In Pursuit of Alaska — People, Places & Stories of the Alaska Frontier (1879-1909)

Places of the Alaska Frontier

Over 80 locations spanning southeast Alaska to the Arctic Ocean, the Klondike, and departure cities like San Francisco and Seattle. Click a marker to see key facts.

About the Book

In 1867, Russia sold Alaska to the United States for $7.2 million — approximately two cents per acre. The 1880 Census recorded only 435 non-Natives in Alaska's 600,000 square miles. Within three decades, that number would explode as tourists, missionaries, military explorers, naturalists, and gold seekers poured into the territory.

In Pursuit of Alaska gathers their voices. Compiled by Jean Morgan Meaux, who moved from New Orleans to Anchorage in 1971, this anthology presents 27 firsthand accounts organized into three parts: Romantic Voyage (tourists drawn by John Muir's newspaper dispatches), Untamed Alaska (explorers charting unknown rivers and mountains), and Inexhaustible Optimism (gold seekers chasing the Klondike dream). This page extracts 85+ people, 80 places, 30 years, and 140+ historical facts into an interactive knowledge graph using the Detective tool.

People (85+)

Every person named in the anthology, from the author to the explorers, tourists, gold seekers, and historical figures who shaped Alaska's story.

Author & Contributors

Jean Morgan Meaux — Author; compiled the anthology; moved to Anchorage in 1971
Stephen Haycox — Historian; wrote the foreword
Roderick Nash — Historian; commented on Muir's impact on Alaska tourism

Part I — Travelers & Tourists

John Muir — Naturalist; explored southeast Alaska from 1879; transformed Alaska tourism
Hall Young — Presbyterian missionary; traveled with Muir
Henry Villard — Railroad magnate; organized the first tourist excursion (1881)
Nelson Miles — US General; joined Villard's excursion
Edward H. Harriman — Financier; led 1899 Harriman expedition
Charles Hallock — Founder of Forest and Stream magazine; visited Sitka
C. C. Hine — Fire insurance lecturer; 130 stereopticon photographs of Alaska (1888)
Septima M. Collis — Excursionist aboard steamer Queen (1890)
Charles Henry Tucky Collis — Civil War general; Septima's husband
General William T. Sherman — Civil War general; mentioned in Collis's account
Captain Carroll — Steamer captain on the Inside Passage route
D. Martini — "The Alaska Barnum"; managed Tlingit dance performances in Juneau
Chief Yash Noosh — Tlingit chief at Juneau
Charles M. Taylor Jr. — Rode the White Pass railway from Skagway (1900)
Captain Wallace — Sailed the Queen into Glacier Bay after the 1899 earthquake
M. J. Heney — Railway contractor on the White Pass & Yukon Route
John Hislop — Mentioned in the railway context
Ernest Ingersoll — Smithsonian scientist; gold rush outfitting advice
Henry Elliott — Government agent; documented Alaska resources

Part II — Explorers & Adventurers

Caroline Willard — First white woman among the Chilkats; arrived at Haines in 1881
Eugene Willard — Presbyterian missionary; lived among the Chilkats
Sheldon Jackson — Organized missions; established churches and schools across Alaska
Captain Henry Glass — USS Wachusette; warned Chilkats at Haines
Lieutenant Henry T. Allen — Explored Copper, Tanana, and Koyukuk Rivers (1885); 2,500 miles
Private Fred Fickett — Allen's three-man expedition
Sergeant Cady Robertson — Allen's three-man expedition
Chief Nicolai — Led Allen to a secret copper outcropping (later Kennecott)
Pete Johnson — Prospector encountered during Allen's exploration
John Bremner — Prospector; spent winter alone at Taral on the Copper River; killed in 1888
H. W. Seton Karr — British hunter; attempted to climb Mount St. Elias (1886)
Frederick Schwatka — NYT-sponsored explorer; crossed Chilkoot Pass; Mount St. Elias expedition
William Libbey — Joined Schwatka's expedition
Captain Nicholls — Ship captain during exploration expeditions
Herbert L. Aldrich — Traveled 8 months with Arctic whaling fleet (1887); first photos of North Slope Inupiaq
Harry de Windt — Attempted New York to Paris overland via Alaska (1896)
George Harding — De Windt's manservant; captured by Natives in Siberia
Joe Cooper — De Windt's guide across Chilkoot Pass
Captain William Abercrombie — Explored Copper River (1884, 1898); built Trans-Alaskan Military Road
Lieutenant P. G. Lowe — Served under Abercrombie
Private Bence — Served under Abercrombie
Robert Dunn — Journalist; discovered Mount Wrangell as active volcano (1900)
Frederick Cook — Fraudulent Mount McKinley and North Pole claims; imprisoned
Lincoln Steffens — Muckraking journalist
Alfred Brooks — USGS geologist; studied Alaska
Agnes Herbert — English hunter; hunted Kodiak bears and caribou in the Kuskokwim headwaters
Cecily — Agnes Herbert's cousin and traveling companion
Ralph Windus — Accompanied Agnes Herbert in Alaska
Captain Clemsen — Ship captain during Herbert's expedition
Hudson Stuck — Episcopal archdeacon; 2,200-mile dogsled circuit; first Denali summit party (1913)
Walter Harper — First person to stand on Denali's summit; Athabaskan descent
E. J. Knapp — Stuck's companion on the dogsled circuit from Fairbanks to Point Hope

