Alaskan History Magazine, Nov-Dec 2019

November-December, 2019

alaskan-history.com

!1

Alaskan History This is the digital edition of the September-October issue, and getting Alaskan History Magazine into this digital format for the last three issues has been a real education with a steep learning curve! However, as with the last two issues, I have not figured out how to tweak the page count so it matches the print version; adding the cover and this ‘placeholder’ page throws everything off by two pages.

Thus, what is pages 2 and 3 in the print magazine will be pages 4 and 5 in this digital version, and I have edited the table of contents to match this edition. If any technicalminded readers know how I can solve this problem in Pages, I would be most grateful. Meanwhile I will keep tinkering with the digital tools.

Helen

This digital edition of the magazine is free to print subscribers, and available as a subscription to non-subscribers of the print magazine.

This digital edition would be an excellent way to share Alaskan History Magazine with your friends and family for much less than the print subscription price. A single issue of the print magazine is $10.00 postpaid, while a single issue of this electronic edition is only $2.50!

You can save even more with a one-year subscription: The print subscription is $48.00, but this digital edition - sent free to print subscribers - is only $10.00 per year for anyone!

At this point the digital edition is merely a copy of the print edition of the magazIne, but as I learn to add interactive content I will be including active links, embedded videos, and other digital media content to the electronic version of Alaskan History Magazine.

As an old dog it takes me some time to learn all the new tricks, but my goal is a completely interactive, totally compelling, and absolutely beautiful digital publication which you can read online or download to your favorite reading device!

With all of the 2019 issues now published in both print and digital editions, I will be editing the first annual set of this magazine as one volume, available in Spring, 2020. Watch the website for the magazine, or the Facebook group and page, Twitter account, or Instagram posts for more information when the annual set publication will be available. ~•~

Subscriptions, Single Issues, and Foreign Orders: Single issues are $10.00 postpaid; a one year subscription, 6 issues, is $48.00 postpaid (U.S. addresses only). Outside the U.S. please use Amazon to order (single issues only). For information visit www.alaskan-history.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

!2

alaskan-history.com

November-December, 2019 This issue’s cover is a colorized postcard of an Orr Stage Company team at Valdez, Alaska, circa 1908-1910.

Note the different spellings of Valdez, and the typewritten notation in red, ‘Overland Stage,’ which can be seen in other early photos and references to the line. The Copper Block Hotel (1907-1917) advertised itself as “Headquarters for Mining and Traveling M e n ” i n P o l k ’s 1 9 1 5 Gazeteer & Directory.

Inside the magazine: This November-December issue ranges widely across Alaska, from the early settlements of Tyonek and Knik to the frontier towns of Cordova, Chitina, and Valdez, and from the goldfields of the Fortymile District to the halls of the Territorial legislature in Juneau.

We begin with a guidebook to territorial Alaska from President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s U. S. Work Progress Administration (WPA), a New Deal jobs program which created the Federal Writers Project. An unusual earth-moving project is next, notable for the remote location and for the size of the undertaking.

The Ed. S. Orr Stage Company history is an important part of our past, and proudly claimed “Eight day service between Valdez and Fairbanks, a distance of 364 miles,” and “All stages equipped with abundance of fur robes and carbon-heated foot warmers.”

Featured in this issue is the Woodchopper Roadhouse, at one time the oldest and largest log structure on the Yukon River between Eagle and Circle City. The story of pioneer Native rights activist Elizabeth Peratrovich and the 1898 explorations of Capt. Edwin F. Glenn and W. C. Mendenhall through the Matanuska Valley round out this issue.

Pioneering Alaskan artists, color postcards from the turn of the century, and a handful of books worth seeking out make this issue another worthwhile addition to your library shelves. ~

Subscriptions, Single Issues, and Foreign Orders: Single issues are $10.00 postpaid; a one year subscription, 6 issues, is $48.00 postpaid (U.S. addresses only). Outside the U.S. please use Amazon to order (single issues only). For information visit www.alaskan-history.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

alaskan-history.com

!3

Alaskan History Nov-Dec, 2019 VOLUME 1, NO. 4 ISBN 9781702817837

Published bimonthly

ALASKAN ARTISTS

by Northern Light Media

PAINTING THE FAR NORTH - 8

FOCUS: OLD POSTCARDS MAILING ALASKA - 46

OLD BOOKS THE HISTORY OF ALASKA BETWEEN THE PAGES - 48

ALASKAN HISTORY

Woodchopper Roadhouse Woodchopper Roadhouse, built ca. 1910, was the oldest and largest log structure on the Yukon between Eagle and Circle. Located halfway between the two towns, on the left bank of the Yukon, approximately one mile upriver from Woodchopper Creek and 55 miles upriver from Circle, the roadhouse functioned as the post office and town center for the mining community on Woodchopper Creek from the early 20th century until the 1930s.

Article begins on page 32

!4

alaskan-history.com

The log remains of the Woodchopper Roadhouse, once a social center for the region. [photo by Cris Allen, National Park Service, 2010]

November-December, 2019

THE WPA GUIDE TO ALASKA

10

THE LAST AMERICAN FRONTIER The American Guide Series books were written and compiled by the Federal Writers’ Project, part of the United States Work Progress Administration (WPA).

THE KINK

14

IN THE NORTH FORK OF THE FORTYMILE RIVER In a remote and inaccessible corner of Alaska there’s a curious leftover from the gold rush era, when the search for yellow metal drove men to do strange things.

ORR STAGE COMPANY

16

OVER THE VALDEZ TO FAIRBANKS TRAIL Travel in early Alaska was never easy, but Edward S. Orr’s stages made the trip more comfortable and convenient for its passengers, winter and summer.

ELIZABETH PERATROVICH

28

TLINGET ACTIVIST FOR NATIVE RIGHTS Nearly 20 years before the 1964 Civil Rights Act, Elizabeth Peratrovich led the charge in passing the very first anti-discrimination law in the United States.

1898 IN THE MATANUSKA VALLEY

40

CAPT. E. F. GLENN AND W. C. MENDENHALL, USGS Capt. Glenn led one of the earliest government expeditions into the Cook Inlet and Matanuska Valley areas. Mendenhall reported on their findings.

Treadwell Mine and the city of Dougles, circa 1910 postcard.

Cover Notes, In this Issue . . . . . . . 3

Focus on: Old Postcards . . . . . . . 46

Table of Contents . . . . . . . . . . . 4 - 5

Alaskan Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

Publisher’s Notes, Timeline . . 6 - 7

Annual Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Alaskan Artists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Resources & Subscriptions . . . . . 50

alaskan-history.com

!5

Alaskan History

Alaskan History

Publisher’s Notes

M•A•G•A•Z•I•N•E Nov-Dec, 2019

A Brochure for the Magazine

Volume 1, Number 4

A Way to Share Alaskan History

Tucked inside this issue subscribers* will find a full-color brochure for the magazine, showcasing the first three issues and providing a way to share information about it with friends, relatives, your local library, historical society, or perhaps a bookstore which may want to add it to their shelves. Tack it to the bulletin board in your local coffee shop, laundromat, or post office. Toss it onto the magazine table at your doctor’s or dentist’s office, or leave it at the museum, the food co-op, the neighborhood bistro, the dance studio, or your auto repair shop.

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/

ISBN 9781702817837

!6

History knows no demographics, because it’s something we all share, and everyone is interested in history to one degree or another. One person might relish every article in every issue, another might only find an occasional subject which truly sparks interest, but almost everyone will, at some point, find an article to get excited about in this magazine.

That widespread interest in our shared history makes finding new readers for Alaskan History Magazine as easy as spreading the word about it - and that is the purpose of this new brochure. But if you’d rather just keep it, well, that’s fine too. It should make a great bookmark as you read through the articles in this issue!

If you’d like to receive more of these brochures just contact me via mail, email, the website contact form, Facebook, or just pick up the phone and call the number on the masthead, and tell me how many you can find homes for. I’ll send them along with my appreciation for your help in finding new readers for Alaskan History Magazine. And if perchance you’d like to print your own as needed, saving me both printing and postage costs, there is a PDF at the magazine’s website.

Thanks for reading, and for your support!

Helen Hegener Helen Hegener, Publisher *If you purchased this magazine in a bookstore or other retail outlet, or ordered it via Amazon, you can find information about the brochure at the website, www.alaskan-history.com

alaskan-history.com

November-December, 2019

Inspiring Alaskans An exciting addition to this magazine is original artwork by Alaskan artist Jon Van Zyle - see page 40 for his first illustration in these pages. Jon’s artwork is legendary and has received honors internationally. Jon has been the official artist for the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race for more than 30 years, and he has finished the 1,049-mile race twice.

An annual index to the four 2019 issues appears on page 47, and will be added to the website. Page 47 would normally include more classic books on Alaskan history, a continuation from page 46, but the inclusion of an index gives subscribers a way to quickly and easily find any article or reference to Alaskan history in the magazine’s past issues, and should prove to be a worthwhile asset.

Gift subscriptions are available - see the website for details.

Timeline of Events

Sydney Laurence

Dates of events for this issue: • 1886 - Gold is discovered on the South Fork of the Fortymile River.

• 1898 - Edward S. Orr arrives in Dyea, Alaska, on the Klondike trail.

• 1898 - Capt. Edwin F. Glenn heads an expedition to Tanana.

• 1899 - Edward S. Orr arrives in Dawson City, Yukon Territory.

• 1900 - The Kink is blasted in the North Fork of the Fortymile River.

• 1903 - Sydney Laurence arrives in Alaska to prospect and paint.

• 1906 - Ed. S. Orr moves his freighting company to Valdez, Alaska.

• 1909 - Eustace Paul Ziegler arrives in Cordova to manage a mission.

• 1910 - Hallock C. Bundy publishes a traveler’s guidebook to Alaska.

• 1910 - Ed. S. Orr sells his stage line to the Northern Commercial Co. • 1910 - The Woodchopper Roadhouse is built around this time.

• 1910 - Copper River & Northwestern Railroad is completed to Chitina.

