41 Years In Kccisfr Fir Mrs. Kra^t.
Has seen Kodiak Grew From Cow Town
By Miriam J. Angell
Mrs. Edna Kraft Has lived on
Kodiak for a longer time than
almost anyone else not born here.
.She said, “I finished 41 years in
Kodiak in July but my time in
Alaska pre-dates that a little. I
went up to Fairbanks in 1917 with
my first husband. Mr. White was
in the Department of Agriculture
which had five experimental sta
tions in Alaska. Each station repre
sented some form of Alaskan de
velopment; Ihe one on Kodiak was
for cattle development, with head
quarters in town and a sub-statiori
at Kalsin Bay. It closed around
1930 during the depression when
the government had to cut ex
penditures.
“When I first tame here there
weire about 500 people in the town
and a few scattered out around
where the base is now. We had to
be very sol sufficient; communica
tions were quite limited and only
one boat a month brought mail
and supplies. That was the old
Admiral Line. The day of arrival
was a holiday for the town and
everybody went down to the dock
<to see the ship.
“In those days we formed little
groups that were congenial; each
otf the two churches, the Greek
Orthodox, and the Baptist Mission
on Woody Island, had its own
group. The Children's Home was
on Woody then too.”
As the years passed various
groups formed other cluibs, A
Woman’s Club, affiliated with the
National Club, followed several
years later by a garden club and
RPW, Blks, and the Emblem Club,
the Elks Auxilary, in later years
Rotary and Chamber of Com
merce were chartered and brought
the townspeople closer together,
consolidating common interests.
Mrs. Kraft continued, “I am the
only one left from the original
Woman’s Club; The others, and
there are just a few, are either
dead or living outside. Of course,
now my health requires that I go
to a warmer climate during the
winter but all my interests are in
Kodiak and it is still my home.
This house has been my home for
25 years, ever since I married Mr.
Kraft, but long before that I home
steaded on Holiday Island, spend
ing the summers there. We used to
keep chickens and cows there, and
goats. We have two houses on the
island still and a year ‘round care
taker; it’s nothing fancy but the
beaches are lovely for picnicing
and our family enjoys a great many
cf them.”
Mrs. Kraft continued, “Kodiak
was a much neater town when I
came here the spring of 1919. The
houses were not all crowed to
gether and they were painted and
kept up better. The Russian titles
gave each family a plot of land
inside a white picket fence. Dur
ing the thirties the land office
man went crazy trying to straigh
ten out those titles; the bound
aries were a tree here, a rock
there.
“I was determined my children
would have fresh milk so I bought
a cow and did the milking myself.
Her name was Pansy; she was as
nice as could be and everybody
in town knew her. She and several
others roamed the streets at will.
Pansy was completely impartial;
she free loaded at both stores.
She would walk into Erskine’s or
Kraft’s warehouses and clean out
all the green stuff in sight. She
was pretty old by the time of the
s:v and Werld War and we bad her
put to sleep. The Lammes publish
ed a long article whee she died.
Pansy Passes to Greener Pastures.’
t O ■ fy
“There was almost no transpor
tation in those days except bv
horse or boat. There were two
teams of horses but there was only
one road out of town, a one way
track to the cannery. We walked
everywhere The horses belonged
to the Experimental station. The
stores made their deliveries by
boat to the people who lived near
the beach; if not, then your gro
ceries and coal and other supplier
were delivered by wheelbarrow
It was indeed considered a bold
move when the Kraft store brought
the first delivery truck to town.”
Some people named Abbert
owned a ranch about where the
runways intersect on the Naval
Base; to get back and forth to town
they went over and down a cliff
by rope, waited for low tide and
then went around the rocks on a
very narrow strip of beach. Mrs.
Abbert travelled to Woman’s Club
meetings in this manner. Mrs.
Kraft has been told that before
she lived in Kodiak, Otto Kraft
had the one telephone in town, a
single line from his store to his
home. Then when the Experimen
tal station came in, just prior to
1912, the Navy built a radio sta
tion on Woody Island and extend
ed a chble from there to the
Erskine dock and up the hill to
the Experimental station offices
on ACS hill. This single line was
used for the first telephone sys
tem in Kodiak. Mrs. Kraft added,
“We had about sixteen people on
the one line. It was a good way
to visit with your friends.
“We had a community social
life too — everybody went to
church on Saturday night and
then on Sunday night we had a
community dance at the social hall
in Blinn's Building. Local musici
ans played, a guitar, a violin or two,
but I never saw any square danc
ing. Whenever a cutter came in,
and a good many came, there was
a mid-week dance for them. Kodi
ak was somewhat of a social center
in those days.”
We were curious about medical
care at the time. “Well, we didn’t
have any regular doctors when I
first came; in 1919 there was a
Dr. Buckley who stayed for a little
while, then a first aid man, Doc
Lane, who had quite a bit of train
ing, and after him, a Dr. Pryor
The Civic Welfare Committee of
the Woman’s Club in 1924 procur
ed a resident, licensed physician,
Dr. C. L. Hawk, who stayed for
perhaps five years. The way we
usually got doctors in those days
was for eight or ten families to
sponsor them and guarantee a
certain salary.