Part III — Gold Seekers

Joseph Ladue — Founder of Dawson City; advised prospectors against firearms
Robert C. Kirk — Englishman; sailed overcrowded Willamette from San Francisco (1897)
Mary E. Hitchcock — Klondike sightseer; packed gowns, gramophone, ice cream freezer, Great Danes, and a parrot
Edith Van Buren — Hitchcock's traveling companion to the Klondike
J. D. Winchester — Lynn Mining Company; reached the Koyukuk in an Indian fishing boat
W. H. Hooper — Organized the Lynn Mining Company
Josiah Edward Spurr — USGS geologist; investigated Fortymile, Birch Creek, and Circle City (1896)
Joseph Grinnell — Naturalist; sailed to Kotzebue Sound (1898); later professor at UC Berkeley
C. C. Reynolds — Grinnell's expedition companion
Dr. Coffin — Grinnell's expedition companion
May Kellogg Sullivan — Made seven trips to Alaska; cooked at Anvil Creek near Nome
M. Clark (Matilda Clark) — Nome prospector; disguised herself as a man after claim was stolen (1900)
Edward J. Devine — Canadian priest at Nome (1902); studied wildflowers
Addison M. Powell — Surveyor/prospector; crossed Valdez Glacier with Abercrombie (1898)
Captain I. N. West — Hired Powell to survey a gold claim; died en route home
Arthur Arnold Dietz — Crossed Malaspina Glacier from Yakutat; only 4 of 18 survived
John F. Stacey — Moulton Mining Company; traveled 1,000 miles down the Yukon
Al Moulton — Organized the Moulton Klondike Mining Company

Historical Figures

William Seward — Secretary of State; championed the Alaska purchase (1867)
Charles Sumner — Senator; gave a three-hour speech for the Alaska purchase
Alexander Baranov — Russian colonial administrator; established New Archangel (Sitka)
Captain James Cook — Explorer; sailed into Cook Inlet (1778) and through the Bering Strait
George Vancouver — Mapped Alaska's coast from Juan de Fuca to Cook Inlet (1792-1794)
George Carmack — Co-discoverer of Klondike gold on Bonanza Creek (1896)
Skookum Jim — Co-discoverer of Klondike gold; said it shone "like cheese in a sandwich"
Eliza Scidmore — Wrote Appletons' Guide-Book to Alaska
Robert Campbell — Early explorer referenced in the anthology
Morgan Sherwood — Historian of Alaska exploration
Lieutenant Joseph Herron — Interior Alaska explorer; his guides deserted him
Martha Louise Purdy Black — Crossed Chilkoot Pass; became second female Canadian MP
Jack London — Writer; wrote of Alaska's spell in the Atlantic Monthly (1903)

Places (80+)

From the Inside Passage to the Arctic Ocean, and from San Francisco departure docks to the Klondike goldfields.

