Museums and historical sites are Lori Lloyd's passion while traveling. If there is something like that in a place we are visiting, you can be sure to find Lori there with me in tow. Although I would not likely visit these places if I was on my own, I do learn a lot and usually have fun.
We were trapped in Petersburg for the day by windy weather offshore, and it was raining, a perfect day for indoor activity. Lori discovered the Clausen Memorial Museum in a tourist guide she found in the Harbormaster's office, so there we were after breakfast.
The town's history is both sad and inspiring. Poor Peter Buschmann, a Norwegian immigrant after whom the town is named, saw potential and homesteaded the site. He built a lumber mill and salmon cannery, attracted other homesteaders, and the town grew. He eventually had a number of canneries up and down the coast, sold everything to a large east coast corporation, and retired a wealthy but still relatively young man. Unfortunately, he took payment in stock and bonds from the new owners. They mismanaged the business, went bankrupt, and Mr. Buschmann was left with nothing. He committed suicide.
The town's canneries and other businesses had their ups and downs over the years, but eventually most ended up being owned by the employees and town residents. Today the town, its businesses, and resident owners are thriving. The lumber business is gone, but fishing remains as the area's economic engine.
Last night was pizza and a movie in the Thankful salon. A perfect way to hide out from the rainy weather.
The Wrangle Narrows, a seventeen mile long winding passage between Kupreanof and Mitkof Islands, is the only way to get north or south by boat if you don't want to be exposed to the Pacific Ocean. As you can imagine, there is a lot of traffic through the narrows. Petersburg sits at the north end of the thoroughfare, and this helps bring business to the town as well.
We are working our way south through the narrows this morning. There is a lot of fishing boat traffic headed in both directions. Yesterday we saw a number of large barges being pushed or pulled through the passage as they passed Petersburg. It will be interesting if we encounter barges or other large ships today as the tortuous narrows are aptly named. We are just now passing "Danger Point". "Blind Point" is a mile ahead of us.
It is still raining off and on, and the forecast is for twenty five knot easterly winds. Once through the narrows we plan to poke out into Sumner Strait. We'll continue on if it's not too bad. If it's nasty we'll find a hidey hole at the end of the narrows to hunker down for the night.
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