YUKON-CHARLEY RIVERS Yukon Frontiers Historic Resource Study of the Proposed Yukon-Charley National River

The military on the Yukon frontier did not deviate from the pattern established on earlier western frontiers. In 1898 the military was as preoccupied with preparedness for the next foreign war as it was in 1848. Consequently, the military leaders did not design the frontier army to adapt to its unusual frontier environment and circumstances. [1] Moreover, unlike the Northwest Mounted Police, which all United States military officers admired, the Army never arrived on the scene until after violence and disorder had erupted. Even after sixty years of bloodshed and hard-earned lessons, the Army still waited until after the chaotic Klondike rush and its aftermath to evaluate the need for military installations.

Idealistically the leaders of the Army repeated the goals for Alaska as if they had been achieved on the earlier frontiers already: "The lines of the Army have advanced simultaneously with the advance of the settler along our vast frontiers," observed the Senate Committee on Military Affairs in a report on the military in Alaska. "It has been the uniform policy of the Government to foster the development of the country by exploring and opening up trails for emigrants and prospectors, convoying their supplies, aiding in the transmission of their mail, in all things extending a helping hand to them, and in keeping step with the advance of civilization. . . . Wherever he [the emigrant] went he found that somewhere or somehow the military branch of the Government had with wise, unerring foresight established posts for his protection and relief." [2] The Army had one soldier, Lieutenant W. P. Richardson, stationed at Fort Yukon during the turbulent winter of Dawson's "starvation scare". During the summer of 1898, however, several Army exploration teams mapped some of the interior routes already explored by prospectors. The following winter of 1898-99 Richardson acquired eighty men to help him patrol the river and preserve order among the mining communities between Circle City and Eagle City.

Finally, in June 1899 a permanent military district was established on the Yukon River charged with the responsibility of protecting transportation companies, finding new routes to the interior, aiding the destitute, building military roads, improving communication between posts, and providing safety for the general welfare of the community. [3] At Circle City Richardson learned that his camp had been officially established and that the had been promoted to captain. Furthermore, he was ordered to begin construction on the first military post on the Yukon. Near the Canadian border at the mouth of Mission Creek, he staked out Fort Egbert, named for Colonel Harry E. Egbert, who had been killed in Philippines a few months earlier. At mid-summer Major Patrick H. Ray returned to Alaska to take command of the North Alaska District and relieve Richardson. With him came a company of ninety-nine enlisted men and a detachment of Hospital Corps. [4]

By August 1, while the troops lived in tents, the foundations had been laid for six buildings, barracks, storehouse, hospital, officers quarters, office, and guardhouse. [5] With the onset of winter the buildings were still incomplete. As the long winter drew out, Major Ray charged his Captain, W.K. Wright, with misappropriating funds and insubordination. Captain Wright, in turn, countercharged Major Ray with misappropriating public funds. Rumors of the conflict diffused along the Yukon. [6] The enlisted men, taking advantage of the disharmony between the officers and the lax discipline, began drinking and squabbling among themselves and the townspeople, a condition aggravated by the inclusion of the town within the boundaries of the military reservation. [7] Although the charges were distorted and petty, both the town and the fort split into factions that only a new company and a different set of officers could relieve.

On August 23, 1900, Company E. Seventh Infantry, commanded by the able and efficient Captain Charles E. Farnsworth, took charge of Fort Egbert. [8] Farnsworth was the right man for the job. Born in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania in 1863, the had worked with a telegraph construction gang while awaiting appointment to West Point. After graduating from West Point, he had served in several frontier posts in Colorado, North Dakota, and Tennessee that helped prepare him for Alaska. In June 1899 his young wife and son accompanied him on his assignment to the District of North Alaska. Shortly after their arrival, the passage of the Civil and Criminal Codes for Alaska created a skeleton civil government. At this point the Secretary of War agreed to exclude Eagle City from the military reservation. [9] Thus, Farnsworth had one less headache. The authorized abandonment of the Circle City post allowed Farnsworth to concentrate on Fort Egbert.

Farnsworth, appalled at Ray's drunken and mutinous company, became doubly discouraged upon inspection of the post. The green logs had dried and twisted out of shape opening large cracks between every two logs. The barracks accommodated only 60 men whereas Farnsworth had 102. No plans even existed for construction of the stables, and no hay, forage, logs, wood, coal, or fresh meat had been stored. [10] Since snow already covered the hills, Farnsworth put his men to work immediately. Some began constructing a new addition to the barracks. Others caught and dried fish or hunted caribou. A fourteen-man detachment started construction of a telegraph line to meet the Canadian line from Dawson. Although kept well-disciplined and busy, the garrison suffered six desertions to the attractions of Canadian wages of ten dollars a day.

