saveitforparts

Funter Bay History: Cannery Tender Operations

February 27, 2015

Some photos from July of 1920 show several of the cannery tenders (fish handling boats) and barges at the Thlinket Packing Co.

Above, the Anna Barron maneuvers two loaded fish scows up to the cannery wharf. This vessel is discussed further here.

A close-up of one of the scows shows a full load of salmon fresh from the traps:

Below is another Thlinket Packing Co boat, the Barron F, seen in front of the cannery wharf with Highwater Island and Mt. Robert Barron behind. This 98-year-old boat is still working the West Coast, I have a number of photos courtesy of the present owner available here.

Unlike the Anna Barron, which was configured as a tugboat, the Barron F was a packer or cargo vessel with large midships hold. The Funter Bay cannery had several of each type of vessel, used somewhat interchangeably depending on the task at hand.

The next photo shows a scow, now emptied of salmon, being loaded with waste from the canning line. Elevated wooden bins held heads, guts, and other unwanted bits of fish until they could be dumped into a scow. The scow was then towed to deeper water and dumped. This kept the cannery smelling slightly better, with fewer bears nosing around, than if the waste were simply dumped directly in front. The cannery’s oil tank is visible on the point in the background.

In the last photo, we see one of the cannery tenders towing a piledriver out of the bay. The profile of the vessel suggests it might be the Anna Barron. Smoke is coming from the pile driver’s steam engine, which suggests it will soon be at work on one of the fish traps outside the bay.

1 Comment | Alaska History, Funter Bay History | Tagged: Alaska, anna barron, Barron F, Boats, Cannery, Cannery tender, fish packer, Fish Trap, fishing, Funter Bay, Funter Bay History, salmon, Southeast Alaska, steam, thlinket packing, tugboat | Permalink
Posted by saveitforparts

Funter Bay History: Cannery Workers in the 1920s

February 26, 2015

My last post displayed some 1920s-era postcards (RPPCs) from Funter Bay, showing buildings and boats of the Thlinket Packing Company’s salmon cannery. Other postcards from the same set show some of the workers and people associated with the cannery in the same time period. It is not clear if these are commercial mass-produced postcards or personal images printed on postcard stock.

Here we see a group of men unloading items from the hold of a ship. The items are likely knocked-down cases for canned salmon. These would be assembled, filled with cans, and then shipped out again. An example of assembled cases can be seen here. In the background are Tlingit native houses and a scow or barge.

The next two photos are not labeled as Funter Bay, but were found alongside Funter Bay photos in the same collection. The firewood behind the seated man looks very similar to the wood stacked next to the boardwalk seen in a previous post. Also visible in the background is a wooden frame for clotheslines with hanging laundry, and some fencing or netting, similar to the garden fencing and clotheslines seen before. I suspect this fellow was one of the Tlingit Natives who worked at the cannery during the summers.

The next photo is labeled (in reverse) “Native Cannery Hands”. The photo seems to be printed in the correct orientation based on the product held by the small boy, reading “Sw… Pr…” (perhaps candy?). In a previous post I linked to a report indicating native children as young as 8 sometimes worked 9-hour days for 10 cents an hour.

There is a lot going on in the above photo. The man on the right is making some sort of gesture or counting 3. The younger people are all looking at the camera and many are smiling, while the older woman stares away with a stern expression. This phenomenon is noted in “The Tlingit Encounter with Photography” where author Sharon Gmelch points out that Tlingit women photographed at Funter Bay tended to look away from the camera unsmiling. One explanation is that smiling for a picture was considered disrespectful by elders. (As another side note, the 1907 photo of the Tlingit women apparently found its way onto a commemorative porcelain plate made in Germany in 1910, which is now at the Juneau-Douglas City Museum).

Another notable feature of these 1920s photos is the popularity of hats or headgear. The children display a variety of hats, including what looks like a naval hat on the smallest boy (marked with a steering wheel at the front). The men unloading the ship mostly have caps, while someone in the hold and someone in the foreground seem to have fedoras (perhaps the bosses?). Earlier photos of Funter Bay workers also show a wide variety of hats, especially among the men. I am not sure if hats were universally popular among all Alaskans/Americans at the time, or if this were a local cultural habit.

A man rowing a boat near the cannery may have been another cannery employee. He appears to have several cut logs in the boat, perhaps for firewood.

