Thu, September 04, 2014
By: Charles Austin [gallery ids="3398"] Raspberry Island is a small, steep and densely wooded island wedged between the larger islands of Kodiak and Afognak in southwestern Alaska. It is separated from Afognak to its north by a narrow channel called Raspberry Strait, and along Raspberry Strait in 1951 there were three herring reduction plants called Port Wakefield, Port Vita and Iron Creek. Iron Creek was the smallest, having no fishing boats of its own but relying on...
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Mon, September 01, 2014
By Laura Samuelson, Director, Carrie M. McLain Memorial Museum In the previous post on this blog, the brothers Wilfred and Ed dealt with the tragic death of their fellow miner Ed Rouse who is buried in Nome. It’s starting to get darker at night as the Midnight Sun begins to wane. Now it’s time for some weather to set in … July 29th, 1900 Today is Sunday and we are laying off. I made some bread and a pudding today....
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Fri, August 22, 2014
By Laura Samuelson, Director, Carrie M. McLain Memorial Museum In the last week’s post, the brothers Wilfred and Ed along with their hired hand Ed Rouse were mining on a pretty good schedule. Just when things seemed to be going well tragedy strikes… July 22nd, 1900 Went to bed at 7A.M. I was aroused by a cry from Ed and rushed out. Rouse was wound up in rope on the gypsy. Brother Ed and I took knives and cut him...
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Mon, August 11, 2014
by Laura Samuelson, Director, Carrie M. McLain Memorial Museum In the last post on this blog, Wilfred and brother Ed spent a lot of time perfecting the operation of their water pumps. Wilfred suffered from severe indigestion from heaven knows what and with no Tums around in 1900. However, they did see their first sign of GOLD. It was $18 per ounce back then... July 15th, 1900 It is just a month today since we landed and we are running...
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Mon, August 04, 2014
by Laura Samuelson, Director, Carrie M. McLain Memorial Museum We continue our look back at the 1900 Nome Gold Rush with more perspective from Wilfred A. McDaniel Sr. Here again are more excerpts from “Alaska Beckons” written by Wilfred in 1943. His love of Nome is quite evident in that his experiences in this wild land are still fresh in his mind four decades later. At the end of the last passage, Wilfred and his brother Ed finally rounded up...
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