In a push to complete the telegraph hook-up before winter and in time for the presidential election returns, Farnsworth reinforced the telegraph construction crew to thirty men. The last three miles to the boundary interposed steep rocky mountains and frozen ground. On October 29, 1900, Fort Egbert telegraphed the states via Dawson and British Columbia. [11] The excited listeners heard that William McKinley had carried the presidential election. Canadians allowed military and civilian messages sent for fifty-six cents per word, and a reply could be expected in five days. Previously messages took at least a month and more likely four. Almost as important, the international telegraph line inspired excellent cooperation between Canada and the United States.

By mid-November, with temperatures of thirty degrees below zero, the soldiers had completed the barracks and the stable, calked all log buildings, and sheathed the storehouse with corrugated iron. [12] With winter came short daylight hours and severe cold. Nevertheless, Farnsworth conducted daily drills in the drill hall of the barracks. He had secured permission to build a Post Exchange without cost to the government—the Exchange paid the soldiers for their labor. A kitchen, dining room, billiard room, bar room, and store occupied the building. In justification of this building, Farnsworth explained: "The absence of proper places of amusement and the bad character of the saloons near the reservation render it a very important matter that there should be a good building erected for an exchange". [13]

For Thanksgiving the military post gave a dance. The soldiers planed the drill-room floor smooth. One officer drove a bobsled pulled by four mules to collect the seventeen women of the town and post while another officer dressed in livery green acted as a foot man. The dance proved a great success and at the request of the citizens Farnsworth promised a dance twice a month. [14]

As time passed the Farnsworths discovered many aspects of life about Fort Egbert that they enjoyed. Farnsworth became an avid sportsman. On one three-day hunting trip he killed five caribou and fifty ptarmigan. [15] Although the snow and ice made a picturesque setting, temperatures as low as seventy degrees below zero forced everyone to remain inside. Fires in every room consumed more than 400 cords of wood, and even then barely kept the rooms warm. Mrs. Farnsworth got "disgusted" with the cold since it burned her lungs. Everyone got nose and cheeks a little frozen but nobody seemed to mind. [16] Overall, Farnsworth recognized that Alaska was a hard country for soldiers. "As all the men are on fatigue every day," he wrote, "they are practically nothing more than day laborers." [17] Consequently he felt concern that none of his men would re-enlist for service at Fort Egbert.

Although a teetotaler himself, one of Farnsworth's worst fears was the closing of the canteen. "The men can be kept fairly well amused without drinking much as we sell beer at twenty-five cents per glass," he reported, "but if the canteen is closed the men will go to the horrible whiskey holes downtown, get crazed by the vile stuff they sell, and get into fights and others troubles, and finally desert." [18] The order abolishing the canteen confirmed his fears. Within a month a sergeant and a "worthless" enlisted man deserted. Drunkeness increased threefold.

Aside from the saloons, the relationship between the fort and the town emerged as one of compatibility and cooperation. The military allowed the new Department of Justice the use of the post's sawmill for lumber to build the town's courthouse and jail, although Justice had to supply the logs and labor. Clubs and meetings brought an intermingling of military and townspeople. Farnsworth participated in the "Wise Men's Club", otherwise known as the "Club of the Twelve Cranks", whose members wrote and criticized one another's essays. [19] He also gave the keynote speech at the opening of the Presbyterian reading room.

Although interested in the construction of the post and the telegraph line, Farnsworth, concerned about his wife's health, requested a change of station. Relinquishing his command to his lieutenant, Benjamin Tillman, Farnsworth left on June 29, 1901. In 1910 he returned once again to Alaska to command Fort Gibbon at the mouth of the Tanana River. The remaining twenty-five years, however, he spent compiling an impressive record in the Philippines, Mexico, Cuba, and France. He retired in 1925 as a major general.