Southeast Alaska

Sitka
Wrangell
Juneau
Skagway
Dyea
Glacier Bay
Douglas Island
Treadwell Mine
Haines
Lynn Canal
Inside Passage
Alexander Archipelago
Gastineau Channel
Kasaan
Muir Glacier
Silver Bay
Stikine River
Chilkat country

Passes & Routes

Chilkoot Pass
White Pass
Lake Bennett
Lake Lindeman
Mentasta Pass
Keystone Canyon

Southcentral Alaska

Anchorage
Valdez
Valdez Glacier
Copper River
Cook Inlet
Kenai Peninsula
Taral
Chitina River
Chitistone River
Copper Center
Kennecott
Slate Creek
Icy Bay
Mount St. Elias
Yakutat
Malaspina Glacier
Disenchantment Bay
Kodiak Island

Interior Alaska

Fairbanks
Tanana River
Yukon River
Circle City
Fortymile River
Forty Mile
Birch Creek
Fort Yukon
Rampart City
Beaver City
Eagle City
Mount McKinley (Denali)
Mount Wrangell
Susitna River
Tyonek
Mentasta Pass

Western & Arctic Alaska

Nome
Anvil Creek
Koyukuk River
Kuskokwim River
St. Michael
Kotzebue Sound
Seward Peninsula
Norton Sound
Point Barrow
Point Hope
Bering Sea
Bering Strait
Arctic Ocean
Aleutian Islands
Dutch Harbor

The Klondike (Yukon, Canada)

Dawson
Klondike

Departure Cities

San Francisco
Seattle
Victoria
New York

Timeline

Key years spanning from Russian fur trappers to the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition.

1743 Russian fur trappers begin hunting sea otters in the Aleutian Islands
1799 Alexander Baranov establishes New Archangel (Sitka)
1867 Russia sells Alaska to the United States for $7.2 million (two cents per acre)
1874 Cassiar gold mines discovered; 1,800 people pass through Wrangell
1877 Sheldon Jackson establishes a church and school at Wrangell
1879 John Muir first visits Alaska by mail boat; canoes southeast waters
1880 Gold discovered along Gastineau Channel; Treadwell Mine opens. US Census: 435 non-Natives in Alaska
1881 Henry Villard offers first tourist excursion through the Inside Passage. Caroline and Eugene Willard arrive at Haines
1882 Conflicts over Christian burial vs. Chilkat cremation at Haines
1884 Captain Abercrombie's first Copper River expedition fails. John Bremner winters alone at Taral
1885 Lt. Allen's three-man expedition covers 2,500 miles; charts Copper, Tanana, and Koyukuk Rivers
1886 Gold discovered on Fortymile River. Seton Karr and Schwatka attempt Mount St. Elias
1887 Herbert Aldrich travels eight months with the Arctic whaling fleet
1888 C. C. Hine's 17-day steamer voyage; 130 stereopticon photographs. John Bremner killed
1889 Hine lectures in Chicago with photographs from Alaska
1890 Over 5,000 excursionists visit southeast Alaska. Between 1884-1890, more than 25,000 travelers booked passage
1893 Gold discovered on Birch Creek; Circle City founded as first interior mining camp
1896 George Carmack and Skookum Jim discover gold on Bonanza Creek in the Klondike
1897 Excelsior arrives in San Francisco with Klondike gold. Rush begins. Robert Kirk, Dietz, Winchester set out
1898 100,000-200,000 start for Dawson. White Pass railway construction begins. Gold found on Seward Peninsula. Mary Hitchcock travels to the Klondike
1899 White Pass railway completed. $2 million in gold from Nome beaches. Glacier Bay earthquake stops cruises. Abercrombie completes Trans-Alaskan Military Road
1900 Taylor rides the White Pass railway. Nome population reaches 40,000. Dunn discovers Mt. Wrangell as active volcano
1902 Gold discovered near Fairbanks by Felix Pedro. Edward Devine arrives at Nome
1903 Robert Dunn and Frederick Cook attempt Mount McKinley. Fairbanks supersedes Circle City. Jack London writes of Alaska's spell
1905 Hudson Stuck begins 2,200-mile dogsled circuit from Fairbanks to Point Hope
1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition in Seattle; 3.7 million attend
1910 Census: 30,000 Natives and 30,000 non-Natives in Alaska. Seattle population: 240,000
1911 Kennecott copper mine begins production (worth $200-$300 million by 1938)
1913 Hudson Stuck and Walter Harper reach Denali's summit (20,320 ft) on June 7
1971 Jean Morgan Meaux moves from New Orleans to Anchorage

Selected Facts & Stories

A curated selection of the most vivid facts from the anthology's 140+ connections.

