July-August, 2020
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Alaskan History July-Aug, 2020 VOLUME 2, NO. 4 ISBN 9798673864067
Published bimonthly by Northern Light Media
SPECIAL FEATURE GOV. GEORGE PARKS’ 1928 AIRPLANE TOUR OF ALASKA - 40
ALASKAN HISTORY
Pioneering Farmers in the Matanuska Valley The moderate climate and rich soils of south central Alaska’s beautiful Matanuska Valley attracted farmers who provided a welcome supply of fresh vegetables to gold and coal miners, who had grown weary of diets heavy on beans, flour, and dehydrated vegetables. With the arrival of the Alaska Railroad in 1923, even more markets were available, and Valley farmers enjoyed a vibrant—but brief—heyday. Article begins on page 14
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An early Alaska Railroad steam engine passes the Hikey farm, 1918. [A.E.C. photo, University of Alaska, Fairbanks]
July-August, 2020 SEPTIMA M. COLLIS
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A WOMAN’S TRIP TO ALASKA, 1890 ‘A woman's trip to Alaska; being an account of a voyage through the inland seas of the Sitkan archipelago, in 1890.’ The estranged wife of a Union Army war hero, Septima Maria Levy Collis toured Alaska’s panhandle in style.
GAVRIIL ANDREEVICH SARYCHEV
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SARICHEF’S ATLAS, 1826 During the second voyage to Unalaska, Sarychev was promoted to captain and given command of the ship Slava Rossii. His journals contain detailed descriptions, along with sketches of Kamchatka and the Aleutian Islands. S. S. DORA
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TOUGH LITTLE MARINE BULLDOG The doughty little steamship became one of the most beloved and recognizable vessels in the territory for her ability to handle the fierce conditions of the Gulf of Alaska, Shelikof Strait and the roiling waters of the Aleutian Islands. CHARLES CHRISTIAN GEORGESON
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FATHER OF ALASKAN AGRICULTURE “…the services of a skilled horiculturalist are needed at the Sitka station to aid in the introduction of new and valuable fruits,” and “it is thought desirable to begin investigations in dairying…” BICYCLES IN FRONTIER ALASKA
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“WHITE MAN HE SET DOWN WALK LIKE HELL!” Many old vintage photographs include bicycles, whether they are being ridden, pushed along, or just leaning against trees, poles, buildings, and other stationary objects.
Special Feature: Gov. Parks’ 1928 Airplane Tour of Alaska . . . . . . . page 40 Cover Notes, In this Issue . . . . . . . 1
Memorable Photographs . . . . . 6 - 7
Table of Contents . . . . . . . . . . . 2 - 3
Articles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8 to 39
Publisher’s Note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Special Feature . . . . . . . . . . . 40 - 47
Magazine Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Resources used in this issue . . . . 48
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Alaskan History
Alaskan History
Publisher’s Note
M•A•G•A•Z•I•N•E
The Only Constant is Change
July-August, 2020
Free Digital Magazines
Volume 2, Number 4
When I started Alaskan History Magazine I thought it would be nice to offer a digital edition which could be read online or downloaded, and I thought it would be a nice added benefit to a paid print subscription. And for the most part, it was.
Published by Northern Light Media Post Office Box 870515 Wasilla, Alaska 99687 (907) 521-5245 www.Alaskan-History.com Email AlaskanHistory@gmail.com Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/ alaskanhistory/ Facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/ AlaskanHistory/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/HelenHegener Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ akhistorymagazine/
Then the pandemic hit, print subscriptions stopped cold, and with the loss of income which made print subscriptions too difficult to continue, I thought digital subscriptions might fill the void. It seemed like a reasonable assumption, and my early attempts were promising. But then I tried to make it work smoothly…. and it wouldn’t. I spent a few weeks struggling with the technology, thinking I had it figured out and then finding I did not, and finally, more in frustration than anything else, I removed the paywall from the digital magazine, and all of the back issues and this current issue are available to read, share, or download for free. The direct link to the magazine is https://issuu.com/alaskanhistorymagazine I don’t know if this is a wise move or not, but it makes the most sense to me. The magazine is still available in print, as back issue sets or single issues, at my web sites, and single issues can be ordered at Amazon. Enjoy the digital magazine, buy a print copy if you want to, and rest assured that I am happy just to get back to doing the research, writing, and publishing in whatever format! Thanks for reading, and stay safe.
Helen Helen Hegener, Publisher • Northern Light Media ~ http://www.northernlightmedia.com • Alaskan History Magazine ~ http://www.alaskan-history.com • Digital magazine ~ https://issuu.com/alaskanhistorymagazine
ISBN 9798673864067
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July-August, 2020 • Changes to the magazine, beginning with this issue, include a new cover format, and a special feature at the end of each issue, replacing the ‘Focus’ and ‘Collectible Books’ sections. When a book excerpt is featured, a link to the digital edition of the complete book will be included.
Inspiring Alaskans
• Resources used in researching the articles for each issue are shared on page 48, with links to the websites, PDFs and video and digital media. • Online The Alaskan History Magazine website features excerpts of almost every article which appears in the pages of this magazine. The website versions will often be expanded with additional information, photos, maps, and links to resources. Check it out at www.alaskan-history.com • Alaskan History Books Many of the historic books featured in every issue are available on the website for this magazine, www.alaskan-history.com. Purchases help support the continued publication of this magazine. • Social Media Alaskan History Magazine is active on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. For information visit our website. • Back Issues Digital editions of Alaskan History Magazine are free at the premier digital publication site, Issuu, and print back issues are always available, see the website for details about ordering a single issue or a complete set. Every issue is 48 pages, full color, and ad-free.
Benny Benson In 1927 a contest was h e l d a m o n g A l a s k a ’s schoolchildren to design a flag for the territory. From over 700 entries the simple yet powerful design of a 13-year-old Aleut boy won.
B e n n y B e n s o n ’s description explained: "The blue field is for the Alaska Sky and the forget-me-not, an Alaskan flower. The North Star is for the future of Alaska, the most northerly in the union. The Dipper is for the Great Bear – symbolizing strength.”
When he grew up Benny Benson got married and raised two daughters, working as a master carpenter and an airplane mechanic in Kodiak. He died in 1972.
The creative spirit of Benny Benson inspires the publication of Alaskan History Magazine! For information visit:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/AlaskanHistory/ https://twitter.com/HelenHegener https://www.instagram.com/akhistorymagazine/
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www.alaskan-history.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
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Alaskan History
Memorable Photographs Capturing Alaska’s History on Glass Plates and Film
Right: Wharf at Valdez Harbor, 1928. Signs: “Center of the Prince William Sound Gold and Copper Belt. Valdez Terminus of a Great Scenic Road, The Richardson Highway. Fairbanks, Chitina, Valdez.” [George A. Parks. Photographs, 1911-1933. ASL-PCA-240-009] Below: Old Russian Battery, Unalaska, by John E. Thwaites, “Children stand beside cannons, displayed on platform in front of Alaska Commercial Co. building.” [Alaska State Library, John E. Thwaites. ASL-PCA-18-038] Page 7: Top: Hudson Stuck Memorial Hospital, Fort Yukon, 8 miles north of the Arctic Circle [real photo postcard, Hegener Collection] Bottom: The President Inspecting a Dog Team Which Appeared at Cantwell, Near the Railway Siding, Where the Presidential Pullman Was Drawn Up. 1923. [Alaska State Library. Harding's Trip to Alaska, 1923. Photographs, ASL-PCA-418-08]
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July-August, 2020
Alaska’s Digital Archives: https://vilda.alaska.edu
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Alaskan History
“Upon each side of me, half a mile away, rose the same old mountains which I had seen everywhere from Tacoma north; at my feet, the same Pacific Ocean; but in front of me, apparently so close that I could almost reach it with my fingers, the perpendicular wall of a canyon, not of rock, nor clay, nor grass, nor forest, but of ice—a wall of ice a mile in length— and when I say a mile I mean over eighteen hundred yards of it; and when I speak of ice, I do not mean the sutty porous stuff that lodges in the valleys of the Alps; I mean the veritable, pure, crystal ice of the ice pitcher. If I did not know that it was ice, I should believe that it was glass. If I did not know it was the work of the Creator, I should believe that here had assembled a convocation of architects, who in their collective ingenuity had produced a combination of the chefs-d’oruvre of their art; for here were the buttresses of the English abbeys and flying buttresses of Notre Dame, turrets of the Normans, towers of the early English, spires of the cathedral in Cologne, wonderful unoccupied niches, pilasters of the purest white marble and green malachite, and decorative carving and high polish worthy of Cellini.”
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Left: A sketch of Collis’ fellow passengers aboard the steamship ‘Queen.’ Right: Totem poles at Fort Wrangell. [both from ‘A Woman’s Trip to Alaska.’]