Another portrait shows a man of possible Asian heritage, standing on the wharf at the cannery (Mt. Robert Barron is barely visible behind him). He appears to be the only hat-less person in this post!

Several people are shown on the cannery wharf with fish in the photos below. These may be some Ballard (Seattle) High School students who visited Funter Bay in 1919, as the images were in the same batch and are colorized similarly to some photos of that group (to be detailed in a later post).

These two have caught salmon, likely with rod and reel:

And here we see a large halibut (probably in the 150-200lb range). The men are standing on nets, but halibut are usually caught with rod or ground tackle (longlines).

If any readers happen to recognize any of the people shown here, I would love to hear about it!

1 Comment | Alaska History, Funter Bay History, Funter Bay People | Tagged: Alaska, Alaska Life, Boats, Cannery, cannery worker, cargo, Chinese, fishing, Funter Bay, Funter Bay History, halibut, hats, Native, rowboat, rowing, salmon, ship, Southeast Alaska, tlingit | Permalink
Posted by saveitforparts

Funter Bay History: 1920s Cannery Postcards

February 25, 2015

I recently came across a batch of postcards showing Funter Bay in the 1920s. These appear to have come from the estate of someone associated with the cannery. I was able to purchase several of these, and was generously given permission to use copies of the others here.

It is not clear which of these were commercially-sold postcards and which were private photos printed on postcard stock. “Real Photo Post Cards“, or “RPPCs” enabled people to make a postcard from any photo. Kodak began offering pre-printed postcard stock early in the 1900s, and Federal law allowed postcards with written messages on the back in 1907. Some RPPCs were mass produced and some were unique prints by private individuals. Some of the cards in this set are labeled, dated, and/or have a photographers name, but most are unlabeled. Based on what I can identify of the people and vessels depicted, the dates range from around 1918 to the early 1920s.

The following map helps place some of these photos. This is part of the US Fish and Wildlife Service records from the National Archives, showing the cannery in 1942. The general layout is much the same as it was in the 1920s, with only minor changes. The 1929 Aerial photo that I previously posted is also helpful.

Below is a colorized version of the first photo above. This view looks out over the cannery buildings from near the Native employees’ houses. The main wharf with long packing and warehouse buildings are seen, along with the twin chimneys of the boiler house. Bunkhouses and residences are in the foreground, with the mess hall and company store near the middle.

The next photo shows an open area behind the mess hall and bunkhouses. Boardwalks lead between buildings, with what appear to be vegetable gardens on either side. Stacks of firewood are seen along the boardwalk, with long logs split into quarters. Clothes are hung to dry on the left of the nearest boardwalk, the laundry and bath house was located just off-camera to the left. The building on the far right is probably the repair shop which still stands today, behind it is the Superintendent’s house and just to the left of it are homes for managers and guests (one of these has also been referred to as a schoolhouse).

Below is a photo of the summer housing for Tlingit cannery workers. This is sometimes referred to as a village, although other accounts state that it was not occupied year-round. These structures were later demolished to make way for saltery buildings. Several canoes and a motor launch are visible.

A more distant view of the “village” shows its relationship to the cannery buildings (at left):

A smaller photo or print shows a boat at the cannery’s floating dock, with Mt. Robert Barron in the background. This seems to have been taken from near the bunkhouse which sat partly over the high tide line:

Two more photos show the floating dock from the other direction, taken at different stages of the tide with different small boats at the dock. A sign on the approach ramp appears to read “Private Float, no gas boats allowed”. The bottom photo shows scows with rolls of netting or fencing in the front, likely fish trap materials. Some of the boats seen in prior photos are moored to pilings in the background:

The next photo shows a higher angle view of the float approach and bunkhouse, maybe from the mast of a ship. The cannery’s wooden water tank is visible in the background. The cleared area between the tank and buildings would later hold the Chinese and Filipino bunkhouses. The company store is on the left. An interesting feature is the narrow ramp extending from the rear of the store into the water. This was the cannery’s trash chute where garbage was dumped into the bay. The base of this chute was very popular for bottle hunting at low tide in later years!

