Biographies of Nome, Alaska
Biographies of Nome, Alaska
A tailor and a sailor and men a lucky miner, this is a rythmic story in brief of the life of Erik O. Lindblom. When told in detail it sounds like a romance. It contains all the essential elements of a romance. The humble life of a journeyman, plying his trade in many towns and villages of Europe, is the opening chapter. Immigrating to America he works diligently with the ambition of acquiring a modest competence. He hears the report of a new Eldorado in the far north and decides to abandon the ceaseless grind of his trade and try his luck as a gold miner. In order to husband his meager funds he ships as a sailor before the mast. Before arriving at his destination, and after suffering all the rebuffs and humiliation that are meted out to a green sailor under the command of an old whaling captain, he learns that the gold fields for which he was bound are a fake, as mythical as the Golden Fleece vainly sought by the ancient Argonauts. In desperation over his plight as an inexperienced sailor, and discouraged by the eclipse of his mining prospects, he deserts from the vessel on a barren shore, whither he has been sent to fill the water casks of the ship. He wanders over an uninhabited country, and is luckily rescued from starvation by some traveling natives; is transported in a skin boat on Bering Sea a distance of 200 miles to a little settlement of white men in this bleak country; becomes a prospector, and before the close of the brief Arctic summer makes one of the most wonderful discoveries of gold in the history of that precious metal. Is not this the synopsis of a story?
Erik O. Lindblom is the son of a school teacher. He was born in Dalarne, Sweden, June 27, 1857. When a young man he learned the trade of tailor, and gratified a nomadic instinct by traveling over a large part of Europe. He went to America in 1886, and was following his trade in Oakland, California, at the time of the Kotzebue excitement. April 27, 1898, he shipped before the mast on the bark Alaska, commanded by Captain B. Cogan, carrying passengers and their outfits to the new gold fields. The vessel encountered ice in Bering Sea, and it was not deemed safe to enter the Arctic Ocean until the season was farther advanced. While at Indian Point on the Siberian coast, Mr. Lindblom learned from whalers that no discovery of gold in paying quantity had been made in the Kotzebue Sound country. The reports of the whalers were very discouraging. Captain Cogan was an old whaler, and as Grantley Harbor was a favorite rendezvous for whalers, where they waited for an opportunity to follow the ice through Bering Strait, he sailed across the sea and anchored in the harbor. While here he sent a part of his crew ashore for fresh water. The date was July 5, and Mr. Lindblom was one of the sailors in the detail.
The sailors landed at the mouth of a stream which flowed out of a cavern of snow and ice. The tundra was bare, but the gulches of the distant hills were still filled with snow. Snow that had drifted in the depressions of the water courses had not melted, but the creek had been flowing for weeks beneath these drifts. Mr. Lindblom had made up his mind to quit the ship, and the snow cavern through which the stream flowed offered him his only opportunity, as all this country is barren of tree or shrub. Entering the cavern unobserved by his companions, he followed the water course up stream. In some places the arched roof was so low that he could make progress only by stooping. The way was dark, and water dripped from the roof. It seemed a long time before a welcome ray of light indicated a place where he might emerge from the dark and tortuous course. Climbing to the surface with difficulty, he carefully noted his position, and was gratified to discover that he had reached a point where he could not be observed from the vessel. His next purpose was to place as great a distance between himself and the vessel as possible, and he started for the interior and kept going until overcome by fatigue. He knew that there was a mission and a trading station on Golovin Bay, which could be reached by crossing the country a hundred miles or more, and he started on the trip. But he had no conception of the difficulties in the way, the streams which were now at flood and which had to be crossed, the slow progress one makes traveling over the country, and besides this he was without food. The third day out he encountered a white man, a lone prospector on one of the streams in this region, but the prospector's food supply was nearly exhausted. But if the prospector could not supply him with food for the trip he had undertaken, he could and did furnish him with timely and useful advice. He told him to go back, that his bones would bleach in the mountains if he persisted in the attempt to cross the country to Golovin Bay.
