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Funter Bay History: Seattle High School Students

March 24, 2015

In the summer of 1919, a group of Seattle high school students traveled to Alaska to work at the Funter Bay cannery. One or more of the group took a number of photos during this and possibly subsequent trips. I have been posting photos from this collection over the last several weeks.

The above photo was likely taken soon after arrival at Funter Bay. The boys are wearing outfits more appropriate for school than for cannery work. One boy on the left has a Ballard HS letter jacket.

A list of the students along with contact information for their parents is labeled “Contracts… Funter Bay”. The back has some of the same names along with numbers, perhaps related to hours or pay.

The names on the list are:
Clarence Hawley
George Anderson
Malcolm Owen
Harold Hendrickson
Roy F. Swenson
Marvin Kleve
Ed Wilkerson
George Fraley
Gilbert Swart
Elmer Green
Cedric Hilton
Eugene Walby
Robert Stevens
Webster Hallett

Twelve of these boys attended Ballard High School, while two (Owen and Hallett) attended Lincoln High School.

Professor Carl Milton Brewster taught Chemistry at Washington State University. Some of these students went on to study Chemistry at various Washington colleges. Prof. Brewster is likely the older man seen in several of the group photos (at center, below). The students have acquired more rugged outfits and a variety of hats in this photo:

Some of these photos are RPPCs, or private photos printed on postcard stock. Several images are wallet-size prints with writing on the reverse side, and some of the smaller prints are partially hand-colorized. There were also a few commercial postcards, likely purchased during the trip. As some of the photos in this set are from later years, one or more of the boys probably returned for subsequent summers. Cannery work reportedly paid better than the summer jobs available in Seattle at the time.

Written on the back of this photo; “We are rowing boat on the bay”. The cannery bunkhouses are visible in the background:

And on this photo; “We boys cross the bay and go up to the tunnel of the gold mine”. Apparently a visit to the mine required fancier clothes! This may have been a day off for the boys, or could have been an educational visit to learn about assaying or other mine-related topics.

This photo of Harold Hendrickson is labeled “Me (Buck)”. He may have been the photographer of some or all of these images:

After graduation several of these boys attended the University of Washington, including Harold Hendrickson, Clarence Hawley, and Gilbert Swart. Hawley and Swart both went into chemical engineering. Hendrickson seems to have followed the relatively new field of air conditioning, writing several papers on the subject. He is listed in the 1940 census as an Air Conditioning Engineer in California.

Some associated photos from the same collection were taken at other locations, possibly by the same people on their way to or from Funter Bay. These include more RPPCs, trimmed wallet-size prints, and at least one commercial postcard.

Inside passage view, possibly from a steamship:

View from a ship, probably of Taku Glacier near Juneau:

The next two images show the Steamship Admiral Evans, which occasionally called at Funter Bay. The first appears to be a commercial postcard, possibly purchased on board. The 2nd seems to be labeled in the same way as some of the cannery tender photos from this collection. This may have been taken on the way to Funter Bay at the start of the 1920 season.

Many of the Ballard students seen here went on to form a club called the “Knights of the Moon”, established January 31, 1920 (Per the Seattle Times). As described in a 1994 Times article, the club was started by 13 friends who attended Ballard High School in 1917, 1918, and 1919. Most of the club members were school athletes who played basketball and baseball, and the club fielded Church League and City League teams after high school. Several members were good singers, who would go to “Ballard Beach” in Seattle to “bay at the moon” according to Clarence Anderson (George Anderson’s brother). The club would put on dances, beach parties, and theater parties. Anderson reported that there was no drinking at these parties, and credits the club for keeping some young people out of trouble.

Eventually the club reached 50 members, pledging new members like a fraternity, and not missing a monthly meeting until 1987. The Times article went on to report the final meeting in 1994, as only three charter members were still alive. (Charter Members were listed as Carl Anderson, George Fraley, George Frazier, Clarence Hawley, Harold Hendrickson, Herman Leander, Richard Smith, Roy Swenson, Edwin Wilkerson, Rolf Wiggen, Clarence Anderson, George Anderson, and Harold Shepard).

Several of my recent posts feature other photos from this collection, possibly including and/or taken by some of these people. They are:
Steam Donkey Part II (includes another group photo of the Ballard Students)
1920s Cannery Postcards
1920s Cannery Workers
Cannery Tender Operations
Navy Ships
Dano Mine Part II

I would like to thank Dr. Alice Eagly for providing information about her father, Harold Hendrickson. I would also like to thank the Ballard High School foundation for providing research material on these students.

