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Alaska Engineering Commission photograph collection, 1914-1924

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Alaska Engineering Commission
Title
Alaska Engineering Commission photograph collection
Dates
1914-1924 (inclusive)
Quantity
6 boxes containing 1220 photographic prints and 3 panorama photographs
Collection Number
PH0495
Summary
Photographs of Kuskokwim Reconnaissance and Alaska railroad survey and construction
Repository
University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections
Special Collections
University of Washington Libraries
Box 352900
Seattle, WA
98195-2900
Telephone: 2065431929
Fax: 2065431931
speccoll@uw.edu
Access Restrictions

Entire collection can be viewed on the Libraries’ Digital Collections website. Permission of Visual Materials Curator is required to view originals. Contact Special Collections for more information.

Languages
English
Sponsor
Funding for the processing of this collection was provided through a grant from Donlin Gold, LLC. This collection guide and the Kuskokwim Reconnaissance Digital Collection are the result of a collaboration between University of Washington Libraries, Northern Land Use Research Alaska, LLC and Chumis Cultural Resource Svcs.
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Biographical Note

Alaska Engineering Commission Photographers

Many photographers contributed their efforts to the documentation of Alaska Railroad surveys and construction. It is assumed that James L. McPherson took the photographs contained in the Kuskokwim Reconnaissance Albums. The three photographers responsible for the bulk of the A.E.C. photographs during construction of the Alaska Railroad are P. S. Hunt, H. G. Kaiser, and Albert Johnson.

James Lennox McPherson James Lennox McPherson was born in Quebec, Canada in 1873. In 1882, the McPherson family immigrated to the U.S. and settled in Seattle. McPherson attended the University of Washington, and later received an appointment as United States Deputy Mineral Surveyor, Alaska District, in 1898. Prior to the Kuskokwim Reconnaissance in 1914, his career included mineral survey work in several Alaskan mining regions. While employed by the Alaska Road Commission, McPherson conducted terrestrial surveys for potential Yukon and Kuskokwim river transportation routes in 1906 and 1908.

In Seattle, McPherson actively promoted Alaska's resources and their development potential as a board member of the Alaska Bureau of the Seattle Chamber of Commerce. The Bureau's work included a successful lobbying trip to Washington D.C. in January 1914 that led to President Wilson's approval of the Alaska Railroad project. McPherson also held a charter membership in Seattle's Arctic Club. McPherson died in Seattle in 1931.

P. S. (Phinney S.) Hunt was born April 24, 1866 in Michigan. After his marriage in 1887, he and his wife Rose moved to California. In 1898, Hunt relocated to Valdez, Alaska. His wife and children joined him there in 1907. According to the Alaska Railroad Recordobituary for Hunt, he was hired by the Alaska Engineering Commission, headquartered in Anchorage, on July 25, 1916; however, dates on photographs taken by Hunt indicate that he was taking photographs for the A.E.C. before this, probably beginning in 1914 during surveys of prospective routes. On October 14, 1917, Hunt was in Seward as part of his work for the Commission when he suffered a heart attack and died in the street. Hunt's obituary states that his son, A. O. Hunt, worked as assistant photographer for the A.E.C.

H. G. Kaiser was hired as photographer to replace Hunt in November 1917. According to the 1900 U. S. Census, Kaiser was born in Germany in August 1864 and emigrated in 1879. Kaiser is listed as a charter member of The Pioneers of Alaska Igloo Number 1 in Nome, formed in 1907. Since a requirement of membership in The Pioneers was arrival in the Alaska Territory prior to 1899, it is probable that Kaiser arrived in Alaska between 1879 and 1898. The 1900 Census lists Kaiser's occupation while in Alaska as "miner," and his previous occupation as "photographer," suggesting that Kaiser may have traveled to Alaska to join in the Klondike Gold Rush. While in Nome, however, Kaiser took a great many photographs; his subjects included Alaska Natives, mining, and reindeer farming. Photograph captions indicate that Kaiser worked for the A.E.C. until at least 1922.

A. J. (Albert) Johnson was born November 9, 1874 in Denmark; Johnson is listed as a photographer on the 1910 U. S. Census for Fairbanks, Alaska and also on his draft registration card from 1917. Dates on photographs taken by Johnson indicate that he began his work for the A.E.C. in 1916, working in the Fairbanks Division.

