Funter Bay History: Water & Hydropower Part II

December 22, 2013

After previously writing about local water use for industry and power generation at Funter Bay, I came across a few more maps of such projects. The first, below, shows the pipeline from the Thlinket Packing Co cannery to “Nimrod Creek”, near “Pipeline Meadow” (local names). This creek is one of the larger and more reliable water sources convenient to the cannery. The grid lines on the map are old mining claims which have since lapsed. The small pond at the upper right is from a long-existing beaver dam which can still be found today.

pipeline

The Lake Kathleen project was a 1931 proposal to construct a hydroelectric station, fed by water from a tunnel. Power would be used at Funter Bay for an electric smelter.

kathleen

Electricity would have been transmitted to Funter Bay over lines strung along the beach for approximately 30 miles. The power line itself was considered relatively trivial once the necessary permits were acquired to use Tongass National Forest land and the tunnel had been dug. The major choke point would have been the crossing of Hawk Inlet, but this was planned to use a sandbar to build poles partway across the water.

kathleen2

The high flow and storage capacity available at Lake Kathleen outweighed the inconvenience of distance. Precedents for such a project included the Chichagof Mine at Klag Bay, as well as various other power projects around Southeast Alaska. Today many communities in Southeast Alaska rely on distant hydroelectric stations. Ultimately the Lake Kathleen project never materialized, either due to a lack of funding or other issues. Today the Greens Creek mine is located at Hawk Inlet much closer to this lake, but uses an underwater power cable from Juneau instead of local sources. Meanwhile, the Lake Kathleen area has been clearcut from the Cube Cove logging camp.

When large single sources of water were not available or practical to tap, another trick was to connect multiple sources with a lateral ditch. This technique was widely used throughout Alaska, from Nome to Fairbanks to Juneau. Engineers would pick an elevation contour and build a ditch at that level, exactly following the horizontal bends of the hillside while maintaining a slight vertical drop to keep the water flowing. Streams along the route were intercepted and diverted into the ditch, which eventually dumped their combined flow into a pipeline or another (previously smaller) stream where the water was needed. At Funter Bay, ditches and streams were sometimes daisy-chained, with one stream diverted to another, then that (now combined) stream diverted again farther down its course. This took advantage of different optimal contours for each leg.

Ditches were relatively cheap to dig, but had the disadvantage of needing constant maintenance. They were eroded by use, damaged by ice, blocked by fallen trees, and tended to fill in with silt, leaves, and other debris.

An abandoned ditch at Funter Bay, the water has found or made an easier path to the left, with the dry section beyond slowly filling in with organic debris:

ditch2

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Alaskan Mine Names

December 12, 2013

I recently came across a large collection of mine names in Alaska. Names containing “Treasure”, “Rich”, “Jumbo”, “Bonanza”, etc are quite popular as a way to entice investors, but here are a few less enticing and perhaps more descriptive mine names!

Bum Cat
Horrible
Waterhole
Holy Moses
Wrongtrail
Troublesome Creek
Wicked Witch
Crazy Mountain
Pipedream
Singin’ Sam’s Rainbow Mine
Problem Gulch
Poor Chance
Slug Gulch
Whistlepig
Chickenlicken
Pooped
The Smell
Moonshine
Whiskey Creek
Smuggler’s Cover
Agony #1 & 2
Aching Back
Bruiser

And of course, a few named after wives, girlfriends, or perhaps local ladies of negotiable affection:

Lucky Lou
Clara Bea
Fanny Gulch
Nancy’s Hope Chest
Pricilla’s Delight
Darling Creek
Sweetheart Ridge
Little Sue
Lucky Nell
Lucky Lady
Maid of Mexico
Busty Belle
Double D Mining Co

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Funter Bay History: Aircraft Mishaps

November 22, 2013

While Southeast Alaskan aviation is generally safe and efficient, the sheer number of planes in the area means there are the occasional accidents. Local preference for paint schemes on aircraft runs towards bright colors “so the search party can find it”. (Bright bottom paint is also popular on boats, so you can be found in case you wind up capsized).