In 1867, Russia sold Alaska to the United States for $7.2 million, approximately two cents per acre. Secretary of State William Seward championed the purchase and Senator Charles Sumner gave a three-hour speech in favor; the final vote was 37 to 2.
Preface · History

The 1880 US Census recorded only 435 non-Natives in Alaska's 600,000 square miles. By 1910, that number had grown to 30,000 non-Natives alongside 30,000 Natives.
Foreword · Demographics

John Muir's newspaper articles about Alaska almost single-handedly transformed Alaska's wilderness from a liability to an asset for tourism, according to historian Roderick Nash.
Ch. 1 · John Muir

Lieutenant Henry T. Allen's three-man expedition covered 2,500 miles, charted three major unmapped rivers (Copper, Tanana, Koyukuk), and explored 1,500 miles of unknown territory in 1885.
Ch. 7 · Explorers

Chief Nicolai led Allen to a secret copper outcropping. The Kennecott mine later established there produced copper valued at $200–$300 million between 1911 and 1938.
Ch. 7 · Explorers

Herbert Aldrich traveled eight months with the Arctic whaling fleet in 1887, documenting the first photographs of North Slope Inupiaq Eskimos. He had been diagnosed with tuberculosis and told he might not survive the year, but lived to age 87.
Ch. 10 · Explorers

On August 16, 1896, George Carmack and Skookum Jim found gold on Bonanza Creek in the Canadian Klondike. Jim said it was shining "like cheese in a sandwich."
Part III · Gold Rush

By the summer of 1898, between 100,000 and 200,000 people had started for Dawson and the Klondike goldfields. Of those, as few as 300 cleared as much as $15,000.
Part III · Gold Rush

Robert Kirk found over 2,000 dead horses on the White Pass trail in September 1898. It was possible to walk half a mile over the swamp without stepping off carcasses. Scarcely 10% of men who started from Skagway ever reached Lake Bennett.
Ch. 17 · Gold Seekers

Mary E. Hitchcock and Edith Van Buren traveled to the Klondike in 1898 as sightseers, packing gowns, china, a gramophone, an ice cream freezer, Great Danes, canaries, and a parrot. Hitchcock served the first ice cream ever made on the Yukon River.
Ch. 18 · Gold Seekers

Hitchcock set up a 400-pound, 2,800-square-foot Big Tent across the Klondike River from Dawson and may have acquired more than a hundred mining claims.
Ch. 18 · Gold Seekers

In 1899, two million dollars in gold was taken from the beaches at Nome, and another million from nearby creeks. Matilda Clark described Nome's population reaching 40,000 with a white city of tents, and no work or gold for most arrivals.
Ch. 22-23 · Gold Seekers

Arthur Arnold Dietz's party of 18 crossed the Malaspina Glacier from Yakutat, suffering snow blindness and losing 3 men in crevasses. After 50 days crossing and 7 months wintering, only 4 of the original 18 survived.
Ch. 26 · Gold Seekers

Captain Abercrombie crossed Valdez Glacier in 29 consecutive hours without sleep, rest, or shelter, in fog, rain, sleet, and snow. He packed a five-gallon keg of whisky on his horse as a stimulant.
Ch. 12 · Explorers

A massive 1899 earthquake caused miles of glacial ice to collapse into Glacier Bay, blocking access and stopping tourist cruises for nearly half a century.
Part I · Tourism

On June 7, 1913, Hudson Stuck was a member of the first party to reach Denali's highest point at 20,320 feet. Walter Harper, of Athabaskan descent, was the first to stand on the summit.
Ch. 15 · Explorers

Matilda Clark disguised herself as a man and carried a gun after her claim was stolen, then opened a roadhouse at Port Safety, twenty miles from Nome.
Ch. 23 · Gold Seekers

Joseph Grinnell's biggest gold nugget found at Anvil City near Nome was worth $4.13. He later became a zoology professor at UC Berkeley and first director of its Museum of Vertebrate Zoology.
Ch. 21 · Gold Seekers

Martha Louise Purdy Black was crossing Chilkoot Pass when she twisted her ankle; her brother told her to "buck up and be a man." She later became the second female member of the Canadian House of Commons.
Part III · Gold Rush

In June 1909, the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition opened in Seattle; 3.7 million people attended to learn about Alaska's riches and beauty.
Epilogue

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In Pursuit of Alaska: An Anthology of Travelers' Tales, 1879–1909