His experience had demonstrated the wisdom of the advice, but the problem he had to solve was how to get back to Port Clarence and escape the vigilant eye of Captain Cogan. If he could only manage to live until the vessel sailed he could find succor at the reindeer station at Teller, on Grantley Harbor. But he started back, and when he got within sight of the harbor he saw the bark Alaska still riding at anchor. It was evident that a part of the crew was searching for him, and here he was, back where they might discover him at any moment. This was a critical situation from which he escaped by the aid of an Eskimo. Promarshuk, a chief, an oomalik among the Kavariagmutes, with his family, dogs and wares, was starting on a trading expedition to Golovin Bay. He took the forlorn sailor into his big boat made of walrus skins, and covered him with the pelts of many lands of animals. Beneath these he was secure from observation, but he nearly died of suffocation, and the stench of the skins made him dreadfully sick. Promarshuk's oomiak sailed within a few rods of the Alaska, and passed unmolested out of the harbor. Skirting the coast southeasterly the Eskimo craft was soon out of sight of the bark, and Mr. Lindblom thankfully breathed the pure air again.
On the way down the coast Promarshuk stopped at the mouth of Egoshoruk River, now known as Snake River, the spot where Nome is located. Mr. Lindblom prospected on the bar at the mouth of Dry Creek, and found colors. It was July 27 when Promarshuk's primitive transport arrived at Dexter's trading station on Golovin Bay. Mr. Lindblom told the trader of his discovery at the mouth of Bourbon Creek, and Dexter wanted to send him back to the place on a prospecting trip, but he chose the work offered him by N. O. Hultberg, the missionary at this station. His first employment was as prospector on Ophir Creek. At the same time Melsing and Libby were prospecting on the same stream. Later he, Haglin and Brynteson prospected on Mystery Creek and Fish River. Subsequently they were joined by Jafet Lindeberg, who had been prospecting on the Casadepoga and Neukluk. Both Brynteson and Mr. Lindblom had been in what is since known as the Nome country, and found prospects, and arrangements were made to go to that region. A keel was put on an old scow, a sail was made, and the queer craft was rigged. Erik O. Lindblom, Jafet Lindeberg and John E. Brynteson sailed in this vessel on a hundred mile sea voyage. They skirted the coast, making slow progress, as the weather was stormy and the rain incessant. September 15 they arrived at the mouth of Snake River, and effecting a landing without a serious mishap, they began the work of prospecting. September 22 they made discoveries and locations on Anvil Creek, and subsequently prospected on Snow Gulch, Glacier, Rock, Mountain and Dry Creeks. They panned gold valued at near $50, and had it in shot gun shells when they returned to Golovin Bay.
At Golovin they met Gabe Price, who was returning from Kotzebue Sound. He was a miner, fully understanding the laws governing the location of mining claims and the organization of districts. It was necessary to have more men to organize a district The original discoverers confided to Mr. Price, Dr. Kittiben, who was the Government physician of the reindeer herders, a deer herder by the name of Tornensis, and Mr. Haglin. Returning to the Nome country, the claims were properly measured with a tape line and staked so as to comply with the law. By this time winter was encroaching, but notwithstanding the freezing ground, the prospectors constructed a crude rocker and worked assiduously with it and with pan and shovel. In three hours panning on Snow Gulch Lindblom, Lindeberg and Brynteson obtained gold valued at $166. Within a few days the party extracted more than $1,500 of gold dust They then returned to Golovin, and preparations were made that winter for the next season's operations.
The readers of this book know the value of this discovery. Through it Mr. Lindblom has acquired more than the modest competence he had hoped for in his early life. He is the owner of a valuable quartz mine in Mexico, and has varied property interests. He is also operating in the Kotzebue country, where he owns some promising property. His objective point when he started for the North was this region. He took a desperate chance to avoid going there when he heard discouraging reports of the country, and through this action he was one of the discoverers of the Nome gold fields. After the lapse of a few years a strike was made on Shungnak, a tributary of the Kobuk River, and Mr. Lindblom sent his brother with four men into this region, and they have located some good ground, if gravel that yields as much as $4 to the pan may be called good ground. In an interview Mr. Lindblom said: "I have good faith in the Kobuk."
