Empire Archives: Juneau’s history for Dec. 27 & 28
Published 2:30 am Friday, December 26, 2025
Empire Archives is a series featuring a short compilation of headline stories from archived editions of the Juneau Empire.
This week’s Empire Archives returns to a 1915 edition of Alaska Daily Empire, one of the oldest physical issues currently in the paper’s possession. Most of the stories appear without bylines, a common newsroom practice for this time period.
Juneau’s news was mostly sparkling on Dec. 27, 1925, with “Christmas merriest on record,” one article proclaimed.
The Lower 48 ought to have been envious, for the conditions in Juneau represented “a striking contrast to the pictures of wretchedness with which the large cities of the United States are confronted.”
Holiday cheer flowed freely, and the money even freer, making local businesses a “beehive” of activity. Many merchants declared that their December sales broke all previous records. Christmas church services throughout town were well attended.
Meanwhile on Douglas, locals faced the follies of a harsh winter.
A Newfoundland named “Skunk” aided in the saving of a life in Gastineau Channel.
As Mr. and Mrs. Kilburn sat at the city dock office near midnight, their dog Skunk began whining and scratching at the door. Mr. Kilburn let Skunk out and followed him down the dock. There he found a man in the water, barely clinging to the dock. The man, L. W. Lindquist, was weighed down by his heavy, waterlogged coat.
“The cries of Lindquist were inaudible to Kilburn, and had it not been for the keen sense of hearing and the intelligence of the dog, Lindquist likely would have drowned,” the article states.
The following day, Juneau looked forward to cheer and spirits in the upcoming year. One article published Dec. 28 put into print an interstate rumor.
“Juneau is looking forward to an exodus of Seattle saloon men, after January 1, when the Evergreen State goes dry,” the article said.
Washington state banned alcohol in 1916. Ship passengers returning home to Juneau from the Puget Sound floated rumors of the incoming Seattleites, men looking to relocate to Alaska.
The move would have been hasty, as Alaska instated its own prohibition in 1918, two years before the national ban.
