaska Marine Highway System starts with three men who had a dream to provide dependable marine transportation between Alaska’s coastal communities. In 1948, Haines residents Steve Homer, Ray and Gustav Gelotte set up a company named Chilkoot Motorship Lines and purchased the MV Chilkoot, an ex-US Navy landing craft. The MV Chilkoot was 121 feet long with a beam of 33 feet and drew 3.5 feet when loaded. It could carry a maximum of 14 cars but the passenger accommodations were very poor as it remained in its original Navy configuration. After some initial work in Toledo Oregon, removing gun tubs and other Navy gear, Steve and Ray took the ship to Seattle for the preliminary Coast Guard inspection and necessary outfitting. After all preparations were made they cruised to Haines, arriving around August first.

Upon arriving in Haines, they were greeted by two vehicles ready for transport to Juneau. “The two cars belonged to Ernest Gruening, the governor of Alaska, driving a new black Buick and to Simon Hellenthal, a Juneau attorney who had a grey Chrysler coupe. The governor’s car was loaded first making ‘CY’ Hellenthal’s car the first to be unloaded at Tee Harbor, our southern terminus.” Homer, Steve “The First Ferry from Haines to Tee Harbor.” The Alaska Southeaster Magazine, March 1993.

Their first year provided some challenges, but they were able to haul the first bus north as one of the first charters over the highway to Anchorage. The Board of Road Commissioners, consisting of Governor Ernest Gruening, Henry Roden and Frank Metcalf, supported Chilkoot Motorship Lines and provided funding for three wood ramps to be built at Tee Harbor, Haines and Skagway. The ramps were in service at the beginning of 1949.

After a couple years of service, Chilkoot Motorship Lines faced bankruptcy. Due to snow levels closing the road to Haines between October and May 15 they were not able to operate year-round. They tried to secure contracts with mines in the winter months in order to be profitable; however, these contracts fell through. As news traveled that the service may be discontinued, the Territorial Government came forward and offered to purchase the business. After thoughtful consideration the owners decided to sell Chilkoot Motorship Lines to the territory in June 1951.

The MV Chilkoot soon proved to be too small and was replaced by the MV Chilkat in 1957. The Chilkat was 99 feet long and could carry 59 passengers and 15 vehicles. Its distinct bow ramp meant it could load from the beach as well as a dock. On April 18, 1957 the MV Chilkat began daily service between Juneau, Haines and Skagway. - More...
Wednesday PM - May 01, 2013

Viewpoints
Commentary
Opinions/Letters
Basic Rules &
Freedom of Speech

OF GUN NUTS AND MUSEUM PIECES By David G. Hanger - I have no idea what political calculus Senator Mark Begich has come up with to justify his recent performance with the question of background checks for gun purchases; the idea that it is too emotional a time, his words, is pathetic. - More...
Tuesday AM - April 30, 2013

RE: The Truth about the Herring By Sam Bergeron - Terri Wenger Anderson thinks if you call someone names their argument will be moot. Turns out the guy your bad mouthing has been sounding the clarion call to action on the commercial harvest of herring for quite some time. His points are fact based, well researched and absent of vitriol and name-calling; we should all strive to write as well. - More...
Tuesday AM - April 30, 2013

To Be Fed By Ravens By Judith Green - Our community has so much talent and strength to share - it is wonderful. Many groups of school age children in the arts and sports - we applaud their efforts and enjoy watching and listening as they perform. - More...
Tuesday AM - April 30, 2013

Ketchikan's water is more contaminated than you think! By Ed Plute - When consumed in drinking water HAA are easily absorbed into the bloodstream. Links have been made between exposure to HAA concentrations above the maximum contaminent level and injury to the liver, kidney, eyes, nerves and the reproductive system. There is not a significant risk of HAAs in drinking water to be absorbed through skin. - More...
Tuesday AM - April 30, 2013

Post Office buildings for sale! By A. M. Johnson - Following is a letter submitted to Senator Murkowski regarding hanky panky going on within her Senate and nobody is asking questions. So I have. - More...
Tuesday AM - April 30, 2013

Thanks!!! By Doreen Caffrey - Thank you very much to the high school young people who were picking up trash along Ketchikan's Stedman Street on Tuesday, April 23rd, in the morning. - More...
Thursday AM - April 25, 2013

GSACC unequivocally opposes S.340, the “Southeast Alaska Native Lands Finalization and Jobs Protection Act By David Beebe - The Greater Southeast Alaska Conservation Community (GSACC) is a regional grassroots conservation organization dedicated to the protection of healthy, fully functioning forests, lands and waters of Southeast Alaska. As such, GSACC unequivocally opposes S.340, the “Southeast Alaska Native Lands Finalization and Jobs Protection Act.” Our opposition is based in that S. 340, (1) sets an unnecessary and far reaching precedent throughout our State; (2) was never vetted through an open public process; (3) results in further sacrifice of vulnerable but productive fragmented watersheds; and, (4) yields little socioeconomic benefit beyond Sealaska Corporation’s coffers. - More...
Thursday AM - April 25, 2013

