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

American missionaries on the upper Yukon, like the military, followed the settlements of white communities. Elsewhere, conversion of the "heathen" Indians had propelled missionaries into the wilderness. Even pre-gold-rush California had Catholic missions strung along its coast. Perhaps the American Mission Boards had learned from earlier attempts that if missions became the nucleus of white settlement and influence, they could guarantee success among the Indians. [1] Or perhaps the Klondike stampede disrupted orderly schedules and timetables of the missionaries. In any event the missionary movement on the upper Yukon contrasted greatly with previously evangelical patterns.

Only the early missionaries of the Church of England reached out to "save" the Indian. Typical of his predecessors on other frontiers, Reverend Robert McDonald threw himself into the task of converting the Indian to Christianity. In 1862 he was assigned to Fort Yukon. Although the trading post rested on Russian soil, the Hudson's Bay Company had carved out a substantial trading empire. McDonald stayed in the vicinity of Fort Yukon until 1871 but frequently travelled in canoes on foot, and with dog teams to adjacent Indian communities. He not only learned the Athapaskan dialects but eventually married a Native woman. During his years on the Yukon, he translated the language to writing, extracted its grammar, and taught the Indians to read and write their own language. At the same time he translated the Bible and Book of Common Prayer into what he called the Takudh dialect. [2] At one point, McDonald found a creek with gold so abundant he could scoop it up with a spoon. Casual mention of this creek in a letter to friends brought gold miners in search of "Preacher's Creek". But McDonald had other interests and goals.

In 1865, when McDonald suffered what appeared to be a serious illness, a new man, William Carpenter Bompas, volunteered to relieve him. After a long, laborious, and fatiguing journey from London to Fort Simpson, Canada, the shy but religiously determined thirty-one-year-old Englishman discovered that McDonald had recuperated. Nonetheless, Bompas stayed in western Canada and travelled to Fort Yukon. Here in 1869 he met United States Army Captain Raymond who determined that the English Hudson's Bay Company was on American soil. Although unable to deny that Fort Yukon was American, neither Bompas nor McDonald could desert the Yukon Indians. They moved their base of operations across the border but continued to tour the Yukon, performing services and required rituals.

In 1873 the Church of England bestowed upon Bompas in London the bishopric of the Selkirk Diocese. At the same time, in addition to his new administrative duties, he acquired an English wife, Charlotte Selina Cox, who was willing to follow him back to Canada. Always short-handed, Bompas tackled the impossible. The Fortymile gold rush complicated his work immeasurably. Accustom to handling Natives, he found the miners disruptive to his mission. Demoralized he watched as the miners introduced alcohol and other baneful influences to "his" Natives. "The advent of white population strengthens the call for missions to the natives," he asserted. [3] With increasing dismay he scrutinized the miners' behavior. When George Matlock shot Washburn in the thigh, Bompas resorted to help from the Northwest Mounted Police. Although the miners condemned the Canadian laws imposed by the Mounties, the miners respected and admired the devout Bishop and his wife. The attitude of the Indians, however, became alarming. He felt they were "only too apt to imitate the careless whites in irreligion and debauchery." [4]

Nevertheless, Bompas tried to minimize the damage to "his flocks" and, at the same time, restrain the conduct of the miners. In 1895 he sent Reverend R.J. Bowen to the new community of Circle. Bowen held Sunday School and religious services in the schoolhouse. He also opened a two-bed hospital financed by local contributions and the Church of England. [5] The discovery of the Klondike gold upset any long-range plans Bompas might have had for his diocese. Despite his difficulty relating to miners, he requested permission to move his Fortymile mission to Dawson. He used as his justification not the thousands of godless miners but the unfortunate and deprived Indians. [6] During the remaining years Bishop Bompas, whose health had never been good, suffered scurvy twice. After the decline of Dawson in 1901, he moved to Caribou Crossing, which later under his influence became Carcross. There in 1906, while Archdeacon Robert McDonald still preached in Winnipeg, Bishop Bompas died.

As a result of the gold rush strikes, American Mission Boards at last took notice of the upper Yukon. The Episcopal Church responded first to the early strikes of Fortymile and Circle. In 1895 the General Convention of the Episcopal Church elected Peter Trimble Rowe as Bishop of Alaska. Born in 1856 to poor Canadian parents, Rowe grew to manhood with an avid interest in the church. After being ordained he spent thirteen years on the Michigan frontier. The rugged, robust, broad-shouldered bishop enjoyed the trials of frontier living. His intense energy drove his two-hundred-pound frame relentlessly. Yet a keen sense of humor and a sincere feeling of human compassion tempered his drive and ambition. His athletic strength held him in good stead in 1896 as he climbed over Chilkoot Pass, whipsawed a boat, and faced the Yukon rapids. Visiting Fortymile and Circle, he admitted that "our mission here is to the whites and is the only mission to the white population in this part of Alaska." [7] He respected and appreciated, however, Bishop Bompas work among the Indians.