• 1910 - Orr Stage Company opens an office in Chitina.

• 1911 - Elizabeth Wanamaker [Peratrovich] is born in Petersburg.

• 1914 - Northern Commercial Company dissolves the Orr Stage Company.

• 1925 - Ted Lambert worked as a sled dog mailman and freighter.

• 1930 - Jack and Kate Welch buy the Woodchopper Roadhouse.

• 1935 - Fred Machetanz visits his uncle Charles Traeger at Unalakleet.

• 1939 - The Federal Writers Project Guide to Alaska is published.

• 1941 - Roy & Elizabeth Peratrovich write to Gov. Gruening.

• 1945 - Alaska Legislature passes the Antidiscrimination Act. Visit the website for an expanded timeline incorporating the first four issues of Alaskan History Magazine: http://www.alaskan-history.com/timeline

https://www.facebook.com/groups/AlaskanHistory/ https://twitter.com/HelenHegener https://www.instagram.com/akhistorymagazine/

alaskan-history.com

Sydney Mortimer Laurence (1865–1940) came to Alaska in 1903 and lived in Tyonek, later in Valdez, and in 1915 he moved to the new railroad town of Anchorage. By 1920 he was considered one of the most prominent artists in Alaska and through techniques he had learned in New York and Europe, helped define Alaska as the Last Frontier.

The spirit of Sydney L a u re n c e i n s p i re s t h e publication of Alaskan History Magazine!

Subscriptions, Single Issues, eMags and Online:

Single issues are $10.00 postpaid; a one year subscription, 6 issues, is $48.00 postpaid (U.S. only).

For information about emagazines and other options visit our website: www.alaskan-history.com or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

!7

Alaskan History

Alaskan Artists They captured Alaska’s beauty with brushes and paint

Sydney Laurence is perhaps Alaska’s bestknown artist. He painted a wide variety of Alaskan scenes in his long and prolific career, but the image of Denali from the hills above the rapids of the Tokositna River (above) became his trademark. [also see page 5]

!8

Theodore Roosevelt Lambert (1905-1960), arrived in Alaska in 1925 or 1926 and worked as a sled dog musher hauling mail and freight, giving him insight to the land and its moods which he later captured on canvas. He also found jobs as a miner, logger, and trapper, which honed his observations about people. Lambert worked for the Fairbanks Exploration Company, making enough to study at the American Academy of Art in Chicago in 1931. He spent a winter in Seattle studying art with Eustace Ziegler. He married a young teacher and they had a daughter, but when he displayed paranoia and wild-animal behavior, she took their baby daughter and left. Lambert moved to a cabin on the coast of Alaska. He mysteriously disappeared in 1960, leaving a stack of unfinished paintings and a 250,000 word manuscript. No trace of him was ever found.

alaskan-history.com

Below: “Sled Team,” 1944

November-December, 2019

Fred Machetanz (1908-2002) first came to the territory in 1935 to visit his uncle, Charles Traeger, who ran a trading post at Unalakleet. He volunteered for the U.S. Navy during World War II, requested a posting to the Aleutian Islands, and rose to Lt. Commander, responsible for intelligence for the North Pacific Command. He returned to Unalakleet in 1946. In 1947 Machetanz married writer Sara Dunn, and they settled near Palmer and had a son, Traeger. They published several books and collaborated on films for Walt Disney, the Territory of Alaska, and Encyclopedia Britannica. From 1948 through 1960 they made many lecture tours through the lower 48 states. He was named Alaskan of the Year in 1977, and American Artist of the Year in 1981 by American Artist magazine. Machetanz was also awarded honorary doctorates by the University of Alaska and Ohio State University.

Above: 1947 stone lithograph, “Rough Weather”

Eustace Paul Zeigler (1881-1969) came north in 1909 at the age of 27 to manage an Episcopal mission in Cordova, one of the first artists from the United States to arrive in Alaska. He was trained in painting at the Detroit Museum of Art, and when his missionary work required extensive travel to the mining communities of the Copper River country, it gave him an opportunity to paint portraits of many different frontier characters, including miners, priests, fishermen and especially Alaskan Natives, for which he became widely known. Ziegler left the ministry and moved to Seattle in 1924, after receiving a major painting commission there. A prolific artist, he once estimated that he had painted over 50 paintings a year for 60 years. Ziegler continued to make trips to Alaska every year, becoming one of Alaska and the Pacific Northwest's most popular artists.

The models for this popular Ziegler image are an Athabascan native woman named Eudoxia (Doxie) and her son Basil, who also appear in Ziegler’s painting ‘Tanana Woman and Dog,’ This print, titled ‘Indian Mother and Child,’ has been reproduced continuously since 1962.

More on these artists and others at our website: www.alaskan-history.com

alaskan-history.com

!9

Alaskan History

!10

alaskan-history.com

November-December, 2019

Merle Colby was the only writer to be solely attributed as the author of a Federal Writer’s Project guidebook.

The WPA Guide to Alaska In 1935, with the nation in the grip of a crippling depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the Federal Writers Project as part of the United States Work Progress Administration (WPA), a New Deal jobs program designed to provide employment for historians, teachers, writers, editors, cartographers, librarians, and other white-collar workers. The purpose of the project - and its most visible legacy - was a series of guidebooks which focused on the scenic, historical, cultural, and economic resources of the United States, comprising the first self-portrait of America.

While almost all of the state guidebooks were written by editorial committees, the 427-page guide for the territory of Alaska was the only guidebook attributed to a sole writer, Merle Colby, who was already the author of two novels and numerous short stories about the American frontier.

In addition to dozens of photographs, the illustrations and watercolors in the book were by Merlin Pollock and Ferdinand Lo Pinto, who would both go on to enjoy distinguished careers as artists.

A Guide to Alaska: Last American Frontier included a foreword by John W. Troy, then-Governor of the territory of Alaska. Troy wrote, “Scarcely more than a generation ago, well within the memory of many living Alaskans, the news was flashed in 1897 over telegraph wires that the steamer Portland had arrived in Seattle with ‘a ton of gold.’ Even more important, and certainly no less dramatic, is the less-known Alaska of today — the Alaska of graveled automobile roads, of airplanes, used as casually by Alaskans as are taxis in continental United States, of giant gold dredges, of great fishing fleets, of farms with the latest in modern equipment, of homes set in frames of flowers and surrounded with vegetable gardens, of large shops, theaters, churches, schools, clubs, newspapers, and America’s farthest-north university.”

alaskan-history.com

!11

Alaskan History

Watercolor painting, “Matanuska Valley,” by WPA artist Merlin Pollock, shows the town of Palmer beneath the Chugach Mountains, with the iconic Colony water tower on the left.

The WPA guidebooks included lengthy and detailed histories of their subject areas, and the guidebook for Alaska is no exception. From the winter of 1727-28, when Vitus Bering was overseeing the construction of the ship which would take him into Alaskan waters, Colby’s wideranging history of explorations and expeditions to Alaska, and how they affected the Native residents and the future of the land, effectively sets the framework for histories to follow. He explains the later complex relationships between the territory and the the federal government with the insight of his time as a government official.

In his book, Soul of a People: The WPA Writers’ Project Uncovers Depression America, author David A. Taylor provides an important perspective on the guidebooks: “The Writers’ Project, like the rest of the WPA, had its roots in poverty relief, not in a patriotic desire to celebrate America. The Depression’s bleakest days had passed, but families still slept on park benches and in stairwells. Across the countryside, thousands of families lost their farms in a foreclosure epidemic that sparked desperate protests. The economic hurricane didn’t spare writers: by 1935, a quarter of the U.S. publishing industry was out of work.”

Taylor, whose book was named one of the best books of 2009 and spawned a Smithsonian Channel documentary, also spoke to the historic importance of the Writer’s Project. Duly noting

!12

alaskan-history.com

November-December, 2019 the widespread skepticism and controversy which circulated at the time, he explained: “The Project’s designers believed that celebrating American diversity could prevent a wave of fascism like the one Europe was experiencing. Eleanor Roosevelt crystallized this idea when she said that America’s diversity was its strong point. This was in response to Hitler, who championed a monolithic, homogeneous population and viewed America as a great country weakened by fissures and subcultures. The Roosevelts essentially said, ‘No, that variety is our greatest strength.’ The WPA guides and interviews attempted to show that variety.”

The WPA Guide to Alaska was described

by Kirkus Review in 1939 as a “Comprehensive fact book of Alaska's history, points of interest, resources, train, boat and plane and highway travel, anecdotes, hunting and fishing, places to stay, prices, etc., etc.

Complete coverage for the prospective traveler, with suggestions for various types of trips, and ways of getting to Alaska. Not a personal experience travel book, but manages to convey a sense of enthusiasm for the territory, its background and future. Good library item, and practically a must for Alaska travelers.”

Today Merle Colby’s WPA Guide to Alaska provides a richly detailed look at the territory at an important time in the history of America, and at a critically transitional time for the future 49th state. Copies are often available at online book sources, and the full book is available to download or read online at: https://archive.org/details/ alaskaguidetolas00writrich ~•~ Right: Illustrations by F. Lo Pinto

alaskan-history.com

!13

Alaskan History

“Oblique photo looking north, channel that was blasted is in lower left quadrant. Entrance and exit of old river channel seen above and below a portion of ridge.” [USGS 1996]

The Kink The Search for Gold Changed the Course of a River The North Fork River is a major tributary of the Fortymile River in the eastern Interior of Alaska, flowing through the remote country north of the community of Chicken. Originally, the southeasterly path of the North Fork River was interrupted by a rock ridge 100 feet thick at the base and over 100 feet high. This rock ridge caused a two-and-three-quarter-mile oxbow meander to the west. In the U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin No. 2125, titled Gold Placers of the Historical Fortymile River Region, Alaska (USGS 1996), on page 21, is this description of a singular leftover from the gold rush era (note that dates differ in accounts):

“Approximately 20 miles up the North Fork from its confluence with the South Fork is a curious point on the map called The Kink. It is a very recently unnatural abandoned meander of the river. It was created in 1900 when an English-backed company blasted away a 100foot-high bedrock ridge. The blast changed the course of the river and laid bare the 2 3/4mile-long abandoned river bed meander. The original width of the cut-off was only about 16 feet, and at first only a small quantity of water flowed through it, but after a few hours the main body rushed through and soon worked out a channel over 39 feet wide (Prindle, 1905).

