Category: 49 History

Wed, August 19, 2015

Peratrovich a true hero, but myth doesn’t match facts of historic Alaska vote

Editor’s note: The column below first appeared in the Alaska Dispatch News on Aug. 18. by Ross Coen Allow me to begin by stating unequivocally that I support efforts by Governor Bill Walker and numerous others to place Elizabeth Peratrovich on the revised ten-dollar bill. Her tireless advocacy for Native rights has certainly earned her a place among the heroes of Alaska. At the same time, however, we have a responsibility when honoring figures from the past to... (Read More)

Tue, August 11, 2015

Alaska Trail-Blazer: The Cat

by Chris Allan Few machines are capable of moving over Alaska’s snow- and ice-covered terrain, much less while hauling heavy cargo. The Caterpillar-style tractor is one such machine, and it caused a revolution in northern transportation, construction, and mining. During the 1910s and 1920s when the first Holt-brand tractors arrived in Fairbanks and Anchorage, they transformed what was possible. Suddenly a “cat train” could pull hundreds of tons of supplies over mountain passes and across rivers and through winter and summer without having to be... (Read More)

Fri, August 07, 2015

Perpetual Motion in the North

by Chris Allan Perpetual motion has been a dream of inventors and tinkerers for millennia, and during the 1890s, when gold was discovered in the Klondike and stampeders rushed northward seeking fortunes, this fantasy of a non-stop machine that needed no fuel arrived in the gold fields. Both dreamers and charlatans were drawn to the concept, and the frauds made money selling their designs or luring gullible investors to some larger scheme. While living in Dawson the Czech traveler and adventurer Jan Welzl (widely known... (Read More)

Sat, July 18, 2015

The 1915 Tanana Chiefs Meeting

by William Schneider [caption id="attachment_3816" align="alignright" width="300"] Group portrait at the first Tanana Chiefs Conference, 1915. Seated front, L to R: Chief Alexander of Tolovana, Chief Thomas of Nenana, Chief Evan of Koschakat, Chief Alexander William of Tanana. Standing at rear, L to R: Chief William of Tanana, Paul Williams of Tanana, and Chief Charlie of Minto. Albert Johnson Photograph Collection, University of Alaska Fairbanks.[/caption] One hundred years ago this month (July 5-6, 1915), Native leaders from the Tanana... (Read More)

Fri, May 29, 2015

A Brief History of the Vessel JUNO, 1799-1811

by Tobin Shorey In 1799, shipwrights in Dighton, Massachusetts, completed construction of the Juno. According to ship registries in Rhode Island, where the Juno was registered in 1800, she measured 82.5 feet long, 24 feet wide, and 12 feet deep, and could displace up to 295 tons fully loaded. [1] A three-masted ship with two decks, the Juno was a fast sailing merchant vessel that had a sharp keel lined with copper. Records say that she was fitted with a... (Read More)