To Stay the Course

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines ‘stay the course’ as “to continue with a process, effort, etc., even though it is difficult. ” 

Wikipedia: “”Stay the course” is a phrase used in the context of a war or battle meaning to pursue a goal regardless of any obstacles or criticism.”

The Free Dictionary: “To persevere with as much determination, energy, or fortitude as one can….”

When the Covid-19 pandemic unceremoniously and without warning stopped all subscriptions and single issue orders to Alaskan History Magazine, I was certain there was no way I could continue publishing. With zero income, it would be impossible to print issues and buy postage for mailing. It took a few weeks of considering the situation and weighing my options, but I think I’ve found a workable solution: Digital magazines.

Alaskan History Magazine has been digital from the beginning; the first three issues were uploaded to issuu and are still available there to read free. The subsequent issues are available for $2.50 each, or $12.00 for an annual subscription. I will be focusing on how to utilize the digital publishing platform issuu to the best advantage, and to provide for downloading, sharing, and optimizing the digital magazine, online and offline.

With the singular exception of libraries, printed copies of the magazine will no longer be available by subscription, but they can still be ordered as single issues; more on that later. The long-awaited May-June issue will be in the mail by July 20th, several weeks late but hopefully worth the delay. It will be the final issue mailed to subscribers, and a letter will be included offering options for ending the current subscriptions.

I will be uploading the May-June magazine to the issuu website on July 25th, after the print version has reached subscribers, and I will upload the July-August issue on August 1st. After that each issue will be back on schedule to upload bimonthly, i.e., on September 1st, November 1st, January 1st, etc.

I hope this new publishing plan will prove workable and allow Alaskan History Magazine to continue providing outstanding articles, photographs, and other content on the north country for many years to come.

Helen

 

 

Suspension of Publication

I am suspending publication of Alaskan History Magazine for an indeterminate length of time.

With only one year of publication, Alaskan History Magazine has been too fragile to survive the catastrophic impact of the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic. When the economy shut down, so did subscriptions, single issue orders, and even book orders for the magazine’s parent company, Northern Light Media. The last order of any type was received in early March, and without orders the business simply cannot survive. In addition to the cessation of orders, the printing of the May-June issue has been delayed by several weeks, and as of this writing it still has not left the printer (the order, which normally takes 10 days to 2 weeks, was placed in April).

This is hard, but I know there are many other, more important businesses having a much harder time right now, and they need your support and encouragement, and your business if possible, much more than this magazine does. If possible, I will resume publication at some point, but if not…

Suspending publication was not an easy decision to make, and it has taken me about three weeks to reconcile the idea. I am very proud of the magazine I created, and I have been extremely fortunate to receive the support of an outstanding artist and some superb writers. Close to a dozen libraries have subscribed, and many bookstores, gift shops, and other venues have expressed interest in selling the magazine. This summer was going to be an exciting time of expanding and developing the business, but then the bottom fell out of everything, for everyone.

I will be mailing a letter to subscribers offering options for prorating their remaining subscriptions. The back issues will remain available on my Northern Light Media website and at Amazon, but no new issues will be produced in the foreseeable future.

Thank you to everyone who has supported Alaskan History Magazine. Wherever the road ahead takes us, remember that we are writing tomorrow’s history every day.

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Delayed M/J Issue

The May-June, 2020 issue of Alaskan History Magazine is currently at the printer, but with delays in production and potential delays in delivery, the issue will possibly not arrive until around the first of June.

The digital edition will be available at issuu by May 10th. If you are a subscriber or have purchased a single issue and would like to access the digital magazine, simply send me an email and I will return the access code to read or download that issue.

The May-June, 2020 issue of Alaskan History Magazine features articles on the Matanuska Colony Project, the 1918 influenza epidemic, an unusual stone storehouse built in 1896 in Hyder, a pioneering packhorse trip to the upper reaches of Kluane Lake, Stephen Birch and the Kennecott Copper Company, and the wide-ranging travels of Archdeacon Hudson Stuck, who ministered via dog team and riverboat across the northern reaches of the Alaska territory.

Production of the July-August issue is underway, and my plan is to have publication and mailing back on schedule to arrive in mailboxes the first week of July.