The company had determined that the newly exposed gravels contained gold valued at approximately $9.00 per cubic yard so they were intent on mining them. In 1901 while an attempt was being made to mine the gravels with horses and scoops, a rock slide occurred that covered the gravels after which the company abandoned the area (Scott, 1990).”

!14

alaskan-history.com

November-December, 2019 The Kink was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. In the nomination for inclusion as a Historic Place, the history of the area was detailed:

“The Fortymile River Basin, located in the eastern Interior of Alaska has a rich gold mining history dating back to 1886. In that year, a man by the name of Franklin made the first significant discovery of gold on the South Fork of the Fortymile River, at a creek now named Franklin Gulch. This discovery triggered a minor stampede of prospectors into the Fortymile area. Even today gold mining remains a significant source of income to the area's inhabitants.

“The river channel which was bypassed in approximately 1904 by blasting through a rock ridge was suspected of containing very profitable amounts of gold. This proved false, however, after draining of the channel. When prospects showed no type of gold mining to be financially feasible, the site was abandoned.

“While appearing to be an easy task to complete with today's technology, The Kink was a major engineering feat in that time and place. It was accomplished in a relatively uncharted wilderness without benefit of machinery or any developed transporation or communication system. This area typically has harsh winters broken only by short, unpredictable summers.

“When all other remnants, artifacts, and reminders of this colorful goldrush era of Alaskan history are gone, The Kink will remain. It serves as a permanent monument to the major undertakings by man that were common in the pursuit of gold at the turn of the century.

“Today, The Kink retains the remoteness of that early era. It is 19 air miles from the nearest road and 82 air miles from the nearest settlement with communication capability.

This segment of river has been proposed for inclusion in the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System and receives significant use by canoe and rafting enthusiasts.” ~•~

The Kink on the North Fork of the Fortymile River: “Oblique aerial looking west showing the artificial channel and the 2 3//4 mile meander that was bypassed.” [USGS 1996]

alaskan-history.com

!15

Alaskan History

Orr Stage on winter sled rails leaving for a trip from Valdez to Fairbanks. Signs in view, including “Copper Block and Dr. F. R. Chaney, Physician, suggest a date circa 1906.

[Postcard from a photograph, published by Portland Post Card Co., Portland & Seattle]

The Edward S. Orr Stage Company In 1910 a Mr. Hallock C. Bundy undertook the compiling and publication of a traveller’s guidebook to a large portion of Alaska. Grandiously titling his book The Valdez-Fairbanks trail : the story of a great highway : the Tanana Valley - Valdez, the gateway to an empire : a guide for the Alaska traveler, Mr. Bundy set about chronicling the routes to the territory’s towns and major settlements, and included chapters by several men of prominence, such as Governor Walter E. Clarke, Judge James Wickersham, Major Wilds P. Richardson, C. C. Georgeson, and John P. Clum. With splendid historic photographs and advertising from dozens of the era’s best-known businesses, the guidebook is a rich storehouse of Alaskan history.

Among the more interesting advertisements are those promoting the stage services provided

by Edward S. Orr, proudly claiming “Eight day service between Valdez and Fairbanks, a distance of 364 miles,” and “All stages equipped with abundance of fur robes and carbon-heated foot warmers.”

!16

alaskan-history.com

November-December, 2019

Advertisement in Hallock C. Bundy’s 1910 guidebook, The Valdez-Fairbanks Trail.

[Available to read or download at the U. S. Library of Congress]

alaskan-history.com

!17

Alaskan History

Orr Stage Company wagon and team with “A stage load of travelers, Fairbanks-Valdez Trail.” Handcolored postcard, photograph by Albert Johnson. [UAF-1989-166-1192-Postcard] The teams were said to be changed every twenty miles, and there were “Frequent stops at comfortable roadhouses, and telegraph stations every forty miles.” Among the roadhouses the Orr Stage Company stopped at regularly, the Wortman Roadhouse, only 24 miles from Valdez, was a favorite, being “…one of the oldest established hotels on the trail. During the last two seasons it has been much enlarged and improved. There are excellent accommodations for 100 people. The sleeping apartments are exceptionally good and are furnished with spring beds.

Baths can be had if wanted.”

Also mentioned at Wortman’s Roadhouse are the “warm, roomy stables that can shelter 100 head of horses,” and farther along the trail, roadhouse after roadhouse includes references to their facilities for the Orr Stage Company stock.

“Beaver Dam is one of the Orr Stage stations and is well equipped for the accommodations of guests and their horses or dogs…”

Gulkana is “one of the Orr Stage stations and is known as one of the largest and best equipped….” At the Pile Driver or 30-mile roadhouse “the stables will house 48 head of stock and are heated.” Byler’s Roadhouse is the first Orr Stage station and a popular stopping place.”

A singular publication of the day, the 1906-1907 Boston Alaska, gave a good description of the Orr Stage Company: “Fast sled services, with several relays of horses, has been established

by Ed. S. Orr, formerly of Tacoma, with headquarters in both Valdez and Fairbanks. Mr. Orr

!18

alaskan-history.com

November-December, 2019

Orr Stage, signs on the sleigh read: "U.S. Mail", "Ed. S. Orr & Co.", and "Fairbanks Valdez Stage.” Albert Johnson Photo [U. of Alaska Fairbanks, Albert Johnson Collection UAF-1989-166-105] personally is on some part of the trail most of the time, overseeing the work of his men and teams. Between Valdez and Fairbanks are thirty-five of what are known as roadhouses. At these the traveler may stop and refresh himself, the driver feed and water his horses, and all put up for the night when darkness overtakes. The fare at these places is not exactly sumptuous, but substantial, and the journey is made warm and comfortable. A good many women, wives and daughters of Fairbanks and Valdez men, make the trip both in an out over this winter trail without suffering any particular discomforts, and women in some instances have taken their babies in, always with safety. The trip is of necessity a dreary one, the snow-covered scenery is monotonous, and the travelers furnish their own good cheer. But as far as comfort is concerned, little is lacking that is absolutely necessary. The trip requires eight to ten days, an average of thirty-five to forty-five miles per day. This compares favorably with freight movement on some of the railroads outside. For the comfort of the women passengers a ‘carbonbrick’ burner is furnished for a foot warmer. It can be heated sufficiently at a roadhouse to retain its heat four or five hours.”

The Edward S. Orr Stage Company, also known as the Fairbanks-Valdez Stage Company, was only one of several stage lines which operated along the Valdez-to-Fairbanks and Chitina to Fairbanks Trails in the early years of the twentieth century, but it was uncontestably the most successful.

alaskan-history.com

!19

Alaskan History

Both from Bundy’s 1910 trail guide.

!20

Edward S. Orr was born in Clarion County, Pennsylvania, between 1850 and 1854 (discrepancies exist), the son of pioneers who had been farming their land for over 100 years.

He began contracting work in the oil fields of western Pennsylvania, but In 1877 he moved to Wichita, Kansas and began raising stock and farming. A year later his troublesome health forced him to relocate to Colorado, where he developed an interest in gold mining in the San Juan Mountains.

In 1888 Ed Orr married Jennie McClure, who he had known in Pennsylvania, and they had a son, who they named Thorold Dewey Orr. They moved to Washington territory that year, becoming active in the early history of the city of Tacoma and forming a real estate business, Hill, Orr & Craig, in 1889. Orr was elected a member of the city council in Tacoma in 1889 and mayor of Tacoma in 1893, a capacity in which he served for two terms. He appointed a young James Wickersham to serve as his City Attorney.

When the Klondike gold rush started, Ed Orr was in the right place and quickly made his way north. The Dyea Trail newspaper announced on January 19, 1898, “Ex-Mayor Edward S. Orr of Tacoma is here. He did not come with the intention of locating, but he is inclining that way.” Orr did decide to stay, and formed a small freighting company with William V. Tukey, of Boise, Idaho. Their string of packhorses hauled goods for the Chilkoot Railroad & Transport Company from Dyea to S h e e p C a m p , w h e re t h e c a r g o w a s transferred from horseback to buckets and sent to the summit via a cable tramway. In 1899, after completing their narrow-guage railroad over White Pass, the White Pass & Yukon Railroad bought out the Chilkoot Railroad & Transport Company, effectively ending Orr and Tukey’s freighting company.

alaskan-history.com

November-December, 2019 In August, 1899, Orr and Tukey loaded 28 horses and 70 mules, along with a dozen people and several tons of goods, into nine scows and sailed them from Lake Bennett down the Yukon River to Dawson City, arriving to great fanfare on August 21st. Orr’s wife Jennie and their young son, Thorold, were among the passengers.

Orr and Tukey soon established a freighting company in their names, operating from an office at Second Avenue and Second Street in downtown Dawson City. In December, 1899, a fire destroyed the building and they moved to new quarters near the Dawson waterfront on the Yukon River.

Business was brisk for Orr & Tukey, and they advertised that they would carry “All kinds of freight, to any of the creeks, safely and quickly delivered.”

They carried mail, parcels, passengers, and both light and heavy freight, utilizing horses, mules, and dogs, pulling various types of wagons or sleds.

Orr’s old friend James Wickersham visited him in Dawson en route to his new appointment as territorial judge in Eagle, and in his book, Old Yukon: Tales, Trails and Trials (St. Paul: West Publishing Co., 1938), he described Orr as “six feet tall, handsome and generous.”

There were introductions to city officials, many of whom both had known in Washington, and tours of the gold mining operations on Bonanza and Eldorado Creeks. The city officials were surprised when Orr drove the stage to the diggings, and Wickersham noted that their excitement grew as they entered “the gateway to the gold gulches…” In 1901 Orr & Tukey merged their freighting business with the Hadley Stage Line.

