The next series of pictures we publish will be in association with the 2017 Iceworm Tail Clues, since we do LOVE history!The first clue was: “The story goes that it was two old friends sitting up on bar stools, who dreamed up the very first Iceworm Festival. One of those ‘ghosts of the past’ was Merle K. “Mudhole Smith.”Supposedly the two ‘ghosts of the past’ who dreamt up the festival idea were Omar Wehr and Merle Smith. ‘Smitty’ as he was commonly known in Cordova took over Cordova Air Service after the death of M.J. Kirkpatrick. Soon there was service to all the remote canneries and gold camps of Prince William Sound and the interior. With the railroad gone, people needed transportation and Smitty set out to give it to them by air, even though it required a special faith and courage to make the necessary investments in those days when aviation was still in its infancy.This clue could have led you close to Smitty’s original home, a local watering hole or the city airstrip … It would have been impressive if you had found the tail on this first clue!Photo courtesy of the archives and collections of the Cordova Historical Society.
Merle Smith, aka Smitty, on the city airstrip.
The next series of pictures we publish will be in association with the 2017 Iceworm Tail Clues, since we do LOVE history!
The first clue was: “The story goes that it was two old friends sitting up on bar stools, who dreamed up the very first Iceworm Festival. One of those ‘ghosts of the past’ was Merle K. “Mudhole Smith.”
Supposedly the two ‘ghosts of the past’ who dreamt up the festival idea were Omar Wehr and Merle Smith. ‘Smitty’ as he was commonly known in Cordova took over Cordova Air Service after the death of M.J. Kirkpatrick. Soon there was service to all the remote canneries and gold camps of Prince William Sound and the interior. With the railroad gone, people needed transportation and Smitty set out to give it to them by air, even though it required a special faith and courage to make the necessary investments in those days when aviation was still in its infancy.
This clue could have led you close to Smitty’s original home, a local watering hole or the city airstrip … It would have been impressive if you had found the tail on this first clue!
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