Hi David, Thank you for Sharing all your videos. I just recently found your sites and am enjoying the great variety. I was born and raised in Sitka, born in December of 1943. and graduated from Sitka High School in 1963. I bounced in and out of Sitka until my dad retired in 1973 and did not have much contact after that except class reunions and visiting friends. When did you come to Sitka and what brought you there? I have a membership in the Sitka Sentinel Archives papers and really enjoy looking back on the old papers. I looked for you in the paper but there is another David Rice showing up and that is the son of one of my classmates Don and Susan (Bryan) Rice. Like to hear back from you and i home you keep exploring Sitka and sharing the videos. Thanks, Mickey Adams SHS class of 1963.

Love it. I remember my first herring fisheries was Togiak and we got a two hour notice for an opening two hours away. The anchor went up and the plane. He wanted to get more speed by putting the skiff on deck. No slowing down and no hydraulics. Have you ever tried to hand load a skiff will underway? It took a bit of doing and we launched the skiff off the deck to set the net, by hand while full-boar. The following year I had to go with his combin boat because he needed a skiff man. You can see him on 60 minutes or 20/20 talking about his one memorable close call. It was the only time I was headed out off the boat with a suite in hand. Nobody slept after that big wave until we anchored up...

Heeee I think that was the biggest deck load of deer I've seen. My dad and I had 14 on our boat at once. But it was a bigger boat.

Was that a single piece of wood hollowed out or wedges like an old wood keg or barrel? Just curious, Kodiak has them laying around some of the old cannery operations. One I know of was bands like a barrel, and I think it was later turned into a part of a fish weir. I know of others that were metal and were used to supply the running water to drink and operate the cannery and also run a power plant to supply electricity. I don't know if the old wood ones would have run hydroelectric plants or not, but they look like they could have. I know some are still in use at various places doing all of those listed. Lodges for one have utilized them with needed repairs and upgrades. Some places have been occupied since being built, and new builds are doing the same. It is important to have electricity in the bush. Some places run on DC batteries, and they have 12 volt systems and appliances. Solar panels and a gas generator for emergency. Fish camps and people who want to live off the grid and still want the safety of a two-way radio do this and then they upgrade their lighting and appliances for convenience. I have lived at or visited every type I listed. There was a house 40 miles out that I loved to 4x4 to on weekends. It was very rustic with no electricity, running water and unfinished walls. I had fun and did a lot of the early work with walls, insulation and running water. Now it is a full time resident and profiting lodge. With all the comforts.