Although Lieutenant Tillman had once displayed leadership and a delightful sense of humor, he had recently been jilted by his southern fiance. Morose, melancholy, and self-absorbed, he found himself saddled with a company of green recruits. The men of Farnsworth's original company had completed their enlistment time and had returned with him to the States for their release from the service. Because of the cold, Tillman held few drills and little target practice, and punished only a few miscreants with the chore of chopping wood. Without enough work and guidance to keep them from trouble, the recruits found themselves embroiled in a saloon brawl that landed a number of them in jail. Indignation swept the company, followed by an impulsive decision to free their comrades. The non-commissioned officer issued arms and ammunition, lined the men into columns of four, and marched them toward town.

Unknown to the soldiers, the Assistant United States Marshall had deputized all citizens, posted them on the roofs of the cabins, and ordered them to shoot any soldiers who attempted to break into the jail. As trappers, hunters, frontiersmen, and expert shots, the citizens would have annihilated the recruits. On the outskirts of town Lieutenant Tillman intercepted the column. In a loud, firm voice he said: "Men, you are going back to the barracks. You may kill me, but I will kill four or five of you before you go any further. Column right, March!" [20] The men marched meekly back to the barracks, where Tillman severely reprimanded them. He experienced no further discipline problems.

Such examples of misconduct among the soldiers moved government officials to doubt the need for the military. Since Army policy had been one of assistance to civil authorities and since civil government had finally come into its own, state politicians and government observers felt the military appropriations or their equivalent should be made available to the civil authority. [21] These government spokesmen, however, overlooked the primary purpose of the military—to improve transportation and communication facilities. This purpose occupied the major Alaskan forts for five grueling years.

With the creation of the Army Signal Corps during the Civil War, speedy communication became an important military goal. Reorganized in 1887 by the great communication expert and Arctic explorer, General Adolphus Washington Greely, the Signal Corps emphasized the need for signal communications in Alaska. In 1898 a three-pronged survey team searched for a practical telegraph route from Eagle to either Cook Inlet of Prince William Sound. [22] Meanwhile, since trading steamers traversed the Yukon at infrequent intervals, administration and coordination of the Alaskan military garrisons proved extremely difficult. Communication with Washington headquarters required a year to send a message and receive an answer. Since breaks in the Canadian telegraph line were common and American messages received low priority, even the completion of the Canadian line did not resolve the problems. Moreover, friction with Canada and England over the international boundary and with Russia and Japan over fishing and sealing rights in the Bering Sea required telegraph communication for military and diplomatic purposes.

These problems proved increasingly cumbersome. The dynamic but impatient General Greely demanded immediate and forceful action. As a rugged outdoorsman he did not underestimate the logistical problems of the all-American telegraph system that he envisioned. In May 1900 he electrified Congress into a $450,550 appropriation for such a system. [23] Throughout the project the politically astute Secretary of War, Elihu Root, rendered indispensable support. With only a handful of skilled Signal Corpsmen, Greeley exacted from the Alaskan infantry forces the necessary manpower.

Simultaneously, at Forts Davis, Michael, Gibbon, and Egbert, commanders ordered exploration teams to survey a route for the Washington-Alaska Military Cable and Telegraph System (WAMCATS). After completion of the Canadian-Alaskan segment in October 1900, Egbert Commander Captain Farnsworth, tired of waiting for veteran explorer Captain William R. Abercrombie to blaze a trail north from Valdez, explored the route as far as Kechumstuk Summit himself. Sam Peter, from Eagle Village, guided Farnsworth over an Indian trading trail that proved the most practical route. [24] Upon his return, he set forty-two men to work, cutting trail over the route he had reconnoitered. To General Greely he reported several logistical problems: bare rock mountain, frozen ground, steep cliffs above rivers, and insufficient and inappropriate tools.

When Farnsworth transferred to another assignment, construction on this portion of the telegraph line stopped. Lieutenant Tillman had all he could handle with a company of unruly recruits. In the summer of 1901 Greely, concerned about the progress of the telegraph line, sent a Phillipine veteran, Lieutenant William "Billy" Mitchell, to Alaska to investigate the problems and recommend some solutions. To the twenty-one-year-old Mitchell, the construction of the Alaska telegraph system seemed as important as the Lewis and Clark Expedition, Fremont's trip to California, and the opening of the routes along the Mexican border to the Pacific coast. [25]

