Archives West Finding Aid

Written on photo: Str “Casca” ready to sail

Written on photo: N.N. Co. Str. “Hannah” leaving Dawson Sep. 20-09. with a cargo of 800 tons

Written on photo: N.N. Co. Str. “Hannah” leaving Dawson

Written on photo: Str. “Whitehorse” ready to sail

Written on photo: Capt & Officers of Str “Susie.”

Written on photo: Ready for the Celebration May 24, 1908

Ellingsen also used the number 248 for item 77, a photo of a group of men standing on the Yukon Gold Company dredge.

Ellingsen numbered both photos of the hotel 347 but the images are slightly different.

The Dawson Amateur Athletic Association (DAAA) opened in 1902. The DAAA complex included a theater, boxing ring, a gymnasium, and next door, a hockey rink with a one of the Yukon’s few swimming pools in the middle of it. In order to convert the rink to ice, boards were laid on top of the pool and then iced over. But because of the discrepancy in temperature, the ice would never freeze evenly and the games suffered from the uneven surface in the middle of the rink. The DAAA began showing movies in 1903. Because Dawson was the end of the film distribution chain that sent many film prints and newsreels to the Yukon, the films were seldom, if ever, returned. Instead, they accumulated in Dawson. where they were deposited in the care of the Canadian Bank of Commerce, and stored in the basement of the Carnegie Library. By the late 1920s, 500,000 feet of film had accumulated in the Carnegie library basement. Clifford Thomson, an employee of the Canadian Bank of Commerce, also served as treasurer of the hockey association. In 1929, Thomson solved two nagging civic problems when he removed the 500 films from the library basement, stacked them in the pool, covered them with boards, and then a layer of earth on top of that to provide a level surface for the hockey rink. Films continued to be shipped to Dawson City, and in 1951, a fire fueled by new nitrate films that were being stored at the DAAA, burned the entire complex to the ground. The now famous Dawson City movie collection was uncovered in 1978 when a new recreation center was being built and a bulldozer working its way through a parking lot dug up film cans.The films are now housed in the Canadian Archives in Ottawa and at the US Library of Congress, which jointly restored all the titles to 35mm preservation masters. Because they were stored in cold conditions the films survived in better shape than almost any of the other prints of their time. These prints became some of the last surviving records of titles from studios such as Essanay, Rex, Thanhouser, and Selig.

A local women's group, the International Order of Daughters of the Empire (IODE), took on the cabin in 1917. Members preserved and cared for the cabin in which poet Robert Service had lived while a bank clerk in the Dawson Branch, Canadian Bank of Commerce. Members continued to care for the cabin, declared of national and historic significance in 1967, until Klondike National and Historic Sites took it over in 1970.

Written on photo: A Winters Catch up White River Finest Collection of Black Fox ever seen in Dawson

Written on photo: Hauling wood for the Dawson market. 13 3/4 cord. Apr. 7-09.

Ellingsen numbered both photos 369 but the images are slightly different.

The Yukon Order of Pioneers is a fraternal order founded on December 1, 1894 at Forty Mile, Yukon for the purposes of establishing a police force and a fraternal group whose primary concern would be the welfare, security and well-being of its members. Some of the members identified on the photo are G. Brinston, R. Henderson, T. W. O'Brien, H.E. Peter, A.D. Ross, J. Beck, Barnes, and J. Bourke.

This photograph is not identified by Ellingsen however there is a similar photo identified as an Ellingsen photo (item 78) and this image is typical of Ellingsen's work and the original glass plate came in with the collection of Ellingsen's negatives.

Written on photo: Dawson City Chapter I.O.D.E. Reception for Mrs. Geo. Black, July 29, 1922.

From accompanying material: Shrine excursion to King Solomon's Dome

The Klondike Mines Railway was a narrow gauge railway operating between Dawson City and Sulpher Springs, Yukon Territory. Construction on the railway began in 1905. The railway carried passengers and freight but eventually cut back on passenger service. By 1908, the railway was reduced mainly to the hauling of cord-wood to the steam-generating plants that steam-thawed the permafrost ahead of the gold dredges. With the major reduction in gold production by 1912, the railway shut down operations in 1913.

Written on photo: Freight train on Klondike Mines Railway

Written on photo: Ice going out and Klondike River overflowing, May 8, 1910.

Written on photo: Ice going out and Klondike River overflowing, May 8, 1910.

Vintage print.Written on photo: The Close of Day Looking up the Yukon Vale from Hillside Cemetery, Dawson

Written on photo: Freighting from Dawson to Glacier Creek.

This map is later than the previous map.

Written on photo: 18 bel. Sulphur Creek.

Vintage print.

Modern print from glass plate negative which shows deterioration.

Written on photo: Yukon Gold Co. building dredge on 37 below Bonanza Creek

Written on photo: Construction crew built the largest dredge in the world [rest is illegible]Ellingsen also used the number 248 for item 15, a photo of a Dawson street scene.

The town is unidentified. Ellingsen did the majority of his work in Dawson. Item 48b shows the Pioneer Hall for the Dawson chapter which is a different building. The group is holding a banner that says it is the Circle City, Alaska chapter of the organization. It is unlikely that Ellingsen was in Circle City, Alaska, since it is very far away from Dawson in the western part of Alaska. It is possible that the Circle City group was visiting one of the chapters in the Yukon.