Here is a crashed plane that I visited when I was 5 (I’m in the little blue suit!) The damage looks severe, but everyone walked away. This is a Cessna 206 which was bringing a party of hunters back to Juneau, the pieces were later pulled out by a helicopter.

young-2 young-3

Below are a few more aircraft incidents from the Funter Bay area that I was able to compile from public data:

10/4/1979: An aircraft was reported “spiraling down” in the vicinity of Funter Bay, spotted by the fishing vessel Carol Ann. The Coast Guard and State Police located the crash and recovered three bodies. (Daily Sitka Sentinel)

4/29/1985: Piper 32-300 belonging to LAB became trapped between two snow showers, made emergency landing in Funter Pass. Plane damaged but no injuries: http://aircrashed.com/accident/SEA85LA099.shtml

10/29/1985: Amphibious Cessna 206 crashed at Funter Bay. Wheels failed to retract and plane nosed over during water landing. http://aircrashed.com/accident/SEA86LA019.shtml

11/30/1987: Cessna 206 belonging to Channel Flying took off with tailwind and was pushed into trees by downdraft. No injuries (this is the one I have pictures of).

5/25/1992: Piper 32-300 (Air Excursions of Gustavus) clipped a tree in the Funter pass. Was able to land at Juneau:  http://aircrashed.com/aircraft/aANC92LA079.shtml

8/6/1992: Cessna 207 operated by Alaska Juneau Aeronautics crashed in Funter Pass. Pilot turned to avoid cloud and hit mountain. 2 serious injuries.

2/28/2007: Cessna 207 operated by Wings of Alaska made an emergency landing on a beach at Funter after having engine trouble. The plane ran off the beach and sank, but the pilot and passengers were uninjured. An article and photo are here: http://www.kinyradio.com/juneaunews/archives/week_of_02-28-00/juneau_news_02-28-00.html

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Funter Bay History: Tall Tales

October 29, 2013

One of the finest traditions of Alaskan culture is the Tall Tale or “BS Story”. Whether a heroic adventure, unlikely wildlife encounter, lost treasure, or exaggerated fish, Alaskans have made an art of far-fetched claims. These days they’re usually related in person, over the marine radio, or at the bar, but in the old days you could get them printed in the newspaper! Actually, you probably still can in certain less-rigorously-edited publications!

One common “BS” news story in the early 20th century was the ever-popular “Next Treadwell” mine. Newspaper editors knew that attracting outside investors to the state would help grow their small towns’ economies, so almost every mine, no matter how small, was compared favorably to Treadwell (an operation known to be highly profitable). The Sitka Alaskan of Feb 27, 1886 describes deposits in the Funter Bay area as “equally as large and rich [as the “great gold belt of Douglas island”]”. After Treadwell caved in and flooded in 1917, local editors had to come up with more general terms like “the great Juneau mines”.

Of the two Juneau papers at the time, the Daily Alaska Dispatch seemed to talk up Funter Bay the most, although the Daily Record-Miner was also favorably biased towards local mines. The Dispatch referred to Funter Bay as “One of the very best camps in the district” (May 8, 1903), “The best copper proposition in this district” (Apr 16, 1909), and as having “claims which will unquestionably become good producers within a short time” (Oct 15, 1915). A July 31, 1902 article describes a Funter Bay claim “richly impregnated with gold” as well as being “40% copper”, and being “highly mineralized all the way through” and “a great big chunk of the world’s wealth”.

Reading these articles leads one to think that Funter Bay was constantly poised to become a major competitor in the national economy, but the mines referred to in these articles were mostly one or two-man prospects that never got beyond 50ft of tunnel, such as the Mansfield Mine.