Their expanded freighting and stage business extended to a small mining camp on the Alaskan side of the border named Fairbanks, and when a gold strike was announced there in 1903 it did not go unnoticed by Ed Orr. But business was briskly moving along in the Yukon, and The Orr & Tukey Co., Ltd. was one of the largest freighting companies in the territory. But in 1905 Orr’s partner,

Section of a 1914 Kroll Map of Alaska, showing the Valdez-to-Fairbanks Trail and roadhouses along the 364 mile route.

alaskan-history.com

!21

Alaskan History

“Judge Reid and party leaving Valdez for Fairbanks on the 'Orr' Stage. Dec 9, 1908.”

Photographer: P. S. Hunt. [Mary Whalen Collection, Univ. of Alaska Fairbanks UAF-1975-84-281] William Tukey, retired to Idaho. The following year, 1906, Ed Orr moved his family and his freighting company to Valdez, Alaska.

The Ed. S. Orr Stage Company offered both freight hauling and passenger service between Valdez and Fairbanks, with 50 drivers and 150 horses. There were two departures each week from Valdez, for a trip which could take nine days, depending on the condition of the trail. The company set a new record in its first season, however, making the trip in six days, 10 hours.

The Orr Stage Company was successful from the start, and Ed Orr bought out the rival Kennedy Stage Company, making his the largest such company in Alaska in 1909. The fare from Valdez to Fairbanks was $150, the return trip was $125, on sleighs which could carry ten passengers on four double seats. Horses were changed out every 20-25 miles, and a telegraph station could be found approximately every 40 miles for safety and convenience.

The winter of 1909-1910 was brutally cold, and one of Orr’s drivers wired the company agent in Fairbanks to warn against sending passengers over the trail until the weather moderated. The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reinforced the warning with a bold headline across four columns of the front page: “More People Die on Valdez Trail.” An elderly woman from Chena, a community which was just downriver from Fairbanks, had died on one of Orr’s stages near Miller’s Roadhouse, apparently of a heart attack. The driver telegraphed the news to company officials, then secured her body at the roadhouse until arrangements could be made to return her to Fairbanks.

!22

alaskan-history.com

November-December, 2019 By the spring 1910 improvements to the trail were such that the Orr Stage Company added wheeled stages and continued trips to Fairbanks during the spring and summer, but also in 1910 Ed. S. Orr began considering a return to Washington state, as the myriad stresses of overseeing the company had resulted in his health once again declining. On August 27th the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner noted, “Owing to his ill health Ed. S. Orr, for some time past had been trying to shift the burden of the stage line over to other shoulders‌.â€? Jesse C. Martin, who had managed the company office in Valdez, was appointed General Manager of the stage line, and Ed. S. Orr and his family returned to Washington, where Orr underwent medical treatment and slowly regained his health.

J. C. Martin had traveled to Fairbanks shortly before Orr left the territory, and the two men discussed the future of the company and the nearing completion of the Copper River & Northwestern Railroad from Cordova to Chitina. Once the railway was completed there was a possibility of stage traffic from Valdez being diverted to the new route, as it would potentially cut a day and a half of travel from the current schedule. With his health unsteady, Orr decided to let someone else handle the inevitable changes ahead for the company, and by November he had sold the Orr Stage Company to the Northern Commercial Company.

As predicted, the well-situated town of Chitina, on the Copper River, grew quickly once the Copper River & Northwestern Railroad was completed in September, 1910. The railroad was

Orr Stage in Keystone Canyon, north of Valdez. Photographer George C. Cantwell. [Alaska State Library. ASL-P44-03-172 Skinner Foundation, Alaska Steamship Company, 1890s-1940s. ASL-PCA-44]

alaskan-history.com

!23

Alaskan History constructed to haul copper ore from the mines at Kennecott to the port at Cordova, and Chitina became known as the town “where the rails meet the trails.” During the town’s boom years, 1910 to 1938, it was a busy center of commerce as trains, autos, stagecoaches, dogteams, and steamboats all passed through the town.

In early October, 1910, Jesse Martin made a trip to the new townsite and purchased six building lots for the company, on which would be built stables, barns, a blacksmith shop and other structures necessary to Orr Stage Company business. By November a new cutoff was completed between Chitinia and the Valdez-Fairbanks Trail, and Jesse Martin and his wife moved into a temporary apartment in the Hotel Chitina while a new log cabin home was under construction nearby. When it was completed in December, 1910, the Chitina Leader described it as “one of the neatest and most substantial log cabin cottages in Alaska, which will, unless destroyed, stand as a landmark for many years to come.”

The words of the Chitina Leader were prophetic, because the Orr Stage Company Superintendent’s Cabin became part of the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, and was restored in 1991-92 to be used as a ranger station and visitor’s center, a purpose which the historic log cabin still serves today. Visitors can view the original owner’s initials, “J.C.M.,” clearly scrawled on the wooden ceiling.

The first Orr Stage Company stagecoach left Chitina on November 25, carrying 27 sacks of mail, and the first southbound stage from Fairbanks set a new record for the trip. The Chitina

“Fairbanks-to-Valdez stage in front of Byler’s Road House.” Photo by Albert Johnson.

[Hand-colored postcard, University of Alaska Fairbanks UAF-1989-166-1214-Postcard]

!24

alaskan-history.com

November-December, 2019

Fairbanks-Valdez stage in front of Tonsina Road House. Photo by Albert Johnson. Signs on the building behind the coach read: "80 miles to the bank and store of A.L. Levy & Co. Valdez" and "77 1/2 miles to Hotel Stelias, Valdez, Poot & Davis, Prop's, Fairbanks Headquarters.” [Archives, Univ. of Alaska Fairbanks, Albert Johnson Collection, 1905-1917] Leader reported on November 26th that the passengers who got off the stage to board the train for Cordova had “nothing but praise for the service they received along the way.”

With continued improvements to the trail and a favorable snowfall to cushion the trip, operations ran smoothly that winter of 1910-1911. In March the train from Cordova was delayed by snow on the tracks, so Jesse Martin took the reins and drove the stage to set a new record for the trip to Fairbanks, arriving in only three days, 17 hours, and 30 minutes. The Chitina Leader sang the praises of the company in an editorial: “Little has been said so far of the Orr stage company, their competent officials and efficient drivers, but the Leader desires to go on record as saying that too much credit cannot be given the management of this stage company for the able manner in which the mail and passenger schedules have been handled this season. Considering the worst winter in years, the thirty-nine miles of new trail, and the unavoidable delays of the train which naturally upset their time and connections, they are to be equally commended, with the Katalla Company, in maintaining a service far better than the people of Alaska have enjoyed despite adverse conditions.”

In late August, 1911, a fire in Cordova claimed a large number of Orr Stage Company livestock and the company suffered a heavy loss of equipment. Jesse Martin resigned in September, to be replaced by Jack Rockafellow, the company’s bookkeeper. By the summer of 1911 the trail had been improved enough for wheeled vehicles to travel it during the summer,

alaskan-history.com

!25

Alaskan History

A photo which ran in a 1910 Fairbanks Daily News-Miner (see page 25).

and the Chitina Leader ran an article in October, 1911 headlined “Automobile Road is Being Boosted.” Three years later, in September, 1914, Robert Sheldon drove the first car from Fairbanks to Chitina amidst much fanfare.

The Orr Stage Company appeared to be in decline after 1912, as competing freighting companies arose that spring and summer. Advertising ceased after July, 1911, and in April, 1914 a tragic fire at the Orr Company barn at the Paxon Roadhouse claimed the life of Bobby Daw, the oldest of Orr’s stablemasters, and two horses.

Ironically, ten days before the fire a meeting had been held in San Francisco at which the company directors gave their written consent to dissolve the company. The “Certificate of Dissolution of the Ed. S. Orr Stage Co.” is in the Nevada State Library archives in Carson City, Nevada, where Ed Orr had incorporated the company.

In June, 1914 Dan MacDonald, company superintendent for the line between Chitina and Fairbanks, drove the last stage to Fairbanks. The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner noted that the only serious accident during the year was the death of Bobby Daw in the Paxon fire, and commended the company for not misplacing a single piece of mail during the season.

In the 1991 National Park Service’s Historic Structures Report on the Superintendent’s cabin at Chitina, the legacy of the Ed. S. Orr Stage Company is made clear: “Although the Ed. S. Orr Stage Company only operated in Chitina for a short time, the company itself traces its roots deep into the development of the transportation industry in

!26

alaskan-history.com

November-December, 2019 Alaska and the Yukon. Mr. Orr was one of the foremost pioneers in building not only a transportation empire, but through his efforts and good management of his company, he greatly impacted the development of the mining industry in and around Dawson City, Fairbanks, and finally along the Valdez-Fairbanks Trail.

“His fine sense of business and community loyalty allowed him to build an empire that started with a string of horses at Dyea in 1898 and ended with the largest freighting and passenger stage line in Alaska by 1910. It was only after he sold out to the Northern Commercial Company in the summer of 1910 that the company failed to thrive. It only took four years for the Ed. S. Orr Stage Company to become a memory, evident only in sources scattered throughout the western United States, Canada, and Alaska.”

There is a footnote to the story, found in an online search for photographs and information relating to the Ed. S. Orr Stage Company. A website for Washington Rural Heritage, a project of the Washington State Library, includes the Orcas Island Heritage Collection, which has a large collection of photographs by James T. Geoghegan (1869-1953), who went to Alaska in 1897 as a prospector in the Yukon gold rush.