Septima M. Collis A Woman's Trip to Alaska: Being an Account of a Voyage through the Inland Seas of the Sitkan Archipelago, in 1890 “Three hundred and fifty dollars cannot be more profitably spent for a summer vacation, and this is more than it costs from New York to the icebergs and back. Think of it! Hardly the price of a French costume, a ring, or a bracelet, and yet the memory of such a trip will outlive them all.” Septima Maria Levy was raised to culture and privilege, the daughter of a banker in the idyllic plantation world of Charleston, South Carolina, prior to the Civil War. At the impressionable age of only 19 she experienced the Civil War like few others would when she married a prominent young Philadelphia lawyer, Charles H. T. Collis, born in County Cork, Ireland. Charles Collis joined the 18th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment at the start of the war, returning to Philadelphia to form a colorful company known as the Zouaves D’ Afrique, modeled after the elite Algerian troops of the French Army. Collis received the Medal of Honor for his leadership at the battle of Fredericksburg, and he rose to the rank of Brevet Major General. A monument with his bust at Gettysburg National Cemetery honors his memory. Despite her southern sympathies, Septima Collis accompanied her husband throughout the war. Her 1898 memoir, A Woman’s War Record 1861-1865 (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1889), recounts her struggles to reconcile being the sister of a Confederate soldier and the wife of a Union
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Alaskan History
officer. Paraphrasing Confederate General Robert E. Lee she quipped, “I went with my state —my state of matrimony.” Following her husband to the front, as was acceptable early in the conflict, Septima was presented before President Lincoln, of whom she wrote, “I shall never forget that wonderful man, and the pressure of the immense hand which grasped mine, so fervent, true, and hearty was his manner.” Tragically, Septima later lost her brother, David Cardoza Levy, “a handsome, gallant lieutenant in the Southern army, killed at the battle of Murfreesborough.” Twenty-five years after the end of the war which had divided her family, Septima, by then separated from Charles and a seasoned world traveler, booked a steamship cruise to faroff Alaska. She boarded the two-masted, three-deck S. S. Queen in Tacoma, Washington, described it as “…a fine vessel,” and found “everything in apple-pie order, clean, neat, spacious, and thoroughly comfortable.” She commented, “….to those of us who are fond of travel and adventure this is a very important matter, for unless we find ourselves in a contented frame of mind, we are in no mood to appreciate the surroundings.” Septima Collis discovered much to appreciate on the voyage, and she wrote glowingly vivid descriptions of that which pleased her, but she also found plenty to dislike and harshly criticize, beginning with this rant about Fort Wrangell: “The fort itself or stockade was an utter wreck; in fact I would not have known of its existence if left to discover it for myself, so I hurried on, picking my way as best I could through the muddy thoroughfares to get a view of my first totem pole. I assure you my initial experience of a promenade in an Alaskan city was far from agreeable, and several times I wished myself back in our good ship, where I could view the rocks and trees from far off, rather than be bruising my poor feet upon the one, and crawling over the prostate forms of the other. It was evident that the place was entirely without horses and vehicles of any kind… It seemed to me as though there was not energy enough in the whole place to light a fire on a cold day.
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July-August, 2020 “But I saw the totem poles; and since that time at various other places have seen them, and pictures of them by the score, and although I confess there is little about these totem poles which is at all attractive from a physical point of view, they are interesting in so far as they illustrate the fact that all humanity, even in its aboriginal and its barbarous state, adopts for its own protection certain rules and laws of government. The totem pole of the Alaskan Indian is his crest, his family name. He is a ‘bear,’ or an ‘eagle,’ or a ‘salmon,’ or a ‘crow,’ or a ‘whale,’ and being so he owes certain duties to his kin…” In later passages Septima displays her penchant for exuberant description, as with this exultant account of encountering the icebergs of Glacier Bay: “These icebergs were curious studies; I did not fail to realize that each one of them outranked in age any other moving thing I had ever seen, except perhaps the moon. For hundreds of years these tons and tons of solid ice have been slowly forcing their way down to the temperate waters of the North Pacific Ocean, bearing upon their begrimed sides and edges the evidence of these fierce struggles for freedom with the rock-bound passes in the mountains, and carrying victoriously aloft the massive granite slabs and boulders crunched in the conflict. Thicker and thicker grew the sea of ice, larger and more threatening the bergs, many of them rising to the level of our upper deck and grazing the ship’s side as we forged ahead.” The S.S. Queen took Septima and her fellow voyagers up the length of the Inside Passage, visiting Sitka, Glacier Bay and the Muir Glacier, Juneau and the Treadwell Mine, the Lynn Canal and Chilkat, Davidson Glacier, Killisnoo, Wrangell Narrows, Clarence Straits, Fort Simpson, B.C., Metlahkatlah, Vancouver Island, and then back to Tacoma, where Mrs. Collis set off for the Yosemite in California. The mother of three, a noted world traveler, she passed away in Aux-les-Baines, France, in 1917. ~•~ A woman's trip to Alaska; being an account of a voyage through the inland seas of the Sitkan archipelago, in 1890, by Septima Maria Levy Collis, published in 1890 by Cassell
Publishing Company, New York, NY, is available to read online at the Internet Archive:
https://archive.org/details/womanstriptoalas00coll/mode/2up
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Alaskan History
GAVRIIL ANDREEVICH SARICHEV Author of the Atlas of the Northern Part of the Pacific Ocean, 1826
Gavriil Andreevich Sarychev, a Russian naval officer, hydrographer and explorer, enjoyed a long and illustrious career, during which he made explorations in the Arctic, sailed through the Aleutian Islands, and wrote one of the first atlases of the North Pacific Ocean. In the National Geographic magazine, Volume 13, No. 3, March, 1902, naturalist and explorer Marcus Baker wrote, “In the year 1826 the Russian Hydrographic Office, then under the direction of Vice-Admiral Gavrila Andreevich Sarichef, published a large folio atlas of northwestern America, northeastern Asia, and the waters between.� (Online, see Resources, page 48) Sarychev (also spelled Sarichef and other variations) was born in 1763, enrolled in the naval cadet corps at the tender age of eight, and began his service in the Russian Imperial Navy at age 18 as a midshipman, becoming by all accounts an excellent sailor and geographer. From 1785 to 1794, Sarychev took part in an expedition sponsored by Empress Catherine II of Russia, led by Royal Navy officer Joseph Billings. Sarychev, on ship Slava Rossii (Glory of Russia), described and mapped the coastline of the Sea of Okhotsk from Okhotsk to Aldoma, including many of the Aleutian Islands (especially Unalaska). He also described the islands of Pribylov, St. Matthew Island, St. Lawrence Island, Gvozdev, and King Island.
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July-August, 2020 From 1786 to 1793 the expedition explored the Arctic coast of eastern Siberia, also making two voyages to Alaska and surveying the Aleutian Islands, the Gulf of Alaska, the Alaska Peninsula, St. Lawrence and Diomede Islands, and the eastern shore of the Bering Strait. During the expedition’s second voyage to Unalaska, Sarychev was promoted to captain (second rank) and given command of the ship Slava Rossii. His journals from the voyage contain detailed descriptions of the expedition, along with sketches of places visited, including Kamchatka and the Aleutian Islands. Sarychev published two accounts of the expedition after returning to St. Petersburg: Travels of the Naval Captain Sarychev in the Northeast Siberia, Icy Sea and Eastern Ocean, accompanied by charts and images of the Siberian and Alaskan coasts; and Travels of Captain Billings across the land of Chukotka from the Bering Strait to Nizhnekolymsk. The first book would eventually become known as Sarichef's Atlas, and it is available to read online (see Resources, page 48). The images are traditionally all attributed to Sarychev, but many of them some may be based on the original sketches of the expedition's official artist, Luka Voronin. Strangely, the St. Petersburg engraver who transferred the original sketches into the illustrations romanticized the scenes and portraits, making the faces and attire of the people appear almost European. Gavriil Sarychev spent the rest of his life in St. Petersburg. He was made Vice Admiral in 1808, became an Honorable Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences in 1809, commander and military governor of Kronstadt in 1828, and became a full Admiral in 1830. A year later, then Acting Minister of Russian Imperial Navy, he died of cholera in the great epidemic of 1831, leaving behind an unfinished book on history of Russian ports. Cape Sarichef, on the western end of Unimak Island, the largest in the Aleutian chain; and Sarichef Island, in the Chukchi Sea at the mouth of the Shishmaref Inlet, 100 miles east of Russia, were named for him. ~•~
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Alaskan History
Pioneering Farmers in the Matanuska Valley Knik Garden, 1900. [Photo credit: University of Alaska, Fairbanks]
Providing food for the early gold and coal miners spurred the clearing and planting of the first gardens and farms in south-central Alaska’s Matanuska Valley. By 1906, farmers Henry McKinnon and Hiram Mitchell were both producing large gardens near Knik, and the sales of their produce to the local villagers and miners in the Willow Gold District were the first recorded. Among other firsts in the Valley were Captain Axel Olson’s introduction of three Holstein cattle and one Jersey cow in 1914; W. J. Jeff Bogard’s first flock of sheep; and John Bugge, a homesteader in the Palmer area, who was the first to own mechanical farming equipment, a binder and a threshing machine. The relatively moderate climate and rich soils were conducive to many crops, as shown in early photos of Valley farms. In 1914 Hugh H. Bennett, who made the first Valley soil reconnaissance, reported that a minimum of 1,000 acres had been cleared for cultivation in the Matanuska Valley, primarily near Knik and adjacent to the trails leading to the Willow District gold mines. By 1920 the cleared acreage had almost doubled, due in part to clearing fires set by the railroad construction crews and embers from the steam powered trains; after the wildfires died the farmers only needed to clear away the burnt stumps of the formerly forested land. In Knik Matanuska Susitna: A Visual History of the Valleys, written by Pat O’Hara and a team of researchers and photographers and published by the Mat-Su Borough in 1985, “Homesteaders began settling around Matanuska as early as 1915 when a railroad clearing fire burned a large area between Matanuska and Palmer. For the next two years, potato and vegetable crops sold well, and by 1917, 400 settlers readied their farms for spring planting.