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Digital Editions

Digital subscriptions to Alaskan History Magazine are available at Issuu, the digital magazine electronic publishing platform which was named one of Time magazine’s 50 Best Websites.

Single issues are $2.50, a digital subscription is $12.00 for one year (6 issues). All digital issues are free to print subscribers (contact for access code).

The first three issues of Alaskan History Magazine are available to read online, download, or share via email, Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest. The first three digital issues are free to view; issues after Sept-Oct, 2019 are available only to print or digital subscribers, and those who purchase the digital or corresponding print issue of the magazine.

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May-June 2020

The May-June, 2020 issue of Alaskan History Magazine features articles on the following topics:

• The 1935 government social experiment known as the Matanuska Colony Project, which brought 200 farm families to Palmer.

• A unique historic look at the 1918 influenza epidemic from the Alaskan legislature, in which Governor Thomas Riggs, Jr. explained the situation.

• The pioneering packhorse trip of the English journalist E. J. Glave and the cowboy trailblazer Jack Dalton, from the coast near Haines to the upper reaches of Kluane Lake.

• Stephen Birch and the Kennecott Copper Company, and the infamous Alaska Syndicate.

• The wide-ranging travels of Archdeacon Hudson Stuck, who ministered via dog team and riverboat across the northern reaches of the Alaska territory.

• The history of an unusual stone storehouse built in 1896 in Hyder, on the border of Alaska and Canada.

Additional regular columns will make this another wonderful and wide-ranging exploration of Alaskan history!

To order the May-June issue, or back issues, or to subscribe, visit this page.

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Yellowstone Kelly

Luther Sage “Yellowstone” Kelly

An Indian Scout in Alaska, by Thomas J. Eley, PhD.

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In the March-April issue of Alaskan History Magazine, historian Thomas J. Eley, PhD., who describes himself as an Itinerant Geographer, shares the story of Luther Sage “Yellowstone” Kelly, an Indian scout who contributed greatly to the explorations of territorial Alaska.

Born in New York on July 27, 1849, Luther Kelly lied about his age, joined the Union Army, and fought in the final days of the Civil War, most notably the occupation of Richmond, Virginia. After the war he headed west, to the Yellowstone River Valley where he hunted, trapped, explored and gained fame for his knowledge of the Yellowstone country. This knowledge got him recruited by the Army as a scout, interpreter, guide, dispatch rider, and to conduct special assignments, earning his nickname, “Yellowstone” Kelly, and he was selected Chief of Scouts by Brig. Gen. Nelson A. Miles.

Kelly’s party crossing Portage Glacier with Lt. H.G. Learnard in the lead followed by Luther Kelly.  [Photo taken in 1898 by Walter Mendenhall, USGS, and courtesy of the USGS, public domain.]

In 1898, General Miles dispatched Expedition Number 3, under the command of Capt. Edwin Glenn (1857-1926), with the mission being to explore and map, as well as to find a transportation corridor for a railroad or wagon paths from ice-free ports (Portage Bay [Whittier] and Seward) to the Yukon and Tanana Rivers (Learnard 1900 and Yanert 1900a and 1900b).  Luther Kelly, then 49, was assigned to this expedition by General Miles as chief scout and tracker. Eley’s article details Kelly’s travels with the other expedition members, including USGS Geologist Walter Mendenhall, from Portage Bay, across the Portage Glacier, over Crow Pass on what would become known as the Kelly Trail, around Knik Arm to Knik.

The following year, 1899, the wealthy railroad magnate Edward Harriman organized an expedition to explore the coast of Alaska, aboard his own private steamship.  Harriman brought with him a group of noted scientists, artists, photographers, naturalists, hunting guides, chefs, family members and taxidermists to explore and document the Alaskan coast. Harriman’s personal goal for the expedition was to hunt Kodiak bear, and his personal guide was Luther Kelly. At the various stops, Kelly got off the ship and assisted the scientists. Arriving at Kodiak, Yellowstone Kelly guided Harriman on his hunt, and he got his bear.  

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You can read Dr. Eley’s entire article, with historic photos, in the March-April issue of Alaskan History Magazine.