During the winter season Mr. Lindblom lives in Oakland, Cal. He is fond of automobiling, and being able to indulge in luxuries, owns a valuable machine. He is a retiring, unassuming gentleman, and wealth has not given him false ideas of the superiority of those who possess it. (Source: Nome & Seward Peninsula, History, Description, Biographies & Stories, by E. S. Harrison, Seattle, 1905; pages 210-213 - Submitted by Peggy Thompson)
CAPTAIN WILLIAM E. GEIGERCaptain Geiger is one of the best known men in the Northland. He went to Alaska first in 1894, and was on the Yukon in the early days, the days of the Yukon pioneers.
Captain Geiger was born in Marion County, Ohio, June 14, 1865. In 1887 he followed the advice of Horace Greeley and went west. In 1894 he started for Alaska. The object of his trip was to mine, and he went equipped with a dredger, which he took over the Chilkoot Pass, using a block and tackle to transport the heavy machinery over this difficult pass. At Caribou Crossing he sawed timber with which to equip his dredger, and began work mining on Cassiar Bar on the upper Yukon. These mining operations were stopped by high water and Captain Geiger was then employed by the N. A. T. & T. Co. as master of the steamer P. B. Weare. In the capacity of captain of the N. A. T. & T. Co.'s river steamers, he navigated the Yukon until 1899. He unloaded the first expedition of prospectors at the mouth of Indian Creek, twenty-five miles above the Klondike.
After the Klondike strike he acquired interests in the Dawson country and incidentally did some work as a miner. Reports from the Nome camp induced him to quit the Yukon Territory in 1899 and join the stampede to the new diggings on American soil. After he arrived in Nome he saw the necessity of a bridge across Snake River, and also saw the opportunity of making some money by constructing a bridge across this stream. The serious difficulty that he had to overcome was the lack of suitable lumber in the camp for building the bridge. He did not have any money, his total assets consisting of four dogs, but he did not consider this an impediment to the enterprise. With his dog team he gathered drift-wood on the Nome beach, and began the work of building the bridge. The bridge was finished and ready for transportation by the opening of navigation in 1900. Its construction cost $19,000, and that sum represented Captain Geiger's indebtedness. In forty-two days after the first steamer landed in Nome, 1900, he did not owe a dollar-the bridge had paid for itself. During the season of 1900 he built two bridges across Nome River, but both of these structures were carried out by the floods resulting from the heavy storms of that season. The largest traffic over the Snake River bridge was on June 21, 1900, when the receipts were $1,013. Captain Geiger never exacted any toll of women and children. This bridge was a mint in 1900, yielding an immense revenue. Captain Geiger sold this property in 1902, and the bridge was subsequently bought by the City of Nome.
Captain Geiger left Nome for Valdez during this year and expended considerable money in Valdez in the construction of a wharf which he subsequently sold. After the Tanana strike he went to Fairbanks, and has since made several trips to this region of Alaska.Captain Geiger possesses the qualities conspicuous in most of the Yukon pioneers liberal to prodigality, frankly and bluntly honest, energetic and hopeful, and believes in the innate goodness of human nature. He has many friends in all parts of Alaska. (Source: Nome & Seward Peninsula, History, Description, Biographies & Stories, by E. S. Harrison, Seattle, 1905; pages 213-214 - Submitted by Peggy Thompson)
G. W. Price is one of the pioneers of the Nome country and one of the organizers of the Nome Mining District. In 1898 he was a member of the C. D. Lane expedition to the Kotzebue Sound country. When this expedition disembarked on the shores of Kotzebue Sound, Mr. Price ascended the Kobuk River and spent the summer in prospecting, but failed to find anything that was encouraging. Late in the season after the members of his party had gone into winter quarters, he boarded a small schooner for St. Michael. He had been told by Missionary Brevig that gold had been found on Ophir Creek in the Golovin Bay country and he intended to get in this region and if possible do some prospecting. Mr. Lane had returned to the states and Mr. Price in going to the other part of Alaska acted upon his own judgment, being prompted by the story told him by the missionary.