The next photo shows the rear of one of the waterfront buildings. A scow is moored to a piling in the middle ground, with the mountain shrouded in clouds behind. This may be from 1919:

The next image also looks out over the cannery buildings, Mt. Robert Barron is in the background:

And finally, a view out over Funter Bay to the South, showing Station Island (two sections, one forested), Rat Island, and Bare Island (low rock at left). Clear Point is on the right, and Chichagof Island’s mountains are visible in the distance:

2 Comments | Alaska History, Funter Bay History | Tagged: Alaska, anna barron, Boats, Cannery, firewood, Fish Trap, fishing, Funter Bay, Funter Bay History, garden, lumber, postcard, salmon, Southeast Alaska, thlinket packing, tlingit, village | Permalink
Posted by saveitforparts

Funter Bay History: Navy Ships

February 24, 2015

As I’ve previously mentioned, the USS Marblehead visited Funter Bay in 1919 on anti-piracy duties. Cannery owners including James Barron had complained to the government about the depredations of fish pirates, leading the navy to dispatch several patrol vessels.

Below is a photo of what appears to be the Marblehead anchored in Coot Cove near the Thlinket Packing Co at Funter. The photographer was near the scow slipways.

The next photo shows the USS Marblehead from a similar angle, helping to identify the ship seen at Funter.

USS Marblehead stern view, courtesy Library of Congress

This Marblehead was the 2nd ship to bear the name, a Montgomery-class cruiser 269ft long powered by two steam engines and armed with various 5-inch guns and torpedoes (Wikipedia page). Launched in 1892, the visit to Funter Bay seems to have been one of the ship’s last missions. It was retired in August of 1919. Additional information is available here.

USS Marblehead, courtesy Library of Congress

The masts and rigging indicate a ship capable of sail as well as steam propulsion. A photo of the USS Montgomery under steam and partial sail can be seen here.

Another vessel of similar appearance visited Funter Bay on April 28, 1923; the Coast Guard cutter Unalga (Navy History page). This vessel had only one stack, so does not match the one seen in the photo from Coot Cove. The ship’s logs (p1 and p2) from that day mention the motor boat Ceasar which had broken its crankshaft off Funter Bay on the way to Tenakee. The Unalga towed the Ceasar from Funter to Tenakee Inlet. (The source for these logs, oldweather.org, is a project to transcribe ship logs for historic weather data. These logs also contain other interesting information such as records of towns and vessels, wildlife, and general ship operations).

A slightly more modern ship can be seen in Coot Cove in the following photo, circa 1920. Clear Point is visible in the distance, the foreground rocks were near the cannery wharf where the photographer was probably standing.

This is the USS McCawley, DD-276, a 314ft Clemson-class destroyer (Wikipedia page). When photographed in Coot Cove it may have been taking part in the 1920 inspection tour of Alaska conducted by Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels, Interior Secretary John B. Payne, and Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Hugh Rodman. A note in the Kinky Bayers files reports the McCawley arriving in Juneau along with the destroyers Sinclair and Meyer on July 13, 1920, carrying Secretary Daniels and party. A photo of the McCawley in Juneau can be seen here. A photo of the VIP group visiting a glacier can be seen here. The Thlinket Packing Co was upheld as a model Alaskan industry by promoters, cruise lines, and publishers, so it easily could have been part of the inspection tour.

An article in the Seattle Times of July 10, 1918, reported that salmon packer “J. E. Barron” asked Navy Captain J. J. O’Donnell to take custody of L. Clarito, Joe Budous, and Martin F. Bolina, “Filipinos who are charged with sabotage”. The trio were brought from Funter Bay to the Juneau city jail aboard a “US Warship” and federal charges were expected to be filed. The actual “sabotage” seems to have been the un-patriotic act of inciting native workers to request higher pay.

I was not able to find a Captain J. J. O’Donnell in 1918, but as the article got J. T. Barron’s middle name wrong, it may not have been 100% accurate with the navy captain’s name either.

1 Comment | Alaska History, Funter Bay History | Tagged: Alaska, Boats, Cannery, DD-276, fish pirates, Fish Trap, Funter Bay, Funter Bay History, Navy, sabotage, salmon, Southeast Alaska, USS Marblehead, USS McCawley | Permalink
Posted by saveitforparts

Funter Bay History: Dano Mine Part II

February 23, 2015

I recently acquired some photos that I believe are related to the Alaska-Dano Mine at Funter Bay, circa 1920. These needed a bit of detective work to place.