The wild and unknown country enchanted the impressionable but confident and competent young officer. As he surveyed the route between Fort Egbert and Fort Liscum (near Valdez) during the summer, he quickly evaluated the problems—primarily those of transporting supplies. Deep moss, swamp, and muskeg, in which mules sank to their knees, covered the route. Little could be moved during the summer. In the winter, however, with the ground frozen, one mule could pull a sled of 2,000 pounds. He expounded his theory: "Nobody had tried to freight with horses and mules in winter on account of the cold, and as the dogs could pull comparatively little, almost nothing had been accomplished on the telegraph line. . . It seemed to me the thing to do was to work through the winter getting the material out: the wire, insulators, poles, food supplies, and forage; then to actually construct the lines in the summer when we could dig holes in the ground and set the telegraph poles." [26]

By recommending winter labor to General Greely, Mitchell ridiculed old-timers' tales of freezing and other myths of winter. After hearing Mitchell's report and recommendations, Greely ordered him to return to Alaska to build the telegraph line. "I was delighted at the prospect," [27] said Mitchell, and he wasted no time preparing for his winter project.

He quickly learned a few essentials about intense cold: leather could not be worn; rubber cracked at temperatures of thirty degrees below zero; mercury thermometers froze at thirty-five below and thus served no good; kerosene froze at fifty below when lamps would go out; iron would stick to ice at forty below; and chilled steel or wood sled runners slid more smoothly than regular steel. He devised appropriate clothing for working in temperatures of sixty below: a parka of heavy bedticking with a hood of wolverine tail lined with sable skin broke the wind and prevented the face from freezing; fleece-lined mittens of moose skin, three pairs of woolen socks, moccasins, fleece-lined underwear, wool trousers, and smoked goggles completed the wardrobe. He also recognized the danger that dressing too warmly meant perspiration, which immediately froze and rendered all clothing useless.

After a winter reconnaissance over the trail, Mitchell organized his transportation system. Carefully selecting matched dog teams, he started a cache system along the trail. When the mule skinners refused to follow, he simply paid them off and hired new ones. When he discovered Fort Egbert's inadequate supplies, he bought or made new equipment. When he ran out of funds, he telegraphed Greely for more and received $50,000. Rather than waiting for the official warrant from the United States Treasury and losing a winter's work, Mitchell immediately obligated the funds for equipment, salaries, and services. "An officer who always follows the letter of the Book of Regulations instead of the spirit seldom gets anywhere," he declared. [28] It was a motto he followed his whole life. The telegraph transmission had misplaced a comma, and the actual allocation turned out to be only $5,000. Greely had to request a special appropriation from Congress to cover Mitchell's obligations.

Although many horses and mules had to be shot because of improper care in temperatures of seventy degrees below zero, the work went on. The crew cut the right-of-way, laid out the telegraph line along the route, and attached buzzer instruments that allowed communication with Fort Egbert. Throughout, Mitchell proved a strong and tireless leader. He personally conducted all reconnaissances, led the crews on their first trip, and maintained constant inspection tours. To prevent complaints and discontent while working in sub-zero temperatures, he prohibited thermometers. He established a wheelwright's shop at Fort Egbert to make specially modified sleds, harnesses, and horseshoes. These modifications prevented the horses and mules from freezing as they had during the early winter. He even worked out a schedule that showed a sled's specific load in accordance with a specific temperature.

During the summer of 1902 Mitchell's crew strung the telegraph line on the poles, dried salmon for winter dog food, hunted caribou and cached the meat, and built stations at ten-to-twenty mile intervals, each with a telegraph office, cabin, stable, and storehouse. On August 24, 1902, at Tanacross Junction, the Fort Liscum line linked up with Fort Egbert's line. The most difficult job, however, lay ahead.

The telegraph system from St. Michael to Fort Egbert, attempting to follow the Yukon, had mired in the swamps of the Yukon Flats. Mitchell determined that the best route would be to follow the Tanana River, then up the Goodpasture River to Kechumstuk Summit and link into the Fort Liscum-Fort Egbert line. Once again with an Indian guide, Chief Joseph, a Ketchumstuk Indian, Mitchell personally reconnoitered the trail—the first white man to traverse the Goodpasture. The route was not perfect: portions of the trail had to be blasted, bridges erected over warm water springs, and boats constructed from whipsawed lumber. Still the trail pushed along on schedule. When news of the Fairbanks gold rush reached Dawson and Eagle, the winter telegraph trail became a highway for the stampeders. Summer brought hordes of mosquitoes that plagued the crew and animals. As the crew chopped Mitchell graphically captured the image: "great bearded fellows in blue denim clothing, high horse hide boots and slouch hats, with remnants of mosquito netting around the edges. Their faces were sores from the assaults of the mosquitoes and black flies. As they attacked the spruce trees, the forest seemed to fall in front of them." [29]

