Hagevik, William
Primary Name: Hagevik, William A.
Filed as: hagevik_william_a
Also known as: Bill Hagevik; William Hagevig
Occupation / Association: Fire service instructor; Captain, Ketchikan Fire Department; State of Alaska Director of Fire Service Training
Born: January 17, 1930, Ketchikan, Alaska
Died: October 23, 1991, Douglas, Alaska
Parents:
Spouse: Rosemary Wagoner (m. 1962)
Children: Bill Hagevik; Barbara Hagevik-Doucet; Beth Hagevik; Ann Bogge; Karen Hagevik (d. infancy)
Associated places: Ketchikan, Alaska; Douglas, Alaska; Juneau, Alaska; Santa Cruz, California; Everett, Washington
Keywords: William A Hagevik, Bill Hagevik, William Hagevig, Ketchikan Fire Department captain, Alaska fire service training director, Southeast Fire Training Center Juneau, Alaska State Firefighter of the Year
Biography
William A. Hagevik was born on January 17, 1930 in Ketchikan, Alaska.
He graduated from Ketchikan High School and attended both the University of Washington and the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
In 1962 he married Rosemary Wagoner. They had five children: Bill Hagevik; Barbara Hagevik-Doucet; Beth Hagevik of Santa Cruz, California; Ann Bogge of Everett, Washington; and Karen, who died as an infant. Barbara later married Bill Doucet of Lake Stevens, Washington and had a daughter, Danielle Doucet.
Hagevik served as a captain in the Ketchikan Fire Department. In 1969 he moved to Douglas, Alaska and later worked for the State of Alaska as Director of Fire Service Training, retiring in 1985.
He created the first marine firefighting training center designed to simulate firefighting aboard a ship. The Southeast Fire Training Center in Juneau was later named in his honor. Hagevik was twice named Alaska State Firefighter of the Year, in 1966 and 1984, and in 1990 he was recognized nationally as Volunteer Firefighter of the Year. He was also an honorary member of several fire departments throughout Alaska.
He enjoyed fishing, hunting, studying history, and learning about the operation of masted sailing ships.
William A. Hagevik died at his home in Douglas, Alaska on October 23, 1991 from complications of diabetes at the age of 61. He was buried in the Douglas City Cemetery. Funeral services were held at the Cathedral of the Nativity.
Sources
Find-A-Grave memorial for William A. Hagevik
Tags: William A Hagevik, Bill Hagevik, William Hagevig, Ketchikan Fire Department, Alaska fire service training, Southeast Fire Training Center Juneau, Douglas Alaska residents
Stevenson, James
Stevenson, James
Born: 1884
Died: June 9, 1926 (age 42)
Place of death: Ketchikan, Alaska
Burial: Douglas Eagles Cemetery, Douglas, Alaska
Biography
James Stevenson was born in 1884 and lived during the period when Southeast Alaska’s coastal communities were developing alongside the region’s mining, fishing, and maritime industries.
Stevenson died in Ketchikan, Alaska, on June 9, 1926, at the age of 42.
He was buried in the Douglas Eagles Cemetery in Douglas, Alaska, one of the historic burial grounds serving the early residents of the Juneau–Douglas area during Alaska’s territorial period.
Sources
- Find A Grave memorial records
Behrends, Virginia
Primary Name: Behrends, Virginia Margaret Pakke
Filed as: behrends_virginia_margaret_pakke
Also known as: Virginia Pakke; Virginia Behrends
Occupation / Association: School teacher; Charter Member, Pioneers of Alaska Juneau Women’s Igloo Auxiliary No. 6
Born: April 9, 1863, Wellsburg, Brooke County, West Virginia
Died: February 12, 1936, Ketchikan, Alaska
Parents:
Spouse: Bernard “B. M.” Behrends
Children: Beatrice Margaret Behrends (b. September 25, 1893, Juneau, Alaska)
Associated places: Wellsburg, Brooke County, West Virginia; Sitka, Alaska; Juneau, Alaska; Ketchikan, Alaska
Keywords: Virginia Behrends, Virginia Pakke Behrends, B M Behrends family, Juneau Women's Igloo
Biography
Virginia Margaret Pakke Behrends was a charter member of the Juneau Women’s Igloo Auxiliary No. 6 of the Pioneers of Alaska.
She was born April 9, 1863, in Wellsburg, Brooke County, West Virginia.
Pakke arrived in Sitka, Alaska, in May 1886 and worked as a school teacher at the government school, later known as Sheldon Jackson Community College.
She married Bernard “B. M.” Behrends on October 25, 1889, in a ceremony performed by Sheldon Jackson. The couple had one daughter, Beatrice Margaret, who was born in Juneau on September 25, 1893.
