HISTORY CHAPTER 6
Trophy Catch
Fish stories, with evidence.
The King of Kings cira 1950's
Courtesy Clausen Museum
Every fishing town has its stories about the one that almost didn’t fit in the boat. Petersburg has the photographs. These images come from family albums, cannery offices and dockside snapshots, and they show the day the scale tipped too far, everyone gathered on the float, and someone ran for a camera.
Some of these people are named. Some are known only by the fish they caught. All of them stood next to proof that these waters grow things big.
Young beauties posing with record King Salmon cira 1950's
Courtesy Clausen Museum
At 126½ pounds, it’s the largest king salmon on record. It swam into a fish trap off Prince of Wales Island, owned by a Petersburg processor, and a local fisherman brought it home on his boat. It never left. It’s not a replica. It’s the actual fish, mounted and on display in the fishery and cannery exhibit, still showing its original scales.
Miss Petersburg of 1955 poses with world's record King Salmon
Courtesy Clausen Museum
TROPHY GALLERY
Little Norway: The Story of Petersburg
Petersburg, told by someone who lived it. Born and raised here, Nelson spent decades working the cold storage docks before writing the definitive account of the town his family helped build — the Norwegian settlement, the fishing industry, and the community that took root on Mitkof Island.