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Explore stories in Northwest history through highlights from MOHAI’s collections. Search by keyword below or browse the entire online collection by entering the asterisk symbol (*). Filter your search by type of materials.

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557 results for: Alaska

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Image of Crowd with steamship
Photograph

Crowd with steamship "Australia" at Seattle pier, circa 1898

Gold seekers streamed to Seattle by the thousands, eager to board ships bound for the Klondike gold fields. Seattle's shipping industry and waterfront businesses boomed during the gold rush. In March 1897, before the news of the Klondike gold finds reached Seattle, port records show that only 18 ships sailed to or from Seattle. In March 1898, with the gold…
ID Number:SHS2504
Date:Circa 1898
Image of Crates of gold on the way to the Seattle assay office, circa 1902
Photograph

Crates of gold on the way to the Seattle assay office, circa 1902

Gold from the Nome and Klondike gold fields was often shipped to Seattle in wooden crates. Wagons waiting at the waterfront hauled the heavy shipment up the hill to the U. S. Assay Office on Ninth Avenue. This photo, probably taken between 1898 and 1906, shows a group of men and boys looking at a shipment of gold in the…
ID Number:SHS2505
Date:Circa 1902
Image of Steamship
Photograph

Steamship "Australia" loading at Seattle pier, circa 1898

The United States was in the grip of a nationwide economic depression in the 1890s. When the steamer "Portland" arrived in Seattle in July 1897 with more than a ton of Klondike gold, the city's depression ended. Pacific Northwest shipping companies were eager to profit from the gold rush. They scrambled to provide passenger and freight service to the Alaskan…
ID Number:SHS2506
Date:Circa 1898
Image of Theodore Wernecke and employees inside fur store, Seattle, circa 1898
Photograph

Theodore Wernecke and employees inside fur store, Seattle, circa 1898

An estimated 100,000 prospectors migrated to the Klondike region of the Yukon in north-western Canada between 1896 and 1899. Most of them stopped in Seattle to purchase supplies, greatly contributing to the city's economic success. Ohio-born Charles Theodore Wernecke (1852-1922) came to Seattle around 1897 and operated at least one store catering to miners headed to Alaska during the Klondike…
ID Number:SHS2508
Date:Circa 1898
Image of Wagner's First Regiment Band, Seattle, 1889
Photograph

Wagner's First Regiment Band, Seattle, 1889

Cornetist Theodore H. “Dad” Wagner arrived in Seattle in the mid-1880s. As leader of the Second Regiment National Guard Band, Wagner’s band gained community fame by providing free concerts at Pioneer Square after Seattle’s Great Fire of 1889. That same year, he led the First Regiment Washington National Guard Band in celebration of Washington’s statehood. His own band, Dad Wagner’s…
ID Number:SHS2514
Date:1889
Image of Exterior of C.T. Wernecke fur store, Seattle, circa 1897
Photograph

Exterior of C.T. Wernecke fur store, Seattle, circa 1897

Fur trading in the Pacific Northwest dates back to the 1700s. The first raw fur auction in the United States was organized in Seattle in 1898, coinciding with the Klondike Gold Rush, which had started in 1896. Ohio-born Charles Theodore Wernecke had come to Seattle in 1897 and ran a store that bought raw furs, manufactured fur clothing, and catered…
ID Number:SHS2525
Date:Circa 1897
Image of Northern Pacific depot, Seattle, circa 1899
Photograph

Northern Pacific depot, Seattle, circa 1899

Between 1892 and 1906, the Northern Pacific Railroad had a depot on Railroad Avenue at Columbia Street. Many people who were headed to the northern gold fields arrived by train at this Seattle railroad station. In 1906, the railroad moved its operations to the new King Street Station. Typed on sleeve: Railroad station on Railroad Ave. and Columbia St.
ID Number:SHS2546
Date:Circa 1899
Image of Sailing ship
Photograph

Sailing ship "Lucile" loading at Seattle pier, 1898

In 1897 and 1898 so many people wanted to go north to the Klondike gold fields that all kinds of ships were pressed into service. Some were sailing ships which had carried passengers, coal, lumber, or salmon up and down the west coast of the United States.This 1898 photo shows the wooden sailing ship "Lucile" loaded with gold miners and…
ID Number:SHS2551
Date:1898
Image of Reindeer and Sami at Woodland Park, 1898
Photograph

Reindeer and Sami at Woodland Park, 1898

In 1892, the United States government started bringing reindeer from Siberia into Alaska as a new food source for the native peoples. In 1898, the government brought in Norwegian reindeer, along with Sami herdsmen and their families. They stopped in Seattle to wait for a ship to Alaska. Some Sami remained in Alaska, while others eventually returned to Seattle or…
ID Number:SHS2899
Date:1898
Image of Carstens Bros & Dashley Meat Market employees outside store, Nome, October 1908
Photograph

Carstens Bros & Dashley Meat Market employees outside store, Nome, October 1908

In 1890 German emigrant Julius August Carstens (1873-1949) arrived in Seattle with his brothers, Thomas and William. Together they founded the Carstens Brothers Meat Markets, later expanding the business into meat packing. In this image employees of the Carstens Brothers and Dashley Meat Market pose outside the shop in Nome, Alaska. In 1899 the brothers had expanded their business north…
ID Number:SHS3098
Date:1908
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MOHAI stands on the historic and contemporary lands and shores of the Duwamish, Suquamish, Muckleshoot, and other Coast Salish Nations. We acknowledge the forced displacement of Native Communities from this land while honoring the endurance of the Duwamish people who still live here.
Address: 860 Terry Ave N, Seattle WA, 98109
Phone: 206 324 1126
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