- 1934
May 1 Juneau greeted the return of legal liquor in the same way it endured prohibition – calmly.
Juneau air field with U.S. Army Air Corps B-10 bombers, ca. 1934. Alaska State Library, Trevor M. Davis Photograph Collection, ca. 1912-1968, P97-0773.
Ten seven-ton B-10 Martin bombers arrived August 17 at the new Juneau emergency landing field on the Mendenhall flats from Fairbanks and left the next day for Seattle. They were the first planes to use the field, except for two Army observation planes which landed on the field a month before to inspect it prior to the bomber’s use..
Seven submarines plus support vessels of the Alaska detachment of the Submarine Division of the Navy, based in San Diego, arrived in Juneau in late July as part of their extensive Alaskan cruise. Also visiting the port shortly afterwards were two San Diego-based aircraft tenders, each carrying six 5-man planes aboard. HMS Danae, a light cruiser of the West Indies Fleet, arrived August 11 for a six day visit.
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April 11-The Gastineau Breeze, Douglas High School newspaper, won first rank in the Tenth Columbia Scholastic Press Association contest. The Breeze received 903 points out of a possible 1,000. Last year and the year before it ranked in second place.
Work began in March on construction of the Douglas Bridge to connect Douglas to Juneau. Work also started in September on the new Douglas Highway to connect the site for the bridge, starting at the Kowee Creek end. Included in the highway work will be construction of a new steel girder bridge with concrete piers over Lawson Creek, the first bridge of this type to be built in Alaska. By order of the City Council, Ferry Way was now a one-way street, the first in Juneau.
Starting in mid- August the Perseverance “road,” on which a Forest Service crew had been at work for several months, would be restricted to pedestrian traffic for most of its length. Vehicular traffic would be possible only to the parking space and turn-around below Cape Horn. Construction started in August on the Forest Service trail from Echo Cove to Yankee Basin. A Civilian Conservation Corps crew was moved to Douglas Island December 20 by the Forest Service to be occupied there for approximately two months constructing a ski run [up the Dan Moeller Trail].
The Alaska Juneau Gold Mining Company bought all the local Alaska Mining & Power Company (formerly the Alaska Gastineau Gold Mining Co.) properties, including the Thane mill site, mining claims and power plants with rights. That company had been providing electric power to Juneau since 1924 from its plants at Annex Creek and Salmon Creek.
The long-awaited Pierce Arrow motor coaches of the Gray Line Tours, Inc., arrived July 14 for use on Mendenhall Glacier – Auke Lake tours. Each bus seated 16 passengers.
Visitors were now being permitted aboard the hulk of the steamer Islander, beached at Green Cove, Admiralty Island. After numerous previous salvage attempts, the vessel was located and raised from 35 feet of water with the help of two large barges and placed on the beach July 25. About $40,000 was said to have been recovered, a small return on expenditures of approximately half a million dollars by various salvage companies since she went down in 1901. About $20,000 was recovered in gold dust, the remainder in the form of jewelry, trinkets, and 150 tons of coal.
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