When he arrived at St Michael he met P. H. Anderson who had recently come into the country to take charge of the Swedish Mission on Golovin Bay. Anderson and others told him of the gold discovery on Fish River and he at once made arrangements with Mr. Anderson for passage on a schooner from St Michael to Golovin Bay. During this trip Mr. Anderson told him of Lindeberg, Lindblom and Brynteson's prospecting trip to Anvil Creek, and said that these prospectors were not miners and in case they found anything he would like to have Mr. Price return with them. Three days after his arrival at Golovin Bay the prospectors returned and reported the strike that they had made. They had about $35 in gold dust as evidence of the genuineness of their discovery. A return trip was immediately arranged and with Dr. Kituken, John Tornensis and the three discoverers of the Anvil Creek diggings, Mr. Price started in a small schooner for the new Eldorado. October 12 was the date they left Golovin Bay, and they arrived at the mouth of Snake River October 15.
After organizing the district and locating claims they devoted a few days to rocking on Anvil Creek and Snow Gulch and succeeded in taking out of the ground about $1,800 in gold dust By November 3 the weather became so cold that they could not do any more mining. The party concluded to return to Golovin Bay and let the people know what had been accomplished. The news traveled like wild fire, and all through the winter stampeders with dog teams made their way to Nome. About January 12, 1899, it became necessary, on account of the number of prospectors at Nome and the locations that had been made, to keep the records at that place and Dr. Kittilsen, who had been selected as recorder of the district, appointed Mr. Price deputy recorder. Mr. Price thereupon returned to Nome and built the first cabin in the town. This log cabin is shown in the engraving in this volume made from the first photograph of Nome. He acted as deputy recorder until March, 1899, when he returned to Golovin Bay for the purpose of getting his supplies to Nome for the opening of his claim in the spring.
After the discovery Mr. Price wrote a letter to C. D. Lane telling him of the strike. Mr. Price says that it was one of the greatest pleasures of his fife to be able to write this letter and a letter which conveyed the glad tidings to his wife. He wrote Mr. Lane that one claim that he had staked. No. 8 above, on Anvil Creek, would produce $100,000 the next season, and he underestimated the output It was this letter that impelled Mr. Lane to organize the Wild Goose Mining and Trading Company, which is now the biggest mining corporation in Northwestern Alaska, Mr. Price was born in Sonora, California, August 24, 1869. He is a son of a miner, prospector and pioneer of that state, and acquired a knowledge of mining by inheritance, as well as by experience beginning in his boyhood days. He was educated in the public schools of California. When eighteen years old he began work in the famous Utka Mine at Angels, Cal.v and continued in the employment of the company owning this property until he started for Alaska as heretofore related. Mr. C D. Lane is one of the owners of the Utica Mine. This property has produced more than $17,000,000, and Mr. Price has been connected with its development and exploitation in nearly every capacity from miner to foreman and manager.
Mr. Price mined some of the most valuable property in the Nome country during the season of 1899 and 1900. He was working No. 8 Anvil Creek the summer of 1900, when Receiver McKenzie woke him up at midnight to inform him that by an order of the court, he, McKenzie, has been placed in possession of the property. The following season he disposed of his interest to the Wild Goose Mining and Trading Company and returned to his native state, investing in a stock ranch property in the county where he was born. Mr. Price is a type of the West He is a good natured but an aggressive man, liberal in his judgment of human motive, generous and public spirited. By privations, hardships and faithful work in the Northland he has honestly and fully earned all the good fortune that has come to him. (Source: Nome & Seward Peninsula, History, Description, Biographies & Stories, by E. S. Harrison, Seattle, 1905; pages 214-215 - Submitted by Peggy Thompson)
Dr. A. N. Kittilsen was the first recorder of the Nome Mining District. He is one of the pioneers of Northwestern Alaska. After Dr. Sheldon Jackson had succeeded in securing the cooperation of Congress in the undertaking of introducing domestic reindeer in Alaska, and after the experiment had proved successful, further Government aid was obtained to the extent of procuring reindeer herders from Lapland to teach the natives how to take care of the reindeer. One of the terms of the contract, between the United States Government and the Lapland reindeer herders, specified that the Government should provide a physician who would go to Alaska and locate at the reindeer station where his services would be available in time of need. Dr. Kittilsen was selected for this post. He was of Scandinavian ancestry and sufficiently familiar with the language of the Laplanders to be able to communicate with them. He accordingly came to Northwestern Alaska in the spring of 1896, and besides practicing his profession where his services were needed, he filled the position of assistant superintendent of the reindeer station. During the second year of his residence in Alaska he was acting superintendent of reindeer.
