Petersburg, post John Enge Sr.

My Dad would have taken the toppling of the big mountain ash tree behind our house in Petersburg in stride, just like my mother did. Dad has been gone a year and a half now and it almost seems like he got off the merry-go-round just in time. Although, he did see the bursting of the derivatives bubble in '08. But to back up a bit, it would have been interesting to hear his take on that typhoon that crossed the Pacific and knocked down the mountain ash tree, and a bunch of others on the Petersburg property they have.

My Mother said it was the worst storm she had seen in her 86 years. She came to Petersburg, Alaska as a 21 year old teacher from Iowa, right after helping make bombers at the Boeing plant in Seattle. Would it have been the worst storm Dad had seen from 1916 on? The only time he wasn't around town was when he captained ships across the Pacific and the Atlantic during WWII, but I never heard about any real wild storms he got into then. Not like Raymond Olsen's father who was in Admiral Halsey's task force when they blundered into that typhoon that sank a number of destroyers.

To put things in perspective a bit, the snow that fell in Central Park in New York City a week and half ago or so was the most accumulation that early since they started keeping records in the 1800s. The blow that took out my mother's big shade tree was on Terry and my anniversary, Sept. 24. Both my brothers, Arnold and Steve, were out on their boats at the time, but they ducked into places with good protection for boats.

Trees have been falling partially because it has been raining non-stop for 90 days in the Petersburg area of Southeast Alaska and the ground is waterlogged. Anybody want to move there? Look at the airline records. People are flying out of there in droves. Most will come back when the weather changes or they run out of money, whichever comes first.

Then Al Stein told me last week that another storm just went through and logged 100 mph winds at Lincoln Rock. What's that all about? But the salmon runs don't seem to be suffering, unless there is too much water in the creeks for the salmon to spawn successfully this fall. The prices were certainly good for salmon this summer.

Speaking of salmon, there is a continuing effort to consolidate the fleet with a buy-back. Don't think my Dad would have appreciated that, being in synch with the canneries in S.E too. The Sitka cold storage seems to be the only one, and it's run by Seattle types. Not a good thing for the communities. Petersburg lost the production from 17 of the top salmon and herring seniers and longliners to that Sitka plant as well. Dad would have had a lot to say about that. The boats being supported by Petersburg's infrastructure and city services and the production going to a competing town. That wasn't the formula that made Petersburg what it is, and isn't what will sustain it.

That movement of big boat owners has a lobbyist who just won't let up. That's about the sum of that. Folks just get worn down terrible listening to him. There was a time when mothers tried to get their kids out of being in his classes in Petersburg's lower grades in school. Part and parcel of the whole financial crisis. I think it's just that modern technology has allowed money to work it's magic even faster in compounding itself. The folks that had some before the tech explosion, they're the ones who's got the most now.

My good friend Jim Hansen, the engineer we brought up to Seldovia to restore the 'Chilkat,' echoes some nice rich folk I saw recently on a Barbara Walters special. One of them said if companies want to sell in the U.S. market, they should make the products here. Another guy said he'd be glad to pay a ton of taxes, if the government wouldn't just fritter it away.

But what Jim was pointing out is that U.S. products like Stihl chainsaws are darn near at the pinnacle of perfection and are affordable, given the amount of work they will do. What need is there to farm that out to Malaysia, for example? Another notion that has started up is making your own Christmas presents. For us here in the Rogue Valley it was easy to use Petersburg technology to crank out a quick five cases of grape 'jammy.' That's a cross between jelly and jam that we do. All natural great flavor. You can almost put a dollop on the side of any chicken dish for a little garnish and sweetening.

And I think Dad would be proud to have Joe Upton's upcoming book on canneries dedicated to him. Joe has been around Petersburg and on the 'net doing research for it. I'm sure he'll get plenty of grist for his word-mill from Petersburg folk. Some might remember him as the author of seafaring and guide books for tourists traveling to Southeast Alaska. And before that, Dad and I recruited him to run a tender for Whitney-Fidalgo Seafoods. He's owned a few commercial boats himself too.

What else has happened in the year and a half since Dad left? Three of his grandsons have distinguished themselves to the point of mass-media coverage of their individual exploits in defense of their country, or at least in low-pay, brutally trained high-risk service to their country. Even though war veterans like Dad weren't too hot on war. Dad said he didn't even want to talk about it anymore.

But my boys loved Dad a lot and were enthralled by his service record, and there is no changing an Enge's mind once it's made up. Gotta love that Norwegian tenacity. I'm sure you that know us Enges will agree on that one. We went in slightly predictable ways, but with definite individual flair, marked with courage and persistence. You can tell I'm getting professional at bragging on my boys these days. LOL