Otteson’s Dano mine was also mentioned in the Dispatch, described as having a “big and rich ledge” (3 Aug 1909) and producing “rich gold bearing samples” (27 July 1919). Despite all this richness, the mine did not develop into a major producer. The papers handled such delays in promised wealth with their usual optimism, an 1903 article mentions that barren rock encountered in the first 50ft of a mine at Funter must have been “all cap-rock”, and “a change has taken place… the values in the quartz now are very good”. Any mine which failed or went bankrupt, if mentioned at all, was promptly blamed on the incompetence of the prior managers, and never on the geology of the claim.

Another great tall tale appeared in the Dispatch on Sept 12, 1912.

Explores Unknown Region on Admiralty Island

W. C. Miller Finds Lake and River Alive With Mountain Trout and Tremendous Wall of Ice.
—————————
W.C. Miller, a well known Alaskan who has valuable prospects at Funter Bay, has just returned from an exploration of the “unknown country” of Admiralty Island, and this trip is believed to be the first exploration of that region. The country lies near the center of Admiralty Island, between Hawk Inlet and Seymour Canal. Mr. Miller was accompanied by his nephew, F. E. Koeper.
“The entire territory,” said Mr. Miller, “is worthless to the prospector. We found a little gold, but nothing worth while, except mountain trout.”
At the head of a river Mr. Miller found a lake four miles long and a mile wide, alive with mountain trout of unusually large size. “We had no bait but venison,” said Mr. Miller, “but a crowd of fish entered into competition for the hook as often as Koeper threw it in.” Miller and his companion came back by a shallow river, a hundred feet wide, and this stream was also alive with trout. No salmon were seen, and Mr. Miller believes that on account of the swiftness of the current the salmon are not able to swim a very great distance in it. Mr. Miller named the lake “Isaac Walton Lake” in honor of the great angler.
The explorers found a new glacier with a wall of ice sixty feet high, running along the top of the range for miles. (From Daily Alaska Dispatch, Sept 12, 1912).

For those unfamiliar with the area, Admiralty Island has no glaciers,  and mountain top snow of that thickness is unlikely in September . The size and location of the lake and river are also quite questionable!

On May 25th of 1937, lighthouse keepers at Point Retreat reported that they had seen a “Ragged wild man”. This was said to possibly be Bud May, a trapper from Funter Bay who had been missing for some time. However, a few days later, 65 year old Albert Miles arrived at Point Retreat and claimed that he is not “wild”, he had simply walked there after wrecking his boat near Cordwood Creek. Miles was later ruled to be insane (per Kinky Bayers’ notes).

I might have a few more of these lying around for a later update. If any readers have a contribution I would be glad to publish it! Names can be withheld or changed to protect the guilty!

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Rustmobile SOLD!

October 3, 2013

I recently sold the rustmobile! The fellow wanted to know surprisingly little about it, the entire transaction reminded me of a certain meme. Hopefully it treats him well and all the little annoyances aren’t too annoying!

By request, here’s a link to the Craigslist ad, the ad is pasted below for when it ends/expires!

Awful car for your awful driver! (Beater 1994 Honda Accord) – $500 (St Paul)

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Is your kid pestering you to buy them a car? Do you or a friend run into things a lot and need a car that can take a beating? Get this one! It’s cheap, runs pretty well, won’t be a great financial loss if you crash it, and will teach you or your child valuable repair and maintenance skills (like how to use duct tape). Plus, it looks so bad that your kids won’t want to be seen in public with it, and will spend more time doing homework and duct taping parts back on instead of cruising around!

The quick overview:
-1994 Honda Accord LX
-2.2L 4-cylinder
-Automatic transmission
-???,??? Miles (Odometer stopped working 3 years ago at 215,000, so who knows).
-Have owned for ~5 years
-“Mostly” blue (“Sage Green” according to the colorblind guys at Honda). Hood is black-ish and there’s some rust and bondo highlights.
-Lots of “personality” / minor problems (will attempt to list them all below)

