Time Capsule: A.C. Pillsbury’s 1898 Photos of Wrangell
Arthur Clarence Pillsbury (1870 - 1946) was a revolutionary inventor and photographer who took pictures of Alaska during the Klondike Gold Rush. During his extensive stay in Wrangell, Pillsbury photographed homes, people, totems, and wide-open landscapes.
ARthur C. Pillsbury in Alaska
Arthur C. Pillsbury almost didn’t survive his trip to Alaska.
In early 1898, 28 year-old A.C. Pillsbury and his father boarded a 20-foot gas-powered boat in Seattle and headed north. As they passed through open seas, they encountered high winds and powerful waves that threatened to capsize them. The San Francisco Call Bulletin of January 29, 1899 quoted A.C. Pillsbury:
“Water came down our exhaust pipe and the heavy plate-glass windows in front were smashed in. It was all our pump could do to keep the boat dry. I was bruised and bumped and father was nearly exhausted. When at last land did come in sight I had little idea that we could reach it. The sea was rougher than ever, and it was almost impossible to manage the boat. When we got near enough to see the houses on land I saw that there was no harbor or landing place. Only a bare, sandy beach, with mountain waves tumbling on it in wild confusion. There was only one thing to do and that was to try and make our boat hit the beach as square as possible. I kept her head on and was almost congratulating myself that she was running in nicely when a crash came. The next instant the boat was broken in two and we were struggling in the water.”
Incredibly, both father and son survived, and Pillsbury’s camera equipment was not damaged. A.C. Pillsbury managed to procure and repair a second boat, and the Pillsbury men arrived in Wrangell in June 1898. The Fort Wrangel News of June 15, 1898 wrote:
“Dr. Pillsbury is most favorably impressed with the location of Fort Wrangel, its natural advantages and climatic conditions, and if satisfactory arrangements can be made, may locate here permanently. Mr. Arthur Pillsbury will make Wrangel the base of his operations...”
What follows are a selection of photographs by A.C. Pillsbury from his time in Wrangell. Some photos have been restored to repair rips, tears, and markings. Pillsbury likely took more photos of Wrangell than what you see here. If you know of any, please send an email to wrangellpod@gmail.com.
The View from Mount Dewey
No Number. Wrangel, Alaska, Looking South From Mt. Dewey. Æolian Bay. Zimovia Channel. A cloud of steam rises from the Wilson & Sylvester sawmill on the left, while the town’s wharfs are empty with no boats tied up. (Photo credit: Wikipedia Commons)
52. Wrangel, Alaska, From Dewey Mt., Looking South. The town’s wharfs are filled with steamships, and more vessels sit at anchor in the harbor. The man on the right is unidentified, but he may be A.C. Pillsbury’s father who accompanied his son on his voyage to Wrangell. (Photo credit: Wikipedia Commons)
56. Wrangel, Alaska. Based on the location of the vessels in this photograph, this photograph was likely taken around the same time as the picture above with the unidentified man sitting on the tree stump. (Photo credit: Ketchikan Museums)
No number. Panorama of Wrangel, Alaska. No. 8. Copyright. By A.C. Pillsbury. March 28, ??. Alaska Geographical Society. A soft layer of snow is visible on the ground. While attending college, A.C. Pillsbury invented a circuit panorama camera, which allowed him to take highly detailed panorama photographs like this one and many others in Alaska. This is the only photograph in this collection with a date, and the year is unclear, possibly “98” or “99.” (Photo credit: Wikipedia Commons)
Front Street
68. Street View at Wrangel, Alaska. This photograph appeared in Southeast Alaska: A Pictorial History by Pat Roppel, who wrote, “New businesses sprang into being. There were beer halls, two of which are shown in this section of the street bordering the beach. A group of men lounge outside the assay office. Wrangell was the recording district for all claims in the southern part of the Panhandle. The Wrangel Drug Store advertised on the smaller sign (mid-photograph), ‘Use Mosquit Dope for Mosquitoes.’ The summer bugs were as bad then as they are today.” (Photo credit: Ketchikan Museums)