Leave a Comment » | Alaska History, Funter Bay History, Funter Bay People | Tagged: Ballard High School, Boats, Cannery, Cedric Hilton, Clarence Hawley, Ed Wilkerson, Elmer Green, Eugene Walby, Funter, Funter Bay, Funter Bay History, George Anderson, George Fraley, Gilbert Swart, Gold, Harold Hendrickson, Knights of the Moon, Malcolm Owen, Marvin Kleve, Mining, Robert Stevens, Roy F. Swenson, salmon, Seattle, Southeast Alaska, thlinket packing, Webster Hallett | Permalink
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Funter Bay History: Piledrivers

July 19, 2014

Construction in intertidal zones relies heavily on pilings. These posts are driven into the sand and mud of the tide flats and ocean bottom. This common construction method was (and still is) used to install docks, fish traps, wharves, and buildings extending out into the water. Pilings are similar to telephone poles in length and diameter. Installing pilings is much like hammering a nail, a large heavy object is used to repeatedly hit the top of the pole, driving it into the ground.

Diagram of a piledriver, from Foster, Wolcott C, “A Treatise on Wooden Trestle Bridges and Their Concrete Substitutes: According to the Present Practice on American Railroads”. 4th Edition, New York, John Wiley & Sons, 1913.

In the above design, the hammer (usually a cast metal weight) slides up and down on the vertical section of the tower, pulled by cable from a winch at the rear. Piledrivers could be mounted on skids, barges, rail cars, or other platforms as needed. This design is essentially unchanged from Roman times, when drivers were powered by animals or humans. They later evolved to use steam and then internal combustion power, but the appearance largely stayed the same until the advent of diesel impact, pneumatic, and vibratory hammers.

Tractor-powered pile driver in Alaska in 1942, courtesy Library of Congress:

Piledriver hammer found underwater at Funter Bay and pulled out on shore. Note the slots on the side where the hammer would ride the vertical support rails:

Closeup showing the maker of the hammer: Vulcan Iron Works of Seattle:

Some information on Vulcan pile driver history can be found here.

A 1926 photo of a pile driver in Funter Bay can be seen below:

While modern docks generally use creosote-coated (or metal) pilings for rot resistance, early installations used untreated pilings. These have largely decayed and disappeared above the water line, although the buried sections and pilings that are above mean water level are more preserved.

Pilings at Scow Bay, as seen previously on this site:

Stubs of pilings which seem to have been cut off at ground level:

Complex piling structure supporting the approach ramp to the cannery dock:

An old pile driver is abandoned on “The Point” in Crab Cove. This was a smaller unit mounted on a skid base, it may have been part of Ray Martin’s scheme to build a logging railroad dock there, or could be leftover from some other project in the bay. The A-frame support collapsed sometime in the last 20 years, I remember when it was still standing. Power was provided by a small stationary gas engine. The large cubical tank or boiler nearby is of unknown origin.

2 Comments | Alaska History, Funter Bay History | Tagged: Alaska, Boats, Cannery, Fish Trap, Funter Bay, Funter Bay History, History, pile driver, Piledrivers, Southeast Alaska | Permalink
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Funter Bay History: Aids to Navigation

May 29, 2014

Several navigational aids exist in and around Funter Bay to guide vessels entering and traversing the area. These include the Clear Point light, the “Green Can”, and the Naked Island light, as well as some informal private markers and buoys.

Prior to establishment of lights and buoys, navigators relied on written descriptions of which course to take based on local landmarks, such as these published in the 1891 Pacific Coast Pilot:

The “Green Can” buoy near the entrance (Marking Curlew Reef) was the first official navigation marker in Funter Bay. It was originally a Black Can when installed in 1906. It was located slightly to the NE from the current Green Can. This buoy indicates that vessels should pass to the right when entering (keeping the buoy off the Port side) to avoid the reef off Bare Island.

The Naked Island light was established in May 1915, as described below:

Naked Island Light. Photo from Alaska Shorezone project, used as public domain.

The Clear Point light was established in August of 1915, and consisted of a flashing white light of 15 candlepower, with “flash 0.2 second, eclipsed 1.8 seconds”, installed in a “small white house on Clear Point, northern side of the entrance to Funter Bay”.

1934 Survey of Clear Point Lighthouse Reserve:

Modern Clear Point Light:

Photo from Alaska Shorezone project, used as public domain.

The descriptions of both lights resemble the one seen below (from nearby Point Retreat):

Public Domain photo from US Coast Guard

Both were originally listed as acetylene gas lights, some information on such lights can be found here. Devices invented early in the 20th century allowed gas lights to flash automatically at night and shut off during the day through use of a heat-operated “sun valve”. Early acetylene lights used calcium carbide with a water drip system to generate the gas, similar to a miner’s headlamp, as it was considered unsafe to compress acetylene. Later systems used compressed storage tanks after the technology had improved.

