56. Lewis & Dryden’s, 254, 255, 333; San Francisco Call, “The Steamer Duncan,” September 21, 1885; San Francisco Call, “The Wrecked Alexander Duncan,” September 11, 1885; San Francisco Call, “The Steamer Alexander Duncan Saved,” September 20, 1885.
57. San Francisco Alta, “Wreck of the Steamer Salinas,” November 5, 1871; San Francisco Alta, December 19, 1871; San Francisco Alta, December 20, 1871.
58. Lewis & Dryden’s, 268. However, a check of the articles of incorporation of the Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company, filed on July 16, 1896, reveals three names on the documents: Henry Failing, E. McNeill and I.W.W. Cotton.
59. Bob De Armond to Steven C. Levi, correspondence, April 21, 1989, University of Alaska, Anchorage archives.
60. Alaskan (Sitka), “The Idaho’s Officers,” September 29, 1888.
61. Gibbs, Shipwrecks of Juan de Fuca, 158. Lewis & Dryden’s, on page 356, mentions C.H. Lewis being the captain of the Michigan, but it is not clearly stated that he was indeed captain when the vessel made its “wild run” down the coast. “Caught on Fire Out at Sea,” an article in the November 2, 1890 edition of the Daily Astorian, states that the captain was S.F. Graves. There are other articles on the Michigan on October 20 and November 3 in the Daily Astorian.
8. MASS MURDER AND ROBBERY OR AN ACCIDENT?
62. Post-Intelligencer, “Foster Beck’s Body Found,” a March 12, 1898 dispatch from Manaimo, British Columbia, that was published the next Sunday.
63. Alaska Miner, “Discovery of Purser Beck’s Body on Chilkat Island,” March 12, 1898.
64. Seattle Times, “Clara Nevada Rumor,” February 15, 1898.
65. Record Group 104, Seattle Assay Office, Register of Deposits, April 2, 1900, to December 29, 1900, Seattle Assay Office Records, National Archives, Pacific Northwest Branch, Seattle, Washington.
66. Seattle Times, “Was on the Clara Nevada,” March 17, 1898. As a tidbit of unusual information, according to Boyce, the stern lifeboat, which Boyce called the “rotten skiff which would not have floated to be rowed,” was “PASSED BY THE INSPECTORS AS A LIFEBOAT.” Those are Boyce’s all caps, not the author’s. I find this hard to believe since the Clara Nevada had been ordered by the inspection service to add two new lifeboats before it left and got rid of the grass preservers.
67. Post-Intelligencer, “None to Tell the Story,” February 18, 1898.
68. Seattle Times, “Another Phase of It,” February 23, 1898.
69. Dyea Trail, “An Echo from the Clara Nevada,” May 7, 1898; Alaska Miner, “An Echo from the Clara Nevada,” April 23, 1898. I was unable to find any information on J.H. Burns. Should it turn out that Burns specialized in strong, durable, expensive, one-of-a-kind lifeboats, I feel that will strengthen the case for first-degree murder.
70. Deputy Collector C.S. Hannum to Collector of Customs, Sitka, letter, February 18, 1898, Alaska State Library, Juneau.
71. Dyea Trail, “The Clara Nevada,” March 11, 1898.
72. Post-Intelligencer, “Foster Beck’s Body Found,” March 13, 1898.
73. Wreck Report, Alaska Packers Association, microfiche, Z.J. Loussac Library, Anchorage.
74. The business archives in both Washington and Oregon are not indexed in a way that it would be easy to search for a specific name. My search of those records was by mail and by taking a “pot shot” at what names I believe the companies might have used, such company names included “Klondike,” “Lewis,” “MacDonald,” “Rogers” and “Skagway.” There could very well be a corporation started in 1898 with $165,000 with familiar names on the board of directors. I, however, was unable to find that documentation.