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The Boundary Dispute

Excerpts from the article in the March-April, 2020 issue of Alaskan History Magazine:

When the United States purchased Alaska from the Russian Empire in 1867, one of the best real estate deals in history was sealed, but the U.S. government also inherited a few headaches, not the least of which was a contentious disagreement over the geographic boundaries between the southeastern part of the territory of Alaska and the province of British Columbia, which had recently joined the newly formed Canadian Confederation, whose foreign affairs were still under British authority. 

In 1871 the Canadian government requested a survey to determine the exact location of the border, but the United States rejected the idea as too costly because the border area was very remote and sparsely settled, and there was no economic or strategic interest in conducting a survey there. That was challenged with the Cassiar gold rush in 1862 and the Klondike gold strike in 1897 intensified the pressure to survey the border. 

The Canadian and American representatives favored their respective governments’ territorial claims, and the Canadians, outraged by what they considered a betrayal by their colonial government, refused to sign the final decision, but the question had been put to binding arbitration, the decision took effect, and the resolution was issued on October 20, 1903. You can read the entire article, and many others, in the March-April issue.

For more information:

• Statement of Facts Regarding the Alaska Boundary Question, Compiled for the Govt. of British Columbia (1902) 

• The Alaska Boundary Line T. C. Mendenhall (1900) 

• Alaska-Canada Boundary Dispute by Murray Lundberg, at ExploreNorth 

• The Alaska Boundary Dispute: A Critical Reappraisal, by Norman Penlington (1972)

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Alaskan History Magazine is an independently produced magazine dedicated to portraying the colorful and important past of the Last Frontier as an interesting and exciting journey of exploration. The style is conversational, yet confident and informative, thoroughly researched to bring the true stories of the people, places and events which shaped Alaskan history to a wide readership. Subscribe, order all the back issues, or just order a single issue click this link.

 

“My Dear Mother”: Dr. James T. White

“My Dear Mother”: Dr. James Taylor White

Edited by Gary C. Stein, from the March-April, 2020 issue of Alaskan History Magazine: 

In February 1894 Treasury Secretary John G. Carlisle authorized Captain Michael A. Healy to employ Seattle physician James Taylor White as surgeon for the upcoming Arctic cruise of the U.S. Revenue Cutter Bear. This was White’s third cruise to Alaska for the department’s Revenue-Cutter Service, a predecessor of the U.S. Coast Guard. In 1894 White participated in missionary Sheldon Jackson’s three-year-old project transporting domesticated Siberian reindeer to Alaska to prevent supposed starvation among Alaska’s Native population.

Iconic shot of the USRC Bear

White was an astute observer. Not only a physician, he was an avid naturalist and amateur ethnographer. Everything he saw interested him. While his 1894 diary thoroughly describes people and places he encountered, there is a briefer source offering another perspective of that summer on the Bear. His personal correspondence is in the Alaska and Polar Regions Collection and Archives at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. He wrote extensively to his mother, Ione Taylor White, throughout his 1894 cruise describing not only what he saw but his personal opinions as well, some of which material never entered his diary.

White boarded the Bear at San Francisco in mid-April. At the end of that month the cutter sailed to Seattle for coal and then stood north for Sitka, arriving at Alaska’s capital on May 11. By early June the Bear had cruised along Prince William Sound to Kodiak Island.

Kodiak circa 1900

My dear Mother:

We left St. Paul [harbor], Kadiak Island yesterday. … After having been in smooth water so long it rather upsets one to be suddenly plunging into a rough sea. Strange to say it affects me very little and I have noticed, as well as others, that it has little or no effect on my appetite. 

The trip has been delightful and peaceable. On the whole we have a nice set of officers and no trouble has been experienced, though it is rather too early to talk much. If all is as well when we get through the Arctic part of the trip as now I will be thankful, for that is when it tries one to the utmost. Mrs. H— [Mary Jane Healy, the Captain’s wife] is very pleasant to all and I think influences the Capt. more than he or anyone else imagines.