Virginia Behrends died of pneumonia on February 12, 1936, in Ketchikan while returning from a trip south.
Sources
1910 U.S. Federal Census, Juneau, Alaska; Alaska Vital Records Record of Deaths; Evergreen Cemetery Burial Record.
Tags: Virginia Behrends, Virginia Pakke Behrends, Juneau Women's Igloo, Behrends family, Alaska educators
Pugh, Veneta Elizabeth
Primary Name: Pugh, Venetia Elizabeth
Filed as: Pugh, Venetia Elizabeth
Also known as: Venetia Elizabeth Hahn; Venetia E. Pugh
Occupation / Association: Clerk of the District Court; Charter member, Pioneers of Alaska Juneau Igloo Women's Auxiliary No. 6
Associated places: Ketchikan, Alaska; Skagway, Alaska; Juneau, Alaska; Anchorage, Alaska
Keywords: Venetia Elizabeth Pugh, Venetia Hahn, Juneau Igloo Women's Auxiliary charter member, SS Princess Sophia families, Alaska District Court clerks, Baranof Hotel tea house
Biography
Venetia Elizabeth Pugh was a charter member of the Pioneers of Alaska, Juneau Igloo Women's Auxiliary No. 6.
She was born August 13, 1904, in the U.S. Customs House in Ketchikan, Alaska, to John F. “Jack” Pugh and Venetia L. Pugh.
The family moved to Skagway in 1904 and to Juneau in 1909, when her father was appointed the Collector of Customs for the District of Alaska. Her father later perished aboard the S.S. Princess Sophia when the vessel ran aground and sank at Vanderbilt Reef near Juneau with the loss of all aboard.
After her father's death, Venetia and her mother moved into the Baranof Hotel in Juneau. Her mother operated a tea house there, and Venetia worked both at the tea house and at the Baranof Gift Shop.
She graduated from Juneau High School in 1922 and from the University of Washington in 1927. She then began a career with the District Court that lasted approximately thirty years.
On October 12, 1935, she married Karl Austin Hahn, and the couple moved to Skagway. Their son, Karl A. Hahn, was born in Skagway in July 1939.
In 1947, the Hahn family, along with Venetia’s mother, moved to Anchorage, where they lived on Government Hill in a Quonset hut until 1953.
Venetia retired from the Clerk of the Court Office in 1969. In 1987, she and her husband moved to the Anchorage Pioneers’ Home.
Venetia Elizabeth Pugh Hahn died at the Anchorage Pioneers’ Home on January 11, 1999.
Sources
1910 U.S. Federal Census, Juneau
1940 U.S. Federal Census, Skagway
Gastineau Channel Memories, Vol. 1, p. 425
Daily Alaska Empire, October 12, 1935
Juneau Empire, January 18, 1999
Anchorage Daily News, January 14, 1999
Pugh, Veneta Lauretta
Fehr, Venetia Lauretta
Association: Pioneers of Alaska, Juneau Igloo Women's Auxiliary No. 6
Role: Charter Member
Biography
Venetia Lauretta Fehr was a charter member of Juneau Igloo Women's Auxiliary No. 6 of the Pioneers of Alaska.
She was born in October 1878 in Cullman County, Alabama, the daughter of Martin Fehr and Elizabeth K. Manshardt.
She married John Fraser Pugh in Alameda County, California, on December 20, 1900. The couple later moved north to Alaska, arriving in Skagway on March 18, 1901. In June 1902, her husband was appointed to the United States Customs Service, and the family was transferred to Ketchikan. Their daughter, Venetia Elizabeth Pugh, was born there on August 13, 1904.
The Pugh family returned to Skagway in 1905 and moved to Juneau in 1909. John Pugh later served as Collector of Customs for the District of Alaska.
He was among the many Alaskans who perished in the wreck of the S.S. Princess Sophia on October 25, 1918.
Following his death, Venetia and her daughter worked in Juneau for the District Clerk of the United States Court. Venetia later married District Judge Thomas M. Reed on February 24, 1924, in Seattle, Washington. The couple resided in Juneau.
Venetia Lauretta Fehr Pugh Reed died in Anchorage, Alaska, in November 1967.