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Historical Background

The Alaska Railroad

The Klondike Gold Rush of 1897-1898, and subsequent gold discoveries in Nome and Fairbanks brought national attention and waves of immigrants to the District of Alaska. Natural resource exports and a growing population were hampered, however, by a lack of transportation infrastructure. A few privately-run railroads operated in the Territory, including the Alaska Central Railway, later named the Alaska Northern Railway; the Copper River and Northwestern Railway operated by the Alaska Syndicate, and the Tanana Valley Railroad. Most of the railroads were primarily built to satisfy the transportation imperative of mining companies to bring resources such as coal from the mines to sea ports. As a result, it was expensive for ordinary people to travel through Alaska and impossible to travel by train through the "heart" of Alaska, the corridor from the port at Anchorage north to Fairbanks. Many of the railroads suffered from poor management, corporate battles, and the constant maintenance needs of railroad operation in a harsh climate. These challenges, along with the assumptions of great mineral wealth to be generated from Alaska, brought Congressional attention. In the 1912 bill that created the Territory of Alaska and allowed Alaskans to form a legislature, language in Section 18 specifically authorized the President to recommend railroad routes that would allow for development of the Alaska Territory.

In the 1912 legislation, Congress provided for the creation of the Alaska Railroad Commission. The four members of the Alaska Railroad Commission, three appointed by President William Taft, spent approximately two months in Alaska and ultimately recommended two routes to Congress, one of which was a route from near Cook Inlet at the end of the Alaska Northern Railway line, through the Matanuska and Susitna Valleys, and over the Alaska Range, to reach the Innoko-Iditarod mining region in the Kuskokwim Valley. President Taft brought these recommendations to Congress just before the end of his term in 1912.

Between 1912 and 1914, during President Woodrow Wilson's administration, Congress debated the funding for the project, ultimately deciding to make the U.S. Government responsible for the cost. An act of Congress in March 1914 authorized the president to designate and construct a railroad in the Alaska Territory that would transport passengers and natural resources such as coal from the interior to ports on the coast. Subsequently that year, President Wilson created the Alaska Engineering Commission (A.E.C.), appointing Chairman William C. Edes, Frederick Mears, and Thomas Riggs, Jr. President Wilson ordered the A.E.C. to survey two areas proposed for railroad construction. One route, known as the "eastern" route, would start from Cordova or Valdez and go north via the Copper River, Tonsina River, Delta River, and Tanana Valley to the vicinity of Fairbanks. The other proposed route, the "western" route, would start at Portage Bay or Seward, travel along the Turnagain and Knik Arms of Cook Inlet, turn north through the Susitna Valley, cross Broad Pass, follow the Nenana River as far as its junction with the Tanana River, and then follow an undetermined path to reach the Fairbanks area. The Commission also decided to send a party to research the possibilities of construction of a branch line from the western route through the Kuskokwim and Iditarod districts. Between June and October 1914, A.E.C. employees surveyed both proposed routes and one group, led by engineer James McPherson, reconnoitered the Kuskokwim district. McPherson traveled in roughly the same area as the Government Winter Trail, established in 1908, which follows a similar route to the contemporary Iditarod Trail. The proposed branch line through the Kuskokwim area was never built; however, McPherson's extensive documentation of the trip constitutes a valuable record of this part of Alaska.

After receiving the Commission report, on April 10, 1915 President Wilson issued an executive order to build a main railroad line on the "western" route that would begin at Seward, run north to a new portage that would soon become Anchorage, and continue north to reach Fairbanks. Wilson's order also directed the Commission to construct a branch line to the Matanuska Coal Fields, and to purchase the 70 miles of Alaska Northern Railway track already existing north of Seward for incorporation into the U.S. government's new railroad.

Construction on the Alaska Railroad began in 1915 and continued until 1923. Construction crews worked first in the area around Anchorage and the Turnagain Arm on Cook Inlet, as well as much farther north in the Talkeetna River area. Early construction also focused on developing the Matanuska Branch Line which was key to bring coal to Anchorage, where it could be shipped for export. Railroad crews had to contend with snow and ice for much of the year as well as annual spring floods caused by the "break-up," the melting of iced-over rivers which often resulted in damage to railroad lines and bridges. Despite the danger and difficulty of railroad building, the construction of the Alaska Railroad resulted in the development of many towns along the railroad line.

The Alaska Railroad still exists today. In 1983, the U.S. Government transferred ownership of the railroad to the state of Alaska. The Alaska Railroad is operated by the Alaska Railroad Corporation, which is owned by the state of Alaska but incorporated and run as a private business.