The GOOD:
-Engine works, brakes work, and wheels turn (it drives!)
-Lights work (you can drive at night!) Both high and low beam.
-Wipers work (you can drive in the rain!)
-Heater works and heats up quickly (you can drive in the winter!)
-One of the windows still rolls down (you can drive in the summer!)
-Blinkers mostly work (hopefully you know how to use these, unlike many drivers).
-No cracks! (Brand new windshield)
-Front brake pads recently replaced.
-Battery is pretty good, I’ve left the dome light on overnight and it still started.
-Newer starter
-Newer radiator
-New ignition wires, spark plugs, distributor cap and rotor.
-High-performance air intake. I don’t know why, it was just there when I bought it.
-I’ll include some spare parts like new rear brake pads, new fuel filter, set of new spark plugs, and color-matched touch-up paint. Can include a beat up, oil-stained Haynes manual too.
-Despite all the problems, it has been pretty reliable.

The BAD (and the ugly):
-Sometimes it loses power and backfires/stutters when first starting, or when accelerating. No pattern or reason to it. Not a huge deal as you can pump the gas and maintain speed, and it goes away after a while. Sometimes it does this every day for 10 minutes at a time, sometimes it will go weeks without doing it. Mechanics are mystified.

-Fuel line has been replaced with flexible rubber fuel hose where it goes through the engine compartment, and fuel filter has been moved (Honda originally designed it to require 37 rare and custom tools plus two helper monkeys and a double-jointed circus contortionist to change it). The filter is now somewhere you can actually see, which is good, but the line is not stock, which might make your insurance agent cry if they find out.

-Pushbutton start! Why is this bad? Someone was dumb enough to steal the thing (out of a parking lot full of nicer cars) and broke the ignition. Thanks to Ax-Man there’s now a hidden switch/button starter instead of a keyhole. It works fine, but is a little weird.

-It leaks oil. I’ve had it in to various shops and they can’t find the source, it just keeps coming out. I have to top it off once a month or so. Put some cardboard down or expect your driveway to be spotty.

-Exhaust is mostly gone so it’s super loud. This could be a plus if you want to sound like a high-performance racer or something, I’ve had teenagers try to drag race me a few times. The muffler is new, but the pipe between the catalytic converter and muffler keeps rusting away and/or falling off. I’ve repaired/replaced it 3 times and finally gave up. I’ve only been pulled over for it once, and that was because the muffler itself was visibly missing and I was the ugliest car in a yuppie suburb with bored cops.

-As mentioned, the odometer doesn’t work and is stuck at 215k. As a wild guess it’s “probably” between 250k and 300k now, but no way to guarantee.

-Rear windows don’t roll down anymore.

-Driver’s side window opener broke. You can push it up by hand and wedge it in place (wedge included!)

-Power locks are haunted. You have to manually lock/unlock it, but sometimes it will randomly start trying to re-lock itself repeatedly for no reason. Driver’s side lock is… complicated.

-No stereo (stolen) and no speakers. Power radio antenna is jammed half-out, still works fine if you put a radio in. I can include a CD stereo, but you’ll have to figure out the wiring and get speakers.

-Front driver’s side blinker on the bumper is not quite the right size. I ordered one for this model from Amazon and they sent something else, so I made it fit with zipties and science. It has a loose wire and doesn’t always work, haven’t had time to fix it but should be simple. There are still turn signals up next to the headlights (which work).

-Speaking of zipties, the headlights are mostly held on that way. The lenses have a few cracks. They all work though!

-Some bent and damaged parts of the front frame (ran into some stuff). Again, zipties save the day. Nothing really important is damaged and you can’t tell unless you open the hood and look close.

-Front bumper is held on with screws and zipties. If you pull too close to a curb it gets stuck and falls off sometimes.

-Hood doesn’t pop from inside, the cable is jammed. Have to pull on the ziptie sticking out of the grill (see a theme yet?)

-NO A/C. Not your normal “No AC” car that just needs freon, this one is basically unrepairable The compressor seized up, the freon went away, the fan relay is dead, and I ripped out a bunch of the pipes since they were in the way. I bypassed the compressor completely after it seized, the alternator has the shorter belt now.

-Rear passenger side seatbelt doesn’t want to retract. Might be fixable.