75. Post-Intelligencer, “The Discharged Gold Cargo of Treasure Ship Roanoke,” July 19, 1899.
APPENDIX
76. Seattle Times, “Still Another Victim,” March 19, 1898. Letters relating to Banks were published on the Internet in 1999. Copies are available at the archives of the Anchorage Museum of History and Art.
77. This inclusion could be a mistake, as a “William Maloy,” another corpse, was also being transported south by the Rosalie. Seattle Times, “Rosalie in Port,” February 15, 1898.
78. Seattle Weekly Times, “Pathetic and Startling,” March 10, 1898. This article was copied by a researcher in Seattle and the identification line indicates “Seattle Weekly Times,” but I suspect it is the Seattle Daily Times.
79. The Victoria Daily Colonist, in a story from the Seattle Times, lists a number of crew that was not included because of the vagueness. For the record, these included the following “four quatermasters,” “two sailors,” “three firemen,” “three coal passers,” “one night watchman,” “four other cabin boys,” “two kitchen helpers” and “three Chinese cooks.” The story in the Victoria Daily Colonist appeared on February 20, 1898.
80. This could have been “Fred” Emery. According to the Seattle Times, Fred Emery had left the Clara Nevada in Dyea to help a Boston party build a hotel. Fred’s letter to his father was, in the most classical way, a godsend.
81. Seattle Times, “Was on the Clara Nevada,” March 17, 1898.
82. Post-Intelligencer, “Well Known Men on the Lost Vessel,” February 17, 1898. The actual quote was, “It is possible the freight clerk, George Rogers, may have remained in Skagway and it is also learned that several members of the crew intended to desert in Alaska.”
Bibliography
SECONDARY DOCUMENTATION
Austin, Basil. The Diary of a Ninety-Eighter. Mount Pleasant, MI: John Cummings, 2007.
Becker, Ethel Anderson. Klondike ’98. Portland, OR: Binfords & Mort, 1972.
Berton, Pierre. Klondike: The Last Great Rush. Toronto, ON: McClelland and Stewart, 1972.
Boehm, William D. Glacier Bay. Anchorage, Alaska: Northwest Publishing Company, 1975.
Buranelli, Vincent. Gold: An Illustrated History. Maplewood, NJ: Hammond, Inc., 1979.
Cantwell, First Lieutenant R.C.S. J.C. Report of the Operations of the U.S. Revenue Steamer Nunivak. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1902.
Curtin, Walter R. Yukon Passage. Caldwell, ID: Caxton Printers, 1938.
“Dangerous Passage: Gold Rush Shipwrecks of 1898,” Alaska Historical Commission Studies in History no. 194 (June 1986).
Downs, Art. Paddlewheels on the Frontier. Seattle, WA: Superior Publishing, 1972.
Gibbs, James A. Pacific Graveyard. Portland, OR: Binfords & Mort, 1950.
———. Shipwrecks of Juan de Fuca. Portland, OR: Binford & Mort, 1968.
Hunt, William R. Distant Justice: Policing the Alaska Frontier. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1987.
———. North of 53: The Wild Days of the Alaska-Yukon Mining Frontier, 1870–1914. New York: Macmillan, 1974.
Johnson, James Albert. Carmack of the Klondike. Fairbanks, AK: Epicenter Press, 1990.
Lewis & Dryden’s Marine History of the Pacific Northwest. Seattle, WA: Superior Publishing, 1966.
McCurdy, H.W. The H. W. McCurdy Marine History of the Pacific Northwest. Seattle, WA: Superior Publishing, 1966.
Newell, Gordon. SOS North Pacific. Portland, OR: Binfords & Mort, 1955.
Orth, Donald J. Dictionary of Alaska Name Places. Geological Survey Professional Paper 567. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1967.
Place, Marian T. The Yukon. New York: Ives Washburn, New York, 1967.
Rogers, Alfred. Shipwrecks of British Columbia. Vancouver, BC: Douglas & McIntyre, Vancouver, 1973.
