Pete Erickson couldn’t figure out who all those people were on the beach. As he steered his tug and barge through the Wrangell Narrows leaving Petersburg, where he was born and raised, he only expected to see his daughter and his grandson waving him by.
Erickson had just finished his 14-day quarantine after coming down with the COVID-19 coronavirus, which he evidently caught while visiting his father in the hospital in the Seattle area.
His dad, Pete Sr., was the first Alaskan to die of the coronavirus; he passed on March 16 at a hospital in Federal Way, Wash., where he had gone for care for other serious health conditions.
[Read about Pete Erickson Sr.’s life in Alaska at this link]
Erickson and his wife Kris had spent a lot of time with the 76-year-old Petersburg patriarch while he was hospitalized. And as one might expect, Erickson picked up the bug, while his wife, who had spent even more time with Pete Sr. managed to escape infection.
Erickson, who was born and raised in Petersburg, had mild symptoms after his father’s passing, and spent his two weeks of quarantine chopping wood, clearing brush, and shoveling horse manure at his island ranch in Washington. After his COVID-19 tests came back clear, was finally back on his usual tug run, moving barges full of shipping containers of food and other goods from the Port of Seattle to Ketchikan, Petersburg, Juneau, Haines, and Skagway.
In the wheelhouse on Sunday, he grabbed his binoculars. He could hear horns blaring, and sirens wailing. He could see people waving flags and their hands in the air. The town of Petersburg had come out to say hello to Erickson as he was making his first post-COVID tug-and-barge run.
“I have deal with my daughter that she and my grandson drive to the north end of town and wave and watch me go by. But on Sunday, I could see all these people on the beach, and cars, and flags and umbrellas. Police cars and a State Trooper truck. I could hear them yelling, honking horns, and the police cars hitting their sirens and flashing their lights. And then all of a sudden I was getting Facebook messages and text messages from people — ‘Love you, Buddy,'” he said, while in Juneau on Tuesday on his return trip to Seattle.
Erickson, a muscular Swede of a man, said it made him cry to see everyone showing him such support after having lost his father and at the same time contracting a scary virus the past month.
“Petersburg will always be my home — I was born and raised there and lived there for 48 years,” he said. By now, he was taking some time getting the story out.
The Western Titan made its way north to Juneau, Haines, and finally to Skagway, where another impromptu group had assembled on the dock as a thank-you rally for the crew of the tug and the dedication they have to bringing freight to the small town at the head of Lynn Canal.
Once again, Erickson was surprised by the small-town, “old Alaska” gesture. He brings freight routinely to these towns in Southeast Alaska, and never before had anyone made a big deal out of it. It’s a normal weekly occurrence.
“At first, I thought maybe the fire department was doing a drill on the docks, but then there was an American flag and a Swedish flag, and I put it all together,” Erickson said.
It was the work of his aunt Kathy (Erickson) Hosford, who with her husband Fred Hosford runs the Chilkoot Trail Outpost lodge in Dyea. She and a couple of friends had hatched a plan to show appreciation to the entire tug crew, not just her nephew. And the town responded to the call to come to the dock and lean on their horns.
“Even people who could not make it to the docks were outside banging pots and pans together,” Hosford said. She added that it was a way to show the people who are working through the pandemic that they are truly appreciated by the people of Alaska.
Why I’ll always love and miss Southeast.
I love and miss SE AK too, Peter. Generations of my family, myself included, born and raised in Wrangell. A very special place indeed.
When I was a kid we’d jump the wakes from the tugs and barges with our skiffs, we’d drop whatever chores we were up to when we sighted the tug or if we heard it coming.
This is a great story, Suzanne. Thank you for sharing it with us.
Some Alaskans say that real Alaska doesn’t begin until you get past Tok on the highway, or past Cordova by air. Bunk! Southeast Alaska fully qualifies……….(except for Juneau).
Preach! I get so tired of that chest-thumping canard.
North Pole patriot, I disagree with your statement regarding “the real Alaska”. Alaska is real wherever you find yourself in our great State. While people are different from region to region, this difference being mostly formed by their modes of living shaped by local conditions, there remains a common thread throughout this Great Land. I would not presume to exclude any city within our boundaries from being the real Alaska.
OTA:. I think NP Patriot was excluding Juneau as a way to demonstrate that a government/bureaucrat town, such as Juneau is, does not speak to the independent, “can do” spirit that Alaskans pride themselves on. Many of the people who migrate north to land a government job only stay long enough to get vested in a generous state pension and then leave Alaska. I have seen this man times. During their Alaska stay, they will often try and make Alaska more like San Francisco or NYC. To that end, I agree with the Patriot.
Paul Geivette, Juneau is infected with a host of Government Workers, some are multi-generation Alaskans and some are not.
However taken at face value, Juneau has far more industry than the entire Anchorage / Mat-Su area. One of the largest Fishing Fleets in Alaska with two fish processor plants, Two prosperous World Class Mines (Greens Creek being one), and on a normal year way over 1 million visitors. Hardly a Government Town by Alaska standards!
Rejoice when you see the real Alaska at work Paul! BTW, I note Anchorage has the most Liberal/ commie City Government in the State.
Much of America could gain from the standby and help your neighbor attitude of most of Alaska it’s a great land for many reasons, that why it calls to people weither to visit or be permanent residents
What a wonderful way to show your love and appreciation. Alaskans are a very warm bunch of people!
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