74. View at Wrangel, Alaska. Looking south, Fort Wrangel’s waterfront boardwalks provide access to businesses while avoiding the beach debris of stumps and driftwood. In the center of this photo, a photographer wearing a dark suit is seen manipulating a camera under a black curtain. This is one of two photographs from Wrangell marked “74.” (Photo credit: Ketchikan Museums)
No number or caption. While this photo is not signed or labeled, it may be an A.C. Pillsbury photo. It is taken directly south of the previous photo but looking north. This photograph features the same exact business signs, and most tellingly, it features the same photographer and camera near the center of the photo. (Photo credit: Ketchikan Museums)
71. Street View at Wrangel, Alaska. This photograph is taken from the southern edge of the settlement of Fort Wrangel, looking north. In the distance, on the hill, the white-painted Presbyterian mission is visible against Mt. Dewey. (Photo credit: Ketchikan Museums)
KaachXana.áakʼw
Kiks.ádi Totem Pole
111. Totem Pole at Wrangel. This totem pole sits along Front Street in front of the Sun House. This is around the northern edge of the Tlingit village of Ḵaachx̱ana.áakʼw. This picture is taken just a few years before the construction of St. Philip’s Episcopal Church. (Photo credit: Wikipedia Commons)
Kadashan’s House
No number. Seventeen men, women, and children sit inside a canoe in the water in front of the home of John Kadashan, head of the Kaasx’agweidí and an influential member of the Presbyterian mission. In the book Monuments in Cedar, E.L. Keithahn quotes the July 23, 1887 edition of The Alaskan, "An Indian named Kadashan is having built a two-story residence on the site of his old house, with two sets of bay windows above and below. The building is a frame one covered with rustic with building paper under it. It will be finished inside with lumber and looks as if it will be one of the nicest in the country. Beat that if you can." In 1899, Kadashan confronted Alaska’s governor John G. Brady about stolen salmon streams. (Photo credit: Ketchikan Museums)
51. Kat-A-Shan’s Totem Poles. Kadashan’s home and totem poles were popular with visitors to Wrangell. Many photographers captured images of these poles, including Eadweard Muybridge in 1868 who shot a photo from a similar vantage point looking east. The Wolf Grave Totem sits near the base of the Kadashan totems, while the Flying Raven Totem is visible in the background. (Photo credit: Wikipedia Commons)
#77. Native Girls by Totem Poles, Wrangel, Alaska.” Two unidentified women in long dresses relax in front of Kadashan’s house by leaning against totems. This photo faces east and shows the Raven Totem Pole and the Beaver Pole among the buildings in the background. The white fence of Shakes Grave is visible in the far distance at the crest of the hill. (Photo credit: State Archives in Stavanger)
76. Tandem Horseback, Wrangel, Alaska. The same two unidentified women sit together on the back of the Wolf Grave Totem. This photograph faces west, and the outline of Elephant’s Nose is visible across the water. The Wolf Grave Totem used to sit with the Killer Whale Grave Totem in a location on the eastern side of the harbor where Front Street is today. (Photo credit: Ketchikan Museums)
No number, no caption. A woman sits on the Wolf Grave Totem with one of the Kadashan totems visible off the left edge. In the background, buildings and totems poles rise in the distance. (Photo credit: Ketchikan Museums)
Beaver Totem Pole
54. Bear Family Totem Pole, Wrangel, Alaska. This is commonly known as the Beaver Totem Pole because of the large carved beaver at the very top of the pole. Notice the dog laying on the porch. In the background, the Raven Totem Pole stands in front of a home. (Photo credit: Wikipedia Commons)
(Photo credit: Wikipedia Commons)
(Photo credit: Wikipedia Commons)
Raven Totem Pole
No number. Chief Shake’s New Totem Pole. (Photo credit: Wikipedia Commons)
(Photo credit: Wikipedia Commons)
Shakes Island
60. Chief Shake’s Old Russian Totem Pole, Wrangel, Alaska. Story of the Flood. Pillsbury photographed two totems at the front of Shakes Island: the Gunakadeit (left) and Bear Up The Mountain (right). In the foreground, a white marble monument with a bird at the top sits in front of the totems. The board at the base of the monument is upside down but reads, “W.H. Lewis, Ft. Wrangel.” This is likely William H. Lewis. (Photo credit: Wikipedia Commons)
