In the late 1970’s 

and early 1980’s 

WFLHD started 

looking for employees willing to work 

on Prince of Wales 

Island. “There 

weren’t very many 

people that wanted 

to go up there,” 

Joel Petersen 

recalled . 

He went to Craig, 

Alaska, in September 1980 to find 

housing for seven 

people, the first 

survey crew sent to 

the Island. In such 

an isolated area, it 

was difficult to find 

adequate lodging, 

but he finally 

secured space in a 

fishing lodge in 

Klawock and arranged for meals on 

a separate contract. 

The crew took a 

float plane from 

Ketchikan, Joel 

explained. “The 

weather would be 

bad a lot of times, 

and you couldn’t 

make it. You had 

to come back and 

try again the next 

day.... 

“They gave us one 

way tickets, back 

then,” he said, 

“because they didn’t 

want you skipping 

off the island....you 

had no way out. 

“We were up there 

two or three 

months, then they’d 

give you a ticket to 

go back.” 

One or two people 

actually did skip 

out, he said. “As I 

recall, they were 

temporary employees and they got 

tired of it. They 

bought a ticket and 

flew out and we 

never saw them 

again.” 

If the plane couldn’t 

land in Klawock or 

Craig, they’d put 

down in Hollis 

instead, Joel said, 

“and you’d have to 

get a ride. We didn’t 

Life in the Camps: Prince of 

Wales Island, 1980-1996 

Compiled from 

Emails and 

Interviews, 2010 

Approximately 30 years 

after Western Federal 

Lands Highway Division 

became involved in road 

improvement projects on 

the Prince of Wales 

Island, the road system 

was recognized as an 

Alaska Scenic Byway. In 

commemoration of this 

event, WFLHD retirees 

and employees were 

invited to share their 

memories of work on the 

island. 

Western 

Federal Lands 

Highway 

Division 

A Glimpse into 

an Earlier Era 

Article 52 

September 2014 

Above: Float planes, 

boats, and ferries provide the only access to 

Prince of Wales Island. 

Photo provided by Brent 

Coe, WFLHD Archives.
have any (government) vehicles up there,” so they used 

what was known locally as 

“rent a wreck.” The vehicles 

they rented were really 

“banged up, baling wire on the 

doors...some of them had 

windows; some of them didn’t. 

“I remember the island not 

having any paved roads. 

There were just...single lane 

roads with turn-outs...If you 

got over 30 or so, you were 

going really fast, because it 

would just beat you to death.” 

The crew also spent time in 

Craig, which, like the rest of 

the island, had no paved 

streets. “It never stopped 

raining,” Joel said. “It was just 

a mud hole. 

They worked six ten-hour days 

and on Sunday “everybody 

would go to town and try to 

get cleaned up, or do laundry, 

and get ready to do it again 

the next week.” 

have communities on the 

island, he noted, “and it was 

interesting to find out a little 

about the local tribes. They 

were separated in their different towns, and they’d all come 

together (in Craig) on Saturday night...It had to be interesting, to say the least.” 

Jay Worthington was on 

Prince of Wales Island in 1979 

doing Control Survey on the 

Hydaburg Road. “I went up 

there with Jack Kirkpatrick, Ted Breneman, Steve 

Pratt, and, I believe, Al 

Bonde (for) a 30-day assignment. Jess Robins went at 

the same time to the survey 

crew Joel Petersen was on.” 

Jay said one of the most 

memorable events “was when 

Joel thought he could wade 

across a muskeg hole instead 

of going around like the rest of 

us. He was lucky it was only 

about ten feet deep. 

Page 2 Life in the Camps: Prince of Wales Island, 1980-1996 

The remoteness also had an 

impact on law enforcement 

activity on the island. The 

sheriff was a member of a 

local tribe, Joel said, and “he 

was the only police on the 

island.” If 

the state 

police were 

needed, “it 

would take 

them 6-8 

hours to get 

out there 

(by) boat.... 

Everybody 

was on their 

own.... 

The Tlingit 

and the 

Haida both 

They bought tickets and 

flew out and we never saw 

them again. 

Float planes and boats provide the only access to the Island 

Craig, Alaska, 1979. By 2010 the population of the largest city on Prince of Wales Island 

had grown to about 1,200 people. Photo courtesy Jay Worthington. 

The scenic beauty of Prince of Wales Island after the rain. Photo 

courtesy Jay Worthington. 
“(Then) he was upset because 

we didn't stop and build a fire 

so he could dry out. Wasn’t 

much use,” Jay reflected. “It 

rained all the time anyway 

and we were always wet.” 