The first photo, taken at high tide, shows several buildings, a boat moored to a piling, and another boat full of people being rowed nearby.

Identifying this photo required some additional research into the Alaska-Dano Mining Co’s surveys, specifically US Mineral Survey No 1513. While the near-shore buildings are not shown on the survey plat, they are described in the text of the document as improvements to the property.

The directions in the survey are given in the 90-degree compass heading format used by surveyors, which allows the measurements to be plotted on a map. This results in roughly the layout seen below. Orange squares are buildings, with the two-story bunkhouse in the center and the two log cabins at the sides. The 4th log cabin mentioned was farther up the mountain.

Both of the frame structures in the photo seem to be built directly on tree stumps, a cheap and easy (if not long-lasting) foundation. The smaller frame building in front of the bunkhouse does not appear on the survey, so it may not have existed at the time (built later, or burned down prior). I would guess this to be a tool storage or workshop building. The smaller structure farther to the right is likely an outhouse, and the white structures behind the bunkhouse could be wall tents.

A two-story bunkhouse such as this indicates more than a few workers, structures of similar size at other mines housed a dozen or more men. (A photo from Katalla shows what the inside of an Alaskan bunkhouse might look like). A kitchen was sometimes located in the bunkhouse, although separate mess tents were also common to reduce fire hazards. Mine camps also usually had a blacksmith shop, an assay office where drill cores and samples were evaluated, and sometimes separate cabins for the owners or management. Stables for any horses or mules might also be found nearby.

Despite the different number of structures shown on the survey, I believe the photo matches the Dano Mine’s camp pretty closely. In addition to the two-story bunkhouse, the rise of land (tree tops) in the background matches the rise behind and to the right of the surveyed location. Towards the top of this rise are found shafts and artifacts from the Dano Mine, and farther back is the first tunnel (seen collapsed in my earlier post), likely the “Little Pete” tunnel. The shoreline is fairly generic, but would match this location at high tide. Additionally, a slightly earlier and more distant view of the Dano Mine’s shore camp seems to show a large structure in approximately the right place to be the bunkhouse. The other frame structure did not seem to exist yet when this photo was taken (1919). A smear of light-colored material to the right is likely mine tailings from the tunnel and shafts.

Below is another map of the Dano claims (rectangles) with some of the tunnels labeled. The curving lines are streams.

The next historic photo appears to be farther back from the beach, towards the Alaska Dano’s other tunnels near the base of the mountain.

This photo is not at any of the mine workings, so the people could be on a trail to the mine or on a hunting trip. They seem to be standing in a muskeg meadow with some swampy water in front of them, looking towards a nearby ridge with a mountain stream in the background and a round hill between. Identifying the exact location required a little more photo analysis. Below are some crops from a 1982 infrared aerial photo of Funter Bay, which helps to identify some of the terrain features in the older photo. This is a best guess based on my knowledge of the area and interpretation of the photo.

1982 CIR aerial courtesy of US Geological Survey.

Lastly, this photo seems to be looking North from near the Dano beach camp. The hills in the background seem to match the terrain behind the cannery, which is just barely visible along the far shoreline to the right.

Several men in a rowboat are roping an iceberg, maybe for use in local cold storage rooms or iceboxes. Summer icebergs used to be common sights along the Inside Passage and even in Downtown Juneau, but as the climate warms and glaciers retreat, they are much rarer today.

Unfortunately I don’t have any more information on these photos, such as the name of the photographer(s) or any of the people shown. Its possible some of these are related to a group of Seattle high school students who visited Funter Bay in 1919. If any readers happen to know more, I would love to hear about it!

Leave a Comment » | Alaska History, Funter Bay History | Tagged: Alaska, Boats, Dano, Funter Bay, Funter Bay History, Gold, History, ice, iceberg, Mine, Mining, Nowell, Otteson, Southeast Alaska | Permalink
Posted by saveitforparts

Funter Bay History: 1929 Ordway Aerial

February 16, 2015

The Juneau-Douglas City Museum recently posted a 1929 aerial image of Funter Bay, and gave me permission to use a high-resolution scan. This photo was taken by Frederick Ordway, “Alaska’s Flying Photographer”. Ordway opened a photo shop in Juneau in 1927 and was known for photographing many Alaskan subjects. He died in 1938 in in a crash in Oregon.