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G.H. Saindon’s ranch, four miles north of Matanuska Junction. [Photo credit: University of Alaska, Fairbanks]
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Rudolph Weiss ranch, 1.7 miles north of Matanuska Junction. June 27, 1917. [Credit: University of Alaska, Fairbanks]
J. Heady’s homestead near Palmer, October 9, 1918. [Photo credit: University of Alaska, Fairbanks]
The newly organized Matanuska Farmers’ Association constructed a building for root crop storage and a meeting hall in Matanuska.” In Matanuska Valley Memoir, Bulletin #18 from the Alaska Experiment Station, published in July, 1955, authors Hugh A. Johnson and Keith L. Stanton also describe early farming development: “Agriculture in the Valley came into its own in 1915. Most of the 150 settlers filing for homesteads came intending to farm. Some cleared enough land to put in a crop the next year. Settlement was concentrated in the vicinity of Knik, across the Hay Flats and up the Matanuska River with a few homesteads spotted along the trails leading to Fishhook Creek. The greatest influx of settlers occurred in 1916 and 1917. By the end of that period nearly all the available land had been homesteaded--a fact not commonly known.” In Old Times on Upper Cook’s Inlet, early historian Louise Potter printed a list of 132 people who had homesteads near Knik in 1915, noting, “That such a list is possible at all is apt to come as a surprise to many who have been encouraged to believe that 1935, the date the ’Colonists’ arrived in the Matanuska Valley, marks the beginning of the history of agriculture in the Upper Inlet Region...” Many Valley residents today still believe farming was introduced by the Colony Project, but the colorful history of that government experiment only marked a substantial increase in farming, not the beginning of it. In Vol. 1, No. 1 of Touchstone Magazine, August, 1976, published by the Alaska State Fair, Inc., Tom Locke, author of Grubstaking the Great Land (Alaska State Fair, Inc., 1975) provided some perspective: “First of all, it should be noted that Alaska was different from other American frontiers in that the second wave, farmers, never
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Kinsinger and Winchester Ranches, two miles north of Matanuska. June 27, 1917. [Univ. of Alaska, Fairbanks]
Mr. A. A. Cobb’s cabin and a portion of his garden at Matanuska Junction, circa 1916. [UA, Fairbanks]
really materialized. The adventurers came, and the men with large capital followed, but the wave of hard-core pioneers never appeared. Alaska’s riches were reaped in the summer and transferred south in the fall. Thus, the arrival of the Matanuska colony farmers in 1935 brought hope of a more permanent settlement and expansion of the territory.� In fact, permanent settlement and expansion had been in the plans all along, as evidenced by the Agricultural Experiment Stations scattered across the land. Settler and entrepreneur George Palmer had been experimenting with the seeds he received from the Sitka Agricultural Experiment Station since 1900, when he wrote the following letter to Prof. C. C. Georgeson detailing his efforts at Knik: Dear Sir: Your favor of July 17 just reached me. When you learn that the nearest post office (i.e. Sunrise) is about 80 miles from here, and that I have to go in a small sailing boat, in perhaps the most dangerous water on the coast for small boats, you may know that I take a trip only when necessary; so my mails are few and far between. I have received no seeds yet, and it is hardly likely that another mail will reach me this fall, as navigation will soon close for the winter. In regard to the seeds I planted last spring, will state that my knowledge of gardening is very limited, but have had very fair success so far. I have less than an acre in cultivation. Parsnips are the finest and largest I ever saw, and the first I have heard of raised in the vicinity. Turnips grow to an enormous size, and of fine flavor. (Captain Glenn took a sample of my turnips last
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Alaskan History year to Washington.) This year my seeds were bad in some way, as most of them went to seed. I don’t know the reason why. The Scotch Kale is a perfect success here. Two men who came here from where it is raised extensively say it was the finest they ever saw. Cabbage is small, but heading fast at present. They have heads about the size of a pineapple cheese, and are of a fine flavor. Rutabagas are large and fine; have just taken mine into the root house. I had some so big that three filled a 30-pound candy pail. Lettuce, peas, radishes, cauliflower, and potatoes are a success. I made a failure of cucumbers, tomatoes, spinach, and parsley, and a partial failure of onions, but I think they could be grown from seed. The natives above raised some potatoes, turnips, kale, cabbage, cauliflower, parsnips and radishes. They are very anxious to learn. I am a very poor teacher, as I must learn myself before I can teach others. Instructions about planting should go with all the seeds you send out. Some of the failures were due to my inexperience. Yours, truly, G. W. Palmer. Before 1914 the only domestic livestock in the Matanuska Valley, with the exception of a few chickens, were horses, used for transportation and hauling freight. The Hay Flats along Knik Arm provided abundant natural grasses for food, and were cut for winter hay, valued at $40 per ton, and a few additional acres of oats were grown for grain. In the spring of 1914 a bull, five cows, two calves, and six hogs were landed at the Knik dock for breeding stock on a ranch in the Cottonwood area. Around the same time Captain Axel Olson arrived with Holstein and Jersey cows, and the Laubner brothers and Dave Carsteads ranged cattle near the site of the old Fishhook Inn, on the road to the mines. In an article for the Pacific Northwest Quarterly, October, 1978, James R. Shortridge wrote about the early government and private efforts to promote Alaska as an agricultural Promised The Matanuska Agricultural Experiment Station, circa 1910-1915. [University of Alaska, Fairbanks photo]
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July-August, 2020 Land: “...almost every promoter lauded the long summer days and their amazing effect on vegetable quality and size. One enthusiast called the tropical sun ‘too intense’ for best plant growth whereas ‘the slanted light of the higher latitudes is always soft and delicate, stimulating growth and not retarding it.’ According to some, these magical conditions impart to Alaskan produce ‘such superior flavor that when a person has once eaten the vegetables grown in Alaska, other vegetables are insipid and tasteless.’” Johnson and Stanton’s Matanuska Valley Memoir details the early agricultural developments in the Valley, explaining how the history unfolded: “When the 1917 season rolled around approximately 400 settlers prepared to plant a larger crop than ever before. The Matanuska Farmer’s Association’s building was ready for use in Matanuska Junction; construction on the railroad was proceeding at a rapid rate. The Alaska Road Commission had completed a new road from the Little Susitna Valley through Wasilla to Knik. Other plans called for constructing a network of roads to replace trails then in use. “Prosperity seemed certain as the farmers took to the fields those first days of May 1917. But with the entry of the U.S. into World War I, Alaska was left in a state of almost complete stagnation. The war profoundly affected the Matanuska Valley. “Alaska’s manpower answered the call to duty with characteristic enthusiasm. Men left undeveloped farms, unfinished construction, partially developed mines and industries. Railroad construction suffered immediately from lack of funds, scarcity of materials and lack of manpower. When the harvest was completed in September of 1917, the market had shrunk and a ruinous surplus of potatoes and vegetables resulted. The potato crop for 1917 was estimated at 1,300 tons. There still remained 600 tons of unmarketed potatoes in the spring of 1918. These were lost because there was no livestock to eat them. “Because of this unsold surplus, many farmers failed. Swan Youngquist was reported to be the only farmer who made money in 1917. He sold directly to Anchorage residents. The Farmer’s Association was dissolved in 1918 and its debts were assumed by several men in the Greenhouse on the Harman Ranch neat Matanuska, June, 1917. [A.E.C. photo, University of Alaska Fairbanks]
