Archives West Finding Aid

These photographs were probably collected by the woman depicted in them, who also wrote the captions on the backs of some of the photographs. The woman and a man "O.D.," probably her husband, appear to have lived and worked in Nome, Alaska around 1910-1912. Photographs depict the woman, "O.D.," groups of adults on ships and hiking, children, Front Street in the snow and other Nome snow scenes, and a view of Council, Alaska. The collection also includes 3 postcards of Nome, Alaska, including a photo postcard by Otto Daniel Goetze.

The exact identity of the woman depicted in these photographs and her family is unknown. She may have been a friend or relation of Mary M. Durkee, resident of Seattle; she may also have been a friend or associate of Fred and Elma Cowden, a couple living in Nome. The family had an office on Front Street, Nome's main commercial center; however, the profession practiced by the woman, her husband or both is unclear. One possible identity for the woman is Elizabeth Goetze, wife of Otto Daniel Goetze, a photographer who worked extensively in Nome around that time period. Goetze, born in 1871 in Missouri, took many photographs of the Alaska Gold Rush around Nome. He married Elizabeth Skinner, born in 1882, in Seattle in 1911; the family then may have moved to Cedar Valley. Elizabeth died at the age of 52 in Seattle in 1934. Another possibility is that the woman is Viola M. Orton, wife of Ira (Iruso) D. Orton, a Nome attorney. Viola was born in Michigan in 1881; by 1910 she and her husband Ira were settled in Nome, where Ira practiced law with Lyons & Orton, and they raised four children, Constance, Allen, Ira Jr., and Priscilla. By 1930, the family had moved permanently to Seattle, where Viola died in 1948 at the age of 66.

The city of Nome, incorporated in 1901, is located on the Seward Peninsula in northwest Alaska. The area was first settled by Westerners in 1898, when the "Three Lucky Swedes"--Jafet Lindberg, Erik Lindblom and John Bynteson--discovered gold in the beach sands of the region. This discovery prompted the Nome Gold Rush, with the population increasing to 10,000 within a year. Between 1900 and 1909, the population was estimated to have been as high as 20,000; schools were built, resaturants and other services opened, and three newspapers printed. After the gold rush ended, the population had decreased dramatically by 1910. Today, Nome is still the largest city of its region, with population of about 3,500. Nome was the destination of the 1925 Race of Mercy, wherein diphtheria antitoxin was brought in via dogsled to deal with a serious outbreak; and the city is still a center for dogsledding and is the end point of the Iditarod Sled Race.