Wartime

STAN BISHOP—A TRUE SOURDOUGH

WARTIME WORK IN KETCHIKAN—1940’S

Louise: So during the war you worked at Annette Island on the airbase?
Stan: Among other things, yes. They made me kind of a straw boss over there and they gave me a job to do--they wanted to get a new water pipeline in,…our barracks was getting so big, they were getting so many people working over there that they had to have more water.

But they didn’t want to make any marks or any indications in the terrain that would lead to possible bombing from the enemy. So I rigged up a skyline with a donkey--they brought me over a donkey--I described what I was going to do to the engineers and they said, yes you can do it, except for the one hump you got down there that you can’t get over. We figured out your deflection and stuff and you’ll never make it over that hump. I said, “I’ll make it over, just give me permission to build it.” So they did.

And I drew out a picture for the blacksmith to make me a gooseneck to use off this bump in the line so that my carriage could cross this gooseneck without hanging up. And then we put in a skyline across and lifted this line up so that a load of pipe would go across but wouldn’t hit the bump, the hill. So that worked OK. And we moved in almost a mile-and-a-half of eight-inch pipeline. And it made no mark in the country ‘cause when we got through all we’d do is take the wire down and there wasn’t even a trail brushed out.

* * * * * * * * *

1.Introduction	2 Early Years in California	3.Coming to Alaska- Yes Bay	4.Becoming a Disciple of Alaska	5.The Unuk River	6. Keeping the Light On	7.Homestead on the Eulachon River	8. Fur Trapping
9.Home for Thanksgiving	10.Placer Mine on the Unuk	11.Building a Road to Canada	12.Freighting on the Unuk	13.Ketchikan	14. Wartime Work-Ketchikan.	15. Port Stewart & Ketchikan Pulp Company	16.Epilogue

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