By Alysha Page
April seems to have just flown by without me noticing. April was spent going back to Washington, D.C. for a short research trip. Before heading to D.C. I stopped off in Juneau to spend a bit of time at Alaska State Library in Juneau.
Figure 1: View of the Lynn Canal from the seaplane
In Juneau I spent some time going through the Sitka newsreels to see if there was any mention of Company L in the local newspapers. During Company L’s time in Alaska there were various soldiers that were sent to or through Sitka for disciplinary reasons. Unfortunately, the Sitka press didn’t find it noteworthy enough to mention Skagway’s soldiers in the news. This trip was not a complete bust, however, I was able to find a photo of a young African American boy participating in a Fourth of July parade through what looks to be the main street in Skagway.
My time in D.C. was spent chasing down pension files for various soldiers that I would like to highlight in my Historic Study. The fates were not on my side, many of the pension files were located in an archive in St. Louis instead of NARA in D.C. I was only to track down the file of Augustus Snoten a man that had a long military career. Even though it was not the most fruitful trip it is important as a researcher to remember that any information is good information. Now I can add to the KLGO research files where these pension files are located for the next researcher on the subject. I still have hopes to contact the St. Louis archives to possibly have the pension files scanned and sent to Skagway.
Figure 2: I was nervous for ferry ride but the view was extremely lovely, even if it was a 6 hour ride.
On the bright side the views from the seaplane and ferry were absolutely gorgeous while traveling!
Here are some of my photos from the trip.
Figure 3: Here you can see that the water has thawed and the snow capped mountains still remain.
Until Next Time, Farewell!