The reindeer station was first established at Port Clarence, but in December, 1897, it was changed to Unalakleet. Dr. Kittilsen was at this station when Libby, Melsing, Blake and Mordaunt were prospecting on Ophir Creek during the summer of 1898. Three years previous to this date a man by the name of Johansen had discovered gold near the head waters of the Neukluk, and had whipsawed lumber and made sluice boxes with which to work the claim, when he received a letter from some friend or relative on the Yukon informing him of a strike which induced him to abandon his plans and leave this part of the country.
Dr. Kittilsen is familiar with all the circumstances connected with the discovery of gold on Seward Peninsula. He knows the story of the trip to Sinuk River in July, 1898. This trip was made by John Brynteson, J. L. Haglin, H. L. Blake, M. Porter, Chris Kimber and N. O. Hultberg. The party started from Golovin Bay in a small boat to investigate the discovery of gold in the beach near the mouth of Sinuk River, reported by natives. A storm coming up forced the party to make a landing at the mouth of Snake River, and while waiting there for the storm to abate they went up the left limit of Snake River prospecting the country for gold. They crossed Anvil Creek and found colors in this stream but did not stake. Returning to their boat they continued their trip to Sinuk but did not find anything at this place.
After this party returned, Brynteson, Lindblom and Lindeberg arranged to return and investigate the prospects found on Anvil Creek. Dr. Kittilsen had quit the Government's service and was at Golovin Bay at this time. When the three prospectors got back from Anvil Creek they had with them thirty-five dollars in gold which they had panned, and their report was evidence that a big strike had been made. A schooner was chartered and Dr. Kittilsen, G. W. Price and Tornensis accompanied the three discoverers to Anvil Creek. The district was organized and Dr. Kittilsen was selected as recorder. The great richness of Snow Gulch was indicated by the result of four men panning a few hours and obtaining seventy-six dollars of dust. A couple of crude rockers were constructed, and $1,800 was rocked out of Snow Gulch and Anvil Creek.
The party lived in a tent on Specimen Gulch until November 10. By this date the season was so far advanced that it was impossible to do any more mining and they returned to the Sandspit on the westerly side of the mouth of Snake River, where they waited for Missionary Anderson and a Laplander to come after them with a deer team according to promise. The team failed to arrive when they expected it, and they started to return to Golovin Bay in their boat and got as far as Cape Nome when they met the deer team.
As Dr. Kittilsen assisted in the organization of the Nome Mining District and was its first recorder, holding that office until August, 1900, he obtained some valuable properties which he has since operated and is still working. Dr. Kittilsen first residence in this country was continuously from the spring of 1896 to the fall of 1899, and during this period he traveled more than 5,000 miles behind reindeer. During his incumbency as recorder, the office was conducted in an admirable manner. The records today bear evidence that they were well kept, even though there was a scarcity of stationery supplies when the district was organized.
Dr. Kittilsen is a native of Wisconsin, and was born in March, 1870. His father was a Norwegian and his mother was the first white child born in the town of Christiana, Dane County, Wisconsin. He was educated at the University of Wisconsin, and was graduated from the Rush Medical College of Chicago in 1894. After practicing his profession two years in Wisconsin, he went to Alaska as narrated in the first paragraph of this story.
In 1901 Dr. Kittiken and Berthe Knatvold were married in Tacoma, Washington. They have one child, Anne Clarissa, now three years old.