The Kuskokwim Reconnaissance

From June to September 1914, civil engineer and Seattle resident James Lennox McPherson led a seven man and twenty packhorse expedition on a survey across interior Alaska. The A.E.C. assigned McPherson to research the feasibility of building a branch railroad from Anchorage west to the mining districts on the Kuskokwim and Iditarod Rivers.

The Kuskokwim Reconnaissance survey party (known as Party No. 11 to the A.E.C.) embarked from Seattle on June 5th and 6th, 1914, along with parties 1, 3, 4, 5, and 6, on two steamers, the Admiral Sampson and the Northwestern . The steamers reached Ship Creek (now Anchorage) on June 15, 1914. Under time constraints, McPherson undertook the survey along the Government Winter Trail, customarily traversed during the winter months by dog sled, during the summer months when travel meant crossing large wetland areas and rivers swollen with rain.

On June 18th, Party No. 11 left Ship Creek and traveled to the town of Knik, which they left on June 20th to go to a point near the mouth of Willow Creek, the survey's official starting point, on the eastern side of the Susitna Valley. After crossing the Susitna River, the surveyors went west through the Susitna, Yentna, Skwentna, and Happy River Valleys until they reached the headwaters of the Happy River in the Alaska Range. McPherson's team traversed thirty miles investigating four passes (Simpson, Rainy, Teocalli (Goodman), and Houston) to determine the best railroad route through the Alaska Range. Subsequently, the group traveled up the South Fork of the Kuskokwim River as far as Farewell Mountain. They headed west across the Kuskokwim Basin, reaching McGrath, a settlement at the mouth of the Tacotna River, on September 14th. The reconnaissance party traveled up the Tacotna Valley to the Innoko Divide, and then through the valleys of the Tacotna, Moose and Bonanza Creeks to reach Iditarod ten days later. At the Iditarod on the Iditarod River, the crew boarded that last commercial steamer available for the year, disembarking on a four-day trip down the Innoko and Kuskowkim Rivers to St. Michael. On the 5th of October, McPherson and crew boarded the steamship Victoria , which reached Seattle on October 15th.

In 1916, McPherson published his reconnaissance and engineering summaries in the A.E.C. report to the U.S. House of Representatives, but the public never saw the complete body of his work from that summer. McPherson supplemented the expedition report with maps and two photograph albums. The route McPherson surveyed was never developed as a branch railroad, but it includes a large section of the National Historic Iditarod Trail.

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Content Description

Two albums created in approximately 1914 by James Lennox McPherson, an survey engineer, document the Kuskokwim Reconnaissance, led by Party No. 11 of the Alaska Engineering Commission expedition. One album documents the surveys conducted in the area of the Seward-Anchorage-Fairbanks route during 1914.

Other photographs show the Alaska Railroad route before and during construction, 1914-1923. This collection also includes images apparently unconnected to the building of the Alaska Railroad, including photographs of Alaskan native peoples, wildlife, and mining and reindeer herding in Nome.

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Use of the Collection

Alternative Forms Available

View the digital version of the collection.

Restrictions on Use

Restrictions may exist on reproduction, quotation, or publication. Contact Special Collections, University of Washington Libraries for details.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

Arranged in 7 series.

  • Alaska Engineering Commission. Kuskokwim Reconnaissance Albums, June - October 1914
  • Preparation and Surveys for the Alaska Railroad
  • Construction and Operation of the Alaska Railroad
  • Alaska Engineering Commission Staff and official visitors
  • H. G. Kaiser Photographs of Alaska
  • Joseph M. Welden Photographs of Fairbanks, 1907-1913
  • Alaska and Pacific Northwest Scenes

Custodial History

The photographs were donated by Seattle Public Library to the University of Washington Libraries in 1996. The collection was probably given to Seattle Public Library by Colonel Frederick Mears or his estate.

Processing Note

Processed by Elizabeth Russell; completed 2013.

Related Materials

The Kuskokwim Reconnaissancealbums contain references to map sheets. The map references appear to correspond to a map in 44 sheets made by J. L. McPherson. The map is held by the Anchorage Museum Atwood Resource Center. Digital copies of the maps are available through the UW Libraries Digital Collections.

The University of Alaska Fairbanks Rasmuson Library holds the James Lennox McPherson Papers, 1898-1931.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

 


2008 (Last modified: 8/11/2025)

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