Sources
- 1910 and 1920 U.S. Federal Census, Juneau, Alaska
- Gastineau Channel Memories, Vol. 1, p. 425
- Washington Marriage Records
- Alaska Daily Empire, February 25, 1924
Price, Lizzie
Primary Name: Olson, Elizabeth
Filed as: Olson, Elizabeth
Also known as: Elizabeth "Lizzie" Olson; Elizabeth Price
Occupation / Association: Charter Member, Pioneers of Alaska Juneau Women's Auxiliary No. 6
Associated places: Juneau, Alaska; Nome, Alaska; Ketchikan, Alaska; Seattle, Washington; Tacoma, Washington; Wisconsin
Keywords: Elizabeth Lizzie Olson, Elizabeth Price Juneau Alaska, Frederick Price family, Pioneers of Alaska Women's Auxiliary Igloo 6 charter members, Nome Alaska miners families, early Juneau families, Ketchikan Alaska residents
Biography
Elizabeth “Lizzie” Olson was a Charter Member of the Pioneers of Alaska, Juneau Women’s Auxiliary No. 6. She was born in May 1869 in Wisconsin.
She married Frederick Price in Seattle, Washington, on November 15, 1890. The couple had five children, all born in Washington. Their daughter Hazel was born in May 1892, Emily in January 1895, Eleanor in May 1898, Owen in November 1900, and Myrtle in April 1907.
The Price family was living in Nome, Alaska at the time of the 1910 U.S. Federal Census, when Frederick was working as a miner. By the 1920 census, the family had moved to Juneau, Alaska.
By 1940, Elizabeth was widowed and living in Ketchikan, Alaska, with her youngest daughter, Myrtle Barnell.
Elizabeth “Lizzie” Olson Price died on September 8, 1958, in Tacoma, Washington.
Sources
1900 U.S. Federal Census, Seattle, Washington.
1910 U.S. Federal Census, Nome, Alaska.
1920 U.S. Federal Census, Juneau, Alaska.
1940 U.S. Federal Census, Ketchikan, Alaska.
Pettygrove, Alice
Primary Name: King, Alice J.
Filed as: King, Alice J.
Also known as: Alice J. Pettygrove; Alice J. Kirby
Occupation / Association: Charter member, Pioneers of Alaska Juneau Women’s Auxiliary No. 6; store proprietor; nurse
Associated places: Douglas, Alaska; Juneau, Alaska; Seldovia, Alaska; Ketchikan, Alaska
Keywords: Alice J King, Alice Pettygrove, Alice Kirby, Pioneers of Alaska Juneau Women's Auxiliary No 6 charter member, King family Douglas Alaska, Pettygrove family Juneau Alaska, Dr William P Kirby Seldovia, early Alaska women business owners
Biography
Alice J. King was a Charter Member of Juneau Igloo Women’s Auxiliary No. 6 of the Pioneers of Alaska.
She was born in August 1889 in Alaska to Nicholas and Alice Devlin King.
In 1909, she married Francis “Frank” W. Pettygrove. The couple had a son, Francis W. Pettygrove, who was born in Juneau in 1911. Their marriage ended in divorce in 1924.
By 1920, Alice was the proprietor of a store in Juneau.
She later married Dr. William P. Kirby on February 16, 1925. By 1940, the couple was living in Seldovia, Alaska, where Dr. Kirby practiced general medicine, and Alice worked as a nurse.
Alice J. King Kirby died on November 1, 1954, in Ketchikan, Alaska.
1900/1910 U.S. Federal Census Douglas; 1920/1930 U.S. Federal Census Juneau; 1940 U.S. Federal Census Seldovia; Douglas Island Weekly News, November 10, 1909; Alaska Daily Empire, December 9, 1922; Alaska Daily Empire, September 27, 1924; Alaska Daily Empire, February 18, 1925
Alaska Coastal Airlines Hangars
Alaska Native Tlingit and Haida people reportedly occupied Southeast Alaska for hundreds of years prior to European contact.
The Haida lived primarily in the southwestern portion of Southeast Alaska, while the Tlingit resided in the rest of the region. The Auk, Taku and Sumdum tribes of Tlingit people lived in what is now the City and Borough of Juneau at the time George Vancouver's crew noticed smoke from a campfire at an Auke Bay village. This first recorded account of the Auks was in 1794.
In 1867, The United States bought Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million dollars. Gold was known to exist in Southeast Alaska as early as the 1860s located in a string of highly mineralized deposits along the coastline from Windham Bay to Berners Bay.
George Pilz, a Sitka miner, was convinced that gold existed in the Gastineau Channel area when Chief Kowee of the Auk people brought him ore from the mouth of what was to be called Gold Creek. He outfitted two prospectors, Richard T. Harris and Joseph Juneau, and sent them to investigate. Following the creek to its headwaters in Silverbow Basin, they staked a claim on October 4, 1880.