Dr. Kittilsen is a man of sterling worth. The good fortune that has come to him as a result of his sojourn in the Northland could not have fallen in a more deserving place. As a pioneer of this country, and as a man who helped to frame the rules and regulations governing the new camp, his record is an interesting experience and a part of the early history of Seward Peninsula of which his friends and descendants may be proud. (Source: Nome & Seward Peninsula, History, Description, Biographies & Stories, by E. S. Harrison, Seattle, 1905; pages 215-217 - Submitted by Peggy Thompson)
GEORGE M. ASHFORD
George M. Ashford is one of the pioneers of Northern Alaska. He is a civil engineer and surveyor, and was the first man of his profession to arrive in Nome. He was one of the unfortunate stampeders to the Kotzebue Sound country in 1898. At the time of the excitement caused by the report of the discovery of gold in this region he and twenty-seven others bought a schooner, in which they made the trip to the Arctic country.
Mr. Ashford spent the winter of 1898 and 1899 on the Kobuk River, a short distance below Squirrel River. In the spring of 1899, the news of the Anvil strike having previously reached the Arctic slope, he started over the ice with two companions for Nome. They hauled their sleds and accomplished the long and arduous journey, full of peril and hardships, in a month's time. They left the Kobuk and started across Kotzebue Sound on May 1. This season was unusually late, and while crossing the ice of Kotzebue Sound they encountered extremely severe weather. On the third day out Dr. De France, one of their traveling companions, became exhausted and froze to death. They were ten days on the ice before they reached Cape Espenberg.After reaching the coast of Bering Sea and crossing Port Clarence Bay the season was pretty well advanced, it being the latter part of May, and the ice over the sea in many places was rotten and unsafe. At a place above Sinuk River two men, who were traveling with a dog team and following Mr. Ashford's party, narrowly escaped being drowned. The dog team, sledge and all of their supplies were lost by the breaking of the ice.
Mr. Ashford says that when he arrived within forty miles of Nome he saw evidence of the "pencil and hatchet" miners. At this early date the beach for this distance west of Nome was staked. He arrived at Nome May 31 and found a bustling, thriving mining camp. His most serious regret was that he did not have his transit with him, as there was a pressing demand for the services of a surveyor and much work that he could have done if he had had his instruments.
During the early part of this season Mr. Ashford became associated with J. M. Davidson, and they did the first work of surveying and engineering that was ever done on Seward Peninsula. Mr. Ashford was one of the engineers of the Miocene Ditch Company, and has since been connected with most of the important ditch enterprises of this region.
Mr. Ashford was born near Lisbon, Ohio, January 2, 1866. When he was eight years old his (amity moved to Iowa, and he was educated in the public schools of that state, and was subsequently graduated from the Iowa State College in the class of '92 with the degree of B. C. E. His first work as an engineer was with the Carnegie Steel Co. of Pittsburgh Pa. For a period of three or four years he was an engineer for the Pittsburg Bridge Co., engaged in the drafting and construction department of that company's extensive work. He was sent to North Carolina as an engineer in connection with the construction of George W. Vanderbilt's mansion at Biitmore. The positions he filled required technical knowledge and practical experience, but the gold fever was latent in his blood, and when the report of rich discoveries in Alaska reached him, the malady rapidly developed. The vicissitudes of life in the Northland have not entirely destroyed the germs that caused the gold fever in Mr. Ashford's system, as he is still identified with the country. His competency as an engineer and his high standing in his profession enable him to find very profitable employment, and he has mining interests from which he may yet realize the dreams he had before starting to this frozen land.