74. Interior Chief Shake’s Home, Wrangel, Alaska. The home of Shakes, head of the Naan.yaa.ayí, was a popular destination for visitors arriving on steamships. The interior of Shakes’ home shows many artifacts of cultural patrimony. The man in the bowler hat standing in the photo is likely the sixth Shakes, Gush Tlein. (Photo credit: Wikipedia Commons)
108. Undersea Bear Totem Pole at Wrangel, Alaska. This totem pole stood near the south end of Shakes Island, behind the clan house, facing west. In the background, a steamship sits inside the harbor, protected from ocean waves by Shakes Island. Etolin Harbor’s breakwater would not begin construction until decades later in 1924. (Photo credit: Wikipedia Commons)
Dogfish Totem Pole
105. Totem Pole at Wrangel. Author Bonnie Demerjian featured a description of this totem pole in her book, Images of America: Wrangell, in which she wrote, “It is possibly the last pole carved Yiik.aas or William Ukas, who was aided by his son Tom. It stood on Cemetery Point until 1982.” (Photo credit: Wikipedia Commons)
One-Legged Fisherman Totem Pole
117. Totem Pole at Wrangel, Alaska. This totem is commonly known as the One-Legged Fisherman Pole. The headstone reads, “In Memory of Kauk-Ish. Died 1897. Aged 68 Yrs.” The Flying Frog Totem is visible in the background. These poles stand in the area known as the Indian Cemetery which began in 1876 as a place for the town’s fledgling Christian mission to bury its dead. (Photo credit: Wikipedia Commons)
Tlingit People
73. Natives of Wrangell, Alaska. Ten people, ranging from children to adults, mingle in front of two homes in the village of Ḵaachx̱ana.áakʼw. A dog rolls on the ground in the background behind the man holding a child’s hand. The modern style of building architecture and clothing suggests the advanced assimilation of these Tlingit people. (Photo credit: State Archives in Stavanger)
90. Natives in Dance Costume, Wrangel, Alaska. Three unidentified people pose in ceremonial Tlingit regalia for a photograph. The caption appears faintly at the bottom of the photo. The man in the center may be the same man holding the boy’s hand in the photo above. (Photo credit: Wikipedia Commons)
No number. Interior Cheif (sic) Lot’s House, Wrangel, Alaska. This photograph appeared in Southeast Alaska: A Pictorial History by Pat Roppel, who wrote, “A stove had taken the place of the smoky, traditional fire pit. The bundle of furs on the right is a bed with a very small baby; perhaps the young woman seated in the rocker is the mother. A table is set directly behind her at which a man an a small child are seated. A man poses in ceremonial dress in the back left. Beside him, seated below two Chilkat blankets, is a couple, the man holding a small child on his knee. It was traditional for several generations to live together in one house.” (Photo credit: Wikipedia Commons)
Unidentified Woman
84. If She Be Not Fair to Me, What Care I How Fair She Be? A Tlingit woman sits in front of a building, wearing a plaid skirt, with a blanket wrapped around her shoulders, and her feet propped on a wooden box. This photograph is not labeled as being from Wrangell, but its number, 84, is well within the range of numbered photos Pillsbury took in Wrangell. The photo’s caption comes from a poem by George Wither. (Photo credit: State Archives in Stavanger)
No number or caption. The same Tlingit woman smiles as she wraps her hands around a baby dressed in white jumper and bonnet on her lap. (Photo credit: State Archives in Stavanger)
Kadashan’s Mother
No number. “The oldest house in Wrangel & mother Kad-a-schen.” An elderly woman holding a cane in her right hand stands in front of an old Tlingit-style building. In Travels in Alaska, John Muir described her as “a woman of great natural dignity and force of character.” (Photo credit: Ketchikan Museums)
“Blind Aaron and Wife”
83. Blind Aaron And Squaw At Home, Wrangel, Alaska. Two elderly Tlingit adults sit near the fire pit in the center of a home, surrounded by pots, blankets, and cultural artifacts. This man may be Aaron Kohwow, an early member of Fort Wrangel’s Presbyterian Mission. In 1899, Aaron Kohwow became the subject of a letter written to Alaska’s governor John G. Brady protesting salmon streams seized by the Alaska Packers Association. Aaron Kohwow died shortly after the letter was written. (Photo credit: Wikipedia Commons)
96. Old “Blind Aaron.” Over 100 years. Wrangel, Alaska. Aaron removes his bowler hat, wraps himself in a blanket, and stands in front of a bench, a barrel, and several pieces of cultural patrimony for a photograph. (Photo credit: Wikipedia Commons)