The photo was taken the same year as the US Navy’s aerial photo survey of Southeast Alaska (previously shown here and here), but offers a different angle on the bay. Click the image below to view it full size:

Funter Bay, Alaska Postcard, 1929, photograph by Fred Ordway. Image courtesy of the Juneau-Douglas City Museum, JDCM 88.45.001.

Mount Robert Barron dominates the skyline in this image, showing nearly its full 3,475′ elevation (the very top seems to be cut off by the edge of the photo). The cannery is seen in the middle left, with Coot Cove (“Scow Bay”) in front of it. Across the bay is the AAGMC mine camp. Floating fish traps are visible in the foreground, just above the title text. These would be moored in a shallow area for winter storage, to prevent storm damage.

The view looks a little different today, as a section of the mountain experienced a landslide in the 1990s after heavy rains.

Another interesting feature from the 1929 postcard is visible in Crab Cove beyond Highwater Island. This white blob is in the right location to be the camp of the Mansfield Mine. I have not previously seen this mine photographed, so despite the lack of detail it’s still an interesting white blob!

Close up of Funter Bay, Alaska Postcard, 1929, photograph by Fred Ordway. Image courtesy of the Juneau-Douglas City Museum, JDCM 88.45.001.

A survey from 1915 shows the Mansfield Company’s “Hidden Treasure Millsite”. The land claim seems to have been cancelled or denied, as it does not appear on master title plats for the area (it overlapped some other mineral claims). Unfortunately the accompanying field notes are largely illegible, so there are no details about the size and construction of buildings. The survey plat for MS 1035B shows a cabin and shed near the location photographed above.

Today all that remains of the Mansfield camp is a faint rectangle of decaying logs where the cabin and shed used to be. Anecdotal evidence describes a stable for pack mules at this location. The Mansfield Mine hauled some equipment up to their tunnel site, including track and a single ore car, seen in a previous post.

Leave a Comment » | Alaska History, Funter Bay History | Tagged: aerial photo, Alaska, Cannery, Fish Trap, Fred Ordway, Funter Bay, Funter Bay History, History, salmon, Southeast Alaska | Permalink
Posted by saveitforparts

Funter Bay History: Early Tourism

February 6, 2015

The Alaskan tourism industry grew rapidly in the early 20th century. Publicity from high-profile private “expeditions” (such as the Harriman Expedition) sparked an interest in Alaska among America’s middle class. Shipping lines quickly recognized the value of Alaska as a vacation destination, bringing the curious to see strange landscapes, animals, and cultures.

Early tourist cruises to Alaska often shared space on cargo ships or combined cargo/passenger vessels (which I’ve mentioned several times before). Even purpose-built “excursion” vessels usually had a large cargo capacity, and often made stops at industrial ports like Funter Bay during their tour circuits. Shipping lines capitalized on this by calling such stops “Surprise Ports”.

“Decidedly popular… extra calls located off the regular lanes of travel in secluded coves or fjords, and not shown in printed schedules. Here, while the ship loads or unloads, the angler may try his luck in nearby streams or lakes, and the hiker may explore wooded mountain trails, to vistas of incredible beauty.”
(Excerpt from “Looking Ahead to Alaska”, pamphlet of the Alaska Steamship Company, ca 1934).

Of course, the downsides of such “surprise ports” were never mentioned in the advertising… the noise of cargo loaded late at night, the aroma of a fish processing plant, or the unexpected wait if the captain misjudged a tide and went aground at low water.

While canneries like the Thlinket Packing Co could be an unexpected stop, at least one steamer line made a point to incorporate it into their regular routes and advertising. A 1911 brochure from the Pacific Coast Steamship Company lists Funter Bay among its regular stops and attractions.

The Salmon Cannery
Funter Bay Cannery is a revelation to those who have not seen the workings of the packing of food fish for market. Millions of salmon annually are taken from these waters, packed in tins after most approved modern methods and take place in the food supply of the world. Passengers have ample opportunity to inspect the cannery or to photograph the beautifully located nearby Indian village.” (From Pacific Coast Steamship Co “Alaska via Totem Pole Route, Season 1911”).

A 1909 advertisement also mentions Funter Bay as a stop for the Pacific Coast’s steamer Spokane.

I’ve previously posted this photo, which was labeled as the SS Spokane at Funter Bay in 1905. I am unsure of the source.