At Circle Rowe expressed surprise that the Indians had their own Bibles, prayer books, and hymnals. Lacking a church, he held his services in Beaven's Saloon. At this time he heard rumors that a Catholic priest and three nuns were coming to Circle to start a mission. "Being first on the ground, I determined to occupy it," he declared. [8] Next he convinced the miners to pledge themselves to the Episcopal Church. After five weeks in Circle, Rowe obtained Beaven's saloon for his mission at the reasonable price of $1,300. Upon his urging Bishop Bompas agreed to send Reverend Bowen to serve the mission.

On Rowe's second tour to Alaska in 1898, he met a seriously ill Bompas whose scurvey, the result of the "starvation" winter, testified to the man's dedication to his mission. Dawson impressed Rowe only for the quantity of whisky consumed. [9] Back on American soil, he staked out two mission lots at the new tent town of Eagle City. At Circle, he found only 300 men who had forgone the elusive search for gold at the Klondike. Here his minister from Tanana, Reverend Jules L. Prevost, had replaced Reverend Bowen. Reverend Prevost brought with him the first printing press on the Yukon, with which he published the newspaper, Yukon Press. [10] Both Rowe and Prevost felt certain that Circle would become permanent and that the miners would inevitably return from Dawson. Prevost opened a reading room and fought a losing battle against the making of "hootch".

Since the Catholic priest-physician had by-passed Circle for Dawson, Rowe decided that the hospital needed to be expanded. Within a year Dr. James L. Watt and Sister Elizabeth Deane, deaconess and nurse, had charge of the new Grace Hospital. The large, roomy hospital now handled seven beds with room for two more. Medical supplies, however, were always in short supply. Although the hospital was full, the patients had no money. In one year Dr. Watt hospitalized 42 patients with 4 deaths and treated 167 as outpatients. [11] Indians made up more than half his patient load.

During these first four years of his forty-seven years as Bishop to Alaska, Rowe saw not only the establishment of his own twenty-four missions, but the establishment of other missions of other churches. Following him into the upper Yukon came a Jesuit Priest, Father Francis P. Monroe. Born in 1855 in France, Father Monroe came to America in 1888. Immediately he found himself on the western frontier at Fort Benton, Montana, and later as a missionary to the Crow Indians. In 1898, after spending three years on the lower Yukon, he requested permission to make a preliminary excursion into the gold rush area. He visited Fortymile and the few scattered tents that would later become Eagle. [12] At Circle he found over six hundred miners to whom he said mass.

His report coupled with the death of Father W. H. Judge of Dawson brought about his transfer to the upper Yukon. In 1899 he was ordered to establish a mission in Eagle. On August 19, 1899, he arrived there and rented a cabin for ten dollars a month. "The water is pouring freely through the roof when the rain is heavy but this is a very common thing here," he stoically wrote. [13] A Catholic family leaving the area offered him a lot with two cabins for $300. The larger cabin became the chapel known as St. Francis Xavier. [14] Father Monroe observed that Eagle had been booming in 1898, but the coming of the soldiers and the discovery of Nome had killed the boom. He perceived that the Army was not seen favorably nor was Major Ray liked by his fellow officers. [15] Within three weeks of Father Monroe's arrival, Reverend James W. Kirk of the Presbyterian Mission arrived. The Jesuit looked with scorn on their money, piano, and luxuries. "They will very likely become a success in town," he reported dourly, "if not in the religious sense at least in some others." [16] With only fifty Catholics in town, all poor, Monroe expressed little optimism of being able to meet his expenses.

As winter came, Eagle shrank to one hundred people and was destined to shrink further. Nevertheless he reported: "It would seem that Eagle will soon count nobody but the storekeepers, the saloon people, and the soldiers. Yet the Alaska Commercial Company has just put up a very large store and warehouses, and no place on this side of the line, St. Michael included, has larger stores, nor is better supplied for many things. At least this would tend to prove that business people believe in the future of Eagle." [17] Major Ray also promoted the town with plans for a road to Valdez, mail and telegraph service, and eventually a railroad. Father Monroe's Sunday mass, however, numbered less than ten people. Since the mission resided within the military reservation, Father Monroe sought the Army's approval to occupy six more lots. Approval was granted. [18]

As Monroe had predicted, spring break-up coupled with the Nome stampede emptied Eagle of its miners. Despite the declining population, he felt more confident than ever of Eagle's future, primarily because of the telegraph line and the expected railroad. Since his congregation was so small, only three baptisms in the whole year, he began visiting and caring for the poor and the sick. In 1900 civilians could not be admitted to the military hospital so Monroe opened a small hospital in Eagle. He treated eight but two died. [19] Since only a few could repay the hospital, the military doctors volunteered their services. The small hospital continued until 1903 when civilians were allowed admittance to the Army hospital. In total he cared for 30 people for a total of 730 patient-days. [20] In addition to his weekly mass and hospital work, Father Monroe spent eight weeks of each summer visiting the Catholics in Fortymile and Circle.