-Various body rust, typical for this model with MN road salt. I used to care, so I fixed some areas with bondo and bought the matched color from the dealership. Now the rust is coming back in the same spots and the Bondo is falling off and I don’t care anymore. I’ll include the can of matching spray paint and a smaller color pen in case you want it to look less trashy for some reason.

-Running boards on the passenger side is falling off

-Passenger side mirror is cracked and held on with a bolt. Still works fine, power-adjust still works.

-Minor dent in rear door from high-velocity cherry tomato (There was a potato gun involved and we were like “tomatoes just go splat, right?” WRONG).

-Hole drilled in trunk lid for ham radio antenna. Radio got stolen, so there’s just a mounting bracket there now (doesn’t leak).

-Secondary fan relay is shot (The second fan is supposed to be for the AC, but AC doesn’t work anyway). The fan is supposed to also kick in at higher temps but I’ve not really needed it. The fan itself works and has a switch on the dash in case it gets really hot.

-Speaking of fans, the main cooling fan likes to come on about 30 seconds after you park, and runs for a few minutes. Doesn’t seem to be a problem.

-Below ¼ tank, if you brake hard the car will want to stall since the gas sloshes away from the intake or something. It will start up again afterwards as long as there’s some gas in the tank.

To summarize, it’s ugly, it’s jury-rigged, and it’s got loads of “personality”, but will get you from point A to point B, and possibly meets at least several safety and road-worthiness standards!

Edit: Ad will be taken down once it’s gone, so please don’t email just to ask if I still have it. Email is preferred, I have fewer times when I can make phone calls. Thanks!

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Article on PacificNG

September 16, 2013

I’m continuing to poke at my Obscure Railroad list occasionally (perhaps to the detriment of my Funter Bay History, which has not been updated as much lately). I’ve been in contact with a few people regarding some research, including Randy Hees and Andrew Brandon of PacificNG.com, a site dedicated to Pacific Coast narrow gauge railroad history. I ended up writing an article for the site on the Apollo Consolidated Mining Co railroad.  The article can be found here. I also made a KML file for their Google Maps collection of railroad routes. This railroad is somewhat less obscure, since it’s actually been mentioned in a few books, but I was able to track down additional details and route information.

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Funter Bay History – Hunting

August 28, 2013

While browsing through old newspapers I found quite a few references to hunting around Funter Bay. The area has many deer and bear, and has long been an important hunting ground for Tlingit natives. Subsistence hunting was important for local prospectors and fishermen, and sport hunting brought people from elsewhere in Southeast. Here are a few names and hunting stories that I found during my research.

A snarky article in 1907 listed  a party of “cannibals, highwaymen, and Indian warriors” hunting at Funter Bay, including “Big Eatmuch of Oshkosh, Sitting Bull of Ohio, and Highbinder of West Virginia” (Highbinder was slang for either a gangster or a corrupt politician). An article a few days later mentioned that “Messers Page and Snyder, the two Skagway nimrods who put in a month at Funter Bay” had an excellent bag of game, this may have been the same party.

Snyder was mentioned again in November 1908, when he along with a Mr. Woodburn and a Mr. Kirmse (all of Skagway) accompanied the famous big game hunter Z.R. Cheney to Funter Bay.

In 1909 the Juneau Record-Miner reported that Abner Murray, E.E. Smith, L. Keist, and Billy Stubbins had gone hunting in the Funter Bay area. Smith wounded a deer, and Keist and Stubbins both shot at an eagle and missed. Others in the party were reported to be Messrs. Hopp, Fox, Judson, McWilliams, Dick McCormick, A. Baritello and A. Reidl.

Fred Hastings and Bob Evans were hunting in the Funter Bay area in 1909. Also in the area were Wm. Geddes “and a party of big game hunters”.

In Nov of 1909, Phil Snyder and Frank Page are mentioned again. Snyder was a Skagway Alderman, and the pair are reported as coming down every year with a pack of hunting dogs to spend a month in the Funter Bay area. They were reportedly after bear on the 1909 trip.