WFLHD completed a lot of 

survey work in the early 

1980’s, Joel says, “before any 

of the designs were done on 

the Big Salt Lake Road. After 

that, then it really exploded” 

with work for the Design 

section. 

By that time, about 1985, “I 

was working in Design with 

Walter Langlitz on the 

design of the Big Salt Lake 

Road. “I bet I was up there 10-

15-20 times for lengthy stays. 

I got to know Craig and 

Klawock pretty 

well...staying there 

in the main town, 

looking at different 

projects.” 

“I did the original 

line and grade for 

the (environmental) 

permitting process. 

It involved lots of 

bridge alignments, 

culverts and drainage, and permits, 

and I remember it 

was quite involved.” 

Joel said he and 

Walt would go up 

there “for a year or 

two, back and forth, 

working on the Big 

Salt Lake Road and 

Article 52 Page 3 

getting all those bridges sorted 

out: where they could be and 

where the alignment could 

cross. Lots of hiking in the 

brush and the tundra, seen lots 

of fish.... we would be out 

topog’ing in the rivers up there. 

Those stories you used to hear 

about (how) you could walk 

across the river on the fish 

backs? It was almost true; I’ve 

seen it there. It really was just 

frothing with them.” 

Larry Adams worked construction on the Hydaburg 

Road, arriving in October 1990. 

“I finished up a job begun by 

John Arriaga,” he said, and 

when he left it, “Al Gould took 

over....We had five different 

contractors; one was a native 

corporation.” 

Larry also recalled the bad 

weather. Since he lived on the 

island year around, he would 

stay on after the project closed 

Once surveys are completed, design work “explodes” 

He thought he could wade 

across a muskeg hole 

instead of going around. 

Leonard Sandoval (left) and Rick Pressley (right) stop for 

lunch along the road. Jay Worthington admits “I can’t remember the name of the one in the middle, but he’s the one 

that had his paycheck punched by a bear.” (See story #37)

Photo courtesy Jay Worthington. 

A bridge site on the Big Salt Lake Road. Photo courtesy Jay Worthington. 
down, “flying down to Vancouver for engineering conferences” each winter. 

On two occasions they were 

grounded by fog on the way 

back. “We spent two Super 

Bowl Sundays in Ketchikan; 

(we) couldn’t get back,” he 

said. Pilots who made the 

flights frequently had developed a macabre sense of 

humor. Sometimes, he said, 

they “made some comments 

when we got into turbulence – 

Jump!” Not all of the passengers appreciated that humor. 

The island “really got nasty 

when it came to weather. I 

think we averaged over 250 

inches of rain a year,” he said. 

“One Christmas Eve, (while) 

we were living in our trailer in 

Craig, we heard this crash. 

The wind was blowing about 

worked for Al Gould) and his 

wife Lucille. “They would 

pickle salmon; they would go 

clamming...I’d always go out 

fishing with Lucille or Earl. It 

was amazing how good the 

fishing was. Sometimes everyone would have a fish on at 

the same time.” 

Phil returned to Alaska and 

Prince of Wales Island in 1995 

taking over as Project Engineer on Big Salt Lake Road. 

when Larry Adams retired. 

“The project was so far from 

Klawock and Craig and 

Thorne Bay they created this 

man camp called Adamsville... 

They named it after Larry,” 

Phil explained. “It was on a 

waste area, an old fill,” he 

said, “and it was just beyond 

the junction of Big Salt and 

North Prince of Wales Road.” 

The contractor and FHWA 

had their offices there “as well 

as trailers for their folks to 

live in.” The water source, he 

remembered, was piped in 

“from muskeg up on the hill.” 

Page 4 Life in the Camps: Prince of Wales Island, 1980-1996 

80-90 knots.” 

Larry and his 

wife looked 

outside and 

saw that a 

tree had fallen 

onto the 

trailer next to 

them. Fortunately no one 

had been at 

home. 

Despite the 

weather, the crew still found 

time to go fishing. “Fishing 

was excellent,” he said. “We 

got a lot of visitors, especially 

when the fishing was good.” 

Phil Ditzler spent the 

summers of 1984-86 on the 

island as a co-op student. 

His first assignment was 

with a survey team on 

Hydaberg road, with crew 

chief Jay Worthington. Al 

Gould was leading the construction crew, at the time. 

The days were long, and in 

their spare time, “we did a 

lot of fishing and crabbing,” 

he said. “It was always a lot 

of fun.” The crew “did a lot 

together on our spare time,” 

he said, citing fishing trips 

with Earl Pepper (who 

We got a lot of visitors, 

especially when the 

fishing was good. 