Time ran tight when the Tanana crew working east failed to meet Mitchell at the appointed spot. Since appropriations ran out on June 30, 1903, the remaining sixty-five miles had to be surveyed, the right-of-way cut, and the line stretched and erected in only thirty days. The mosquitoes became the real scourge and demanded constant smudge fires. Caribou and bear replenished the exhausted meat supply. If a supply boat were to capsize in the rapids of the Tanana, the completion of the line would have been postponed indefinitely. To prevent such a catastrophe, Lieutenant Mitchell personally guided each boat through the rapids. Before reaching the Salcha River, a forest fire flamed directly in the path of the telegraph line. Nevertheless, at long last, on June 27, 1903, three days before deadline, Mitchell himself made the last connection on the Alaska Telegraph System. Two thousand miles of wire stretched from St. Michael to Fort Egbert to Fort Liscum. "America's last frontier had been roped and hogtied," Mitchell whooped. [30]

Despite Mitchell's calm, modest confidence, the construction of the telegraph line had been a monumental achievement. Battling unexplored terrain, extremes of climate, clouds of mosquitoes, inventing new equipment and methods of construction, and organizing efficient transportation and supply lines, Lieutenant Mitchell and his indefatigable men conquered nearly four hundred miles of the "wedge which cleft open the country to communication." [31]

Billy Mitchell had completed his assignment. He returned to the States and later helped to organize the Air Service for World War I. His aggressiveness, self-confidence and public attacks on the War Department alienated his superiors. Although courtmartialed for insubordination, he correctly predicted the Japanese attack and the role of aircraft in World War II. In 1946, ten years after his death, the Senate voted him a special medal of honor.

With the completion of the telegraph, life at Fort Egbert became easier. Only the telegraph maintenance crews at remote trail stations found life arduous, dangerous, and monotonous. The telegraph line needed constant maintenance—storms, floods, vandals, and avalanches broke it and thus necessitated repair in every kind of weather. During the winter, post freighters sledded in a year's supply of food and equipment for each station—a total of 400 tons. Eventually, in 1908, the Signal Corps installed a three-kilowatt wireless station at Fort Egbert and Circle City, and the land lines gradually fell into disrepair.

With the installation of wireless stations, the post settled into a more routine military lifestyle. Drilling, training, target practice, and other boring routines brought the common frontier army complaint—alcoholism. Eagle's four saloons bolstered this tendency. One officer blamed the town for the problem. His lieutenant was often found drunk. Seven soldiers stole a can of kerosene and sold it in Eagle to buy whiskey. While they were arrested, tried, and dishonorably discharged, still one other enlisted man "blew his brains out in a fit of desperation because he could not get whiskey." [32]

On the other hand, a new period with ample leisure time followed that resulted in the construction of a gymnasium. The building contained the usual paraphernalia—basketball court, shooting gallery, and bowling alley. The main floor accommodated winter field meets and semi-monthly dances. The post even engaged two special gymnastic teachers. The officers daily conducted drills for three-quarters of an hour followed by lectures. Most of the remaining time men spent perfecting their skills in the gymnasium. Free time allowed indulgence in practical jokes and pranks, yet also time to appreciate nature's wonders. [33]

Since the telegraph had been converted to wireless and the Yukon area had been overshadowed by Fairbanks, the War Department determined that Fort Egbert had become expensive, redundant, and archaic. In 1911 the former commander of Fort Egbert. Major Farnsworth, now at Fort Gibbon, oversaw the dismantling of the fort. Only a Signal Corps detachment remained behind to operate the wireless station in Alaska. [34] An enlisted man agreed: "It seems to me a man can get as much out of life at Fort Egbert as any place I know." [35]

The military frontier on the Yukon differed markedly from the earlier frontiers of the American West in one respect—there were no Indians to subdue. Instead of fighting the invading white man, the Indian embraced his culture, even joined in the pursuit of gold. When supplies ran short or disease struck, Indians as well as miners sought the assistance of the military. Although no major clashes occurred among the United States Army, Indians, or white men, the military's presence, not unlike Canada's Northwest Mounted Police, lent a stability and security to the hectic life of the gold rush era. But more important, military occupation required improved communication and transportation. The completion of the telegraph line and a few connecting trails alleviated the isolation of the upper Yukon and encouraged further settlement.