In December of 1909, a soldier from Fort Seward (at Haines) was injured while hunting and sent to St. Ann’s hospital in Juneau. His name is given as John Carr or Karr, and his injury reportedly was from “falling on the edge of an axe”. The unfortunate hunter tripped on a rock and landed neck-first on the axe, but fortunately a trained nurse happened to be at Funter Bay and was able to stitch the wound. Carr’s hunting party was already overdue after a storm, and were thought lost for a time.

In October of 1910 a hunting party consisting of Willie Winters, Geo Rose, Oliver Oleson and Lawrence Erickson became lost between Hawk Inlet and Funter Bay. They were forced to build a fire and spend the night in the woods, but found their bearings the next day. 

Peter Williams Sr, a hunter from Sitka, died at Funter Bay in August of 1914 in a hunting accident. He had been carrying a deer and fell off a cliff.

Mr. and Mrs. E. C. Russell and Mr. and Mrs. Ray Stevens spent a week in Sept. of 1915 hunting and fishing at Funter Bay. Ray Stevens worked at the First National Bank.

Funter Bay resident and mine owner Charles Otteson related this story to the Daily Alaska Dispatch in November 1916:

“Shortly after the deer season opened – I was engaged in mining in the Funter Bay section – and one evening about nine o-clock, when a bright moon was shining, I went out to the little garden adjacent to our house on the mining property, accompanied by my wife, and there was a fine, big deer standing erect by the garden. I went within two feet of him and he did not move; I flashed a small search light several times in the animal’s face, and this did not disturb him in the least, he stood there just looking at us. I got my firearms with the intention of laying in a supply of venison, as we needed meat, but upon returning and going up close to the deer again I simply couldn’t muster up courage enough to fire. Who could?” (From “Couldn’t shoot the seemingly pet deer” Daily Alaska Dispatch (Juneau) 14 Nov 1916).

Not every hunter was so kind-hearted, there are stories of several other “pet” deer walking up to people in the woods and ending up in the freezer. Our neighbor Harvey Smith had a deer which learned how to open his door and would sleep inside by the fire. Lassie Ohman had a young deer which lived at their cabin and sometimes on their fish scow. Both of these “pets” later ran afoul of hunters.

“Bud” Walker, a friend of Funter Bay resident Max Dorman, went missing in October of 1942 while hunting grouse. The bears were reported to be “very irritable” that year due to poor salmon runs, and searchers feared the worst. Walker showed up a day later about 15 miles away in Hawk Inlet.

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Funter Bay History – Fish Trap Locations

August 10, 2013

I’ve talked about fish traps in several previous posts. Recently I came across a set of maps showing the locations of  traps around Southeast Alaska in 1918. This is a fascinating series, part of a government report from that year on the Southeast Alaska fishing industry.  An excerpt from the Lynn Canal and Stevens Passage map is below, highlighting the region around Funter Bay (click to view a larger version). I will link to the originals at the end of this post.

1918 Fish Traps

I have yet to find the original report which goes with these maps, so unfortunately there’s no key corresponding to the trap numbers. However, a quick glance at this map tells you a lot about where the salmon were to be found! The area of densely packed traps between Excursion Inlet and Point Couverden is known as Homeshore, and is still a popular fishing area today. Across all three maps in this set, covering most of Southeast Alaska, that one stretch of shoreline has the most fish traps per area.

Note that most of the traps shown on the map are the “permanent” pile-driven type. A 1919 report stated that the Thlinket Packing Co at Funter Bay had 21 traps that year, only 4 of which were floating traps. Pile-driven pound nets seem to have fallen out of favor towards the middle of the century, probably due to the expense of maintaining them and repairing winter ice and storm damage. By the time fish traps were banned at Alaska statehood, floating traps predominated.