Among the photos are many of the ChitinaFairbanks trail, and an entire page of photographs showing the summer pastures of the Orr Stage Company horses: “The U.S. Mail is handled by the Ed S. Orr Company in connection with their passenger and express line from Chitina to Fairbanks. Over 200 horses are used to keep the mail moving six times a week over the 310 miles of winter trail to Valdez. In summer the horses are pastured in two herds at Donnelly and Gulkana where the open river bottoms yield abundant pasture and freedom from mosquitoes. The wide Delta valley is carpeted with pea vine and grass, good pasture for the horses.” ~•~

1910 Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

J. T. Geoghegan album page. A link to the album website is on page 48.

alaskan-history.com

!27

Alaskan History

On February 6, 1988, the Alaska Legislature established February 16th (the day in 1945 when the Anti-Discrimination Act was signed) as "Elizabeth Peratrovich Day," in order to memorialize the contributions of Peratrovich "for her courageous, unceasing efforts to eliminate discrimination and bring about equal rights in Alaska"

Elizabeth Peratrovich, Tlinget Activist Elizabeth Peratrovich was born on Independence Day, July 4, 1911, in Petersburg, in the Panhandle region of the District of Alaska. She was the daughter of a Native woman named Edith Tagcook Paul and her mother’s Irish brother-in-law, William Paddock. The unmarried mother traveled to Sitka to have her baby, who was then left in care of the Salvation Army. The baby was adopted by a Tlingit couple, Presbyterian minister Andrew Wanamaker and his wife Jean, a famed basketweaver. Wanamaker was an honorary charter member of the Alaska Native Brotherhood, founded in 1912, at a time when Alaska Natives were not U.S. citizens, could not own title to land and could not send their children to local schools. The aim of the group was citizenship and equality, and for the first half of the 20th century the Alaska Native Brotherhood was the only such group representing Alaska Natives.

The Wanamaker family lived in Sitka until Elizabeth was 10 years old, when they moved to Klawock, a Native village on Prince of Wales Island, about 60 miles west of Ketchikan. She learned to speak both Tlingit and English, graduating from the public high school in Ketchikan.

Klawock was the hometown of Roy Peratrovich, the son a Tlingit Indian woman and a man of Yugoslav descent. Roy worked as a trapper, fisherman, and boat captain, and in 1931 he and Elizabeth were married and returned to Klawock, where Roy worked as a policeman, postmaster, and the village mayor for four terms, while Elizabeth raised their three children, Roy Jr., Frank Allen and Loretta Marie. In 1940 Roy was elected Grand President of the Alaska

!28

alaskan-history.com

November-December, 2019

Nearly 20 years before the 1964 Civil Rights Act, Tlinget activist Elizabeth Peratrovich and her husband Roy led the charge in passing the very first anti-discrimination law in the United States.

Native Brotherhood, and the Peratroviches moved to the Alaskan Territorial capital of Juneau with their young family in order to be more effective in regional political issues. Despite being granted American citizenship in 1924, Native people were not welcome in the larger towns and Native children were still not allowed to attend public schools. Signs announcing "Natives not welcome" or "We cater to white trade only" reminded Alaska's First People that a large segment of the population deliberately shunned them in their own homeland.

One day in December, 1941, Roy and Elizabeth, who was by then Grand Vice President of the Alaska Native Sisterhood, a counterpart to the Brotherhood, passed a sign on a hotel in a nearby town with a sign on the door which read, 'No Natives Allowed,’ spurring them to write a letter to the Territorial Governor, Ernest Gruening, referencing the Second World War and stating in part: “In the present emergency our Native boys are being called upon to defend our beloved country, just as the White boys. There is no distinction being made there, but yet when we try to patronize some business establishments we are told in most cases that Natives are not allowed,” and “We know that you have the interest of the Native people at heart and we are asking that you use your influence to eliminate this discrimination, not only in Juneau or Douglas, but in the whole Territory.”

Their letter signaled the start of Roy and Elizabeth’s campaign to fight discrimination in Alaska. Govenor Gruening agreed with their position, and aided their effort. In 1943, they attempted to usher an antidiscrimination bill through Alaska’s Territorial Legislature, but the bill failed, with a tied vote of 8-8 in the House.

Undaunted, the Peratroviches traveled across the territory urging Natives to get involved, to run for political seats, to challenge the status quo and work toward change.

In 1944 Elizabeth was elected Grand President of the Alaska Native Sisterhood, and by 1945 two Native Alaskans had been elected to the Territorial Legislature, including Roy’s brother Frank, and a new antidiscrimination bill was before them. The House passed it, and reached the Senate floor on February 5, 1945.

An article in the March 20, 2019 New York Times explained what happened next: “Senator

alaskan-history.com

!29

Alaskan History

Territorial Governor Gruening signs the legislation, Feb. 16, 1945. L to R: Sen. O. D. Cochran, Elizabeth Peratrovich, Rep. Edward Anderson, Sen. Norman Walker, and Roy Peratrovich. [Alaska State Library]

Allen Shattuck argued that the measure would ‘aggravate rather than allay’ racial tensions. “‘Who are these people, barely out of savagery, who want to associate with us whites with 5,000 years of recorded civilization behind us?’ he was quoted as saying in Gruening’s 1973 autobiography, Many Battles.

“When the floor was opened to public comments, Peratrovich set down her knitting needles and rose from her seat in the back. Taking the podium, she said: ‘I would not have expected that I, who am barely out of savagery, would have to remind the gentlemen with 5,000 years of recorded civilization behind them of our Bill of Rights.’

“She gave examples of the injustices that she and her family had faced because of their background and called on the lawmakers to act. ‘You as legislators,’ she said, ‘can assert to the world that you recognize the evil of the present situation and speak your intent to help us overcome discrimination.’”

Elizabeth’s calm, measured, and eloquent testimony shamed the opposition into what The Daily Alaska Empire termed a “defensive whisper.”

The gallery broke out in “a wild burst of applause,” and the 1945 Anti-Discrimination Act was passed by a vote of 11 to 5.

Governor Gruening signed the bill into law on Feb. 16, a date now honored by the state each year. The new legislation entitled all Alaskans to “full and equal enjoyment” of public

!30

alaskan-history.com

November-December, 2019

A book and a coin celebrate Elizabeth Peratrovich’s enduring legacy. establishments, set a misdemeanor penalty for violators of the law, and banned posting of discriminatory signs based on race.

In 1954, Roy Peratrovich accepted a position with the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs and the family moved to Oklahoma. Two years later Elizabeth learned that she had breast cancer, and they returned to Juneau. When her illness worsened, she was admitted to a Christian Science care center in Seattle, where her son, Roy Jr., was attending college. She died on Dec. 1, 1958, at the age of only 47, and was buried in Juneau’s Evergreen Cemetery.

Elizabeth’s son, Roy Jr., would become the first Alaska Native to be registered as a professional civil engineer, designing the original Brotherhood Bridge over the Mendenhall River near Juneau. The Brotherhood Bridge symbolized the bridging of the gap between Native and non-Native Alaskans, and among those attending the dedication of the original Brotherhood Bridge were his father, Roy Sr. who represented the Alaska office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and his uncle, Frank Peratrovich, a state senator from Klawock.

A gallery of the Alaska House of Representatives has been named in honor of Elizabeth Peratrovich, the only one named for someone other than a former legislator, and a bronze bust sculpted by her son Roy Jr. is in the lobby of the State Capitol. In 2018, Elizabeth Peratrovich was chosen by the National Women's History Project as one of its honorees, and in 2020 the United States Mint will commemorate her legacy on a one dollar coin. ~•~

alaskan-history.com

!31

Alaskan History

North elevation from northwest - Woodchopper Roadhouse, photo by Jet Lowe. [Historic American Buildings Survey, Library of Congress HABS AK,23-CIRC.V,3--2]

!32

alaskan-history.com

November-December, 2019 “There was a Woodchopper Roadhouse – that was Jack Walsh and his wife. They run that. That was a regular roadhouse because the people at Woodchopper and Coal Creek would come down there to pick up their mail and sometimes some of them would go to Circle or something. Well, they'd all stop over there just like a meeting place. They'd come down there to pick up their mail every two weeks, and so I would stop there.” -Charlie Beiderman, last surviving dog team mail carrier, between Eagle and Circle City

Cris Allen, National Park Service, 2010

Woodchopper Roadhouse Woodchopper Roadhouse, built around 1910, was the oldest and largest log structure on the Yukon River between Eagle and Circle.

Donald J. Orth’s encylopedic Dictionary of Alaska Place Names (USGS, 1967), which traces its roots to the 1902 USGS publication Geographic Dictionary of Alaska, notes the probable origin of the name ‘Woodchopper,’ as applied to the roadhouse and the creek for which it was named: “Local name found on a manuscript by E. F. Ball dated 1898 and on a fieldsheet prepared by A. J. Collier, USGS, in 1902. The name may allude to woodchopping on the banks of this stream to furnish fuel for river steamboats.”

Woodchopper was also the name of a mining camp established in 1910 to mine coal in the area.

The Circle Mining District records a list of 320 individuals whose names appear connected to claims on Coal Creek, Woodchopper Creek and their various tributaries. Coal claims were the first claims staked in the drainages, as steamboats plying the Yukon River between St. Michael on the Bering Sea and Dawson City and Whitehorse in the Yukon Territory would burn upwards of a cord of wood each hour, and the transportation companies saw coal as a potential alternative to wood, provided it could be located in sufficient deposits, mined and transported to the riverbank.

alaskan-history.com

!33

Alaskan History The first placer gold mining claim was filed on Coal Creek in mid-November 1901, by one Daniel T. Noonan, of Delamar, Nevada. Noonan located his 20-acre claim on the right limit of Coal Creek on August 23, 1901. The same day, Daniel M. Callahan also located a 20 acre mining claim in the vicinity of Noonan's claim. Over the next 48 years there were 565 claims filed on Coal and Woodchopper Creeks. According to the 2003 publication, The World Turned Upside Down: A History of Mining on Coal Creek and Woodchopper Creek, Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve, Alaska, by historian Douglas Beckstead (U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service), "During 1905, L. M. Prindle, of the USGS, reported that Coal Creek, Woodchopper Creek, Washington Creek and Fourth of July Creek produced at least $15,000. According to several unsubstantiated reports, the figure had a potential to rise as high as $30,000. Alfred H. Brooks, also of the USGS, reported the same year that the majority of this production came from Woodchopper Creek."