In the winter of 1902 gold was struck in the Tanana Valley. Everyone rushed along the trail beside the telegraph line to the new town of Fairbanks. Father Monroe requested permission to follow the rush. Finally in the spring of 1904 Father Monroe left for Fairbanks and closed St. Francis Xavier. Even after establishing the Catholic Church in Fairbanks, Father Monroe made occasional visits to administer to the few Catholics in Eagle.

Meanwhile Monroe's Protestant rivals, James and Anna Kirk, adjusted to the shocking change from city life in Philadelphia. Their log home had been built with unpeeled logs and unseasoned lumber, but unlike most cabins, it boasted a rough board floor. Yet as Monroe observed, the Kirks came prepared to make a home. They brought silver, china, linen, napkins, piano, organ, sewing machine, and washing machine. "We brought only necessary articles—there is nothing in all those boxes we do not need," insisted Anna Kirk. [21] Even a church bell called the community to the church services, which for a while were held in a saloon.

Their home became a meeting place for most of the community's social life. Before the summer was out, the Kirks had hosted the Governor of the Territory, John G. Brady, as he toured the Yukon. Friday evening singing practice or "Musicales" became one of the social outings of the week. Readings, story writing, and refreshments relieved the tedium of the miners and soldiers. One time a military ball had been scheduled for Friday night. The community equivocated as to whether attendance at the ball would hurt Mrs. Kirk's feelings. Finally Captain Farnsworth recognized the dilemma and changed the date of the ball. Homesick soldiers and wayward miners often found their way into the warmth and hospitality of the Kirks' cabin.

Although idealistic and socially accepted, the Kirks were aware that there was very little money in camp and little permanence to the population. They sadly watched as their best members dashed off to Nome. On the other hand, they, like Bishop Rowe, were impressed with the devout and religious Indian services and remarked frequently on Archdeacon McDonald's achievements. Eventually the Kirks met Bishop Bompas who encouraged them to take charge of the Indian services, and he would furnish the books and the interpreter.

Moose, caribou, bear, and grouse supplemented a diet of canned or "evaporated" foods that included potatoes, eggs, onions, fruit, and even vinegar. Because the Yukon River contained excessive mud during the summer, water had to be obtained from a nearby spring, bought from a delivery man, or rainwater caught by large barrels under the roof. During the winter, the river water became sufficiently clear that a hole could be cut in the ice, and water hauled by sleds to nearby houses. The high prices for fresh vegetables coupled with the long summer days encouraged small kitchen gardens of potatoes, cabbage, turnips, beets, carrots, and lettuce. [22]

Over twenty women followed their husbands to Eagle, which helped to relieve the loneliness and discomforts of frontier living. The customary piles of tin cans and refuse that marked the bachelor's cabin were replaced by kitchen gardens. [23] Drapes, pictures, and oil cloth tableclothes changed the appearance of the rough-hewn cabins. Yet a class of women bore Mrs. Kirk's scorn: "[I] was often heart sick when I saw those bold, degraded persons calling themselves women who were in the place bent on lowering all standards of morality. never before saw iniquity in its unblushing hideousness, for wickedness does not stalk abroad in the big city where law protects the safety and morality of its citizens. I trembled to think of the perils before our young men on the frontier." [24] Fortunately Mrs. Kirk did not observe the gambling in the saloons or on the military post.

For three years the Kirks sponsored much of the community's social life and religious ceremonies. Then in 1902 they were called back to Philadelphia where Mrs. Kirk became seriously ill and died within a few days. The Presbyterian Mission Board sent Reverend Charles F. Ensign and his wife to replace the Kirks. By this time the population had shrunk to less than one hundred people. Although the creeks had been staked, there was no mining. Mrs. Ensign, to help occupy her time, opened a day school for the Indian children. [25]

Finally in 1902 the Episcopals moved into Eagle. Although Bishop Rowe had staked the lots in 1898, not until Reverend A.R. Hoare arrived did the Indians have their own church. No longer did they have to wait for the biannual meetings sponsored by the Church of England or attend services administered by Presbyterian ministers. In 1905 the Presbyterians surrendered their church in Eagle City to the Episcopals. This church became known as St. Paul's while the one in the village was known as St. John's. [26] In 1907, when the government appointed school teacher left, the Episcopal lay reader, who had replaced Reverend Hoare, assumed that responsibility too. [27]

Yet while the various missionaries established their Yukon missions, the two semi-permanent communities of Eagle and Circle developed their own permanent foundations. In 1900, as a result of lobby pressure from Alaskan politicians and commercial interests, the United States Congress passed Criminal and Civil Codes for Alaska, providing taxation, licensing, incorporation, and three judicial districts. Consequently, the War Department revised Fort Egbert's boundaries to exclude Eagle City. The Civil Codes allowed Eagle City to organize a city government, to serve as the third judicial district's headquarters, and to collect customs and fees.

