Drawing and editing are fun, but I am excited to be researching again.
In a run of luck, I found THREE first hand accounts of the Alaskan Frontier. I randomly chose one to start reading. Allow me to introduce to you Elizabeth Robins (1862-1952): actress, playwright, and author. She booked passaged to Nome, Alaska in 1900, in search of his brother.
The book is an (almost) direct copy of the diary she kept on that trip. Parts are in short-hand, the ordinary not given much attention, and definitely influenced by the prevalent thoughts of the day. There are parts that make me cringe: her description of “chinamen” working in the Hellish coal rooms abroad the ship; the reassuring familiarity of “negro help” at the hospital in Nome; viewing the native village like visiting a zoo.
Aside from those comments that haven’t aged well, there are all kinds of tidbits of information that I love. Like, she sailed with Frank and Rosa Doolittle to Nome. I’m assuming James Doolittle, who would become the famous General, was there too, since he would have been four years old (and it’s well documented that he lived in Nome when he was young).
I also learned that during the 1900 gold rush, enterprising people drove dog sleds through the tent camps selling buckets of water. She said water was sold by the bucket. $1 for 6 buckets. Where else would you learn that?
There is also an endless list of names. Shop owners, shop names, family relations, lawyers, councilmen, missionaries, preachers, teachers… By the time my book starts Nome had severely dwindled in size, so I’m sure most of the names Robins mentioned weren’t still around, but their stories still might. And my main’s parents arrived in Nome in 1900, so they definitely would have known some.
(ten minutes of reading later)
I’m again floored. Not only did she sail to Nome with the Doolittle family, but sat down to lunch with her brother’s friend, Dr. Jackson, from the Bear. He was a major advocate for starving natives. He recognized that white men had deleted their whale and seal populations, and wanted to bring in reindeer for them. He comes up in so many accounts of Alaska’s early days, writing articles, speaking to congress… And she had lunch with him!
This research was good for me. Sure, I have more info, but I think it’s enabled me to reclaimed my enthusiasm. Editing is drudgery, almost soul sucking at times. This has been a welcome step back. I can admire the people who where there, the conflux of key people meeting, an enjoy learning about the fascinating mundane details of a time gone by.
Northern Skies Publishing 