- 1931
Alaska Capitol, Juneau, ca. 1931. Alaska State Library, Winter & Pond Photo Collection, P87-0902.
The new Federal and Territorial Building on Fifth Street, was dedicated February 2 by Governor George A. Parks. The event signaled the occupancy of the $800,000 Federal and Territorial Building by government offices, which included quarters for the territorial legislature, the Alaska Historical Museum, and the post office. (Upon statehood, it then became Alaska’s state capitol building and still serves in that function today.)
The Chamber of Commerce launched a move in early November for the filling of the flats along Willoughby Avenue from Fremmer’s Dock to Gold Creek, usurping portions of traditional ‘Lingit tidelands. The fill would be waste rock and tailings from the Alaska Juneau mill. On November 10 the Juneau City Council extended the franchise of the Nelson Water Company for another 20 years. The company’s source of supply was a spring above Starr Hill and it served an area extending down along Harris Street.
show more
Juneau was rocked and deafened temporarily early December 6 by what was said to have been “the biggest shot ever” set off by the Alaska Juneau Mine. Eight hundred boxes, 40,000 pounds, of giant powder were set off at the foot of a 400-foot cliff in the Perseverance Glory Hole. It is estimated that 750,000 tons of rock were brought down by the blast.
The number of automobiles on Douglas Island increased nearly 100 per cent during the past year, and May 17 the Douglas City Council proposed adopting traffic regulations, including a proposal to license drivers, for the town in the near future. In July the federal Bureau of Public Roads let the biggest contract to date for Southeast Alaska ($150,000) to re-construct 3.5 miles of road Juneau to Thane.
The fiberboard box invasion of the Alaska market, which was sweeping the canned salmon industry, resulted in greatly curtailed operations of the Juneau Lumber Mills this season, including the complete shutdown of its box factory. The box factory was installed in 1925 and had averaged 550,000 salmon boxes each year, with a high production of 750,000 boxes.
About 9,500 Colorado brook trout fry were liberated September 11 in Salmon Creek in a cooperative effort of the Alaska Fish and Game Club, the U. S. Forest Service and the U. S. Bureau of Public Roads. The fry were brought here from the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries hatchery at Yes Bay. It had been planned to release them at Dorothy Lake but unfavorable flying conditions prevented this.
Film and stage star John Barrymore, his wife Dolores Costello, and their 14-month-old daughter visited Juneau June 26 on their yacht, the Infanta, while on a lengthy cruise through southeast Alaska.
show less