Kodiak mirror. [volume] (Kodiak, Alaska) 1940-1976, 1960-11-26
Facilities At Woody Island Expanded
TO Assist In Safety In Air Travel

-fOf nOufS at IlIHe WlulOul 80
much as tasting the plate of hot
steaming food which grew cold be-
side him. Tape piled up in snarled
heaps beside the 1901" operators.
They often grew headachy and
nauseating from watching and,
transcribing the boudot tape fly
ing before their eyes. Teletypes
clattered and banged, sometimes
suffering spasmodically, now one,
now two, then all together in
frenzied cresendo. Telephones
rang; loud speakers blared-"K odi-
ak Radio. This is Nan Charlie 7126
over Rocky Point at 2130z cruis-
ing at 1000, estimating your station
at 2200z Request Kodiak weather"
Yes, those were the busy war
years. Employees at the station
grew to the number of forty. More
quarters were sorely needed. In
1943 large Navy building on West
Woody was converted into an a
partment house with seven units.
Then in 1949 two new apartment
houses with five units each were
built. One by one the unmarried
communications, technicians, and
mechanics were transferred else
where and their places were filled
by men with families. A small
community grew up on West
Woody two miles across the is
land from the Station on East
Woody. Each area was provided
with utility rooms equipped with
washers, dryers, fans, and other
facilities for family laundering.
Each area also had its own walk-in
deep-freeze and recreation hall.
Increased numbers of children
created an educational problem. An
old Navy building on West Woody
served as the first schoolhouse,
transferred later to small base
ment recreation room in one of the
new apartment building in 1851,
a new one room school building
was erected; soon two teachers
were needed to accommodate the 81
children enrolled. Again, a recrea-
ton room in the basement of one
of the apartment buildings had to
be utilized, until in 1857, another
room was added to the school build
ing.
The first C.A.A. residents on the
island were lucky if they had trans
portation to and from the island
to the town of Kodiak once or
twice a week. The white canvas
bag became the mark of a Woody
Island shopper. Newcomers soon
learned that paper bags and paper
sacks had habit of disintegrat-
ing in the rain, scattering shOpp-
ing items along the dock or into
the water. In order to board the
C.A.A. boat at the dock, personnel
had to climb up and down a lad
der built on the side of the dock
for that purpose. Groceries and
other supplies were unloaded from
boat to dock with a hand-operated
winch. Under such conditions mail,
groceries, and other articles were
sometimes dropped overheard and
had to be fiShed from the sea.
Now and then some daring soul
would grow careless, lose his foot
ing, and have to be pulled from
the icy waters Children were hand
ed from man to man up and down
the ladder Sometimes small ba-
bies were carried in baskets which
were handled in the same way.
Transferring from a rocking boat
and climbing a r5-foot ladder at
low tide during high winds and
storms was no easy feat The sick
we're placed in wire stretcher
baskets and lowered by winch to
the deck of the boat. Woody Is
lands expectant mothers must
have been lucky. ONLY one baby