Mr. Ashford possesses unostentatious merit, and is capable, trustworthy and honorable in all of his relations with his fellow men. (Source: Nome & Seward Peninsula, History, Description, Biographies & Stories, by E. S. Harrison, Seattle, 1905; pages 217-218 - Submitted by Peggy Thompson)
JACOB A. WESTBY
J. A. Westby is a well known and highly respected citizen of Nome. He has been identified with the mining interests of the Nome District since the fall of 1899. In the following year he was appointed by Judge Noyes to the position of United States Commissioner and Recorder of the Norton Sound Precinct, but this position being a cause of expense instead of a source of profit, he resigned. His mining interests are situated on Willow Creek and Casadepago and Solomon Rivers.Mr. Westby is a native of Norway and was born October 19, 1848. When fourteen years of age he left home and went to America. He received
most of his education in the public schools of the United States. For several years he was a sailor on Lake Michigan, and for a period of five years was on the police force of Red Wing, Minn. Subsequently he received an appointment of Deputy United States Surveyor, having learned the profession of surveying under the first Deputy United States Surveyor in the state of Michigan. In 1885 he was deputy warden of the Michigan State Prison, and subsequently for a year and a half filled the office of warden. In 1892 he moved to Idaho and engaged in mining. He went to Dawson in 1898, and lived in the Yukon Territory a little more than a year. While in the Yukon Territory he mined on a fraction between 16 and 17 El Dorado Creek. Attracted by the Nome strike he came down the river, arriving in Nome November 28, 1899. Mr. Westby has been a leading member of the Anvil Masonic Club, being No. 14 on the roll of charter members of this organization, which has done much good work of a helpful and charitable character.In September, 1872, he and Miss Marie Summers were married in Red Wing, Minn. They have had ten children, eight of whom, five girls and three boys, are living. Mr. Westby is a man of uncompromising honesty; a man of strong character and the courage to do right. (Source: Nome & Seward Peninsula, History, Description, Biographies & Stories, by E. S. Harrison, Seattle, 1905; pages 218-219)
N. O. Hultberg is one of the earliest pioneers of Seward Peninsula. He was sent by the Swedish Missionary Society to Golovin Bay in 1893, the object of this trip being to establish an industrial school for natives. Mr. Hultberg is a native of Southern Sweden, and was born March 24, 1865. His father was a manufacturer of farming implements, and after receiving a public school education his son learned the trade of a wood and iron worker. He left Sweden in 1887, and went direct to Pullman, Illinois, where he was employed for a period of several years by the Pullman Car Company. His mechanical knowledge and ability induced the Swedish Missionary Society to send him to Alaska.
When he arrived in this desolate and far away country, and became acquainted with the people whom he was to instruct in mechanical arts, he was not pleased with the material or his environment He saw the futility of teaching the Eskimo a trade which he would never put to practical use; he saw the injury that this work would do to the natives by taking the young men away from their hunting and fishing at a time when their services were needed to procure the winter food supply for their families. As a result of all this he did not enter into his work with the zeal and enthusiasm that he had when he started from the states. Realizing that he had to stay, he built a station at Golovin, established a school and began his work.
He had not been here long before he learned that the country was mineralized and contained gold. As early as 1895 natives brought him gold prospects from Nome River, which was then known by the native name of Iarcharvik. He wrote to the society to send him some one who possessed a practical knowledge of mining, as he believed the prospects warranted an attempt to discover gold mines. In 1894 a miner by the name of Johansen, who came from the California mines, arrived at the mission. In the spring of 1895, Johansen discovered gold on Neukhik and Casadepoga Rivers and on Melsing and Ophir Creeks. Johansen sawed sluice lumber and made sluice-boxes and, with natives to assist him, prepared to mine on the Neukluk. About this time he received some news from Birch Creek at Circle on the Yukon, became excited over it, abandoned his Neukluk undertaking, and went to Birch Creek.In December, 1895 a man by the name of Howard came down the Yukon and prospected in the Fish River country, finding gold. But Howard did not remain long enough to develop any of his prospects. Mr. Hultberg held a conference with Missionary Karbon and decided to send out to Chicago for miners and supplies. In those days it required a year to send word to the states and get a reply.
