Dave Kiffer - Alaskan Poet, Historian, Humorist

  Building Ketchikan, one room at a time! A while back a recent import to Our Fair Salmon City asked me if there was a particular type of Ketchikan architecture. You know, like salt box houses in New England or adobes in Sante Fe or panic rooms in Seattle. I kid. Seattle doesn't really have or need multiple panic rooms. It is a lovely place. That's how I prefer to remember it. These days everything is fine in the Emerald City. All you need is one big panic room extending from Federal Way to Edmonds. Lock it up, throw away the key, and presto! But I digress. Anyway, the answer to my new friend's question is "not really." Yes, some of the houses here vaguely resemble what the Norwegians call " byggeskikk."  That unpronounceable Norwegian word is defined - by the Norwegian standard reference guide Merriamsen - Webstersen - as "folkelig arkitektur preget av bruk lokale materialer og kunnskap, vanligvis uten...

  SOUTHEAST LOG 11-28-20 Sitka shakes, rattles and rolls SITKA - Residents were jolted out of their afternoon siestas earlier this week by a 4.3 magnitude earthquake centered 30 miles from town. There was no reported damage or injuries - THE DAILY SITKA SENTINEL Skagway shelters in place SKAGWAY - The emergency COVID shelter in place directive remains through this weekend. Officials authorized the directive earlier this week because tracing determined that recent COVID cases had potentially widespread community spread. THE SKAGWAY NEWS Fire makes foster family homeless THORNHILL - A fire has destroyed an Old Remo house. Officials say the family had been fostering two children for the past seven years and now the lack of a house could require the province to break up the foster family. THE TERRACE STANDARD Commission: Swap land HAINES - The planning commission has unanimously recommended the borough negotiate a...

  SOUTHEAST LOG 11-21-20 Borough mum on police chief firing SKAGWAY - The Borough is not saying why longtime police chief Ray Leggat was fired last month, but several residents spoke up in favor of the former chief at the last Assembly meeting. One even demanded that Borough Manager Brad Ryan be fired. THE SKAGWAY NEWS Pool likely shut until summer PETERSBURG - The Parks and Recreation pool will likely remain closed until next summer. A fire in the boiler room shut down the pool last month, now it looks like the permanent repairs could take up to nine months, according to the school district officials. THE PETERSBURG PILOT Wildlife shelter caretaker dies PRINCE RUPERT - The longtime caretaker of the Prince Rupert Wildlife Rehab Shelter has died. Gunther Golina was in his 80s. He and his wife Nancy have operated the shelter for more than 30 years. THE NORTHERN VIEW Lund is ANS Grand President Emeritus WRANGELL - Ethel ...

SIRENS   (Copyright 2020, by Dave Kiffer)   It is always the same with coastal peoples, The inability To stay on the shore.   The call from the sea That must be answered, First the toe dipping Then the body floating outward.   The salt rings in our ears, A mitochondrial imperative That we must obey, That we must obey.   The temptation resolute, Those fingers beckoning, Those waves raising The hairs of our necks.   Day after fogged day We slip down-beach Descending as always Into relentless gravity.   Then the weight lifts, No longer land rooted, And we are free, And we are free.

   SITNEWS 11-15-20     A Prince of Wales Canal? A train was also considered to bridge SE's biggest island At more than 130 miles in length, it takes a long time for a boat to get around Prince of Wales Island when it travels from Ketchikan or Wrangell to communities on the western side of the island. Although float planes have now reduced that trip to roughly an hour, at one time it took days for boats to make the trip and the southern route, in the open ocean around Cape Chacon, was especially challenging and frequently dangerous in stormy weather. "The closest business center to Sulzer (a Prince of Wales mining camp in the first two decades of the 20th Century) was Ketchikan and the trip between the two by boat was well over a hundred miles in length and required the rounding of Cape Chacon, exposed to the ocean and beset by tide rips," wrote historian Pat Roppel in an article on the history of Sulzer in the Al...

  By Dave Kiffer For the Daily News          11-14-20 For more than a century, a   Tatsuda 's grocery store has anchored the Stedman Street area. There were brief pauses caused by two fires and a longer break when the   Tatsuda 's were swept up in the Japanese-American internment during World War II.  But when a rockslide destroyed the recently remodeled   Tatsuda   store in February, it called into question the future of Ketchikan's longest operating family business. Last week, contractors cleared the debris from the site and the   Tatsuda   family continues to weigh rebuilding the store. In 1904, Kichirobei   Tatsuda   set out from his home in Yawatahama on Shikoku Island in Japan to seek his future in America. More than 400,000 Japanese came to America between 1886 and 1907 as the Industrial Revolution reached Japan and caused significant disruption in its generations' old...

  SOUTHEAST LOG 11-14-20 Man rescued after boat sinks WRANGELL - The Coast Guard rescued a man floating in Union Bay last week.  The unnamed 70-year-old was floating on debris left over from the sinking of the boat "Irony." He was wearing safety gear and was reported to be in stable condition at the Ketchikan hospital. THE WRANGELL SENTINEL Winds hampered fire efforts PRINCE RUPERT - The Love Marine Electric Building was destroyed by a fire earlier this week. Fire officials say fighting the fire, on Saskatoon Avenue, was exacerbated by winds up to 50 mph. THE NORTHERN VIEW Holiday bazaars are on CRAIG - The Craig Recreation Department is going ahead with two holiday bazaars this season. The bazaars will be held in the Craig Gym on November 28 and December 12 and attendance will be limited but there will also be way to take part electronically. THE PRINCE OF WALES POST School travelers to be tested PETERSBUR...

  LUCKY   (Copyright 2020, by Dave Kiffer)   You sighed Then hissed at me To be quiet   I swallowed The shame bubbling Up my neck   It seemed like A fair question at the time   Do animals Have unlucky days, Like we do?   Concentrate Was all you snapped, Breathe in, out   I held my .22 Hornet In my frozen hands The barrel swaying   It was Friday 13th In the bitter December Of my eighth year   You were never Much for talking In those moments   You certainly weren't Going to answer Distracting questions   I breathed in, I breathed out, The barrel steadied   It was a very Unlucky day For the young buck

  A real “Schooner of Beer” Ketchikan’s floating brewery operated for nearly a decade   For a town that loves its alcohol as much as Ketchikan does, it is somewhat surprising that there have been only a few efforts to commercially brew alcohol in Ketchikan. A decade ago, a brewery operated briefly in the Downtown area on Mission Street and in the past couple of years, two brewing operations have either opened or announced plans to. There have certainly been plenty of "home brewers" in the First City over the decades, but commercial operations have been rare. One of the most notable was the Pilsener Brewing Company of Alaska, which operated here from 1935 until 1943, when it became impossible to get the raw materials to operate because resources were going to the war effort in World War II. Much of the details of the Pilsener Brewing Company's operations are lost in the fog of history. What remains are the ads that it placed in the local papers, the Daily Fishi...