Pinwheels for Prevention By Diane Gubatayao - Perhaps you are curious about the silver and blue pinwheels spinning around at various locations around Ketchikan. Pinwheels, always a favorite toy with children, have become the new national symbol for child abuse prevention. April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month. Pinwheels reflect the innocence and playfulness of childhood, and yet they represent the fragility and vulnerability of children. Just as you hold a pinwheel in your hands, you hold the protection of children in your hands. - More...
Monday PM - April 22, 2013

Major Environmental Groups Support Tongass Jewel as Wilderness; S.340 - The Sealaska Bill Destroys it By Davey Lubin - The Sealaska lands bill has been re-introduced in Congress as S. 340, and alarmingly, this misguided, highly controversial bill is scheduled for a hearing in Senate Natural Resources on April 25th. - More...
Monday PM - April 22, 2013

Transition to 2nd Growth Reality or Folly By Joe Mehrkens - Back in the heydays taxpayers paid a subsidy of $12,000-$36,000 per Tongass timber job. Based on more recent Forest Service accounting information, this subsidy has grown during the last decade to a staggering $224,000-$510,000/job a nearly 1,400% increase. How can this be? Simply, the Forest Service kept spending like the industry was in its heyday while the industry was in a persistent long-term decline. - More...
Monday PM - April 22, 2013

Herring a Forage Fish By Lawrence Snapper Carson - Spring brings the end of the winter doldrums and the interaction of the blooms of the ocean and the land. Mankind has survived and taken part in Southeast Alaska’s bounty for millenniums of time. The survival and the use of these resources has changed as mankind has moved from a subsistence life style to a greedy, politically managed, and commercially based utilization of herring. - More...
Monday PM - April 22, 2013

Sitka’s Herring Population is Stronger than Ever by Jake Ingman - Last week, Andy Rauwolf sent a letter to Sitnews full of panic and misinformation.  The first of many things that need to be corrected is his assumption that the closure of the herring fishery was because of a lack of herring in the area.  That is false; we didn’t catch our quota because of our responsible and sensible approach to this fishery, but first, let’s talk about herring spawn.  58 nm of spawn has been recorded for 2013.  Compare that to the first recorded year, 1964 and 19 nm, then ten years later, 1974 and 10 nm, and 1984 had 65 nm, and then 1994 and 58.1 nm of spawn.  The amount of spawn in the area is much stronger than 40 years ago when the sac roe fishery started.  All the locals who think that the herring run was so much stronger in their childhood because of what they remember seeing from their house window; the data proves that notion wrong.  It is stronger now, but the amount of sea traffic in Sitka is a factor, the population growth, sewage, and pollution has made other shorelines more attractive to the herring than the Sitka beaches.  Herring don’t spawn on the same spot, they aren’t like salmon returning to the same stream.  Mr. Rauwolf goes on to claim that the state management has failed to maintain the population since the sac roe fishery began in 1976.  Let’s check actual facts and numbers, instead of baseless fear tactics and see what the truth is…. - More...
Monday PM - April 22, 2013

The QUESTION IS WHY? By Bobbie McCreary - Thanks Marvin Hill, for coming out to take away the TWO vandalized Port-A-Potties out at the paintball field on Revilla Road.   WHY? when a well-meaning non-profit like Ketchikan Youth Initiatives places port-a-potties at the paintball field for ANYONE to use that comes to the paintball field or drives on to other beautiful recreational areas,  DOES SOMEONE BREAK THEM APART SO THEY ARE UNUSABLE? - More...
Thursday PM - April 18, 2013

RE: Warning! Is your money really going to the septic system or is it going downhill? By Mike Carney - First of all I would like to say I normally would not respond but this is so far off base I felt it needed a response. Mr. Plute needs to do his homework. The 6.2 to 7.2 is the City tax not the Borough. As for the $35,000 I dont know where he gets his information, but I run a department that sends people for travel and training every year and you could take my department and two others and never total $35,000 let alone for one person. - More...
Thursday PM - April 18, 2013

The Sealaska Bill Should Die By Rebecca Knight - Most SE Alaskans are united in opposition to S. 340 (formerly S. 881 & S. 730), the Southeast Alaska Native Land Entitlement Finalization and Jobs Protection Act. These are real folks whose lives will be directly impacted including sport, commercial and subsistence fishermen as well as hunters, recreationists and the hundreds of residents of nine communities that will suffer the direct hit of this horrible, forest high-grading bill. - More...
Thursday PM - April 18, 2013

The Truth About the Herring By Terri Wenger Anderson - Please disregard the propaganda about the herring. I believe the gentleman that wrote this letter to get every environmentalist's panties in an uproar must be related to Al Gore. Maybe he is trying to get a federally funded grant to study herring, well being in Ketchikan is not going to help him. - More...
Thursday PM - April 18, 2013

China Hacking Into U.S. Computers* By Donald A. Moskowitz - Based on the activities of Chinese Army Unit 61398 Communist China continues to wage cyber warfare against the U.S. by hacking into the computers of U.S. corporations. - More...
Thursday PM - April 18, 2013

Webmail your letter or
Email Your Letter To: editor@sitnews.us

E-mail your news tips, news
releases & photos to:
editor@sitnews.us

SitNews
Stories in the News
©1997 - 2012
Ketchikan, Alaska