Dr. Eugene Talbot was a passenger on the Spokane in July of 1905 and described the steamer’s stop at Funter:

The steamship brochures also took every opportunity to push native art and trinkets, asking readers “Have You Collected Indian Carvings?” and “Is Alaska Represented in Your Den?”. Every port seems to have had a dockside market of souvenir merchants, including Funter Bay. An undated photo from the Clarence Leroy Andrews collection is described as “Natives with baskets for sale to tourists. Wharf at Funter’s Bay”.

By 1914, the Pacific Coast Steamship Co seems to have dropped Funter from their tour route and replaced it with a stop at Killisnoo’s herring reduction plant. The SS Spokane continued to visit Funter on cannery business, including a 1920 trip where cannery workers and officials made up the entire passenger complement. Another trip in 1925 saw the former Spokane, now renamed the Admiral Rogers, delivering a load of mining equipment to Funter Bay.

Leave a Comment » | Alaska History, Funter Bay History | Tagged: Alaska, Boats, Cannery, cruise, excursion, Funter Bay, Funter Bay History, History, pacific coast steamship, salmon, Southeast Alaska, spokane, steamer, steamship | Permalink
Posted by saveitforparts

Funter Bay History: Census Takers and Logging Camps

February 4, 2015

Related to an an earlier post about population and census-taking, the following excerpt comes from the account of one Joseph Hewitt, census-taker for part of Northern Southeast Alaska in 1909-1910. Hewitt’s diary “Forty One Days of Census Taking in Southeast Alaska” describes his travels to “all the towns, camps, ranches and settlements located on Chatham Strait, Icy Strait and all their bays and inlets”. He traveled by gasoline launch chartered by the government and operated by its owner, B.F. Dennison, and Dennison’s 11 year old son Dewey. The census enumeration was performed in winter to ensure transient native populations would be in their home villages. Larger communities with schools were expected to provide a census via the local teacher, with people like Hewitt filling in the details for smaller outlying settlements like Funter Bay.

The full document is available here, both in original written form and typed transcription.

“The next day I enumerated twelve at Funter Bay. This is the site of the “Klinket Cannery”. This is a large establishment and it was their logging camp we found in Kelp Bay. We came into Funter Bay on Friday Jan 7th and had the delectable experience of being bottled up by a storm for six days. In shifting the boat one dark night from one part of the bay to another, a thing we frequently had to do to escape destruction during that siege, we lost one of our anchors overboard. The wind and waves seemed bent on driving us out of that bay. The storm outside was so fierce as to tie up the big steamers. Inside it was playing “puss in the corner” with us, and every time it said scat we had to hike. Had it not been for a small island and an unused steamer that was anchored out I don’t see how we could have escaped being driven on the rocks. On Monday morning we made an attempt to escape but were very glad to come back in and fight it out where the trouble started . Finally on Wednesday morning we got away.”

The description of Kelp Bay earlier in the manuscript reports a logging camp abandoned before the first snow, along with a few hundred new cut piles (pilings for dock and fish trap construction). Kelp Bay is on the NE side of Baranof Island, across from the southern end of Admiralty Island about 65 miles from Funter Bay. Although Hewitt reports the logging camp deserted, he did find around 15 people in the Kelp Bay area. A Tlingit family is listed in the 1910 census as associated with the Kelp Bay logging camp, including James Hanson, employed as a woodcutter, and his wife Mary. The court case between Funter canneryman James Barron and rival Claire Alexander (discussed in this post) also mentions Thlinket Packing Co superintendent Fred Barker towing logs from Kelp Bay to Funter for use at the cannery. The cannery tenders Buster and Anna Barron were used to tow rafts of trap piles.

It may seem strange that the T.P. Co would harvest timber so far from the cannery, but a possible explanation lies in the geography of Kelp Bay. Not only is it protected from storms, the bay offers very steep hillsides along the shore, an ideal place for gravity-assisted hand logging. The best trees could be selected and cut so as to slide into the water below. Around Funter Bay, most of the near-shore land is flat, and would require logs to be hauled by equipment or animals. (Limited near-shore logging did happen at Funter, as discussed here). Kelp Bay continued to be logged and clearcut into the 1990s.