The Bear in Dutch Harbor, 1897-98

Dutch Harbor Alaska. June 11^th ‘94

My dear Mother:

Dutch Harbor is the headquarters of the new trading company [North American Transportation and Trading Company], and as it is their interests we are to look after we stay here. It is only a couple of miles from Unalaska, so we spend most of our time there. I went over yesterday to attend some of the school children, and I am going in today to patch up a broken head.

Just when we leave here for the Arctic I don’t know but presume it will be about the 16^th inst. We have received no mail so far and if the mail steamer is not on time, we will not receive any until next September. Not knowing how things are there I can but hope and wish that all of you are well and that my letters when received will speak of good and happy times.

Today is beautiful, bright and warm. We are taking on coal and everything is dirty and upset. To be continued in my next—-

I remain, well and contented, your affectionate Son

James.

For More Information:

• Gary C. Stein “‘A Desperate and Dangerous Man’: Captain Michael A. Healy’s Arctic Cruise of 1900.” The Alaska Journal, 15 (Spring 1985): 39-45. 

• Gary C. Stein “‘The Old Man is Good and Drunk Now’: Captain Michael A. Healy and the Cruise of 1889.” Alaska History, 24 (Spring 2009): 16-43.

• Gary C. Stein “‘Their Feast of Death’: The Wreck of the Whaler James Allen.” Coriolis, 7 (No. 2, 2017): 21-48.

• Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Dept. of Botany Collections.

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Alaskan History Magazine is an independently produced magazine dedicated to portraying the colorful and important past of the Last Frontier as an interesting and exciting journey of exploration. The style is conversational, yet confident and informative, thoroughly researched to bring the true stories of the people, places and events which shaped Alaskan history to a wide readership.

Published bimonthly by Northern Light Media. Full color, no advertising. Subscribe, order all the back issues, or just order a single issue at this link.

The Early Settlement of Valdez

From the March-April issue of Alaskan History Magazine:

The Pathfinder is the official publication of the Pioneers of Alaska, a fraternal group which traces its history to the Yukon Order of Pioneers, organized at Fortymile in 1898. The following article on the early settlement of Valdez is from The Pathfinder, February, 1920. The issue is available to read or download at Google Books.

On the 22nd day of September, 1897, the schooner Laninfa sailed from San Francisco with 33 passengers aboard enroute to the mouth of the Copper River in Alaska. They had been told that they could navigate this river with small power boats and were fully equipped to make a trip up that turbulent stream. On their arrival at Orca they learned that it was impossible for them to ascend the Copper River with any kind of boat, so about 20 of the men in the party chartered a cannery craft and came on up to Valdez Bay having been told that men had gone to the Copper River by that route thus landing above the glaciers and rapids of that river. The cannery boat carrying 22 men came into Valdez Bay on the 10th day of November, 1897 and landed its passengers at the place now known as Swanport, just below where Fort Liscum now is built. This was the first settlement on the shores of Valdez Bay.

Schooner Moonlight in Valdez Bay, March, 1898. Neal Benedict [ASL Neal D. Benedict Collection P201-009]

Sometime in December, about a month after the landing of the Swanport party, the schooner Bering Sea hove into port with a large number of passengers bound for the Klondike by way of the Copper River.  In February, 1898, the steamer Valencia arrived in the Bay with 600 passengers, and crafts of all kinds then came thick and fast until there were over 4,000 men climbing over the glacier bound for the Copper River enroute to the Klondike. In 1898 Capt. Abercrombie arrived in Valdez Bay for the purpose of opening a road from the Bay to the Interior. 

In the winter of 1898 a group of gold seekers traveled to Alaska aboard the schooner Moonlight, bound for Valdez and the Copper River country beyond its great glacier. Among these prospectors were Charles Margeson, who would write a book of their adventures (Experiences of Gold Hunters in Alaska, 1899), and Neal D. Benedict, who took many photographs. 

Arriving in Valdez Bay in March, 1898, Margeson was dismayed to find not the wharf they’d expected, but a large shelf of ice extending a long ways out into the bay. He described their landing and unloading, and what they found when going ashore: 

“About a mile from where the schooner was anchored was a piece of timber containing two or three hundred acres, and running down through this was a clear stream of pure water. In the edge of this timber, and near this little stream, were about one hundred tents, clustered together, and others were being set up. This unique camp—for it was about that—presented a scene of unusual activity. Some were tramping down the snow, preparing a place to put up their tents; some were cutting tent poles, and others were cutting firewood, while others were getting their dog teams ready for hauling their goods up to the foot of the glacier, which was five miles away.”

