The Wrangell sentinel., 1927-02-03
MAIL CONNECTION WITH WEST COAST
 IS RESTORED

" hah6GAA ud5 dBdAA HtEA AHdue c port of call for West Coast mall boats according to cable adyiees received here by Postmaster sted= man.
 The matter was handled by awarding an extension of the pres ent mail contract which is held by the NeiIl Transportation Company.
 Under the contract. the services of two boats will be required in stead of one. and to comply with the terms of the contract the com pany has purchased the former Juneau-Sitka mail boat Estebeth. The Estebeth will be used for the Chatham Straits run and the Prince of Wales will be kept on the west coast run.
 The new schedule began with the sailing of the Prince of Wales from Ketehikan on last Tuesday Until April 1 this boat will operz ate on the first trip of each month to the west coast. Chatham Straits. Petersburg and Wrangell, return ing via the west coast points. Each SuDSGAuG W1Ghlg LiAp A4A AAEa 1AAa period will be to the west coast. Wrangen and Petersburg and re turn via the same route.
 The summer schedule calls for weekly trips from Ketehikan to the west coast and continue as far as Wrangell each trip. with anoth CT run calling for weekly trips from Ketehikan to Wrangell Peters burg, Rake and all points on Chat ham Straits to Port Alexander and return over the same route from Rake to Petersburg, Wrangell and Ketchikan. This service is from April 1 to September 30.
 From October 1 to March 31, the new contract calls for weekly serv= ice from Ketehikan to Jackson is land, Hydaburg, Waterfall, Craig, Klawack, Warmchuck, Karheen, Tokeen, Shakan, Wrangell, Peters burg and return.
 The poor mail service between Wrangell and the west coast, such as has existed for the past several months has been almost intoler= able.
 Wrangelrs two chief industries are numbering and fishing. The Nrangell Mills obtain many of their logs from the west coast oi Prince of Wales Island, and the need for direct mail connection be- tween the logging camps and the Frangell mills is imperative. Un- fer the system which has just been abolished it required from two to three weeks to get a reply from .etter sent no greater distance than 10 miles. And it has not been the lumber industry alone that has suffered in consequence of Wran- gelI being deprived of direct mail connection with the towns along the west coast Wrangell's fishing fleet operate largely along the west coast of Prince of Wales Is land Fish concerns maintain fish stations at various points on the west coast which makes direct mai connection with Wrangell a matte of vital importance to a large nun Der of Wrangell citizens who are identified with the fishing indus try.
 During the past six months the Wrangell Commercial Club has never ceased protesting to the Post Office Department over the matter. The replies received at first gave no hope whatever of the matter being reopened. But the Commercial Club continued to send letters and telegrams The corre- spondence on this subject during the past six months has aggregated more than 150 typewritten pages.
 The following from a message sent to the Second Assistant Post master General on September i indicative of the general tone of the numerous messages and com munications emanating from the Wrangell Commercial Club on this subject:
 Frankly, we feel that as pio-
 neers of this far northern coun-
 try we have enough difficulties
 to contend with without having
 the handicap occasioned by the
 present inefficient mail system
 which is working such a hard
 ship on us, and at the same time
 interfering with the development
 of an important district of AL
 aska.
 Economy has been assigned
 as the reason for cutting the
 towns along the west coast of
 Prince of Wales Island off from
 direct mail connection with
 Wrangell. We most certainly
 believe in economy whenever
 there is anything to be gained
 thereby, but we are sure there
 can be no ultimate saving to the
 government in retarding the de-
 velopment of the country by
 taking a step backward in the
 name of economy. And there is
 no denying that business Is being
 seriously hindered by the elimi-
 nation of Wrangell from direct
 mail service with Prince of
 Wales Island, a condition that
 has not existed before since the days of the canoe."
 
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