93. Blind Aaron’s Wife. An elderly Tlingit woman poses for a photograph wrapped in a coat buttoned at her collar, with her long, straight graying hair coming down her shoulders. A labret piercing is visible beneath her lower lip. (Photo credit: Wikipedia Commons)
No number. “Queen Gow-She-Ett-Tee.” An elderly Tlingit woman poses in front of a building, with her coat buttoned at the top. While the photograph is not labeled from Wrangell, the woman and her clothing strongly resembles the woman identified as “Blind Aaron’s wife.” The title, “Queen Gow-She-Ett-Tee” may be a mistake, given that Gow-She-Ett-Tee was the name of a totem Pillsbury reported to have photographed in Klukwan. This woman may also be the same person identified as Skok-Ish-Tin 1909. (Photo credit: Wikipedia Commons)
No number or caption. Three elderly Tlingit people pose for a photograph in front of a building. In the center is a woman who strongly resembles “Blind Aaron’s wife.” To her right is an elderly man with hands wrapped in cloth leaning onto a sturdy cane. On the other side, a woman wrapped in a blanket holds a narrow walking stick. (Photo credit: State Archives in Stavanger)
William Ukas
No number. “Yucast” The Carver. A gray-haired, spectacled William Ukas looks into the camera for a photograph among carvings, tools, and wood shavings on the floor. In his right hand, Ukas holds an ornate walking stick. In his left hand, he grips a carving knife. William Ukas is in his 60s in this photograph, and he would pass away just a few years later. His son, Thomas Ukas, would also become a carver. (Photo credit: State Archives in Stavanger)
No number or caption. This second photo of William Ukas depicts the same scene, only Ukas is looking off to the side. (Photo credit: Wikipedia Commons)
“Chief Kaschish and Wife”
85. Chief Kaschish and Wife at Home. Two Tlingit adults wearing ceremonial regalia pose for a photograph on the steps inside of a home surrounded by kitchen supplies, canned goods, and clothing. The man holds a detailed, ornately carved paddle. (Photo credit: Wikipedia Commons)
123. Chief Kauchish and Wife in Dance Costume. The same couple pose for a photograph outside the front door of a building. (Photo credit: State Archives in Stavanger)
Landscapes
No number or caption. A photograph of Wrangell, looking east, with Mt. Dewey rising in the background and boats sitting at anchor in the harbor. (Photo credit: Wikipedia Commons)
59. Mouth of the Stikine River, Near Wrangel, Alaska. White, puffy clouds hover in the sky above a tranquil scene of peaceful waters, while rocky, snow-capped mountains loom in the background. The mouth of the Stikine River is a short distance north from Wrangell. (Photo credit: Wikipedia Commons)
127. Le Conte Glacier, 25 Miles North of Wrangel, Alaska. Chunks of ice float in a bay in front of a wide, white glacier in the distance. The San Francisco Call of January 29, 1899 identifies this as the “launch in which Pillsbury made his daring voyage from Seattle to Alaska,” but it may instead be the vessel Pillsbury acquired after his first vessel wrecked. (Photo credit: Wikipedia Commons)
133. Le Conte Glacier, 25 Miles North of Wrangel, Alaska. The Le Conte Glacier spills out from between the mountains and fills the bay with a field of floating ice debris. (Photo credit: Wikipedia Commons)
64. Sunset at Wrangel, Alaska. The silhouette of vessels and a waterfront building stand out against a cloudy evening sky. This photograph is looking north, as the setting sun illuminates the horizon behind multiple islands in the distance. (Photo credit: Wikipedia Commons)
65. Sunset at Wrangel, Alaska. Several steamships sit at anchor beyond the Wrangell waterfront, as rocks at the water’s edge make reflections in the peaceful surface of the water. (Photo credit: Wikipedia Commons)
Pillsbury Back Home
The January 29, 1899 published this image of A.C. Pillsbury back in California “surrounded by all sorts of Alaskan curios and photographs.” Tragically, Pillsbury’s photographic negatives of Alaska were all destroyed in the San Francisco Fire of 1906. Today, his photographic legacy from Alaska lives on in the surviving prints.
If you know of any photographs taken by A.C. Pillsbury in Wrangell, please get in touch! We would like this collection to grow.