Leave a Comment » | Alaska History, Funter Bay History, Funter Bay People | Tagged: Alaska, Cannery, census, Fish Trap, Funter Bay, Funter Bay History, History, logging, lumber, pilings, salmon, Southeast Alaska | Permalink
Posted by saveitforparts

More Airboat Updates

January 3, 2015

The mini airboat recently suffered a temporary setback, resulting from a high-speed collision on the safety cage.

The plastic safety cage I had built around the engine was pushed into the spinning propeller, which ripped through the hardware cloth and aluminum braces. The propeller itself shattered from the impact.

A word of advice, DONT BREAK YOUR PROP! These things are stupidly expensive. I ended up paying more than twice what the hull cost for a new propeller!

I decided (with some coaxing) that the plastic hoops weren’t strong enough, and that I should go with metal. After acquiring some aluminum tubing of sufficient length to make a suitable-diameter hoop, I was then faced with the problem of bending it. I considered multiple options including hand-bending with sand, heating it, buying a conduit bender, and renting a roller bender, but couldn’t come up with a reasonable-cost way of doing it without kinking. Then I finally stumbled across this wonderful website, which explained how to make bending jigs.

Below is my basic jig, made by tracing out a line of slightly smaller diameter than my desired hoop (because the bent metal wants to spring out larger). I then screwed down blocks aligned with the curve, and bent a piece of flat stock to conform to the arc. The last steps were a stop to hold the tube against the curve, and a cross brace over the blocks to help resist the force on the tube.

My pipe sections were so long that I could not find space inside the garage to secure the jig AND move around it during the bending process. I solved this by securing the jig vertically to a tree, and pulling the tubing down around the curve a little at a time.

Eventually, I had my aluminum hoops! I made two of the same diameter, for the front and back of the safety cage.

Below are the new hoops sitting next to the airboat, prior to removing the old plastic hoops. As a side note there are 3 other boats visible in this photo, with oars and gas tank for a 4th, two more are off-camera, and I’ve since acquired an 8th small boat (not counting barrel rafts or inflatables). I may have a problem.

1 Comment | Boatbuilding, Projects | Permalink
Posted by saveitforparts

Funter Bay History: Aleut Internment Part II

December 12, 2014

I previously discussed the Aleut Internment of WWII, in which many Native Alaskans were relocated to Funter Bay to “protect” them from the Japanese invasion of the Aleutian islands. Evacuees were shuffled out of the combat theater for the military’s convenience, and left in hastily-organized camps at disused cannery and mine sites. Conditions at the internment camps were poor, with unreliable water, heat, and medical care. Approximately 30-40 people died in the two Funter Bay camps, with more deaths at Juneau hospitals. The Funter Bay cemetery holds approximately 23 recognizable grave sites, although the list below indicates 35 burials there.

This list is from a 1980 report by the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians, in hearings before the Subcommittee on Administrative Law Relations, regarding establishment of said commission and payment to victims of forcible relocation by the government.

The full text is available via the Library of Congress here, in scanned and OCR’d form. I have copied the OCR version below. Obvious scanning and text recognition errors have been cleaned up, but there may be a few errors remaining. Full lists of evacuees transported on the Delarof to Funter Bay (the St. Paul and St. George Island lists) are at the bottom of this page.

ATTACHMENT V INCOMPLETE DATA ON ALEUT CIVILIANS WHO DIED WHILE INTERNED IN CAMPS MAINTAINED RY THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR FROM JUNE 1942 UNTIL MID-1944
The following incomplete tabulation of civilian Aleut deaths in the World War II camps is based upon the recollections of survivors and was compiled by the Aleutian/Pribilof Islands Association, Inc.:

Persons from St. George:

Galanin, Sr., Alexander. Buried at Funter Bay, Alaska.
Lekanof, Irene, Buried at Funter Bay, Alaska.
Lekanof, Palagalia, Buried at Funter Bay, Alaska.
Lekanoff, Polagin, Buried at Funter Bay, Alaska.
Lekanof, Jr., Serge, Buried at Funter Bay, Alaska.
Lestenkof, Constantine, Buried at Funter Bay, Alaska.
Mandregan, Helen, Buried at Funter Bay, Alaska.
Nozekof, Mary, Buried at Funter Bay, Alaska.
Nozekof, Paul, Buried at Funter Bay, Alaska.
Prokopiof, Jr., Afanasia, Buried at Funter Bay, Alaska.
Profopiof, Agnes, Buried at Funter Bay, Alaska.
Prokopiof, Anna, Buried at Funter Bay, Alaska.
Prokopiof, Lucy, Buried at Funter Bay, Alaska.
Prokopiof, Stefanadia, Buried at Funter Bay, Alaska.
Swetzof, Olga, Buried in Funter Bay, Alaska.