Learn more about early Valdez

• Valdez Museum & Historical Archives  

• Experiences of Gold Hunters in Alaska, Charles Margeson 

• History of the Valdez Trail National Park Service 

• History of Valdez 

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Single back issues of Alaskan History Magazine, which carries no advertising in its 48 page 8.5” x 11” full-color format, are available for $10.00 each postpaid (U.S. only). Subscriptions (6 issues) are $48.00 per year (postpaid). For more information click here.

 

Early Alaskan Trails

From the March-April issue of Alaskan History Magazine:

The first trails in Alaska were made by animals, those which came after that showed where the earliest men and women traveled. Then came the explorers, the missionaries, the scientists, the prospectors….

The Yukon, Tanana, & Kuskokwim Rivers

The earliest trails in Alaska were generally those which relied on the frozen rivers, lakes, and streams which crossed the land, the largest rivers being the main thoroughfares, with smaller streams branching off toward destinations, and lakes and ponds providing easy access across sometimes rough country. Most early maps of Alaska include the notations for Winter Trails; in the other three seasons these trails simply did not exist, or they were traveled by rafts, boats or canoes. Still today many trails rely on frozen waterways for part of their length, i.e. the Iditarod Trail on the Yukon River between Ruby and Kaltag.

The Native Trails

Native groups traditionally created their own transportation networks, utilizing local paths for subsistence activities, while longer trails were used for hunting, intertribal trade, and occasional raiding trips. These routes usually followed the contours of the land, tracing natural corridors. Exploring Keystone Canyon north of Valdez in 1884, Lt. Abercrombie reported “a deep and well-worn trail up the canyon and across to the Tiekel River in the Copper River valley.” 

Glacier Trails

In the late 1880’s prospectors objecting to foreign control of the Chilkoot and White Pass transportation corridors began seeking an All American route to the Klondike goldfields, but they found only one way across the mighty Chugach mountain range: an exceptionally difficult and dangerous path over the Valdez and Klutina glaciers. In 1898, the army sent Abercrombie back to locate a safer way. Spotting the remains of a Chugach trail leading to the north toward Keystone Canyon, he proceeded to the interior via the Valdez Glacier, and found an Ahtna path leading up the right (or western) bank of the Copper River. Both were eventually utilized by the Valdez Trail. 

Read more about the early trails in Alaska in the March-April issue of Alaskan History Magazine. Link will open a new window to the Alaskan History Magazine page at Northern Light Media.

 

March-April Issue

The March-April, 2020 issue of Alaskan History Magazine features a wide range of Alaskan history, from some of the first photographs and the earliest settlers at Valdez to an adventuresome lady musher who blazed trails where today’s Alaska Highway crosses the northern landscape. 

Eadweard Muybridge was a man as strange as his oddly-spelled name, but his photographs of southeastern Alaska and Sitka for the Department of the Army provide a fascinating look at the area barely six months after the transferral ceremony of the land purchased from Russia by the U.S. government. The second article explores the contentious disagreement over the geographic boundaries between the southeastern part of the territory of Alaska and the province of British Columbia, whose foreign affairs were still under British authority. 

U.S. Revenue Cutter Bear

Dr. Gary Stein shares letters penned in 1894 by physician James Taylor White, who wrote them to his mother while serving as surgeon aboard the U.S. Revenue Cutter Bear, under Captain Michael A. Healy. Dr. White described the journey, the land, and the people, and shared his personal opinions about what he saw on his Arctic travels. 

Dr. Thomas Eley writes of the adventurous Luther Sage “Yellowstone” Kelly, an Indian scout from the Old West whose wide travels in Alaska helped write our state’s history. The founding and settling of the gold rush town of Valdez, and the 1,000 mile sled dog journey of Taku Lodge owner Mary Joyce, from Juneau to Fairbanks in the winter of 1936, round out this issue! 