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Robert Lathrop, an old settler, cutting hay on Cottonwood Flats. [Mary Nan Gamble Collection, ASL-P270-818]
Valley, among them F. F. Winchester and Al Waters. Farming was too undeveloped and lacked reserve capital to survive these adversities. By 1920 less than 200 settlers remained in the Valley. Not until the Colonists arrived in 1935 did agriculture again move ahead.” There were no roads from the Valley to the rest of Alaska at this time. Except for winter sledding trails and freight boats plying the dangerous waters of Knik Arm, the Matanuska Valley was isolated until the Alaska Railroad tracks reached it in 1916. Despite this dismal picture, there were encouraging developments in the Valley’s agricultural scene, starting with the building of the Matanuska Experiment Station in 1918. Once again Johnson and Stanton give a very detailed report in Matanuska Valley Memoir: “M. D. Snodgrass, on the Alaska Engineering Commission’s recommendation, chose section 15, township 17 north, range 1 east of the Seward Meridian, which originally consisted of 240 acres as the location for the Matanuska Experimental Farm. Section 14 adjoining the 240 acres was later set aside for the station, making a total of 880 acres to be developed for experimental purposes. For the fiscal year ending June 30, 1918, $10,000 was appropriated for the station and work was begun under the direction of F. E. Rader on April 1, 1917. “The first three years were spent in clearing land and erecting buildings. As soon as land was cleared, Rader began testing varieties of potatoes and grains. He also maintained a garden and nursery. Some machinery was placed on the farm.” The somewhat dry report goes on and on, detailing the Experimental Farm’s testing of varieties of crops and grains, the participation of the farmers in the testing, problems
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July-August, 2020 confronting the homesteaders, individual stories of several successful farmers, and how the high freight costs and finding suitable markets was handled. In 1920 the Experimental Farm began working with cattle, starting with five milking Shorthorns, then adding six Galloways from Kodiak and Holsteins which were cross-bred with the Galloways to develop a strain of dual-purpose cattle who could withstand rigorous Alaskan winters while being suitable for both beef and dairy production. Also introduced by the Experimental Farm in 1920 was a flock of 16 Cotswold sheep: “This introduction interested several farmers in the sheep enterprise and they bought most of their foundation stock from the Station flock. By 1930 three farmers owned 221 sheep. J. W. Bogard, whose homestead was on the north shore of Finger Lake, owned the largest flock (he was instrumental in getting a road built through the region north of the lakes).” By the late 1920’s several farmers had developed small dairy herds, and a cooperative arrangement between the Alaska Agricultural Stations and the Alaska Railroad resulted in the construction of a creamery at Curry, which meant a new market for the milk produced in the Matanuska Valley. While the remote community at mile 248 of the Alaska Railroad may have seemed like an odd choice for the creamery, its grand hotel was a popular and respected stop. The opulent Curry Hotel was described in Ken Marsh’s 2003 book, Lavish Silence: A pictorial chronicle of vanished Curry, Alaska (Trapper Creek Museum Sluice Box Productions, Trapper Creek, Alaska 2003): “The Curry Hotel, first opened in 1923, boasted amenities in a wilderness setting seldom seen even in large stateside establishments during this time. Tennis courts, a golf course, a swimming pool, a footbridge spanning the rolling width of the
Jacob Metz farm, near Wasilla, circa 1916 [A.E.C. photo]
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Alaskan History Susitna River and a winter ski lift, all helped make Curry world famous. Nothing was lacking for human enjoyment and comfort.” Marsh described the creamery as well: “Another Curry-based enterprise was operated for the benefit of farmers to encourage dairy farming along the Alaska Railroad. A creamery that turned out 1,434 pounds of butter in July and August of 1932, also made ice cream, table cream, buttermilk, cottage cheese and sweet milk. The dairy products were used at the Curry Hotel, in the Alaska Railroad dining cars, and Base Hospital at Anchorage. Other merchants purchase surplus products. The churns of the creamery were later moved to the Experiment Station at Matanuska since most of the cream came from that area as time went by.” The completion of the 500-mile Alaska Railroad in 1923 promised to bring new opportunities for prosperity and economic growth, with renewed interest in agricultural development of the Matanuska Valley. A 1928-29 agricultural settlement program sponsored by the Alaska Railroad generated considerable interest, and more than 12,000 applications and requests for information were received from potential farm families. M. D. Snodgrass, the agricultural agent at the Matanuska Agricultural Experiment Station, interviewed six hundred applicants and selected fifty-five families for the Alaska Railroad Colony Project, but the 1929 stock market crash and the ensuing depression caused many to reconsider moving to Alaska, and the Railroad quietly dropped its colonization project. Alaska was still reeling from the effects of World War 1. Men who joined the Army or went Outside to take high-paying industrial jobs often did not return to Alaska, as the postwar prosperity in the rest of the United States was simply too satisfying. Alaska’s economy
Farm scene on Wasilla Lake, 1935. [Mary Nan Gamble. Photographs, 1935-1945. ASL-PCA-270]
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Joe Kircher’s farmstead. [Mary Nan Gamble. Photographs, 1935-1945. ASL-PCA-270]
was in limbo, and in her book Early Days in Wasilla (1963), historian Louise Potter noted “estimates say that half the farms were abandoned.” It was not until 1935 that the federal government’s Matanuska Colony Project boosted the area to become Alaska’s major farm belt. The Federal Emergency Relief Administration, one of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal agencies, planned and orchestrated an agricultural colony of 204 stricken farm families from the northern tier states of Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, believing the farmers of Scandinavian descent would have a natural advantage in the similar climate of the far north. By the standards of farming elsewhere, however, the production was quite minimal. Historian Orlando Miller, author of The Frontier in Alaska and the Matanuska Colony (Yale University Press, New Haven, CT 1975), noted in 1959: “….the cropland and production of the Valley could have been equalled in the corner of one county in a midwestern state.” The experiences of one Matanuska Valley farmer were detailed in Matanuska Valley Memoir, a bulletin from the Alaska Experiment Station at Palmer, in 1955: “The oldest farm remaining under one ownership and in continuous production is that of John Bugge who homesteaded 320 acres in 1914. Bugge ceased farming actively in 1946, although he has continued clearing and renting land and raising hay. His farm is located contiguous to the western limit of the city of Palmer. “Bugge came to the Territory in 1900, living first in southeastern Alaska. In 1913 he arrived aboard the Northwestern at Ship Creek (Knik Anchorage) and from there traveled by launch to Knik. He joined the Nelchina stampede ‘necking’ a sled up the Matanuska River in company with Al Waters in the winter of 1913. Finding the region poorly suited to mining, they returned to take up homesteads in the Valley.