Solar panels and batteries began replacing gas lights in navigational aids in the 1950s, although some lighthouses and beacons used acetylene into the 90s. Based on the changed notation on charts, Naked Island’s light seems to have been upgraded around 1971, and Clear Point around 1974.

Color tests in 1979 proved that green-colored buoys were more visible that traditional black cans. The can at Curlew Ledge changed color between 1978 and 1987 according to navigational charts.

Modern charts describe the Clear Point light as green with a 2.5 second period, 16ft above mean sea level on a platform marked “1”. The Naked Island light is noted as being 44′ above sea level with a 6-second period, not numbered. The Green Can is marked with a number “3”. The original Black Can was in almost the same location and was first marked “2”, and is shown on later charts marked “1” No marker numbered “2” is nearby presently.

Buoys and lights were initially installed and maintained by the US Lighthouse Commission, today they are under the jurisdiction of the US Coast Guard. Special buoy tender vessels provide regular maintenance to these navigational aids.

The closest manned light station was the Point Retreat Lighthouse at the Northern tip of Admiralty Island. Initially completed in 1904, it was later unmanned and downgraded in 1917, then rebuilt and re-manned in 1924, then automated again in 1973. It is now privately owned and there are plans to make it a museum and B&B.

Private navigation markers are sometimes placed on rocks, reefs, wreckage, or other obstructions, and are not consistently styled or maintained. The most common is a stick or pipe which protrudes above the water surface at high tide, marking a submerged object which could endanger a boat. Small buoys may also be anchored to such obstructions, although they tend to become covered with barnacles and sink after a few years if not maintained.

Below is a pole marking the old tugboat propeller in our front yard, at high tide the water would often cover the propeller, hiding it from skiffs and planes coming ashore. The pole was a popular perch for birds, especially kingfishers.

And occasionally you’d get an “aid to navigation” that was completely out of place but still appropriate, such as a float buoy used as a trail marker on land:

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Funter Bay History: Ships Part IV

April 16, 2014

A 1907 article noted that the steamship Humboldt traveled from Funter Bay to Seattle in September, bringing 85 passengers and 7,875 cases of salmon (this included some cases from Petersburg as well as Funter).

An article in the San Francisco Call of November 18th, 1911, described the Bark J.D. Peters arriving from Funter Bay, where it served as a cannery tender. Unlike the Thlinket Packing Co’s General Fairchild and other old ships converted to barges, the Peters seems to have remained a sailing vessel. It is shown in a 1911 photo with furled sails. Another photo (which also appeared in the Seattle Daily Times dated 1911) shows the ships with sails raised.

The merchant vessel registry describes the Peters as a 182ft sailing bark built in 1875 in Bath, Maine, and operating out of Port Townsend, Washington. It had a crew of 15 and a gross tonnage of 1,085. Registry number was 75809, and call numbers were J.R.L.F. It was owned by the Northwestern Fisheries Co during that time, and probably transported fish from multiple canneries in Alaska.

In 1912 it was listed as a schooner, vs a bark. A bark has 3+ masts, all with square sails except the aft-most, and were a common type of slow cargo ships with smaller crews. A schooner has 2+ masts with fore-and-aft sails, even simpler to operate and requiring fewer crew than a bark, but does not necessarily perform as well. The Peters remained on the registry until at least 1928, when it had a crew of 5 and was hauling freight for the Booth Fisheries Co.

Also in 1911, the sailing steamship State of California went aground for four hours at Funter Bay, probably due to a misreading of the tide tables.

Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

The State of California sank in August 1913 in Gambier Bay, on Southern Admiralty Island, after striking an uncharted rock. More information on the ship is here.

Two photos show a hull on the beach at Funter in 1929 and 1935. The vessel is unidentified, but may be the fishing vessel Pilot. A 1950’s article mentions a “rotting hulk in Funter Bay” in this area, with the registry number 150650. This number was assigned to the Pilot, listed as abandoned in 1925. It was a 50ft long fishing boat from Juneau with a 20hp gas engine and crew of 5, built in Seattle in 1893. It had possibly been a steam tugboat previously.

1935 image of abandoned vessel at Funter Bay

1929 aerial of abandoned vessel at Funter Bay

More shipping and vessel information will probably show up in a future post as I dig up more on the subject!

1 Comment | Alaska History, Funter Bay History | Tagged: Alaska, Boats, Cannery, Funter Bay, Funter Bay History, History, salmon, shipwreck, Southeast Alaska | Permalink
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