“During the time when Kodiak
was without a doctor we didn’t
always ask too many questions
when help appeared. On one of
the monthly boats came a man who
rented the former Dr.’s house,
hung up his diploma from a rep
utable medical college, and im
mediately had a flourishing bus
iness as an M.D. After a time the
U.S. Marshall’s office began in
quiries. The man posed as a mem
ber of a fraternal organization
that had members in Kodiak. One
of the members was delegated to
run a check on the doctor; he re
ported back that the newcomer
knew the ritual better than he did,
so that was that.
“The marshall later received in
structions to pick up the man and
ship him out and we learned that
our ‘doctor’ had been a pharmacist
who had served time in a Federal
penitentary. While there he had be
come friends with a graduate M.D.,
had got eut first, .stolen his friend's
credentials and equipment* and
Mrs. Edna Kraft
taken the first boat to the farthest
place. He did very well for him
self in Kodiak.”
Mrs. Kraft taught school here
from 1926 to 1935. She continued,
“The sclyroi was behind the bank
and it was quite the last word in
luxury when we moved in with
five teachers. There is one small
building of the original still stand
ing; the rest was torn down long
ago. We had an elected school
board that hired the teachers, but
this was amusing — they always
knew down to the last vote who
voted for whom.
“We had a library; the Woman’s
Club started it. There were few
of us but we were very serious a
bout this. We took turns review
ing books of our choice and then
the book became the property of
the library. The library was hous
ed with two school teachers, the
two impartial ones.
“We had law and order too, but
until the town was incorporated
the law was administered by a U.
S. Deputy Marshall. Frequently
when someone ran afoul of the
law they called .or a jury trial. In
so sm, .1 a community the chances
were good that friends or rela
tives would be on the jury, and
convictions were hard to come by
at times. I recall one instance when
a man was accused of stealing
some tools. After the evidence was
placed before the jury they re
tired and came in with a verdict
of ‘Not Guilty, but better return
the tools.’ We have never had
much crime here, though: Kodiak
has never been a violent town like
some places in Alaska.
“There were two stores when I
came here, and they are still here,
Kraft’s, established in 1903, and
Erskine’s now Donnely and Ache
son. They dominated the town;
people traded with them and bank
ed their money with them. The
'w> li/lihoods were hunting and
fishing and at the end of the sum
mer they paid their bills at the
stores. My husband, Ben Kraft,
grew up in the store and worked
there all his life. I worked there
for 16 years and was on a buying
trip in the states when I came
down with a circulatory trouble.”
Mrs. Kraft showed us an old
picture, a long line of customers
waiting to get into the.store dur
ing the war. When the monthly
boat arrived, Kraft’s allowed each
woman one pair of nylons, but
only if she appeared in person to
get them. Nylons and liquor were
the only items anyone had to stand
in line for in Kodiak during the
war.
' e
“The coming of the war and the
construction crews for the base
was when Kodiak changed,” Mrs.
Kraft said. “It was a hard life for
women who followed their hus
bands here. They expected to find
homes, and when they couldn’t,
expected to be able to live in the
next town. Of course there was no
next town. We had no lumber in
quantity, nor other building ma
terials. There was no need for
building until the base came and
people put up all sorts of little
shacks just to have a roof over
head. I remember one women com
plained that she had no refriger
ator; she was shocked when I told
her I had never had one and didn’t
need one.
“Once when I went outside dur
ing the war, I spoke to a group in
Kansas. On the other hand, they
expected me to tell them I lived
in an igloo. I told them, ‘No I
had no ice house, but a nice ready
cut Gordon Van Tyne home; no
electricity, but we had everything
else.’ They thought I was a fake.
“There was lots of tension here
in wartime. We really thought we
might be invaded, but one of the
worst things was the passenger
steamer — no lights and no locks
on the doors.
“Well, those days are gone now
and Kodiak is stiill the quiet little
town I have always loved. I have
to spend my winters in California
but all my affiliations are here.
I belong to the American Legion
Auxiliary, BPW, the Emblem Club
and the Grandmothers’ Club of
Kodiak. I’ve always enjoyed the
Grandmothers’ Club so much. It
doesn’t require us to do anything
except be sociable and have a good
time.
“I might mention that I was
elected and served on the Kodiak
Public Utility board just before
the town was incorporated. I also
served on the first City Council
and was re-elected for a second
term. My son, Wilton White, has
served on the City Council, and
has just been re-elected, perhaps
the only second generation in that
capacity.”
We thought it a shame that one
who so longed to live here was
forced to go elsewhere, for even
part of the year. Mrs. Kraft answer
ed, “When I found out I couldn’t
stay in Kodiak all year round I
made up my mind I would not feel
sorry for myself, and took up two
things I have wanted to do for
years, but have never had time
(Continued on Page 3)
2P0R&SES THESPIANS of Kodiak — who are they?
6