Woodchopper Creek was known to provide fuel for the 75 to 100 steamboats plying the nearby Yukon River at that time. The steamship companies contracted with woodchoppers to have the wood ready, and various woodyards were established along the Yukon River. On one upriver trip in 1905, a steamer stopped three times between Circle and Eagle to take on a total of 54 cords of wood. The cordwood piled on the bank in a 1926 photograph of Woodchopper Roadhouse indicated that Woodchopper was a regular stop on the steamboats’ route.

Woodchopper Roadhouse, built ca. 1910, was the oldest and largest log structure on the Yukon between Eagle and Circle. Located halfway between the two towns, on the left bank of the Yukon, approximately one mile upriver from Woodchopper Creek and 55 miles upriver from Circle, the roadhouse housed winter travelers and served as a wood stop for steamboats in the summer. In addition, the roadhouse functioned as the post office and town center for the mining community on Woodchopper Creek from the early 20th century until the 1930s. No exact date can be attached to this

Cabin South and East Sides - Woodchopper Roadhouse, by Jet Lowe. [Historic American Buildings Survey, Library of Congress HABS AK,23-CIRC.V,3–3]

!34

alaskan-history.com

November-December, 2019

Woodchopper Roadhouse as seen from the Yukon River, June, 1929.

structure, but it is thought that this building was built at about the time the mining on Woodchopper Creek began to thrive.

The two-story building is constructed of round logs, saddlenotched. The second floor was partitioned into four rooms. The interior walls and ceiling were covered with a canvas or linen material, and the board floor was covered with linoleum, which has been destroyed by flooding. Moss chinking between the logs was covered with cement sometime after construction. Outbuildings appearing in a 1926 photograph include a gable-roofed shed west of the roadhouse, a cabin west of the shed which appeared to be for residential use, dog barns west of the cabin, and a shed northeast of the roadhouse which had lapjointed corners.

In the 1917-18 Polk's Directory, Valentine Smith, a miner, was listed as running a roadhouse on Woodchopper Creek, which was probably this building. Born in Germany in 1861, Valentine Smith immigrated to the U.S. in 1883, first staking a gold claim on Colorado Creek, a tributary of Coal Creek, in 1905. He later staked more claims in association with Frank Slaven and others, and in 1910 he staked his first claim on Woodchopper Creek. It is not known exactly when he began running the roadhouse, but on July 20, 1915, Art Reynolds, on a trip upriver from Circle, “stopt at Mr. Smith’s awhile. He gave us a salmon. Came about four miles above his place, camped for night.”

In 1919 Valentine Smith turned the running of the roadhouse over to Fred Brentlinger, also a miner, who, with his wife Flora, owned a number of lots in Circle, including the Tanana Hotel and Restaurant that they operated in 1911-12. They continued to become increasingly involved in the business community in Circle, with Fred Brentlinger serving as a notary public. Between 1919 and 1929 the Brentlingers left Circle and ran the Woodchopper Roadhouse while staking claims on Caribou, Coal, and Woodchopper Creeks.

When Fred Brentlinger passed away in 1930, Jack Welch and his wife Kate purchased the Woodchopper Roadhouse from Flora Brentlinger. She went to Manley Hot Springs where, along with

alaskan-history.com

!35

Alaskan History

“U.S. mail leaving Woodchopper Creek. January (?), 1912. Beiderman, driver.” NPS photo.

C.M. "Tex" Browning, she purchased the Manley Hot Springs farm from Frank Manley. They retained the farm until 1950 when Bob Byers, operator of Byers Airways, bought it from them.

Miner George McGregor wrote to his former partner, Frank Rossbach, in July, 1933: "A fellow by name of Jack Welch and his wife runs the roadhouse now, or at least she runs it, she is certainly the boss. Welch himself is a pretty good fellow. But different with her. She also has the post office."

It is unclear how long the Welchs had lived in the North Country, as no record was ever located for when they arrived. Jack held the winter mail contract between Woodchopper and Eagle, and he would run his dogteam through the roughest weather to see that the mail got through. But Jack lost the mail contract sometime around the late 1930s, as airplanes were replacing dog teams for carrying mail.

Undaunted, the Welchs stayed on at the roadhouse.

The owners of the Ed Biederman Fish Camp held the mail contract from 1912 to 1938 with only a few interruptions, and they used the Woodchopper Roadhouse as a winter stopover on the mail trail, which followed the frozen Yukon River. The numerous dog barns and dog houses at Woodchopper were used to house the Biederman dog team as well as those belonging to the owner and other visitors.

A visitor to Woodchopper in 1934, Elizabeth Hayes Goddard, was traveling the Yukon River alone and wrote in detail about her stay at the Woodchopper Roadhouse, noting that Kate Welch’s “goodnatured husband is tall and bent, [and] an unruly mop of black and grey hair sticks out over his forehead.”

Elizabeth Goddard described the accommodations as well: “Welch's home is made of logs, inside and out... In one corner are shelves of the store which sells canned milk, tobacco, candy, gum and other small articles. In another corner stands the desk which comprises the Woodchopper Post Office. In the

!36

alaskan-history.com

November-December, 2019 third corner is the cooking range. A tin washbasin with towels for community use stands in the fourth corner near the stairway leading to the sleeping room above. A long dining table is near the stove.”

One spring a huge ice dam piled up in Woodchopper Canyon, five miles below Coal Creek.

Miners Ernest Patty and Jim McDonald were spending the night in a cabin located at the mouth of Coal Creek, and in his book, North Country Challenge (D. McKay Co., 1969) Patty described the breakup: “At about three o'clock in the morning, loud crashing sounds woke us up and we jumped out of bed. The river had gone wild with the crushing force of the breakup. Normally the Yukon, at this point, is less than a quarter-mile wide.

While we slept, the water level had risen fifteen feet.

Rushing, swirling ice cakes were flooding the lowland on the opposite bank, crushing the forest of spruce and birch like a giant bulldozer. Before long ice cakes were being rafted up Coal Creek and dumped near our cabin.

“Then at the same moment we both turned and look at each other. The rapid rise of the river could only come from a gigantic ice dam in Woodchopper Canyon, some five miles downstream. Jack Welsh and his wife lived in that canyon. Their cabin must be flooded and probably it had been swept away. There is no way of knowing if they had been warned in time to reach the nearest hill, half a mile from their cabin. No outside help could possibly get to them now.”

The entire tragic tale of Jack and Kate Welch is told in chapter two of The World Turned Upside Down, and author Douglas Beckstead continues the story: “As it turned out, the howling of their dogs awakened the Welchs. They found ice water covering the floor of the roadhouse. Jack ran outside and cut the dogs loose allowing them to reach higher ground on their own.

Some made it. Some did not. Jack returned with his boat intending to take his wife and make a run for higher ground himself. At that point, the bottom floor of the roadhouse was under water and the second floor already awash. As huge cakes of ice slammed against the outside walls, Welch tied the boat to a second story window deciding that it would be better to stay with the cabin until the very last moment because the ice could crush his boat. Jack used a pole in an attempt to deflect ice cakes from hitting the cabin. As they waited, the

Jack Welch, left, Ed Biederman, right

Available to read online free at: http://www.npshistory.com/ publications/yuch/beckstead/ contents.htm

alaskan-history.com

!37

Alaskan History

Woodchopper Roadhouse, Yukon River, Circle, Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska.

Historic American Buildings Survey, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540. HABS AK,23-CIRC.V,3- (sheet 1 of 2) water and ice continued to rise higher and higher until it finally stopped and slowly began to drop. This meant the ice dam was beginning to break. Now the ice cakes were coming with increased frequency and force. In the end, both the roadhouse and the Welchs survived. Years later, Ernest Patty noted that ‘perhaps it would have been more merciful if they had been swept away.’”

Beckstead explains why: “The terror these two elderly people experienced left deep scars. Neither fully recovered from this night of rising floodwaters and crashing ice. Consequently, Mrs. Welch became bedridden. As time passed, people began to comment that Jack was ‘getting strange.’”

Due to the terrors experienced that awful night, and perhaps exacerbated by his penchant for drinking to excess, Jack Welch began suffering from nightmares, and one night he awoke trembling, in a cold sweat, believing that the German Army was marching down the frozen Yukon River, coming for him. He decided that he was losing his mind and would be better off dead, and so attempted suicide with his .22 rifle, but only managed to wound himself. Although crippled with rheumatism, Kate hobbled two miles over the winter trail through the snow to seek help from their nearest neighbor, George McGregor.

Beckstead continues the story: “McGregor hitched up his dogs, and placing Mrs. Welch in the sled they returned to help Jack. After giving him first aid, McGregor loaded Jack into the sled, making a run up Woodchopper Creek to the mining camp where the winter watchman sent a radio message to Fairbanks. Several hours later a plane arrived and took Jack to the hospital in Fairbanks. Within a

!38

alaskan-history.com

November-December, 2019 month Jack was up and around again. Nevertheless, the shock was too much for Mrs. Welch. She lingered on for a short time after Jack left the hospital until her tired old heart finally gave out.”

Kate’s death further unhinged Jack’s mind. Unable to accept that she was gone, he returned to the Woodchopper Roadhouse, expecting to find her waiting for him. When she wasn’t there Jack became distraught, and his concerned friends and neighbors radioed the U.S. Marshal's office in Fairbanks requesting that they come and take him back to the hospital.

But it wasn’t to be. Before the authorities could arrive Jack disappeared down the Yukon River in his boat. Some time later reports filtered back from villages along the lower Yukon of a mysterious elderly white man drifting down the river in a small boat, unresponsive to attempts at communication.

Eventually reports came back from some Natives hunting on the Yukon delta of a man standing in a boat, shielding his eyes against the harsh western sun while looking out to sea. Jack and his boat floated out into the Bering Sea and were never seen again.

