[Handsome Collection of Vernacular Images Featuring the Copper River Region of Alaska at the Turn of the 20th Century]

[Copper River Valley, Ak, 1905. Very good.. Forty-five printing-out paper photographs, between 3.25 x 3.25 and 4 x 6 inches, plus three real photo postcards. Minor wear, a few creases, occasional light soiling. A unique collection of almost fifty images capturing scenes in and around Copper Center in the Copper River Valley of Alaska in the years after gold was first found there in 1898. The images document pioneers panning for gold, running dog sled teams, posed in front of early wooden buildings in a bleak, snow-covered landscape, and more, as well as capturing shots of a riverside mill, a wooden bridge, scenery on the Copper River, and the majesty (truncated) of the surrounding forests. A handful of the images capture pioneer women and children posed for the camera in winter clothing worn to combat the bitter Alaskan winters. One image pictures three men and two dogs standing outside the Hotel Holman, an early Copper Center roadhouse that began in a tent but was opened in a wooden structure in 1899; the present image captures the post-1899 wooden structure. The Holman Hotel was established in July 1898 by Copper Center's first resident Andrew Holman in order to provide shelter for prospectors on their way to the Klondike gold fields. Copper Center is located northeast of Anchorage, and served as a brief but important way station for gold prospectors in southeastern Alaska; one image here apparently pictures the early riverside settlement, or is perhaps an early view of Anchorage. A rare view of Alaskan life in an uncommonly-seen settlement during the first decade of the 20th century. (Inventory #: 3538)