Where I live (officially) PHOTO From 1897 (AND a Letter From someone who "Wintered Over".

[Sourdough]

Personal letters from Alaska were sometimes published in newspapers as articles. This is one from Sunrise City by a gold miner that wintered over.
From the Ludington Appeal newspaper, Michigan July 15, 1897
Sunrise City, Alaska
May 2, 1897
I received your letter of March 14, on April 26. It finds me well and hearty as I have been since you left. I weigh 180 now. The winter was spent very comfortably here. I have been working almost steady since the 1st of February. I lost all my horses early in the winter but two that I sold to Folsom for 50 dollars. Folsoms horses and the two jacks lived through ok.
This has been the finest winter I ever put in anywhere. It was not cold or stormy. About 10 degrees below zero was the coldest weather we had till March, then I think it got down to 18 degrees below zero here in Sunrise and 26 degrees at Mill’s Creek. I am sorry you could not have stayed in with me. We had dances, minstrel shows and a literary society, so you see we had something nearly every night. I had the proud distinction of being called the leader of the “400” of Sunrise, though I never did anything particular to earn me that title.
There has been two boats in already, the mail boat and the Stella Earland with about 30 passengers. There is no rush for Cook’s Inlet this year, only those who are located and a few others will be in. We are to have a mail every two weeks all summer. Calligan still holds the office. The Yukon country is catching the rush this year. They made a big discovery there last summer, and about 8,000 are going into that country this spring. Blackstone, Molique, and Bottcher left here about March 18 to meet the special boat to Prince Williams Sound, and have never been seen since. They are given up as dead. Blackstone left a wife here in Sunrise and two grown children in Seattle. Molique left a wife and child in Seattle.
Sunrise made some preparations for a boom. The brewery boys put up the largest building in the city to be used as a dance hall and saloon. Lots sold at from $50 to %100 and several cabins were built. But we will be all the better off for not having a boom, as there is plenty of people here now for what there is to do. Of sickness, there has been three or four cases of scurvy and one fellow had his hand completely blown off while shooting fish with dynamite, but they are all well now or doing well. No deaths except the three men who never got across the glacier to Prince Williams Sound.
Wages will be about the same as last year, but more work for the few that are here. The snow is nearly all gone around the town, but there is plenty on the hills and up Canyon Creek. Smith on Lynx Creek has been sluicing about three weeks. The others are all sawing timber and getting out wing dam timber. I sawed about 2,700 feet this winter for other parties. I located a claim on Groundhog Creek, a tributary of Bench Creek, heading in near Lynx Creek and about 25 miles from Sunrise. I think it may be good, as the boys below me rocked out $11 in one day. Tell my folks not to worry about me. I hope to see you all this fall.
With best wishes for all, I remain,
Albert Shappe

 

[Cabin Fever]

We must have been really close to you when we visited the Alaskan Wildlife Conservation Center this past summer. That day we traveled from Girdwood to Homer Spit.

 

[Pearl]

That was quite the prospector's boom town once! Some interesting history for Sunrise!!

 

[Caribou]

Below is a 22 minute video about commercial fishing when Alaska was a Territory. When I was a commercial fisherman the equipment was mostly different but many of the techniques were the same when I was fishing. The fishermen from this village are still held in high regard by other commercial fishermen. That area is very dangerous and there are places where only those villagers will fish because only they have the local knowledge. Where we fished there were whirlpools larger than the 58’ boat we fished on. We only fished at slack tide. A whirlpool is that vortex you see when you flush the toilet only the hole in the ocean was from 10’ to about 75’ across, plus the swirling water around it. Al was one of my Captains when I worked on the Alaska ferries. This email came from him through a mutual friend that shipped with us.

The sound is really hard to understand between the Native voice and the recording. Okay- I am known to several of the speakers through our association of log ship loading in later many years this film depicts, though the speakers are speaking of earlier times. The village of Hoonah population are noted for being hard workers. You will notice that they smile a lot, which is the true case. We'd be loading logs at zero temps with snow and if you looked down to where the crew was working and they noticed you, they would smile. Never stop working.
So, in the film you will see views of older boats, and those were the first boat style I had the opportunity to be working on at 14 years of age. Tough times too, as the gear would break down many times and you would have to improvise just to complete that set. (Set- the process of laying out the net and purse the bottom then haul the net in) This was accomplished by hand as there were no power options in those days. Maybe the turn table (where the net is stowed) would power turn by chain, to the position favored the fishing net, but on the boat I was on for those first years, it never did so we pulled against the net at times.

I hope you enjoy the video of early times. and know that I spent 10 years of logship loading in the port of Hoonah years after these in the film. It was my all time favorite port to work.
Cheers
Al