After the Welches were gone the roadhouse was abandoned to the elements. The history of the roadhouse continues in outdoorsman Dan O'Neill's book, A Land Gone Lonesome: An Inland Voyage Along the Yukon River (Basic Books, 2008): "The Woodchopper Roadhouse was salvageable when Melody Webb surveyed it for the Park Service in 1976. As the largest structure in the preserve to still have its roof on, she recommended it be restored 'if a lodge is ever needed for the Park. A National Register would give added protection.' But by 2003, the roadhouse lay 'in ruins, the roof caved and the upper story fallen in,' according to a Park Service pamphlet." ~•~

Jack Welch cutting salmon on the Yukon River, 1934.

alaskan-history.com

!39

Alaskan History

“We rounded Cape Elizabeth in the early morning of May 31, and consumed the remainder of the day and until nearly midnight in reaching Tyoonok, at which place we found scattered along the beach from 200 to 500 prospectors, about 100 Indians (men women and children) and the trading station of the Alaska Commercial Company. This place is generally considered to be the head of navigation in Cooks Inlet, but I subsequently ascertained that excellent anchorage, plenty of water, and a safe harbor, were obtainable at Fire Island, which is situated between the mouths of Turnagain Arm and Knik Inlet, a distance of about 18 miles farther up the inlet.”

Captain Edwin F. Glenn, Twenty-fifth Infantry, United States Army, was the officer in charge of explorations in southcentral Alaska in 1898. The main task of ‘Military Expedition No. 3,’ under the War Department, was to explore the country north of Cook Inlet in order to discover the most "direct and practicable" route from the coast to the Tanana River by utilizing passes through the Alaska Range. Captain Glenn was charged with collecting and reporting on all information that was considered valuable to the development of the country, so his descriptions of the expedition are a fascinating look at one of the earliest official government incursions into the Cook Inlet and Matanuska regions, and northeast into the Copper River Basin.

Captain Glenn kept a diary of his travels, which is available to download or read free online at the UAA/UPC Consortium Library website (see Resources for this issue, page 48). His sometimes blunt and unvarnished writings illuminate the many trials and travails which beset the expedition, but they also give voice to a keen observer of the world - and men - around him.

!40

alaskan-history.com

November-December, 2019 “The Matanuska Valley is at present reached from Knik, which is the head of navigation on Cook Inlet, and to which vessels of shallow draft can go at high tide. Near the lower end of Knik Arm there is a good anchorage, which ocean going vessels can reach at any stage of the tide except during the winter, when the whole upper part of Cook Inlet is frozen…”

-W. C. Mendenhall, 1898

Cyanotype portrait of Captain Edwin F. Glenn, leader of the 1898 Cook's Inlet Exploring Expedition, taken at Tyonek in October 1898. He is wearing a hat and sweater, and has a print kerchief knotted around his neck. Photograph taken during the expedition. This may be a selfportrait taken by Glenn. [Edwin F. Glenn papers, Archives and Special Collections, Consortium Library, University of Alaska Anchorage. ]

“We reached Knik Inlet finally, cast anchor, and waited for the vessel to go aground before attempting to unload. We were deeply impressed with the appearance of everything in this inlet.

The weather was much more mild than in the lower part of the inlet, and the season more advanced than at Tyoonok or at Ladds Station by at least three weeks. The trees were in almost full leaf, and the grass a sort of jointed grass resembling the famous blue grass of Kentucky was abundant and at least a foot high. The length of this arm is about 25 miles. Coming in at the head of it were the Matanuska and Knik rivers, the former from the east, the latter from the south. The valley there is quite flat and about 20 miles across. In fact, the valleys of both streams are in full view from just above the trading station.

“This inlet, when the tide goes out, seems to be an immense mud flat. I learned from reliable sources that about two years ago the navigable channel of this inlet passed directly in front of and close to the trading station. But it seems that at that time an immense body of water came down, apparently from the Knik River, destroying not only the trading establishment of the Alaska Commercial Company, located on the opposite bank of the inlet, but also a number of Indian houses. The Indians say that as this flood came down it presented a solid wall of water at least 100 feet high. This statement, however, should be very much discounted. At any rate, the effect, in addition to the destruction of the houses, was to leave deposited in front of the present trading company's establishment an immense amount of mud and sand that extends out from the shore for nearly if not quite half a mile, and prevented us from landing at the station. We

alaskan-history.com

!41

Alaskan History

Knik Glacier in the Chugach Mountains. The Lake George jökulhlaup formed near the base of the glacier and emptied into the Knik River. [Photo; Helen Hegener/ Northern Light Media]

USGS geologist Walter Curran Mendenhall (1871-1957) travelled with Capt. Edwin F. Glenn in 1898.

were forced to cast anchor at the mouth of the small stream, two miles below, that is used by the Knik Indians during the fishing season.”

The “immense body of water” referred to by Captain Glenn was well documented as a significant event in the Valley’s history. Lake George, a glacial lake formed near the face of the Knik glacier, received recognition by the National Natural Landmark Program because of a unique natural phenomenon called a jökulhlaup, an Icelandic term for glacial lake outburst flood.

The intermittent breakup of the lake’s ice dam would send a violent wall of water, ice and debris down the valley causing massive flooding and sometimes devastation to settlers' properties.

The Lake George jökulhlaup has not occurred since 1967, due in part to glacial recession, but also for reasons associated with the massive Good Friday Earthquake of 1964.

Geologist W. C. Mendenhall, a member of Captain Glenn’s expedition who would go on to a distinguished career (including Director of the USGS from 1930 to 1943), made the first rough geological survey of the Matanuska Valley and the routes followed by Glenn. He mentioned the guide, Mr. Hicks, who had been prospecting in the area for three years, in his official report for the Twentieth Annual Report for the USGS, Part VII, Explorations in Alaska in 1898 (also available to read online, see page 48): “Among the prospectors at the head of Cook Inlet but one was found who was acquainted with the Matanuska country. This gentleman, Mr. H. H. Hicks, Captain Glenn was so fortunate as to secure as a guide for the expedition, but neither he nor anyone else could give us any definite idea of the character of the interior beyond the head of the Matanuska.”

!42

alaskan-history.com

November-December, 2019 Mendenhall's explorations covered areas on the west shore of Prince William Sound and a route extending from Resurrection Bay to the head of Turnagain Arm, thence by way of Glacier and Yukla Creeks [Ed. note: the current Eagle River] to Knik Arm, up the Matanuska Valley to its head, and thence northward to the Tanana. He wrote from Ladds Station; “We waited here till the 19th of July, when Captain Glenn determined to buy a pack train which he had learned was for sale at Sunrise City. On the 22d the steamer Perry landed us at Knik Station with the animals (25 head), and the next morning we started up the Matanuska Valley, bound for the Tanana. The start should have been made two months earlier and the time for our work thus practically doubled, but the question now was one of accomplishing as much as possible in the short time remaining before freezing weather should set in.”

Under the heading ‘General Description of the District,’ the Matanuska River is described: “Matanuska River is tributary to Knik Arm, at the head of Cook Inlet. It rises on the western edge of the Copper River basin and flows between the Talkeetna Mountains on the north and the Chugach Mountains on the south. The Matanuska is about 80 miles in length…”

After describing the the Matanuska River’s attributes and tributaries, relative heights and characteristics of the mountains, and vegetation in the Valley, Mendenhall’s report turns to accessibility: “The Matanuska Valley is at present reached from Knik, which is the head of navigation on Cook Inlet, and to which vessels of shallow draft can go at high tide. There is a good horse trail from Knik to the upper end of Matanuska Valley, and the character of the ground and of the vegetation is such that this trail could be made into a wagon road at

The village of Tyonek. [UAF]

alaskan-history.com

!43

Alaskan History

Looking down the Matanuska River from Glacier Point. Matanuska District, Cook Inlet Region, Alaska. 1898.

[Photograph by W.C. Mendenhall, 39 - mwc00039 - U.S. Geological Survey. Photo id: 253662]

comparatively slight expense. It takes horses from one to two days to reach Moose Creek, depending on the load, and … a day and a half to go from Moose Creek to Chickaloon River.

“At present freight can not be taken in while Cook Inlet is frozen, which is usually from October 15 to May 15, and passengers can reach the region during the winter only by going in from Seward with sleds. The Alaska Northern Railroad, which is now completed from Seward to Kern Creek, on the north shore of Turnagain Arm, a distance of 72 miles, is intended to reach the Matanuska Valley, to which surveys have been made; some construction work has been done between Kern Creek and Knik Arm. According to the present surveys it will be about 150 miles from Seward to Chickaloon River. When this road is completed the Matanuska Valley will be easily accessible at any time of the year.”

Mendenhall also described the first peoples of the Valley: “The native inhabitants of the region about the head of Cook Inlet belong to the true Indian stock, as distinguished from the Eskimo tribes of the coast. They are now collected into a few small villages, as at Tyonek, Ladds Station, and Knik, where their original customs have been much modified by white traders, upon whom they are becoming more and more dependent. Physically they are slight and will average less in stature than the whites. They are good-natured, timid, disinclined to quarrel, and are generally honest, although idlers. They still depend in a measure upon the summer's catch of salmon to keep them from starvation during the winter season, but secure clothing of white manufacture and many articles of food from the stores of the various trading companies in exchange for furs. Their winter habitations are rude cabins, which are sometimes occupied throughout the summer months also, but are quite as often discarded for tents until severe

!44

alaskan-history.com

November-December, 2019 weather begins again. Pulmonary and inherited diseases are making constant inroads on their numbers, particularly at the stations, where their native customs have been most modified by white influence. The Indians of Knik, for instance, are much more robust than those at Ladds Station.”

“Cook Inlet and Prince William Sound have a semi-permanent white population, consisting of traders, claim owners, prospectors, fishermen, and Russians, some of whom stay in the country from year to year, others going to some point in the States occasionally to spend a winter. A much larger percentage of the whites found there in the summer, however, are transients, who never winter in the country.