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R. S. Heckey ranch about four miles north of Matanuska Junction, 1917. [by P.S. Hunt, UAF-1984-75-517]
“In the spring of 1914, Bugge purchased a horse from Hughes, the freighter from Knik, and, in order to put up hay, located his present farm at Palmer shortly after the survey had been completed through that region. By that fall, Bugge had constructed his first house and had dug a well. His house served as a stopping place for people traveling through the Valley along the Matanuska River. He recalls that one night he put up 14 men and 13 dogs. During 1915, he began purchasing machinery for his homestead. That year he acquired a plow and the following year he added a drill, mower and rake to his collection. In 1917-18 he purchased a disc, binder, thresher and Fordson tractor. Previous to this, he had shipped a team of mares from the States at a cost of $600. A stallion shipped in by A. J. Swanson made it possible to raise three colts. “Bugge was the first homesteader to acquire enough machinery for farming on a fairly large scale. His were the first tractor and the first thresher in the Valley. The experiment station acquired the second thresher. Because of his extensive collection of machinery, Bugge did custom binding and threshing for the settlers near him. Among some of these early homesteaders for whom he worked were Ross Heckey, John Springer, Arvid Bergstrom, and Adam Werner. Another settler, Adam Werner, filed on a tract located northwest of Palmer. Werner came to the Valley in 1914, taking up his homestead at that time. He first trapped with a partner who later drowned in the Matanuska River. Until the late 1920’s, Werner trapped winters and developed his farm during the summer seasons, concentrating on farming and developing a dairy herd. He died in 1944 and his widow, Fannie, continued operating their Grade A dairy. Carl Martin first came to the Valley in 1909 in the company of ‘Tex’ Cobb. They traveled from Knik to the Cache Creek prospecting country. Later Martin returned to the Valley and
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July-August, 2020 took out a homestead near Matanuska Junction. By removing and burning the trees after a railroad clearing fire in 1915, Martin grew several acres of potatoes in 1916. Most of these he sold to the railroad. In 1917 he harvested 60 tons of potatoes and 1,500 heads of cabbage and cauliflower despite a hard freeze on September 3 of that year. Most of the early Matanuska Valley farmers earned little more than a subsistence lifestyle. The national prosperity which followed World War I did not include Alaska, and Congress seemed little concerned with supporting a territory it had only reluctantly purchased. There was little incentive to develop the remote, rugged land, far removed from the concerns of most Americans, and consequently, capital was simply not made available. By 1920 the farmers who had enjoyed the boom times in 1914 and 1915, when new markets had been available, found the post-war economic conditions dire. The population had fallen off, farms were idle, and fields formerly cultivated were being reclaimed by the fast-growing brush. The only markets were Anchorage and the thinly populated railbelt, and high transportation costs discouraged attempts to reach more distant markets. A 1923 survey to determine the number of homesteaders and their farming operations showed that nearly two-thirds of the Valley’s farmers (105) were not enumerated because they were employed away from home at the time, primarily in the mines, on the railroad, or with the Alaska Road Commission. Addressing this in 1955’s Matanuska Valley Memoir, authors Hugh A. Johnson and Keith L. Stanton optimistically wrote: “Temporary set-backs in area development are to be expected. The upward trend of progress is always marked by temporary downward dips. Alaska may not now be ripe for the industrial revolution occurring in the Pacific Northwest, but it has certainly been impregnated with ideas of a prosperous future. Young people and a young country make a combination hard to beat.” ~•~ Olaf Wagner's farm at Wasilla with potatoes in bloom, 1923. Large field of potatoes with lake in background. Tinted slide from The Alaska Railroad Tour Lantern Slide Collection, 1923. ASL-PCA-198-23
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S. S. Dora April 8, 1880 Daily Alta California, San Francisco, California, U.S.A. THE "DORA." Trial Trip of the Alaska Commercial Company New Steamer. Yesterday afternoon the Dora, the latest addition to the fleet of the Alaska Commercial Company, was given a trial trip. The beauty of the day, the calmness of the water, and the bright sunshine, made the sail on the new and graceful steamer a veritable pleasure trip. At 10 o'clock Captain Hague gave the order to "let go her stern line," and the staunch little craft was headed for the Golden Gate. Having, on the return, passed Fort Point and Saucelito, the Dora was headed for Hunter's Point, the log was thrown overboard, and Lieutenant Hand, of the Revenue cutter Rush, was appointed referee. The hour was 10:52. A pool was made up by the various steamship men on board as to the time she would make — the majority wagering on between six and three-quarter and seven and three-quarter knots, Capt. Everett Smith, of the Siberia, betting on eight and one-eighth knots. While the log was dragging along about eighty yards behind the steamer, and the clock-work mechanism within was recording the awaited figures, the party on board sat down to an elegant cold lunch in the snug little cabin. The following gentlemen were present : Alfred Greenebaum,
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July-August, 2020 of the Alaska Commercial Company; Captain Hooper and Lieutenants Hand and Wykoff, and Chief Engineer D. H. Doyle, of the U. S. Revenue cutter Rush; Captain Everett Smith, of the Siberia; Captain M. C. Erskine, of the St. Paul; Captain Wells, of the Union Insurance Company; Captain Monton, Special Agent of the Treasury Department at St. Paul Islands; John Armstrong, C. D. Wagner, and Captain Peterson, of the Alaska Commercial Company; Martin Bulger, Superintendent of Construction for the Alaska Company; Wm. Deacon, Engine Builder, and Wm. McAfee, the Boiler-maker. Lunch being disposed, and many happy wishes for a successful and prosperous career for the new steamer having been expressed over flowing goblets, the log was hauled in, and to the surprise of nearly all, eight and a quarter knots were recorded. The Dora was built by Captain Turner. She will be commanded by Captain C. J. Hague; 1st officer, O. Anderson; 2d officer, Alex. Hansen, and is destined to ply between Sitka and the various islands off the coast. Her lines are as graceful as those of a pleasure yacht. Her dimensions are 120 feet in length over all, 27 feet beam, depth of hold, 13 feet; the hull being of Puget Sound pine. She has compound engines, the high-pressure cylinder having a diameter of eleven inches and the lowpressure cylinder twenty Inches, with a twenty-inch stroke. On her trial trip yesterday, with 70 pounds of steam, she averaged 112 revolutions. The vacuum gauge showed 26 inches, with temperature of the feed water at 130°. Her propeller is two-bladed, seven and a half feet in diameter, with an average of nine feet mean pitch. The engine-room and machinery are fitted with all the latest appliances, and the new machinery worked wonderfully smooth, without perceptible hitch or jar. SS Dora. Monthly service to the most Northerly Route in the World.� [Alaska Steamship Co. Collection. UAF-1987-175-799]
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Revenue Cutter service in Bering Sea, photo taken from deck of the mail steamer, Dora, 1911. [John E. Thwaites]
The boiler is made of half-inch iron, 60,000 pounds tensile, and is nine feet long and seven and a half feet in diameter, covered with asbestos and wire rotting, the daily consumption of coal being calculated at less than 3,000 pounds. Her forecastle is fitted with a patent steam windlass and capstan, which are very necessary in the trade in which she is to be employed. The saloon, which in aft, measures the entire width of the ship, and is light, airy and comfortable, the walls being hung with rich tapestry. The Dora will sail for Alaska early next week.
The S. S. Dora did sail for Alaska, and over the course of the next four decades the doughty little steamship became one of the most beloved and recognizable vessels in the territory, earning a reputation as a “tough little marine bulldog" for her ability to handle the fierce conditions of the Gulf of Alaska, Shelikof Strait and the roiling waters surrounding the Aleutian Islands. Her exploits would become the stuff of legends, from saving hundreds of lives to passing through the twentieth century's largest volcanic eruption to drifting lost in the north Pacific Ocean, powerless and at the mercy of the elements, from November, 1905 to February, 1906. With passengers and crew all safe, the Dora turned up in Port Angeles, Washington, after weaving a zigzag course from Kodiak Island. The ship had been recorded as missing, her passengers and crew given up for lost, and Lloyd’s of London was preparing to pay the insurance money to her owners when Captain Z. S. Moore telephoned the general manager of the Northwest Steamship Company to give notice that the ship and her passengers were safe.
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July-August, 2020 The Dora made news in the venerable New York Times when it passed through the 1912 Mt. Katmai eruption, meriting the headline, “Alaska Volcano Puts Ship in Peril, Passengers on the Steamer Dora Nearly Suffocated by Poisionous Gases!” The S.S. Dora’s regular route was delivering mail, freight, and passengers along the rough western coast of Alaska, from Valdez to Unalaska. Much of her story is told in J. Pennelope Goforth’s book, Sailing the Mail in Alaska: The Maritime Years of Alaska Photographer John E. Thwaites, 1905-1918 (Cybrrcat Productions, 2003). Thwaites, an amateur photographer, was the mail clerk aboard the Dora, and he left a legacy of photographs of early Alaska. The color postcard on page 26 is captioned: “The staunch little steamer Dora has the largest mail run in the world, a round trip of over 2,000 miles, from Valdez to the Aleutian Islands. Occasionally during the summer months an excursion is run from Valdez to Columbia Glacier, which steadily discharges an ice mass into the waters of Prince William Sound.” The Dora departed Seattle December 17, 1920, bound for Unga and ports along the way, but three days later she struck a hidden reef near Port Hardy, British Columbia, and was lost. The crew of 29 survived the accident but the Dora, valued at $20,000, was lost, along with her cargo of general merchandise valued at $30,000. Today a half-dozen geographical features in Alaska, including Dora Bay, Dora Lake, and two Dora Islands, are named after the tough but dependable little steamship which faithfully served Alaskan pioneers for so many years. ~•~
SS Dora after having passed through volcanic eruption near Kodiak Island, June, 1912. [John Thwaites]
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Charles Christian Georgeson, Special Agent in Charge, Alaska Agricultural Experiment Stations
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July-August, 2020 “ raven.”
Charles Christian Georgeson Special Agent in Charge, Alaska Agricultural Experiment Stations In the early summer of 1900 Dr. Charles C. Georgeson and an associate made a trip from Seattle to the interior of Alaska. Dr. Georgeson detailed the journey in his Fourth Report on the Agricultural Investigations in Alaska, 1900, published by the Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C., in 1901. The chapter titled “Investigations in the Interior” is an interesting look at the transportation routes and modes of the time, and is available to read online at the Internet Archive (see Resources, page 48). The importance of that trip is underscored in the Introduction by Dr. A. C. True, Director of the Office of Experimental Stations, U.S. Department of Agriculture: “One of the most important features of the work of the year was the prelimiary survey of the interior of Alaska and the location of experiment station tracts at Rampart and Fort Yukon in the valley of the Yukon River. Professory Georgeson and Mr. Jones traversed the Yukon country, starting from Dawson July 6, 1900, visiting all the more important villages along the river, investigating their possibilities as agricultural centers. As a result two tracts of land were surveyed and requested. They consist of 100 acres at Fort Yukon and 313 acres at Rampart. These places seem to be best adapted to further investigations, and whatever results are achieved at these points will apply to most of the interior region.” Dr. True also observed that “….some advance has been made toward completing the station headquarters at Sitka, and work was begun upon the station building at Kenai, but the sum available for this purpose was so small that little was accomplished.”