I have previously noted some traps on the beach at Funter Bay in old aerial photos, floating traps were often taken ashore or anchored in shallow water for winter storage. The traps at Funter have all been beaten into individual logs by decades of storms, but I recently noticed a few semi-intact traps in Excursion Inlet. These are visible on the Alaska Shorezone project’s imagery.

beached traps

The full versions of the 1918 trap location maps are available through the Office of Coast Survey Historic Map and Chart Collection. They are as follows:

Lynn Canal and Stephen’s Passage

Clarence Strait Revillagigedo Channel and Portland Canal

Dixon Entrance to Chatham Strait Alaska

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Update on the cannery tender Barron F

August 6, 2013

I recently heard from the current owner of the Barron F, who very generously sent some photos of the boat. Steven Starnes is planning to drop the current name “Frank F“, and return the boat’s original name. He is hoping to bring her back to Southeast Alaska for her 100th birthday, and would like to see her in a museum.

june2013 266

I also found a few more details on the boat’s history, which I will post below. As I mentioned in some earlier posts, the Barron F was one of the Funter Bay cannery tenders owned by James T. Barron.

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The US Merchant Vessel Registry from 1918 says the Barron F was built in 1917 in Seattle and home port was Portland, OR. 65.2ft long, 17ft beam, 7.3ft draft. Fishing service, crew of 7. 85hp gas engine. 50 Gross tons, 42 Net tons. In 1919 the home port is listed as Juneau.

The H. W. McCurdy Marine History says that the Barron F was built by the National Shipbuilding Co of Seattle. That company was founded on Jan 1 1917. Their 4-acre yard was located at 655 Gordon St in Seattle, and executive offices at 1023 Alaska Bldg. Officers were J.F. Lane, J.L. McLean, and Loren Grimstead. They had about 200 employees in the yard. (from Pacific Ports Annual, 1919).

In 1918 the owners pulled out the Barron F‘s 3-cylinder Atlas “distillate engine” and sold it, it was said to be installed in the spring of 1917 and only used for 3 or 4 months. It was listed for sale for $4,900. (from Pacific Motorboat, Vol 10)

In 1959 the Frank F was mentioned as the “old Barron F, a Nakat tender”. It was owned by Rollin Crump of Astoria and had been converted to a dragger working out of the Columbia River. It had an A-C 21000 (probably Aliss Chalmers 6-cylinder) with a Capitol 3.88 to 1 reduction gear, which got it up to 10 knots, noted as “a good two knots over any previous known speed for the boat”. During a 14-day trip the vessel used 1000 gallons of diesel. (From Pacific Fisherman Yearbook Vol 57).

Thanks again to Steven for letting me use his photos!

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Funter Bay History – Cannery Employees

August 6, 2013

The Thlinket Packing Co at Funter Bay employed a number of different people over the years in a variety of positions. Below is a partial list, gleaned from early 20th century newspapers. Keep in mind that consistent spelling of names in the early 1900s was somewhat optional!

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James T. Barron – Owner and Manager, 1902 – ~1926. More on the Barron family here.

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Judge Michael George “MG” Munly (1854-1923)

Munly

The family name was originally spelled “Munley”, but Michael later dropped the E. He was company Secretary and brother-in-law to James Barron. He married Mary Nixon, sister of James Barron’s wife Elizabeth. Munly was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar in 1882. He was deputy city attorney in Portland, and was appointed a judge of the Oregon circuit court from 1892-1894. Munly ran unsuccesfuly for mayor of Portland in 1909. Along with the Barron family, Munley and family were frequent visitors to the Funter Bay cannery.
Judge Munly’s grave and additional information.
1922 Biography of M. G. Munly
1928 Biography

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C. F. Whitney was Sales Manager at the company, based in the Portland office. He seems to have rarely visited the Funter Bay operation. Prior to taking this position, Whitney had been sales manager of the New York Life Insurance Co.

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Mr. and Mrs. Norton – Listed as winter caretakers at the cannery in 1903. Left in February to develop some timber claims in Oregon.

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James Lawlor – (Sometimes spelled Lawler) was caretaker and winter foreman(?) from at least 1903-1909. He took over from the Norton’s in Feb 1903 and began preparations for the upcoming coming packing season.

