Photograph Album ... Alaska, Yukon, British Columbia And New York - - - 1907-1917

HENRY A KEIL

Publication: 1907 - 1917, NP

An extraordinary photo album documenting the life and adventures of a young Catskill, New York, native who heads to Alaska to be a prospector at 17, works as a miner and laborer on railroad and road construction projects, before returning to the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York, for training as an engineer. After graduation, he works as a surveyor with Alaska Government Land Office survey party, and later the United States Government Land Office Survey in Motanuska Valley, with 100s of photos recording survey work, hunting, mining, and sports in Juneau, near the Perseverance Mine, Tanana, Nenana, Eagle, Fairbanks, Chitina, Kotsina, the Columbia Glacier, Mt. Wrangell, and much more. Over 500 images depict steamships, street scenes, Native Americans, surveyors, surveying, explosives work, road building, camp scenes, land auctions, and more. 11" x 15" in contemporary simulated black calf post binder, tied with cotton lace. [86] pp. on thick black stock paper with 504 original photographs and Real Photo Postcards, sized 1 ½" x 2 ½" up to 4 3/4" x 6 ½," with most sized 3 ½" x 5 ½." Captions in white ink throughout, 1 boudoir sized albumen photo of the large family home in Catskill, New York, with photographer’s imprint on lower fore-edge, 2 cabinet card photos, and 1 tintype, showing the Keil family with small kids on burros or Shetland ponies, newspaper clippings, railroad passes, and more. Silhouette of the “Author” on the first page. Henry Keil was the son of a well-to-do Catskill, New York, butcher who had immigrated from Frankfurt during the Civil War and prospered enough to retire as a gentleman to a stately home by the age of 55. Keil was a miner in Alaska, became a surveyor and engineer and stayed through World War I, serving with the 14th Infantry until Nov., 1918, before returning briefly to New York, and subsequently back to Alaska, and then Seattle where he became a King County draftsman, and later city engineer. This exceptional and thoroughly annotated photo album chronicles the life and experiences of a young prospector, surveyor, and later civil engineer in Alaska at the beginning of the 20th century. Although he opens with many images and views of Juneau, Alaska, nearby glaciers, the Perseverance Mine, and more, the earlier photos in Alaska begin in 1907 chronicling his life as a 17- year old prospector and miner near Skagway, then Long Glacier, along the Kotsina River, and the Copper River. Included as well in the album are photographs of the Alaskan Native-American “Dr. Bill” and his family on the Copper River in 1907, looking at photos with Klooch, an American Indian ferry boat on the Copper river, others canoeing near Ellamar, Alaska, and more. In addition, there are photos of he and his friends hunting bears in Kotsina, Alaska, sheds blown down by a Copper River Zephyr, a Copper River RR cut throgh the mountains, scenic vistas of the Columbia Glacier, Kotsina district mining camp, and even the building of the Kuskulana River Bridge for the C.R. & N.W. Railroad, together with street scenes in Valdez. From 1914 through 1917, Keil works on survey crews, working for the U.S. Government Land Office after Alaska becomes a territory, so the surveys not only worked on marking out the boundaries, but also determining land claims, resurveying many of the boundaries, as well as determining the changes in the mineral leasing laws changed in 1914. Keil has included photos of the Matunaska Valley survey in 1915, the camp on Eaks Creek, pack train at the Chicaloon coal camp, sternwheeler stranded by the ebb tide, as well as many photos of placer mining in Fairbanks District, AK which show the water monitors, piles of tailings, mining equipment and more. Several photos show the town of Knik, Alaska near Anchorage which was a booming gold down from 1898 through 1917, along with photos of freithing on Tompson Summit near Valdez, photos of Chitina, Alaska, construction camps on the Copper River and Northwestern RR in 1910, along with Siwash Indian shacks, Kotsina District, and even Carbiou. There are many camp scenes with the surveyors setting in their tents, inspecting maps, eating outside, the vast Alaska valleys, as well as photos of baseball games, foot ball games, fish wheel on the Tenana River, a Native American fish camp, as well as tanning moose hide. There also photos of canoe races by Native Americans at Nenana, Alaska, in 1916 and Brother Abbey’s Harmony Band in Nenana during the 4th of July celebrations. Of special interest are photographs showing an air boat piloted by F.S. Ryus on the Tanana River in 1917, powered by large airplane prop, and elevated engine, as well as an entire series of photos showing the survey teams attempt to take Dodge touring cars along the “ideal” trail from Fairbanks to Chitina. They finally give up and leave them at Millers Road House, trading them in for horses for handling the snow. Keil has even included a menu for the Mt. McKinley Park Boundary Survey Luncheon held July 4, 1921, including such items as Cream of Tapioca soup, Norwegian Smoked Brisling, McKinley Jambalai, cheese, onions, and raspberry preserves. A few images with minor closed tears. Photographs clear and bright. Light scraping to boards and edges. Very good.

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