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Alaskan History It was noted that “the services of a skilled horiculturalist were needed at the Sitka station to aid in the introduction of new and valuable fruits,” and “it is thought desirable to begin investigations in dairying, and for the foundation of the herd animals will have to be purchased. These and other comtemplated improvements mentioned in the accompanying report will necessitate a larger appropriation than has hitherto been given.” Dr. True requested an appropriation of approximately $15,000 to cover the operations of the entire fiscal year of 1902, and to fortify his observations and recommendations he explained, “Conditions in Alaska are very similar to those of Finland, where there is a population of 2,500,000 and where 34,000,000 bushels of cereals are raised annually. In 1895 there were in Finland 4,000,000 head of horses, cattle, sheep and swine, and dairy products to the amount of $6,750,000 were exported. The special agent in charge of the Alaskan investigations believes Alaska is as good a field for agriculture as Finland if the proper encouragement be given it.” That special agent was Dr. Charles C. Georgeson, and he would spend 30 years promoting and supporting the agricultural development of Alaska. In an article for Pacific Northwest Quarterly, Oct., 1978, James R. Shortridge, then associate professor at the University of Kansas, wrote in an article titled ‘The Alaskan Agricultural Empire, An Agrarian Vision, 1898-1929:’ “Today it is easy to scoff at the general optimism that pervaded Alaska following the discovery of gold in the Klondike. Contemporary publications that championed ‘the role of the cow and the plow in interior Alaska’ or pronounced the region ‘a land of illimitable cereal and stock raising capabilities’ now look very foolish to us. But the hopes for Alaska’s agricultural future, when examined in the context of their time, seem not only rational but perhaps attainable.” No one believed in that attainability more fervently than Charles Christian Georgeson, born June 26th, 1851, on the island of Langeland, Denmark. In 1867, at the age of 16, he began serving a five year apprenticeship in horticulture. He emigrated to America in 1873, graduated from Michigan Agricultural College in 1878 with a Bachelor of Science, and received a Master of Science degree from the same institution in 1882, at the age of 21, already having gained a widespread reputation as
Sitka Experiment Station, Dr. Georgeson’s home and headquarters on Castle Hill, 1899. [Photo from Dr. A. C. True’s book, The Agricultural Experiment Stations in the United States, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1900)
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Harvest from the garden of Governor John G. Brady at Sitka, at ”Old castle Sitka.” [by Elbridge W. Merrill. From ‘Suggestions for Pioneer Farmers in Alaska,’ by C. C. Georgeson 1902]
an outstanding plant breeder and agronomist. After graduation Dr. Georgeson spent several years teaching in Texas and Japan. Upon his return to the U.S. he was appointed Professor of Agriculture and Superintendent of the farm at the Kansas State Agricultural College, and over the next few years he met many of the men who would eventually join him in Alaska to lead the various experiment stations. A year after the Hatch Act of 1887 authorized agricultural experiment stations in the U.S. and its territories to provide science-based research information to farmers, the secretary of agriculture appointed Dr. C. C. Georgeson the Special Agent in Charge of the U. S. agricultural experiment stations, and sent him to Alaska. He was 47, with a wife and three children. A brief biographical sketch at the University of Alaska website notes, “Because Alaska's agricultural potential was unknown, Georgeson was limited only by budget and enthusiasm; he'd been instructed by the Secretary of Agriculture to "Act as if the country is your own and go ahead: Washington, D. C. is a long way from Alaska and all I want are results.” The first two agricultural experiment stations were at Kodiak and Sitka, which would eventually become the headquarters station and Georgeson’s home. At first Dr. Georgeson rented a small house for his office at Sitka. Governor J. G. Brady offered his own barn to house the station’s oxen for the winter of 1898-1899, and in an interview for Sunset magazine in 1928, Dr. Georgeson explained how he borrowed patches of land from the settlers around Sitka until he could clear and drain enough land to plant crops for the experiment station: “My plots were scattered all over the village and having insecure fences, or no fences at all, the local boys, cows, pigs and tame rabbits rollicked joyously through them. Hens, which in Sitka fly like seagulls, flocked to the feast I had unwittingly prepared for them, and when, by chance, they overlooked anything, the seeds came up to become the playthings of
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Sample field reports received by Dr. Georgeson, from his 1901 Report of Alaska Experiment Stations
diabolical ravens, who, with almost human malice, pulled up the little plants merely to inspect their other ends.” But Dr. Georgeson set about the considerable task before him with an energy and optimism which would carry him to many successes. He generously shared what he learned with those coming after him, writing 47 books, pamphlets, and circulars about the state and its agricultural potential, and articles for popular magazines like National Geographic. In a 1902 bulletin, Suggestions for Pioneer Farmers in Alaska, he wrote, “…Hardy vegetables have been grown with marked success almost everywhere in Alaska where they have been tried, and likewise, early maturing grains have been grown successfully in many places. Potatoes, cauliflower, cabbage, kale, peas, lettuce, turnips, rutabagas, and radishes have been grown at nearly every white settlement in the coast region and in many places in the interior.” In 1903 Dr. Georgeson explained why Sitka was selected as the headquarters site: “The reasons for locating the headquarters in Sitka were accessibility and climate. It was deemed necessary to locate this station at a point which could at the same time be in a reasonably easy communication with the rest of the Territory. Sitka was deemed to be that point. At that time there was no indication of a speedy opening of the interior. The coast region contained practically the whole population and it seemed likely to remain the most important region for a long time to come.”—C.C. Georgeson, Special Agent In Charge, Alaska Agricultural Experiment Station, Sitka, 1903. The Kodiak station, also established in 1898, operated until 1931. Stations in Kenai (1899–1908), Rampart (1900–1925), Copper Center (1903–1908), and Fairbanks (1906–present) followed quickly. In 1915 the final station, at Matanuska, was established and is still operating. The agricultural research done at these stations over the years developed numerous northern-adapted varieties of grasses, grains, vegetables, and berries, as well as the adoption of desirable crop varieties from around the circumpolar north. Dr. Georgeson carried on numerous cross-breeding experiments, including one which resulted in
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July-August, 2020 the hardy Sitka hybrid strawberry, developed by Georgeson in 1905 by pairing a wild beach strawberry from Yakutat with a commercial variety. Another example of Georgeson’s experimental work can be seen in his report on utilizing seaweed to fertilize potatoes, a practice still used in coastal areas. Georgeson wrote in 1901, “Although the crop was but light and can scarcely be called a success, the experiment is nevertheless of interest, because it shows that seaweed, so abundant everywhere along the coast, is an excellent fertilizer for potatoes.” Another function of the Sitka Station was the propagation and distribution of nursery stock to early Alaskans, given in exchange for season-end reports on the results. The 1928 Alaska Agricultural Experiment Station annual report recorded that nursery stock was sent from the Sitka Station to 170 residents of Alaska, including strawberry, raspberry, gooseberry, and currant plants, apple trees, rhubarb plants, ornamental shrubs, and seed potatoes. In 1931 the federal government transferred ownership of the four remaining experiment station facilities—at Sitka, Kodiak, Fairbanks and Matanuska —to the College of Agriculture and Mines in Fairbanks, which was renamed the University of Alaska in 1935. Deemed unnecessary, the Sitka and Kodiak stations were closed. A good history of Prof. Georgeson and the Alaskan agricultural experiment stations can be found in a series of articles for Agriborealis, published by the Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station, University of Alaska Fairbanks in Spring, 1998 (see Resources, page 48). Two excerpts: “The research efforts received popular approval. ‘You can imagine my joy when many branches set fruit. Everyone in the village was advised of the experiment and warned against disturbing those bushes. Then just about the time the fruit was ripe, the Indian women came along and gathered every one of my apples and made them into jelly!’” “Most of the original 110 acres of the Sitka station has reverted to a second growth spruce-hemlock forest interspersed with muskeg. The house where Georgeson lived and worked, the station’s horticulturist cottage, and a root cellar remain in use today. About 20 fruit trees, some berry shrubs, strawberries, and ornamental trees and shrubs are all living reminders of the role this site played in the development of agriculture and horticulture in Alaska.” ~•~
Dr. C.C. Georgeson standing with a young apple tree at the Sitka station.
