Sadlier, Joseph B.

Joe Sadlier's grandparents, Edith and Byron Olsen, traveled to the Yukon from California (date unknown). It is said that Byron carried Crystal (Snow) Jenne over the Chilkoot Pass when she was about two years old. The Olsens were close friends of the Snow and Jenne families. Edith and Byron Olsen had five children and lived in a log cabin halfway between Skagway and Whitehorse (Yukon). Byron was a civil engineer for the railroad. The family moved to Thane around 1911 and Byron supervised construction of the Alaska Gastineau Mine. They lived in a tent the first winter. Later Byron worked on the (Salmon Creek) dam project, then Annex Creek. When Byron's health began to fail they moved back to Juneau and bought the Zynda Hotel (later called the Juneau Hotel). Later they purchased a large home above Main St., which they turned into a boarding house. Byron died February 14, 1927 and Edith died in Ketchikan in 1948 or 1949. Joe Sadlier was one of 29 veterans who, in 2000, brought the LST-325, a landing ship tank, from Crete to Mobile Alabama. Joe Sadlier Day was declared Feb. 5, 2001 in Ketchikan, his hometown.