"The principal trading and mining centers are Sunrise, Hope, Tyonek, and Knik, and in these camps or the mining regions adjacent to them most of the whites may be found. A few each year penetrate some distance beyond the borders of the well-known districts and reach the interior of the Kenai Peninsula or prospect within the Matanuska Valley. Two small parties this year (1898) succeeded in getting nearly across the Copper River Plateau, and a few hardy traders or prospectors in previous years have reached the interior, but they have left no records."

And finally, Mendenhall described the Valley as an access route to interior Alaska: “From the head of Knik Arm the Copper River Plateau and all of the interior accessible from it is reached by way of the Matanuska Valley. For the greater part of the way from Palmer's store on Knik Arm to Tahneta Pass, at the head of the river, travel is easy. A sharp climb of 1,000 feet after crossing Chickaloon Creek, a little rough work in getting across the canyon of Hicks Creek, and a short steep climb out of the valley of Caribou [Creek], are the principal obstacles. The Tazlina River heads east of this gap, and by following it the Copper will be reached a few miles above the new town of Copper Center. This route has been followed by the Copper River Indians for many years in their annual trading trips to the stores on Cook Inlet.” ~•~ To read the full reports from Captain Glenn and W.C. Mendenhall online, see Resources, page 48.

The Matanuska River near Palmer, route to the Copper Basin. [Photo: Helen Hegener/Northern Light Media]

alaskan-history.com

!45

Alaskan History

FOCUS ON

Old PostcardS

Thompson Pass, Seward & Susitna U.S. mail dogteam, Resurrection Bay, Haines, Valdez, brailing salmon in Funter Bay, Circle City, Grantly Harbor “Omiak,� White Pass Summit flags

!46

alaskan-history.com

November-December, 2019

Anvik, Shakes House near Wrangell, Tracy Arm near Juneau, SS Yukon at Circle City, Muir Glacier, sheep on Unalaska, Skagway, Government courthouse in Juneau, SS Mariposa Visit the Alaskan History Magazine website for more old postcards: alaskan-history.com

alaskan-history.com

!47

Alaskan History

Classic Alaskan Books

Alaska Days, Erastus Howard Scott (1923) Published in 1923 by Scott, Foresman & Co., this slim 100-page volume is the photo-rich recounting of a journey taken by Erastus Howard Scott and his wife as they travelled from Chicago to Seattle and boarded a ship which took them across the Gulf of Alaska to Katalla, Valdez, and finally Seward.

From Seward they rode the newly-built Alaska R a i l ro a d t o F a i r b a n k s , photographing and describing everything along t h e w a y, i n c l u d i n g a memorial stop for the recently departed President Harding.

Available to read online at books.google.com

!48

Alaska The Great Country, by Ella Higginson (1908)

A Summer in Alaska (Along Alaska’s Great River) F. Schwatka (1893)

Ella Rhoads Higginson (1862-1940) was one of America’s most celebrated early 20th century writers, and the first Poet Laureate of Washington State, 1931.

Her book ‘Alaska, the Great Country,’ an annotated history of Alaska and an absorbing travelogue of Higginson's a d v e n t u re s t h e re , w a s published in 1908 and went through several editions.

Higginson describes her trip with the less than politically correct mores and values of her time, but her keenly written observations of territorial Alaska make this a fascinating account.

Online at gutenberg.org

Published by J W Henry, St. Louis, in 1893, ‘A Summer in Alaska, A popular account of an Alaska exploration along the great Yukon River from its source to its mouth,’ by Frederick Schwatka, is the enlarged edition of his 'Along Alaska's Great River, published in 1885.

The book details Schwatka’s explorations along the Yukon River, from its source in northwestern Canada to its mouth on the west coast of Alaska, the first full-length navigation of Alaska’s greatest waterway.

Both editions are available to read online or download from multiple sources.

alaskan-history.com

November-December, 2019

Alaskan History Magazine 2019 Index Volume 1, Number is index reference: Addison Powell A Dog-Puncher on the Yukon Alaska Days Alaska, The Great Country Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Expo Alaska and Its Resources Alaska Days with John Muir Alaska Nellie Alaska Nellie Alaska Railroad Alaska Railroad 1914-1964, The Alaska Steamship Co. Alaska’s Flag Aleutian Islands All Alaska Sweepstakes Allan, Alexander Allan Along Alaska’s Great River Anderson, Eva G., book review Andrews, Clarence Leroy, book review Andrews, Clarence Leroy Artists Ascent of Denali, The A Woman Who Went to Alaska barns, Colony Benson, Benny Birch Creek Mining District Black Wolf Squadron Bush pilots Carpenter, Frank Case & Draper Circle City Conquering the Arctic Ice Crosson, Joe Crumrine, Josephine Dall, William H., book review Dog Team Doctor Eielson, Carl Ben Esquimaux, The fishing Fortymile River From Paris to New York by Land Glenn, Capt. Edwin F. Golden Alaska Harriman Alaska Expedition Hegg, Eric A. Higginson, Ella, book review Hubbard, Fr. Bernard Hunt, P. S. Ingersoll, Ernest, book review Jackson, Dr. Sheldon Jones, Tim Karstens, Harry Katalla Kenai Peninsula Kink, The Knik Knik Glacier Lambert, Ted Laurence, Sydney Lawing, Nellie Neal, book review Machetanz, Fred Matanuska Colony

1 3 4 4 1 2 2 1 2 1 1 2 3 3 1 1 4 3 2 1 4 1 1 1 3 3 2 2 2 1 3 3 2 3 2 3 2 2 3 4 2 4 1 3 1 4 2 1 3 2 3 2 2 2 4 4 4 4 4 2 4 1

Matanuska River Matanuska Valley Mendenhall, W. C. Mikkelsen, Einar, book review missionaries Murie, Margaret Nenana, S.S. Nome gold rush Old Yukon, Tales-Trails-Trials Orr Stage Company Peratrovich, Elizabeth Photographers Ploughman of the Moon postcards Prince, Bernardine, book review Pringle, George C.F., book review Reed, Irving roadhouses Rogers, Will Romig, Dr. Joseph H., book review Rowe, Peter Trimble S.S. Nenana Schmidt, Patricia Schwatka, Frederick

Scott, Erastus Howard sea otters Seppala, Leonhard Service, Robert, book review Seward’s Icebox Shiels, Archie W., book review Snowshoes Spurr, Josiah E., book review Spurr, Josiah E. Story of Alaska, The Stuck, Hudson, book review Stuck, Hudson Sullivan, May Kellogg, book review Summer in Alaska, A tents, canvas Through the Yukon Gold Diggings Thwaites, J. E. Tillicums of the Trail Togo, sled dog Trailing & Camping in Alaska Tyonek U.S. Gov’t Printing Office, book review Valdez-Fairbanks Trail Walden, Arthur Treadwell, book review Wein, Noel Wickersham, James, book review Willoughby, Barrett Windt, Harry D., book review Woodchopper Roadhouse WPA Guidebook to Alaska Wrangell Mountains Yost’s Roadhouse Young, Rev. Samuel H. Young, S. Hall, book review Zeigler, Eustace

4 4 4 3 2 1 3 2 1 4 4 1 3 4 1 3 2 3 2 3 2 3 3 4

4 3 1,3 3 3 3 1 2 3 2 3 2 3 4 2 2 1 3 1 1 4 1 1 3 2 1 2 2 4 4 1 1 2 2 4

An expanded version of this index is at the website: www.alaskan-history.com

alaskan-history.com

Vol. 1, Number 1

Vol. 1, Number 2

Vol. 1, Number 3

Vol. 1, Number 4

!49

Alaskan History

Sources & Resources Alaska & Polar Regions Collections & Archives [http://library.uaf.edu/apr] The mission of the Alaska and Polar Regions Collections & Archives (APRCA) is to acquire, preserve, and provide access to materials that document the past and present of Alaska and the polar regions.

Alaskool.org [http://www.alaskool.org/projects/native_gov/recollections/ peratrovich/Elizabeth_1.htm] Online materials about Alaska Native history, education, languages and cultures. Links to a detailed accounting of Elizabeth Peratrovich’s story.

Alaska's Digital Archives [https://vilda.alaska.edu] presents a wealth of historical photographs, albums, oral histories, moving images, maps, documents, physical objects, and other materials from libraries, museums and archives throughout our state.

Archives West [http://archiveswest.orbiscascade.org] provides descriptions of materials held by institutions in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Alaska, Montana, and Utah.

See the About page for links to other regions.

Google Books [https://books.google.com] Read thousands of books online at the world's most comprehensive index of full-text books.

Internet Archive [https://archive.org/details/alaskaguidetolas00writrich] Read the text of Merle Colby’s 1937 WPA book: Alaska ; a guide to the last American frontier Library of Congress [https://www.loc.gov] The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world, with millions of books, recordings, photographs, newspapers, maps and manuscripts in its collections. The Library is the main research arm of the U.S. Congress and the home of the U.S. Copyright Office.

National Park Service [http://www.npshistory.com] A portal to electronic publications covering the history of the National Park Service and the cultural and natural history of the national parks, monuments, and historic sites of the National Park System.

Orr Stage Company [www.washingtonruralheritage.org/digital/collection/ orcas/id/5264/] J. T. Geoghegan album showing Orr’s horses pasturing, etc.

UAA/APU Consortium Library [https://archives.consortiumlibrary.org/ collections/specialcollections/hmc-0116/] Downloadable PDF of Capt. Edwin F. Glenn’s diary of his 1898 expedition to the Matanuska and Copper River Valleys.

USGS Publications [https://pubs.usgs.gov/ar/20-7/report.pdf] Downloadable PDF of the Annual Report of the U.S. Geological Survey, Part VII, 1900, including W.C. Mendenhall’s report: A Reconnaissance from Resurrection Bay to the Tanana, 1898.

Right: Slice of a 1907 postcard from Valdez

Single issues are $10.00 postpaid (U.S. only)

One year subscription, six issues, $48.00 postpaid (U.S. only)

www.alaskan-history.com

!50

alaskan-history.com