Harris and Juneau established a 160 acre townsite at the beach near the mouth of Gold Creek on October 18, 1880 and named it Harrisburg. In early 1881, a town meeting resulted in the name being changed to Rockwell in honor of the Naval Commander that was sent to the area to establish law and order. By the end of 1881, Joe Juneau lobbied the local miners, complaining nothing in the district had been named for him, and it was agreed to change the town's name to Juneau. In 1900, Juneau was incorporated and named the seat of government for the Alaska Territory.
As early placer mining operations gave way to large underground mines, transportation of vast amounts of goods, materials, and people became increasingly important. The glacial, mountainous, and coastal terrain surrounding the Juneau area made overland transportation impossible. The only reasonable options were by sea and later air.
Juneau's harbor developed with a number of ship docks to handle the influx of commerce to support the growing community. By1901, the Pacific Coastal Steamship Company had a wharf and warehouse facility at the subject site. The facility served the shipping needs of the community until 1924, when Pacific Coastal was purchased by Admiral Line, a competing shipping company, and moved to another location on Juneau's waterfront.
The Juneau Motor Company purchased the property in 1924, and erected a garage and office on the wharf to serve their new business. This was Juneau's first Ford dealership as automobiles became popular.
Aviation history was made on April 15, 1929, when Enscel Eckmann flew into Juneau in his Lockheed Vega named "Juneau." It was the first non-stop flight from Seattle to Alaska. Shortly after arriving, Eckmann formed Alaska-Washington Airways, Juneau's first airline. Alaska-Washington Airways operated out of a hangar built atop a large log raft anchored in front of the Juneau Motor Company facility. During the 1930s there were a number of companies providing float plane service out of the Juneau Harbor. These included Alaska Southern Airways, Pacific Alaska Airways, Panhandle Air Transport,Alaska Air Transport, and Marine Airways.
In 1936, the Juneau Motor company's building and dock were demolished by Alaska Air Transport (AAT) to make way for a hangar and repair shop. Local investors funded the hangar which was built to house five planes. The 5,000 square foot hangar was used in conjunction with a floating hangar already owned by AAT. A wood and steel ramp connected the new hangar to the sea level floating dock allowing loading/unloading of passengers and cargo.
In addition, a lift system, composed of a long boom, slings, pulleys and railroad tracks,was developed to lift planes out of the water and transport them into the hangar on the wharf. The 'crane' was designed by Shell Simmons and used for the first time to lift AAT's Bellanca on August 27, 1936.
Fire destroyed the Alaska Air Transport hangar on June 10, 1938. The Daily Alaska Empire (currently Juneau Empire) reported the fire started from a welding torch that ignited the fabric of a Bellanca Skyrocket float plane. Damage from the fire was estimated at $25,000 and included destruction of the Bellanca Skyrocket, substantial damage to the buildinq, and destruction of machinery, parts and tools. The buildinq was insured and plans were made to rebuild.
Sheldon "Shell" Simmons, owner of Alaska Air Transport, was quoted as saying, "We're in the flying business, same as usual."
Between 1938 and 1939,a new Alaska Air Transport hangar was constructed. In July 1940, Alaska Air Transport and Marine Airways merged to become Alaska Coastal Airlines. After the merger the new company purchased the hangar from the private owner from whom they had been leasing. In 1946, the building underwent a major renovation including a hangar addition of approximately 10,000 square feet. In addition, office space was added in 1951, and a baggage handling area was constructed in 1957. In the 1950's, Alaska Coastal Airlines served 33 towns throughout Alaska, only four of which had airports. Alaska Coastal Airlines was recognized as a model of independency because they were at least 1,000miles away from any repair-shop or parts department, thus all servicing and repairs were done in house.
In the July1959 issue of Popular Mechanics the article, "Alaska's Flying Bus Line", praised Alaska Coastal Airlines as being, "...a most unique air operation that's a tribute to old-fashioned American ingenuity." Many innovations came out of the Alaska Coastal Airlines hangar over the years, in order to combat the harsh Alaska climate and lack of available parts as well as making planes more efficient. Alaska Coastal Airlines retrofitted the first "Turbo Goose" by replacing the original engines with Pratt and Whittney PT6A turboprops.
Coastal Ellis Airlines continued their operations out of the Alaska Coastal hangar. They owned and operated the greatest exclusively amphibian airline in the world, with the largest fleet of the legendary Grumman Goose in private hands. Today five of Alaska Coastal Ellis Airline planes sit in museums around the world. These museums include the McChord Air Force Museum in Washington, DC, the National Canadian Aviation Museum in Ottawa, the Tongass Historical Museum in Ketchikan, the Yanks Air Museum in Greenfield,California, and the Swedish Air Force Museum in Linkoping.