Persons from St. Paul:
Bear, Kenneth, Buried at Funter Bay, Alaska.
Bear, Susan Delia, Buried at Funter Bay, Alaska.
Bourdukofsky, Peter, Buried at Funter Bay, Alaska.
Emanoff, Pauline, Buried at Funter Bay, Alaska.
Emanoff, Buried at Funter Bay, Alaska.
Emanoff, Polly, Buried at Funter Bay, Alaska.
Hapoff, N’ekita, Buried at Funter Bay. Alaska.
Kochutin, Buried at Funter Bay, Alaska.
Krykoff, Dorothy, Buried at Funter Bay, Alaska.
Kuchutin, John, Buried at Funter Bay, Alaska.
Mandregan, Logan, Buried at Funter Bay, Alaska.
Nederazof, Alexander, Buried at Funter Bay, Alaska.
Ousligoff, Anastasia, Buried at Funter Bay, Alaska.
Panoff. Vlass, Buried at Funter Bay, Alaska.
Shabolin, Serge, Buried at Funter Bay, Alaska.
Shabolin, Vlass, Buried at Funter Bay, Alaska.
Stepetin, Dorafey, Burled at Funter Bay, Alaska.
Swetzof, Helena, Burled at Funter Bay, Alaska.
Swetzoff, Julia, Burled at Funter Bay, Alaska.
Tetof, Doria, Buried at Funter Bay, Alaska.

Below are some of the passenger lists from the USAT Delarof. Most “Native Evacuees” from St. Paul and St. George islands (about 477 people) were left at Funter Bay. Other communities were taken to Ward Lake, Burnett Inlet, Wrangell, and Killisnoo. Non-native or white government employees from the islands were given passage out of state, although a few stayed to help organize the internment camps.

Passenger List USAT Delarof, Native Evacuees from St George Island to Funter Bay, Alaska. June 16, 1942.

Passenger List USAT Delarof, Native Evacuees from St George Island to Funter Bay, Alaska. June 16, 1942.

Passenger List USAT Delarof, Native Evacuees from St George Island to Funter Bay, Alaska. June 16, 1942.

Passenger List USAT Delarof, Native Evacuees from St Paul Island and Government Employees to Funter Bay, Alaska. June 16, 1942.

Passenger List USAT Delarof, Native Evacuees from St Paul Island to Funter Bay, Alaska. June 16, 1942.

Passenger List USAT Delarof, Native Evacuees from St Paul Island to Funter Bay, Alaska. June 16, 1942.

Passenger List USAT Delarof, Native Evacuees from St Paul Island to Funter Bay, Alaska. June 16, 1942.

Passenger List USAT Delarof, Native Evacuees from Dutch Harbor and Government Employees from St Paul Island, Alaska. June 16, 1942.

Passenger List USAT Delarof, Native Evacuees from Dutch Harbor and Nikolski, Alaska. June 16, 1942.

Further information is also available at:

Aleut Story. Video DVD with online bibliography of source material.

Evacuation and Internment, 1942-1945. National Park Service page and archeological report by Charles Mobley.

Agony of the Aleutians: The forgotten internment. A recent (November 2014) article.

The Aleut Internments of WWII. Another recent (2014) print book.

2 Comments | Alaska History, Funter Bay History, Funter Bay People | Tagged: Alaska, Aleut, Cannery, evacuation, Funter Bay, Funter Bay History, History, internment, Southeast Alaska, WWII | Permalink
Posted by saveitforparts

Saveitforparts

Funter Bay History: Cannery Tender Operations

Funter Bay History: Cannery Workers in the 1920s

Funter Bay History: 1920s Cannery Postcards

Funter Bay History: Navy Ships

Funter Bay History: Dano Mine Part II

Funter Bay History: 1929 Ordway Aerial

Funter Bay History: Early Tourism

Funter Bay History: Census Takers and Logging Camps

More Airboat Updates

Funter Bay History: Aleut Internment Part II

Navigation Menu

Tags