Strawberry plants on government farm at Sitka, 1916. [photo by Curtis & Miller, Library of Congress, Carpenter Collection, LOT 11453-1]
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Man with a bicycle on the dock at Yakutat, Alaska, circa 1920. [Fhoki Kayamori Photographs, Alaska State Library Historical Collections. ASL-P55-293]
Bicycles in Frontier Alaska “White man he set down walk like hell!” (overheard by Ed Jesson, near Circle City, 1900) In 1896 Edward Jesson came to Alaska to prospect for gold, and made his first locations at Hope and Sunrise on Turnagain Arm, on the northern shore of the Kenai Peninsula. When news of the big strike at Dawson City arrived, he pulled up his stakes and headed for Seattle, outfitted himself properly for the adventure ahead, and went to the new diggings via Skagway, White Pass, and down the Yukon River. Things didn’t pan out in the gold fields, and by 1899 he was running a store, post office, and wood-cutting camp known as Star, where the 70-Mile River empties into the Yukon, about 120 miles downriver from Dawson. Then the stampede to Nome began. All that winter Ed Jesson watched the parade of men and dogs struggling down the river on their way to Nome, and by March he had decided there had to be an easier way to travel. He opted to go by bicycle, and bought one from the A.C. store in Dawson for $150 in gold. Jesson kept a detailed diary of his month-long ride, which ended when he arrived in Nome on March 29, 1900, and it would prove to be one of the most fascinating personal accounts from the Gold Rush era (available to read online, see Resources page 48). Jesson wrote of his
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July-August, 2020 departure, “The day I left Dawson, March 2, 1900, was clear and crisp, 30 degrees below zero. I was dressed in a flannel shirt, heavy fleece-lined overalls, a heavy mackinaw coat, a drill parka, two pairs of heavy woolen socks and felt high-top shoes, a fur cap that I pulled down over my ears, a fur nosepiece, plus fur gauntlet gloves. “On the handlebars of the bicycle I strapped a large fur robe. Fastened to the springs, back of the seat, was a canvas sack containing a heavy shirt, socks, underwear, a diary in waterproof covering, pencils and several blocks of sulfur matches. In my pockets I carried a penknife and a watch.” In 1900 the Seattle newspaper Argus noted the increasing sales of bicycles to the Klondike prospectors. “It is not generally known, perhaps that the Klondike trade, which has done so much for Seattle, extends to the bicycle business. Local dealers report that the success of cyclists on the trail has caused this branch of their trade to change from a mere experiment to a steady growing demand. No less than a dozen wheels have been sold by dealers in this city for Dawson in the past two weeks. It is said that in March the trail is in such condition as to make travelling by wheel practical. Scarcely a steamer sails for the North that does not carry bicycles. The Dawson Bicycle Club will doubtless be heard from soon.” Part of the reason for the growing popularity of bicycles in the north country was explained by author John Firth in Yukon Sport: An Illustrated Encyclopedia: “Keeping a team of sled dogs
Hauling mail and freight over Valdez summit. [A. J. Johnson photo. Library of Congress, LC-DIG-ppmsc-01569]
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Postcard of a group at the waterfront, Tanana, 1912-1914. [Univ. of AK Fairbanks, Rivenburg Album, UAF-1994-70-395]
alive in the frozen north required an enormous expenditure of time, resources and money. While folks thought Ed Jesson was crazy, especially since he owned a good dog team, he countered that he didn’t have to cook dog food for the bicycle at night, and on especially good days he could cover one hundred miles: three or four times farther than a dogsled.” The bicyclists followed the tracks packed down by the sled dog teams, their narrow tires fitting perfectly into the grooves cut by the sled runners. Ed Jesson wrote, “The sleds had scraped most of the snow off the [icy trail], and left it in fine condition for the wheel as the rubber tire stuck to this trail very well and all I had to do was look out for the icy cracks, which were very numerous.” Another prospector, Max Hirschberg, left Dawson to travel down the Yukon River to Nome at almost the same time as Edward Jesson. He celebrated his 20th birthday on the long ride, arriving in Nome in May, more than a month after Jesson. Hirschberg nearly died during his journey when he broke through the ice while crossing a river and almost drowned. Crossing the frozen Norton Sound near the end of his journey, his bicycle chain broke, so he ingeniously positioned a stick inside the back of his coat, forming a sail of sorts, and let the brisk wind push him across the ice of the Sound. In 1906 John A. Clark crossed Thompson Pass with a bicycle on the way to Fairbanks from Valdez, and he wryly wrote in his diary: “The steepness of the trail, and the freshly fallen and wind-blown snow made it impossible to attempt to ride the bicycles, so all we could do was
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Left: Out of print, but available in many libraries, see Resources, page 48. Right: A Signal Corps messenger (?) at Donnelly Telegraph Station, ca. 1915. [Alaska State Library, U.S. Military Telegraph Stations In Alaska, ca. 1910-1925. ASL-PCA-314]
take them on our backs and start up in the face of the gale… A man with a bicycle on his back is not only classed as a pedestrian, but as a fool.” After problems on the Delta River, John Clark, who would later become a Fairbanks attorney specializing in mining and corporation law, gave up his bicycle and continued his trip via stage. He wrote a manuscript of his journey titled From Valdez to Fairbanks in 1906 by Bicycle, Blizzard, and Strategy, stored in the library of the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, and excerpted in Herbert L. Heller’s book, Sourdough Sagas: The Journals, Memoirs, Tales and Recollections of the Earliest Alaska Gold Miners, 1883-1923. New York: New York World Publishing, 1967). Wild journeys over mountain passes and down the Yukon River were exciting, but they were hardly the only use of bicycles in early Alaska. Many old vintage photographs include bicycles, whether they are being ridden, pushed along, or just leaning against trees, poles, buildings, and other stationary objects. Bicycles were a popular method of transportation in frontier Alaska, for both summer and winter use. In an article for the Alaska Historical Society, historian Terrence Cole wrote, “Though some people think of the bicycle as a toy, like a skateboard or a Frisbee, in the 1890s the two-wheeler was the technological wonder of the day. In magazines there were serious scientific articles about why bicycles would replace the horse, and miiltary experts like General A. W. Greely, the Arctic explorer for whom Fort Greely is named, thought that in the future, high-speed Army communications would be carried long distances by men on bicycles.” Terrence Cole wrote Wheels on Ice: Bicycling in Alaska 1898-1908 (Alaska Northwest Pub. Co., 1985), a slim 64-page collection of five stories of bicycle trips in Alaska, including Jesson’s account of his trip down the Yukon River to Nome. ~•~
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Alaskan History
Fairbanks Airport, Cabin Plane ready to take off with party consisting of Gov. Parks, Major Elliott, and Mr. Sommers. June 7, 1928. [George A. Parks. Photographs, 1911-1933. ASL-PCA-240-006]
Gov. G. A. Parks’ 1928 Airplane Tour of Alaska In the early summer of 1928 an unprecedented aerial trip was undertaken by the Governor of the Territory of Alaska, George A. Parks. Accompanied by the president of the Alaska Road Commission and the Territorial highway engineer, the Governor was flown between towns and mining camps, Native villages and roadhouses, in the first extensive tour of Alaska via airplane, by pilot A. A. Bennett of the Bennett-Rodebaugh Airplane Company. The photographs taken on the trip portray a country on the cusp of change, a rich, wild land just beginning to awaken to its potential. The purpose of the trip was to ascertain the need for more highways in Alaska and to discern the work already done on various existing routes such as the Richardson Highway; in 1928 there were less than 500 miles of paved roads in the entire state (363 miles on the Richardson Highway and the first 44 miles of the Steese Highway). The trip to northern and interior Alaska was the first extensive trip by airplane made by an Alaskan governor, and in total the small group traveled 4,580 miles, of which 385 were by steamship, 467 by rail, 281 by railroad speeders (automobiles adapted to ride on the rails), 432 by truck and automobile, 8 by horse and wagon and 2,007 by air. Over three dozen photographs are available to view online at the Alaska Digital Archives (see Resources, page 48), including "Bill and wife at their cabin on Ophir-Takotna Road. These people are mining placer gold;” "Freighting on Yukon Highway near Goldstream;” "Tunnel at head of Fox Gulch, tapping Chatanika River watershed for for dredges in Goldstream;” "Gold Dredge at Flat;” "Cabin on Nome-Shelton tram near Nome bridge;” "Gas-driven speeder on