In 1968, Alaska Airlines purchased Alaska Coastal Ellis Airlines. Alaska Airlines did not wish to continue float plane operations based out of the Alaska Coastal Airlines Hangar building, so Dean Williams and Bill Bernhardt formed Southeast Skyways in late 1968 to fill the void, renting the hangar facility from Alaska Airlines. Southeast Skyways was strictly charter until 1969, when Alaska Airlines asked Southeast Skyways to take over the former Alaska Coastal Ellis Airline routes.
In 1974, Henry Camarot, Louis Dischner, and Frank Irich purchased the Alaska Coastal Airlines Hangar. The building was remodeled for use as a retail center with restaurants, shops, and offices. They named the bulldinq "Merchant's Wharf" which continues to serve as a retail center today.
About this time Southeast Skyways was purchased by Wings of Alaska. Although the hangar and repair facilities have been converted to retail uses, Wings of Alaska continues to operate from a floating dock to serve the tourist trade. These floats and associated aircraft activity are reminiscent of former operations at this location and serve as a reminder of the history and historic events of this aspect of Juneau's past.
Alaska Coastal Airlines Hangar Historic Survey, September 2006
Alaska Steam Laundry Company
The Alaska Steam Laundry Company building at 174 South Franklin Street is an excellent architectural example of an important commercial enterprise which bridged the historical continuity of 19th and 20th Century Juneau.
When it became apparent after the 1880 placer gold strike that Juneau would not be a quick "boom and bust" camp —but rather would enjoy a long, prosperous future, with great mechanized mills, mines and a large payroll of miners, it grew more progressively than other mining camps and reached a level of sophistication surpassing any other in Alaska in the 19th Century.
This was assured by, first, the Treadwell mines, just across the narrow Gastineau Channel on Douglas Island. Deep mining started there in 1882, and by 1885, four corporate groups were mining with several stamp mills and a smelter were in operation.
In 1890 all operations at Douglas consolidated into the great Alaska Treadwell Gold Mining Company. It had then produced $14,000,000 from its four mines and 880 stamps in five mills. It would add some $40 million more to this by 1917 when wiped-out by an unexpected ocean cave-in.
On the Juneau side, starting the same pattern only a few years later, the Alaska-Juneau Gold Company, began acquiring all claims in that district, combined into one great mine and mill which operated up to 1948 and produced $67 million in gold.
Juneau was officially made the capitol of Alaska in 1900, with the executive offices gradually moved from Sitka by 1906. This brought about the residence here of most of the territorial and federal employees in Alaska, in seven territorial departments and 27 federal offices.
At Tacoma, Washington in 1894, Ernest Reinholt Jaeger and his wife, Anna Jaeger, flipped a coin to determine whether they should move to Hawaii or Alaska. The coin favored Alaska.
In January, 1895, Mr. Jaeger selected Juneau as the most promising business location in the Territory, and arrived by steamship from Seattle. Because of the extensive payroll of miners and millworkers—mostly single—laundry and cleaning was a lucrative enterprise.
He leased the Juneau Steam Laundry from A.H. Day, then located in log cabin on the hillside at the end of 2nd just beyond where the Baranof Hotel was later built.
Anna joined him in March, traveling on the maiden voyage of the new flagship of the leading Alaska line, Willapa. The Jaeger family, soon increased by the birth of a daughter. Hazel Jaeger, lived in an adjoining cabin and operated the laundry from there for several years. Then they moved to a larger existing building on Front Street.
Having prospered, he decided to build a show-case operation which would have outlets in Apollo, Valdez, Sitka, Ketchikan and Wrangell; thus the name: Alaska Steam Laundry.
The Jaeger's resided in the master apartment upstairs while Hazel attended local schools. Then they built a home on Fourth Avenue.
While attending Juneau High School, Hazel was a classmate of James Simpson MacKinnon AKA Sim MacKinnon, son of a pioneer Fortymile and Juneau mining family.
Hazel attended Mills College in California and then returned to Thane, Alaska to teach.
Sim MacKinnon was appointed to the U.S. Naval Academy and graduated as an officer.
They were married in 1923 and spent several years in the Orient, where their son, J.S. Jr., was born, at Manila.
In 1926 Slim retired from the Navy and returned to Juneau to take over management of his Father-in-law’s laundry business.
No longer "Alaska Steam", nor at the same location, the business continued into the fourth generation with grandson Neil MacKinnon, who graduated from the University of Alaska at Fairbanks.
Alaska Steam Laundry is one of the better existing examples of the transition of Juneau from mining camp to Capital City.