On July 15, 1900, within six weeks of the passage of the Civil Codes, the first judge of the third district, James Wickersham, arrived in Eagle. As an aggressive and ambitious young lawyer from Tacoma, Washington, he had attracted the attention of the Republican party. After campaigning hard for it, he won appointment to the Alaskan judgeship and proved himself an efficient, competent, and prudent judge. As time passed, he kept in touch with the right people and eventually politics not law, became his first love. In Eagle he temporarily rented a furnished cabin on Fort Egbert and began to establish a court system. His district stretched from the Arctic Ocean to the Aleutians or a distance of 2,000 miles—half of Alaska and 300,000 square miles. Initially a lack of trained lawyers hampered court settlements. Moreover, the miners had become accustomed to miners' meetings and, as jurists, stubbornly fought the court. Finally, Wickersham adroitly manipulated the miners into accepting the court system by pointing to innate weaknesses in the archaic miners' meetings.

The Civil and Criminal Codes required saloons to pay a $1,000 annual license fee. Other stores paid a fixed percentage of their annual sales. With this money, Judge Wickersham built a courthouse and jail. He drew up the plans and specifications, let the contract out to bid, and negotiated with the military to use their sawmill. These first public buildings, completed on April 22, 1901, cost a total of $8,000. Wickersham then drew up rules of procedure for cases heard in the Third Judicial District. During 1900 to 1901, Wickersham travelled, usually by dog team or steamer, to other parts of his district. In the dead of winter he journeyed to Rampart, more than 520 miles away and spent 40 nights on the trail.

Meanwhile, with 300 permanent residents on record, the City of Eagle submitted to Judge Wickersham a petition for incorporation. Incorporation allowed the establishment of a city council empowered to tax. Commercial companies, fearful of tax burdens, fought the election. [28] Of the thirty-three ballots cast, however, only seven were against incorporation. Thus, Eagle became the first incorporated city in interior Alaska. Once elected the seven-man City Council established six standing committees: Streets, Public Lights, and Wharfage; Health, Sewerage, and Police; Taxes and Licenses; Fire Protection and Water Supply; Public Schools, Grounds, and Buildings; and Elections and Claims.

The Indians at Eagle Village. however, found life a bit more precarious. With dire results, diseases of tuberculosis and pneumonia attacked the acculturated Indians. The clothing and partial diet borrowed from the white man chronically kept the Indians in poor health. [29] They created no trouble; in fact, out of fifty cases of crime on the docket of the Third Judicial District, not one involved an Indian. [30] Wickersham, attempting an Indian dictionary, visited the village regularly. Otherwise, despite the close proximity, there was little intermingling between the two communities.

Meanwhile, in Circle City the large store of the Alaska Commercial Company burned down despite the efforts of soldiers, steamship crews, and citizens. The loss was over $17,500. [31] As a result an Arctic Hook and Ladder Company formed with a twelve-foot fire sleigh. The Nome gold rush caught the fancy of nearly all the miners of Circle, and by the end of 1899 only fifty-five remained. Reverend Prevost had even returned the printing press to Tanana. Although Circle City never became an incorporated city, certain social institutions existed: a United States Commissioner, a United States Deputy Marshal, a government supported school for the Indians, an Episcopal Church for the Indians, and a United States Signal Corps wireless station. A few businesses persevered—a jewelry store, three saloons, three commercial companies, and a restaurant. [32] In September 1900 Wickersham held the first jury trials in a district court in interior Alaska. A grand jury brought forth three different indictments of murder, rape, and larceny. The trial jury followed, and the man charged with murder was found guilty of manslaughter. While the larcenist pleaded guilty, the rapist was acquitted. [33] But the exciting boom town of Fairbanks fascinated and attracted the ambitious Wickersham as it had many of those along the Yukon. Even before Justice officials granted permission to move the Third Judicial Headquarter, Wickersham shifted his base to the dynamic and challenging city of Fairbanks.

As the missionary and early settlement period drew to a close, the upper Yukon had passed through one more frontier. The missionaries, of whom all but the Kirks had previously experienced frontier life, provided a stabilizing influence on a restless changing population at the same time they observed and recorded the evolution of mining boom towns settling into permanent communities with established institutions. As these communities became more stable and consolidated, they could no longer support numerous religious organizations. Although only the Episcopal Mission survived beyond the abandonment of the military post, the missions, as a whole, contributed immeasurably to the permanence of the existent communities.