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July-August, 2020 Nome-Shelton tram;” "The graveyard at Nulato;” "Fort Yukon Hotel;” "Alaska Road Commission house at Sallchaket;” and many more. There are many photos of the various airfields they utilized, including Fairbanks, Nenana, Unalakleet, Nulato, Wiseman, and Bettles. An excerpt from the Governor’s Report to the Secretary of the Interior, 1928 In May and June, 1928, the governor, accompanied by the president of the Alaska Road Commission and the Territorial highway engineer, made an extended tour of the interior sections of the Territory in an airplane. This is the first time that a long trip of this kind has been undertaken. The journey began at Fairbanks June 7. The party proceeded to Tacotna, stopping at Nenana, McGrath, and Ophir en route. It was the intention to visit Bethel on the lower Kuskokwim, but because of high water which covered the landing fields this part of the trip had to be abandoned. June 9 a flight was made to Nome with stops en route at Unalakleet and Golovin. Two days were spent in Nome. June 12 the party proceeded to Kotzebue with short stops at Teller and Candle. June 13 flights proceeded to Nulato on the Yukon, thence to Ruby and arrived at Tanana in the evening. June 14, after inspecting the Government hospital and hospital boat, the party went to Wiseman on the upper Koyukuk, having landed at Bettles en route. June 15 flight was made to Fort Yukon, thence to Circle Hot Springs, and on June 16 ended the trip at Fairbanks, having flown from Circle Hot Springs by way of Tolovana. The entire trip of about 2,500 miles was accomplished without difficulty of any kind and was a further
Map of Alaska showing air and surface routes. [George A. Parks. Photographs, 1911-1933. ASL-PCA-240-001]
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Alaskan History demonstration of the possibility of safe flying in Alaska. The success of the trip was due to the excellent equipment and the skill of the pilot. To cover the same territory by ordinary transportation facilities would have required about one year. The map below shows the route traveled across Alaska by the Governor and his party. He began by taking passage on a steamship from Juneau to Seward, then riding the still-new Alaska Railroad, opened only five years before, from Seward, through Anchorage and the Matanuska Valley, past Talkeetna, through Broad Pass to Cantwell, Healy, Nenana, and finally to Fairbanks, where his trip officially began. George Alexander Parks George Alexander Parks was born in Denver, Colorado on May 29, 1883. He graduated from the Colorado School of Mines in 1906 and came to Alaska in 1907, at the age of 24, to work as a mineral examiner for the U.S. Land Office. Following his military service in the First World War, Parks returned to Alaska as chief of the field division of the General Land Office. In 1924, he became Assistant Superintendent of Surveys and Public Lands, and in 1925 he was appointed the 11th governor of Alaska by President Calvin Coolidge. George Parks' term of office was largely uneventful. Among the issues he dealt with were the reduction in federal funding for the United States Geological Survey and the elimination of all but two of the territory's agricultural experiment stations. He initiated a contest among school children to design a territorial flag, resulting in Benny Benson’s winning design of “eight stars of gold on a field of blue” in 1927.
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July-August, 2020 Parks was reappointed for a second gubernatorial term in 1929, and when that term expired in 1933, he rejoined the U.S. Dept. of Interior as a district engineer for Alaska. During World War II he worked on military projects in Alaska, and he was awarded a Distinguished Achievement Award from the Colorado School of Mines in 1950. George Parks died on May 11, 1984, just a few weeks short of his 101st birthday. In 1975 the 323 mile long Alaska Route 3, which begins near Wasilla and runs north to Fairbanks, was named the George Parks Highway in his honor. The 1928 Annual Report of the Alaska Road Commission included a brief mention of the epic trip made by Gov. Parks and his associates: “The most comprehensive inspection of the resources, routes of communication, government and territorial establishments and aviation fields ever made in the territory during one continuous trip was made in June, 1928, by Hon. George A. Parks, Governor of Alaska, Maj. Malcolm Elliot, President of the Alaska Road Commission and Mr. R. J. Sommers, Territorial Highway Engineer. The scope of the trip is shown on the map accompanying this report, from which it is seen that during a trip aggregating 4,500 miles over 2,000 miles were covered by plane. Only by the use of aviation was it possible to cover so great a distance in so short a time.” It is likely that Robert J. Sommers was the photographer as there are numerous photographs of Parks and Elliott but only one of Sommers, a civil engineer who came to Alaska in 1900. He served as superintendent of the Alaska Road Commission, as Secretary of Alaska, and the first territorial highway engineer for the state. In 1931, he formed his own construction company (R. J. Sommers Construction Company) with the former Governor Parks as his vice-president. ~•~
The governor’s party at Unalakleet. Left to right: Joseph, (with baby), R. J. Sommers, Malcolm Elliott, Governor George Parks, Pilot A. A. Bennett. [George A. Parks. Photographs, 1911-1933. ASL-PCA-240-012]
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Alaskan History
Cannery and dock, Port Althorp [George A. Parks. Photographs, 1911-1933. ASL-PCA-240-003]
Nulato from the graveyard. [George A. Parks. Photographs, 1911-1933. ASL-PCA-240-016]
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B. of Ed. hospital boat, “Martha Angeline.� Miss Major, nurse, Tanana. [GA Parks Photos. ASL-PCA-240-020]
Bettles, looking across the Koyukuk River. [George A. Parks. Photographs, 1911-1933. ASL-PCA-240-023]
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Alaskan History
Engineer building at Fort Gibbon, Tanana. [George A. Parks. Photographs, 1911-1933. ASL-PCA-240-025]
Episcopal chapel at Tanana. [George A. Parks. Photographs, 1911-1933. ASL-PCA-240-028]
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Adams grader and caterpiller working between Fairbanks and 13-mile Roadhouse. [ASL-PCA-240-034]
1928 Ford used by Gov. Parks and Major Elliott for inspection of Richardson Highway. [ASL-PCA-240-033]
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Alaskan History
Sources & Resources The links and references below reflect the specific sources used in researching the articles which appear in this issue, and include reference books, videos, websites and other media. Lengthy URLs have been shortened. SEPTIMA M. COLLIS • The Parade to War: by Septima Maria Levy Collis https://tinyurl.com/y32uuyug • A Woman’s Trip to Alaska https://archive.org/details/womanstriptoalas00coll/mode/2up • Obituary for Septima Collis https://tinyurl.com/y46zjkfu • Forgotten Zouaves https://centralohiocwrt.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/june-newsletter.pdf GAVRIIL ANDREEVICH SARYCHEV • Sarichef’s Atlas https://tinyurl.com/y4739djp • National Geographic article, 1902 https://tinyurl.com/y4ftdvz2 • Account of a Voyage of Discovery, 1806 https://tinyurl.com/y32xqdbp • Meeting of Frontiers http://international.loc.gov/intldl/mtfhtml/mfhome.html PIONEER FARMERS IN THE MATANUSKA VALLEY • Suggestions to Pioneer Farmers in Alaska, 1902 https://tinyurl.com/y3y4x7r6 • Matanuska Valley Memoir https://tinyurl.com/y4mjqnrn • Wasilla-Knik Historical Society http://www.wkhsociety.org • Matanuska Valley Historical Photo Project https://mvhphotoproject.org S. S. DORA • Daily Alta California, April 8, 1880 https://tinyurl.com/y2v37rgq • Photos at Wikimedia Commons https://tinyurl.com/yxg5nktj • The Long Drift of the Steamer Dora https://tinyurl.com/y6dhjqo7 • Sailing the Mail in Alaska, by J. P. Goforth http://www.cybrrcat.com/sailing.html CHARLES C. GEORGESON • Profile at the UAF website https://tinyurl.com/y2deacgd • Agroborealis article series, 1998 https://tinyurl.com/yym6fn49 • Sitka Local Foods Network article, Bingham, 2015 https://tinyurl.com/y3vk4adv • Agricultural Reports and Bulletins https://tinyurl.com/y6tmhrjo BICYCLES IN EARLY ALASKA • From Dawson to Nome, E. Jesson https://tinyurl.com/y6bh4z4k • Gold Rush Bicycles, NPS https://www.nps.gov/articles/klgo-gold-rush-bicycles.htm • Gold Rush Bicycling, AHS https://tinyurl.com/y4dhxkec • Wheels on Ice, by Terrence Cole https://tinyurl.com/yyueostz GOV. PARKS’ 1928 TOUR OF ALASKA • Alaska’s Digital Archives https://vilda.alaska.edu/digital/collection/cdmg21/id/1540 • 1928 Report of the Gov. of Alaska https://tinyurl.com/yxz7vf27 • George A. Parks papers https://tinyurl.com/y296xhwe • George A. Parks biography https://tinyurl.com/y62gbsc5 GENERAL RESOURCES • Alaska & Polar Regions Collections & Archives http://library.uaf.edu/apr • Alaska’s Digital Archives https://vilda.alaska.edu • Statewide Library Electronic Doorway [SLED]: https://lam.alaska.gov/sled/history • Google Books https://books.google.com • Gutenberg.org https://books.gutenberg.org • Library of Congress https://www.loc.gov • Chronicling America https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov
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