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Chris Houger (Sometimes spelled Hooger, Hugher, Hager, etc) was “Outside Foreman” at the Funter Bay cannery from at least 1903-1919. ?He was in charge of piling crews, trap installations, nets, etc. His wife was noted as being the cannery’s bookkeeper in 1914. In 1917 Western Canner and Packer referred to him as Manager of the Thlinket Packing Co.

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Captain Haly of the Rainier – hired to bring up the “fishing steamer Barron” from the South for the 1903 season.

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Mr. and Mrs. A. C. Bogarth – Operated fish traps near the Funter Bay cannery for several years around 1903.

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Captain Crockett – skippered the Anna Baron during at least the 1904-1907 seasons.

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Captain Mason was listed as skippering the Anna Barron in 1911.

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Captain Martin Holdst (Also listed as Martin Olson) of the Belle was employed in the winter of 1909-1910 repairing the water and power systems at the cannery.

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Pat. F. Mulvaney was the storekeeper at the Funter Bay cannery from at least 1909-1917 and listed as watchman in 1918 -1919.

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Fred Barker (Or T. H. Barker) was listed as cannery superintendent in 1911. His brother “Billy” Barker was the assayer at the Perseverance mine.

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Cannery employees listed as arriving in spring of 1911 were: H. H. Harvey, C. W. Young, G. W. Scott, E. A. Harriman, Thos. Redwood, F. Phelps, W. F. Brillian and H. Wills.

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A. M. “Bob” Bell was listed as a canneryman at Funter Bay in 1912. There is also an A. E. L. Bell mentioned, and possibly another Bell who ran the Glacier cannery.

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F. Hilder was an employee at the cannery in 1914.

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George W. (or L.) Bowman was listed as cannery superintendent in 1914. He formerly worked for the Northwestern Fisheries company.

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J. F. Bennett was listed as a cannery employee in 1915, his arm was caught in a rotating shaft in June and he required skin grafts at the Juneau hospital.

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Harold W. Chutter (Or Chuttes or Chutte or Shutter or Chutler) is listed as the “popular superintendent of the Funter Bay Canning Co” in 1916 and 1917. In Feb. 1917 it was reported that “Mrs. Chutter, formerly of Funter Bay” had left to marry the former accountant for the Juneau Electric Light company. In December of 1917 it was reported that Chutter was closing up his affairs at the cannery and leaving for Bremerton to join the Navy. Sales Manager Whitney planned to come North from Portland to temporarily fill in as manager.

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C.L. Cook is listed as bookkeeper in 1917.

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G.C. Coffin, an employee of the cannery, was at the Juneau hospital in 1917 for eye treatment.

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E. W. Hopper is described as the superintendent and/or manager of the cannery in 1918. His wife and daughter also resided at Funter in the summers.

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Capt. John Maurstad skippered the Barron F. in 1918. According to the Kinky Bayers notes, he came to Alaska in 1909 and was a resident of Angoon. He did some logging and built a sawmill and Kasnaku Bay (Hidden Falls) in 1927. In 1940 he was in charge of a CCC crew building roads near Angoon. He may have died around 1942 at age 53.

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D. J. Wynkoop, formerly of the Treadwell mine, was employed at the cannery in 1918.

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Captain A. Woods is listed as running the Anna Barron in 1918. He fell from a 20ft ladder in February and was in St. Ann’s hospital expected to fully recover.

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Chinese, Filipino, and Native Alaskan employees were usually only mentioned in passing, with no names given. A 1914 article lists the following “strange names” of Chinese workers bound for Funter Bay, but states that the purser of the steamship City of Seattle may have been kidding around: “Ten Pin, Hinge Lock, Wong Toon, Mop Dip, Wong Chuck, and Sam Lea“.

I’ve tried briefly looking into each of these people, but have not found any detail on most of them. I may try to come back to this post if more information becomes available. If you know anything about any of them, please feel free to contact me!

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