Scott, R. Bruce. “Breakers Ahead!” British Columbia: Review Publishing House, 1970.
Stummer, Harold Merritt. This Was Klondike Fever. Seattle, WA: Superior Publishing, 1978.
Wells, R.E. A Guide to Shipwrecks along the West Coast. Sooke, BC: Self-published, 1981.
Winslow, Kathryn. Big Pan-Out: The Story of the Klondike Gold Rush. New York: W.W.Norton, 1951.
PRIMARY DOCUMENTATION
Alaska Packers Association Records. Microfiche, Z.J. Loussac Library, Anchorage, Alaska.
/> Baltimore City Directory. Detroit, MI: R.L. Polk & Company, 1888.
Deputy Collector (Revenue Cutter Service?) letter to “Collector of Customs” in Sitka, February 18, 1898. Alaska State Library, Juneau.
Judicial records of Alaska. State of Alaska Archives in Juneau.
Lautaret, Ronald L. “The Juneau, Alaska Board of the Steamboat Inspection Service, 1898–1910.” Master of arts thesis, Western New Mexico University, April 1979.
L.H. Bayer’s References from Alaska Newspapers in the possession of the Alaska State Library, Juneau.
Levi, Steven C. Personal correspondence, 1980–2010. University of Alaska, Anchorage.
Niendorff, Hazel W. Scrapbook collection of the Clara Nevada, Museum of History and Industry, Seattle, Washington.
Ship Registries and Enrollments, Port of Portland, Oregon, 1869–1941. Oregon Historical Archives, Portland.
United States Government. Customs Service. Original documentation from St. Michael, 1898–1905. National Archives Alaska District, Anchorage.
———. Dispatches of the U.S. consuls in Dawson City. Federal Records Center, Anchorage, Alaska.
———. Index by district to U.S. Coast Guard Reports of Assistance. National Archives Alaska District, Anchorage.
———. Records of Alaska customhouses. National Archives Alaska District, Anchorage.
———. Records of entries and liquidations, Eagle, Alaska. National Archives Alaska District, Anchorage.
———. Revenue Cutter Service. Alaska File. National Archives Alaska District, Anchorage.
———. Treasury. “Report upon the Customs District, Public Service and Resources of Alaska Territory by William Gouverneur Morris, 1879.” Z.J. Loussac Library, Anchorage, Alaska.
———. U.S. Coast Guard casualty and wreck reports. National Archives Alaska District, Anchorage.
NEWSPAPER AND MAGAZINES
Alaska Forum
Alaska Journal
Alaska Magazine
Alaska Miner (Juneau)
Alaska Mining Record
Alaska Searchlight (Juneau)
Alaska Sportsman
Alaskan (Sitka)
Daily Alaska
Daily Alaskan Dispatch
Dawson Daily News
Dyea Press
Dyea Trail
Fort Wrangell News
New York Times
Nome Nugget
Olympia Washington Standard
Oregonian
Petersburg Weekly
Pony Express
Rampart Miner
Seattle Daily Times
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Seattle Weekly Times
Skagway News
Stikine River Journal
Tanana Directory
Teller News
Victoria Daily Colonist (Victoria, British Columbia)
White Horse Star
Yukon Press
Yukon Sun
About the Author
Steven C. Levi is a historian and freelance writer based in Anchorage, Alaska. Levi has lived in Alaska for thirty-three years and has more than thirty books in print, ranging from Alaska history to Westerns, how-to and self-help to poetry and aviation to biography. Levi has also developed educational software, written screenplays and developed creative media presentations using poetry and history, a sample of the last being on his website, parsnackle.com (See the “Phantom Dogsled”). Levi’s scholarly articles have appeared in such publications as Journal of the West, Pacific Historian, East Texas Historical Quarterly, Western Folklore, Southern California Quarterly, California and Labor History.
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The Clara Nevada: Gold, Greed, Murder and Alaska's Inside Passage Page 13