Weather events provide notable memories 

An aerial view, 2010, shows the remoteness 

of the roads on Prince of Wales Island. 

Photo provided by Brent Coe, WFLHD Archives. 

Control Lake, 1979. Photo courtesy Jay Worthington. 
“Of course what most folks from 

the Lower 48 don’t know is that 

to get to Prince of Wales Island 

you must fly into Ketchikan,” 

and from there, “the only way 

to Prince of Wales Island is by 

boat or float plane.... 

“I remember that the flight 

from Seattle to Ketchikan was 

only half full of passengers; the 

other half of the plane was full 

of supplies, cargo, and mail. 

That was my first ah-ha moment when I realized that 

Southeast Alaska was different 

than anything I’d seen in the 

Lower 48. 

“My first impression of Prince of 

Wales Island was its immense 

beauty,” he said. “This was 

immediately followed by a sense 

of isolation.” 

across the parking lot to go to 

work,” he said. The camp “was 

used for the contract I was on 

and the contract before mine, I 

believe, and then it was decommissioned.” 

Ron Carmichael arrived in 

WFLHD as Division Engineer 

in 2000. “One of our largest 

and most important Federal 

Lands programs was the 

Forest Highway Program,” he 

recalled, and “one of the most 

significant Forest Highway 

programs” was in Southeast 

Alaska. A visit to that area 

became “one of my first travel 

priorities. 

FLH Associate Administrator Art Hamilton, center front, and FHWA Executive Director Bud 

Wright (hidden from view) visited a Forest Service waste area on Prince of Wales Island. 

Photo courtesy Ron Carmichael. 

He left his family behind when 

he went up to the project, but 

brought them up there to live 

with him as soon as he could. 

“Nora, my wife was pregnant,” 

he said. “She had Nicholas 

down in Tacoma,” and flew up 

with him on a float plane 

when he was still only four 

weeks old. “Caitlin was a 

year old,” he added. “I remember my kids taking baths in 

that muskeg water. It was 

very clear, but a golden color.” 

Phil said he has fond memories of being up there with the 

family. “There are no distractions—just work and the 

family—and that was awfully 

nice.... It was a lot of fun.” 

The Ditzler family lived in one 

of the house trailers at the 

camp and had a nice view of 

the hills. “Being in that man 

camp, you just had to walk 

Article 52 Page 5 

Adamsville an unlikely backdrop for family life 

“I remember my kids 

taking baths in that clear, 

golden, muskeg water. 

A float plane arrives at the survey site, 

1979. Photo courtesy Jay Worthington. 
For another view of construction projects on Prince of 

Wales Island, see the earlier article in this series, “The 

Prince of Wales Island Road System: From logging 

roads to State Scenic Byway.” Contributors Joel 

Petersen, Jay Worthington, Larry Adams, and Ron 

Carmichael are all retirees of WFLHD. Phillip 

Ditzler is currently Division Administrator in FHWA 

Oregon Division. 

The stories in this series have been developed by 

Marili Reilly from interviews and correspondence. 

Retirees who would like to share their memories may 

email marili.reilly@dot.gov. 

A Glimpse into an Earlier Era 

610 East Fifth Street 

Vancouver, Washington 98661 

http://www.wfl.fhwa.dot.gov/about/history/

articles.htm 

Western Federal 

Lands Highway 

Division 

Prince of Wales Road System designated as Alaska Scenic Byway 

Continued from page 5

roads to a safety 

standard appropriate 

for passenger cars. 

Projects included Big 

Salt Road, Control 

Lake to Thorne Bay 

Road, Sandy Beach 

Road, North Prince of 

Wales Road, and 

Coffman Cove Road. 

The Organized Village of 

Kasaan, in cooperation with 

the Alaska Department of 

Transportation State Scenic 

Byways Department and other 

stakeholders, nominated the 

260-mile Prince of Wales 

Island Road System as a State 

Scenic Byway. On August 5, 

2010, the Village celebrated 

the achievement of this desigFrom 1980 to 2010, 88 miles of 

road on Prince of Wales Island 

were improved using $139 

million in Forest Highway 

funds. Upgraded geometry, 

drainage, and surfacing 

brought the primitive arterial 

nation with a ribbon-cutting 

ceremony, pictured above. 

WFLHD continues to be 

involved in improving roads 

on Prince of Wales Island, 

with funding provided by 

the U. S. Forest Service, 

Alaska Department of 

Transportation, and the 

Federal Lands Access Program. 

Above: Project Engineer Dusty Escamilla. Right: Ribbon Cutting at the 

Organized Village of Kasaan. Photos 

provided by Brent Coe, WFLHD Archives.