From the days of the coastal steamships, a look back at a most memorable day

"Crews of firemen, Coast Guardsmen and civilians were on the spot, fire hose covered nearly every foot of the dock and chemicals arrived," the Chronicle reported later that afternoon. "For more than an hour scores of firemen used every facility available in a futile attempt to bring the blaze under control but when every effort was expended the ship had to be taken away from the dock. -- A sample of a review of some shared coastal history from Alaskan writer Dave Kiffer.


Much like Prince Rupert, Ketchikan has had some spectacular fires in its history, one of the more memorable events came on September 22, 1945, when a CN coastal steamship caught fire in the southeast Alaska port.

Dave Kiffer, a frequent contributor to the Sit News provides a thorough and entertaining review of the incident, offering up a good number of anecdotes from the era and a wonderful glimpse into an time long past.

His article examines the history and impact of the Grand Trunk/CN coastal line, from the days of Charles Hays on to the infamous day when the Prince George caught fire along the dock in the city.

Using archive material from a  number of resources in Alaska, Kiffer takes us dockside on a September day many years ago to re-witness a  key moment of coastal British Columbian and Alaskan history

You can examine the full story from the Sit News website , photo above from the SitNews website.