Click images to enlarge
Description
(PLEASE CLICK HERE TO SEE OUR OTHER ITEMS CURRENTLY LISTED ON EBAY.)
CIRCA 1899 PHOTOGRAPHIC ARCHIVE OF NOME, ALASKA DURING THE GOLD RUSH. LOT OF 7 UNMOUNTED IMAGES PRINTED CIRCA 1899 FROM GLASS PLATE NEGATIVES. DEPICTED ARE; HUSBAND AND WIFE IN A SNOW COVERED IGLOO STYLE SHELTER WITH EXITING STOVE PIPE, TWO MEN AT A CABIN, CABIN WITH FUR CLAD HUSBAND AND WIFE BEHIND A DOG SLED TEAM (SIGN ON ROOF READS “HILL SIDE HOUSE”), VIEW OF SHORESIDE TOWN WITH MINER TENTS DOTTING THE HILLSIDE, GROUP OF INDIGENOUS NATIVES ON THE BEACH, RAPIDLY DEVELOPING MUDDY COMMERCIAL STREET FRONT, AND HURRIEDLY BUILT DRIFTWOOD WIGWAMS AND SHACKS (IDENTIFIED IN NEGATIVE AS CAPE NOME, COPYRIGHT 1899).
GOLD WAS DISCOVERED IN NOME BY THREE MEN IN 1898. WITHIN ONE YEAR, THE PREVIOUSLY VIRTUALLY NONEXISTENT AREA HAD EXPLODED TO A POPULATION OF MORE THAN 10,000. THE GOLD WAS DISCOVERED IN THE SAND OF THE SHORELINE AND THIS NORTHWESTERN ALASKA LOCALE QUICKLY DEVELOPED INTO A SEA PORT WITHOUT A HARBOR. THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE POURED IN FROM THE PORTS OF SAN FRANCISCO AND SEATTLE. INTERESTINGLY, WHILE EXAMINING SIGNAGE IN THE STREET SCENE PHOTO, I SEARCHED ONLINE FOR A DENTIST BY THE NAME ON HIS SIGN WHICH READ: R. G. CALDWELL, DENTIST. A DENTIST BY THE SAME NAME WAS LOCATED IN A SEATTLE NEWSPAPER ADVERTISEMENT FROM THE YEAR 1897…THE YEAR JUST PRIOR TO THE GOLD RUSH.
APPROXIMATE SIZE OF THE IMAGES RANGE FROM 7” X 5-18” TO 6-1/2” X 4-3/4”. CONDITION: EDGE CREASES, CHIPPING, CORNER LOSSES. THE IMAGES WERE PRINTED FROM SCRATCHED NEGATIVES THUS SCRATCHES SEEN IN PHOTOS ARE NOT DAMAGE TO THE PHOTOS. Please see photos for additional condition review. Questions welcome!
