Dave Kiffer - Alaskan Poet, Historian, Humorist

  60 years later, ' Ernie 's frogs ' are still croaking Local man flew a bucket of frogs north from Seattle Alaskans have been known to occasionally try to improve upon the nature around them. Sometimes that involves introducing animal species that are not native to the area. Although the Alaska Department of Fish and Game usually frowns upon efforts to introduce non-native populations, it does happen. For example, the goats that populate the mountains around Deer Mountain are actually transplants, brought in from elsewhere years ago. There were also two attempts in past decades to establish an elk population on Gravina Island but neither was successful. On the other hand, the elk population on Zarembo Island near Wrangell was brought in from elsewhere. One of the most noteworthy times an introduction happened has resulted in generations of Ketchikan residents enjoying the songs of the only colony of tree frogs in the state at the so-c...

  By Dave Kiffer For the Daily News This week, the Ketchikan Gateway Borough honored former Ketchikan Gateway Borough Manager Judi Slajer , the first woman to lead a borough government in Alaska. Slajer died on April 21 at the age of 80 Besides heading the Ketchikan borough for several years in the late 1970s, Slajer , also a long-time Ketchikan borough clerk, was the finance and budget director for both the Municipality of Anchorage and the Fairbanks North Star Borough during her more than 30-year career in Alaska local government.   She is also believed to be the only person who was president - at different times - of the Alaska Association of Municipal Clerks as well the municipal managers, and municipal finance directors associations in Alaska. Slajer was born July 29, 1941, in Grayling, Michigan. Her father, Horace Sabine, was in the US Forest Service and her mother, Margaret Scherer Sabine  was a teacher. Shortly after Slajer ’s birth her father was tra...

  The steamship era lasted a century If you wanted to come to Alaska, Alaska Steamship was the way On September 29, 1922, the SS Ketchikan left the dock at the Port Althorp Cannery on Chichagof Island west of Juneau near the mouth of Glacier Bay with a load of more than 3,000 tons of salmon and herring. The Ketchikan - a 250-foot Alaska Steamship company vessel - was headed with its cargo for Puget Sound, but it didn't get very far. Just outside of the Port Althorp harbor, the ship ran into a large iceberg that had floated down from the north. The ship began taking on water and the 30-member crew managed to beach the ship in nearby Pinta Bay. The holes were repaired, and the ship went on its way. None of the 30 crew members on board were injured. But the story made the New York Times on September 30, 1922. It was barely a decade after the sinking of the Titanic and any time a ship hit an iceberg, it was still pretty big news, no matter how minor ...

  HOUSE IS NEVER FINISHED . (Copyright 2022, by Dave Kiffer) . Just like a poem, I guess, Only no house is ever compared To a model sonnet, in these climes. . After a while, you get used to the siding, the Tyvek that hides The passing years like a black dress. . Or perhaps, the rain-strained roof, The shingles that crack and bend, Until the wind peels them off. . And then there is the foundation, Optimistically laid when everything Was possible, except perfection. . A house, like a poem, is never finished. It is only abandoned, to the next owner.

  SEPTEMBER SONG . (copyright 2022 by Dave Kiffer) . While others wind down There is still time to hoard The fading light of summer. . The rains are not yet cold, My breath remains covert No wind will carry it away. . Life still rises in the streams, Not all leaves have browned, And the songbirds still sing. . Every day over sixty Another black berry Banks my fat soul.

  MY FATHER'S GHOSTS . (Copyright 2022, by Dave Kiffer) . It seemed as if there wasn't a bay, A stream through the dark woods, Or a mountain black against the sky Where there wasn't a ghost, Or so you gleefully taught me. . Every one of those tales meant To keep me tossing and turning, Listening for every eerie bump, Sweating in the coldest night, Holding my breath after lights out. . Some nights I would imagine The branches rustling the wall Like bony fingers grasping As I buried my head deeper Into the smothering blankets. . That the dogs howling in the wind Were also the calls of the souls Of the children that were taken In the darkness by the ghosts You called the child robbers. . Or that the water lapping Against the boat was Kushtakahs rising up, Submerging my head Under flooding nightmares. . You've been a ghost yourself now Going on half a century. No sightings, of course, No unexplained shadows Or things surreptitiously moved. . That would not be your style You...

  The Summer Industry is back, with a 'license.' A lot of folks seem concerned about whether or not, the tourism industry came back or not. Even more than the number of people who are concerned about whether or not I will ever NOT end a sentence with the word's "or not." Anyway, I am getting a lot of questions (or not). Are the visitor numbers up? Did we have an okay season (not that it is quite over yet)? Well, not like 2019 when Ketchikan hosted 1.6 trillion visitors in its Grand Canyon sized downtown. What, you say I am exaggerating? I think not. The second week of June, 2019, I stopped my car to let someone cross Stedman Street. I didn't get moving again until October 3rd. So, in real numbers we are not back to 2019 levels yet. But compared to 2020, when the visitation was basically zero, things were indeed up a tad in 2022. And there is always a second question. Are the visitors spending as much?  Well, not re...