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You can subscribe to Alaskan History Magazine via PayPal at this link, or order a single issue for yourself or a friend; or order any back issues you may be missing at this page.

Single back issues of Alaskan History Magazine, which carries no advertising in its 48 page 8.5” x 11” full-color format, are available for $10.00 each postpaid (U.S. only). Descriptions are on this page, select the issue or issues you’d like to order and payment can be made via PayPal or with any credit card – but please indicate which back issue(s) you are ordering.

 

Esther Birdsall Darling

An article in the Jan-Feb issue of Alaskan History Magazine focuses on the author of several classic Alaskan books such as Baldy of Nome, Navarre of the North, and Boris, Grandson of Baldy. An avid fan of the sled dog races in Nome, Esther Birdsall Darling was also the kennel partner to the King of the Alaskan Trail, Allan Alexander “Scotty” Allan.

Esther Birdsall was born into wealth and privilege, the daughter of a prominent family in the early history of northern California. Born in 1868, Esther grew up in a fine home, tended by three live-in servants, in the state capitol of Sacramento. In 1907, at the relatively late age of 38, Esther married the co-owner of the Darling & Dean Hardware business in far-off Nome, Alaska.

The sled dogs of the Stefansson Expedition had formerly carried the mail to Nome. C. E. Darling, ‘Scotty’ Allan, and Vilhjalmur Stefansson are among the men seen here at Darling & Dean.

Charles Edward ‘Ned’ Darling was born in Ireland in 1871. He was working for a west-coast based paint company in 1900 when he decided to transport a supply of fireproof paint to the Nome gold camp for fire-proofing the miners’ tents. After looking things over he determined that a hardware store could prove profitable, and by 1915 his store, the farthest north hardware store on the American continent, would boast a $150,000 inventory of hardware, ship chandlery, roofing, dredging supplies, and mining and mill supplies. Darling & Dean Hardware outfitted several Arctic expeditions, including explorer and anthropologist Vilhjalmur Stefansson, who in 1913 purchased $21,000 in supplies for a three-year scientific study of the Arctic. 

A.A. “Scotty” Allan and Baldy

Charles Darling was also a musher, and in February of 1906 he set a world’s record for long distance mushing when he drove his dog team from Nome to Seattle—via Valdez and ship—in only 42 days. Dog teams were held in high esteem, for a string of strong huskies was the most reliable mode of transportation over winter trails. The secretary of Darling & Dean Hardware, a Scotsman named Allan Alexander Allan, known as “Scotty,” partnered with Charles Darling in a dog kennel, and when the new Mrs. Darling met the furry residents of this kennel it was love at first sight, and that love would blossom into a literary legacy.

Baldy of Nome, published in 1912, was kept it in print by popular demand for more than forty years. It was filled with exciting true stories such as the time during the 60-mile Solomon Derby when Scotty, leaning over his sled to look at a broken runner, hit his head on an iron trail marker and was knocked unconscious. Baldy stopped the team, returned to his injured driver and roused him with nudges and howls, and then led the team to win the race. Stories of Baldy’s descendants followed, including Boris, Grandson of Baldy; Navarre of the North, and collections of prose and poetry about Alaska. 

Charles and Esther Darling left Alaska in 1918 and moved to Berkeley, California, and so also did Scotty Allan, taking along his old friend and trail mate Baldy. When Baldy died in 1922 Esther Darling and Scotty Allan obtained a special permit from the city to bury the famous dog in the back yard of the Allan home in Oakland, overlooking San Francisco Bay. A rose bush was planted over his grave, and a lengthy obituary ran in The New York Times. 

Esther Birdsall Darling spent her later years as a popular speaker at civic, charity, and other social events, describing life in Alaska during the heyday of the All Alaska Sweepstakes to her attentive audiences. She was justifiably proud of her partnership with A. A. “Scotty” Allan, who she always described as the best dog man in Alaska, and their champion leader Baldy. Esther passed away June 2, 1965, at the age of 96, in Auburn, California, near her childhood home. She was buried in the Sacramento City Cemetery, close to her parents and her husband. ~•~

 

The entire article is in the Jan-Feb issue of Alaskan History Magazine.