Hello Readers, and Happy June!
The image above is a postcard showing a motorized sled, apparently a distant forerunner of the snow machine? There is scant little information available about the image at Wikimedia Commons.
Finding little gems like this is one of the rewards of being a researcher of history, and such finds often result in epic searches for more information. The ‘ice motor’ above certainly triggered a lengthy search online, but to no avail. What is was and how it worked—and whether or not it ever got to Dawson—remains a mystery.
Alaska History
If you do a search for ‘Alaska history’ a long list pops up, and browsing some of the websites is interesting, entertaining, and educational. This is only a starting point:
• Alaska Historical Society - Articles, FAQs, publications, much more
• History.com - Overview, Interesting Facts, Photo Gallery
• Wikipedia - Lengthy, in-depth, with links to related information
• Outline of History - from Wikipedia, a timeline of sorts
• Britannica - A brief, broad overview of the subject
• Alaska Centers - Cultural history
• UAF Jukebox - Alaska Native History and Cultures Timeline
• Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center - There’s an office in Anchorage
• Office of History and Archaeology - Historic preservation
Book Excerpts
Free book excerpts are posted to the newsletter site and emailed to both free and paid subscribers almost every week. Titles online now include A Dog Puncher on the Yukon, A Woman Who Went to Alaska, Long Hard Trails and Sled Dog Tales, The Tanana Valley Railroad, The History of Seward, and The Land of Tomorrow. If you missed one they’re all still free to read at the newsletter site.
Alaskan Museums
The museum is a partnership between the City of Seward and the Resurrection Bay Historical Society(RBHS), whose collection of objects, photographs and archives is housed and exhibited in our museum spaces. Located near downtown Seward at Sixth Avenue and Adams Street, the museum takes visitors on a history-filled journey from the first Native inhabitants of Resurrection Bay to the devastating 1964 earthquake and tsunami, and beyond. Link to history videos at the website linked above.
July-August Alaskan History Magazine
The July-August issue of Alaskan History Magazine will be mailed June 15 for delivery near July 1st. This issue features some great articles, including Alaska Nellie, Jujiro Wada, Rufus Harvey Sargent, the 1926-1929 U.S. Navy Aerial Alaskan Survey, the first Army Forts in Alaska, The Clay Street Cemetery, and more. Click below to pre-order the July-Aug issue, sent postpaid via first class on June 15, and check out a few sample pages of the interior.
From the Archives
Pioneer Packhorses
E. J. Glave and Jack Dalton blazed a trail from tidewater to the Yukon
In 1890 Glave and Dalton followed the Tatshinshini River to the Alsek River, where they purchased a dugout canoe and hired an Indian guide. Their harrowing trip down the whitewater river to the coast was detailed in popular articles and greatly increased interest in this unknown territory.
• There are two versions of this newsletter:
~ A free subscription - the version you’re reading now.
~ A paid subscription ($5/month or $40/year). Check it out with a free trial!
• Books from Northern Light Media include The Alaska Railroad 1902-1923, Alaskan Roadhouses, The Matanuska Colony Barns, The First Iditarod, Alaska & The Klondike, Camping and Trailing in Alaska (1909), The 1935 Matanuska Colony Project, and many more! Check them out at this link:
Alaskan History Magazine is published by Northern Light Media.
Thanks for reading, see you next week!
Helen Hegener, publisher
Northern Light Media