In August, 1897, P. H. Anderson arrived at Golovin, having been sent out by the Swedish Missionary Society as a missionary to this station. This gave Mr. Hukberg a chance to get away from the work in which he had been engaged, and to devote his time to prospecting. September 17, the steamer North Fork brought Libby, Mclsing, Blake and Mordaunt. Mr. Hultberg told this party about the discovery that had been made, and prospected with Libby and Blake. In April of the foDbwing year he assisted in organizing the Council District In July of this year Dr. Taylor and C. L. Haglin were coming to Alaska in response to his request for practical miners. Having heard a report of a gold strike on Sinuk River, he asked Blake and Chris Kimber to go on an expedition with him up the coast to investigate the report which he had received from natives. Taylor and Porter returning from Ophir Creek, he agreed to take Mr. Porter with him on the trip up the coast Brynteson and Haglin arriving in the meantime, a party was made up consisting of these two men, Mr. Hultberg, H. L. Blake and Mr. Porter. Mr. Blake represented what was known as the Libby party, and Mr. Porter represented what was known as the Dusty Diamond party. Before starting he fitted out Mr. Lindblom and John Waterson and sent them to the Council District
The expedition sailed in a smaD craft, but a storm arising before they reached their destination, they were forced to make a landing in the mouth of Snake River. During their detention at this place they prospected on Dry Creek, finding colors. They went across the tundra to Moonlight, Anvil and Rock Creeks. On Anvil Creek Mr. Hultberg obtained a pan of gravel in which he got sixty-eight colors. Subsequently he left the party and went up the creek and took another pan of gravel from which he obtained 169 colors. This was the best prospect that he had ever seen from this part of the country, and he thought very favorably of the ground where he obtained it. The date upon which this party left Golovin was July 31. They landed at the mouth of Snake River August 4, and started prospecting the following day.
There was a great deal of disagreement and bickering between the members of the party, all of whom proceeded on their journey to Sinuk as soon as the sea permitted them to resume the trip. After having prospected at Sinuk a couple of days Mr. Hultberg left with two men named Taylor and MoHigan, who were going to St Michael by the way of Golovin. On the way they encountered a very severe storm which prevented them from going ashore. They were lying out on the raging billows for three days and four nights, without any shelter, in a small open boat and short of provisions. On their arrival at Golovin Mr. Hultberg was so exhausted that he did not dare to return to what he considered the greatest discovery he had made on his various prospecting trips. He therefore made arrangement with Lindblom to go along with Brynteson upon his (Brynteson*s) return from the coast. Upon Brynteson's return he persuaded him to go back to where the discovery was made and take Lindblom and possibly persuade Lindeberg also to go along. After this arrangement was made, Hultberg was compelled to go to the states on account of poor health. He returned to Nome in the spring of 1899, landing at Nome the 18th day of June, without funds. Shortly after his arrival he was one of the first victims of the typhoid fever epidemic, raging during the season of 1899.
Mr. Hultberg's vicissitudes during the early history of Nome are many. The narration would fill more space than can be spared in a work of this character. I pause here, however, to briefly narrate one of them which has some historical value, as it shows that the natives had knowledge of the existence of gold on Candle Creek. In 1899 Hultberg received nuggets from natives who told him that they had obtained them on the stream which has since been known as Candle Creek. In 1900 he organized a party and started to go across country from Norton Sound to this stream; becoming ill while on the way, he had to stop with natives, and was compelled to abandon the trip. Mr. Hultberg has been more fortunate during the past two years in his ventures in Alaska. Among other enterprises which he has promoted and successfully financed is the McDermott Ditch in the Solomon River country, and he is also interested in other enterprises which possess encouraging prospects.
Mr. Hultberg and Miss Hannah Holm were married at Unalakleet July 8, 1894, by Missionary Karbon. It is the first white marriage solemnized in Northwestern Alaska. Miss Holm, who was a resident of Galesberg, Illinois, and whom he met before he went to Alaska, was brave enough to take the long journey to the Swedish Mission on Golovin Bay in order to wed the man of her choice. They have four children. The oldest, Albia Abita, was born in Alaska. The other children are Hilmar Amnon, Charles Olof and Hazel Opherima Alaska. Besides his Alaska interests, Mr. Hultberg has a colonization enterprise in Turlock, California, this place being his winter home.
Mr. Hultberg is a courteous gentleman. A modest and quiet demeanor hides a sincere and earnest character that is full of kindness and charity. He has done much for the benefit of the Eskimo, and has always sought to avoid publicity, hence the general public is not aware of his benefactions. (Source: Nome & Seward Peninsula, History, Description, Biographies & Stories, by E. S. Harrison, Seattle, 1905; pages 219-221)
|
|
