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Cage 63
Mart Albert Howard
Papers and Photographs of the Klondike, 1897-1915


Business card from Mr. Howard
 

The papers of Mart Albert Howard, 1855-1926, consists of the correspondence, diaries, bills and receipts, legal documents and photographs which Howard, a Webster, Massachusetts, businessman, retained from his experience as a gold miner in the Klondike gold rush of 1897. Approximately two thirds of the collection are photographs taken by Howard or purchased from other Alaskan and Canadian photographers. Most photographs are glass-mounted transparencies. A lengthy description of the papers may be found in Mary W. Avery, "The Mart A. Howard Klondike Collection, "Pacific Northwest Quarterly, 50 (1959) 53-62.

The Howard Papers were acquired by the Washington State University Library in 1958 from Howard's daughter in law, Mrs. Louis O. Howard. A preliminary register of the collection was prepared by Mary Avery in 1959. The papers were processed in 1973 by Lawrence R. Stark.

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Mart A. Howard (1855-1926) was a businessman at Webster, Massachusetts in 1897 when news of the Klondike gold strikes reached the United States. He left from home in October of that year, taking a train to Portland, then on to Seattle where he outfitted for a trip to Alaska. Leaving Seattle in January 1898, he traveled north via coastal steamer to Dyea, then across Chilkoot Pass and along inland waterways to his eventual destination at Dawson, Yukon Territory. In the fall of the same year, he returned to Seattle and purchased a shipment of supplies, which he retailed in the Klondike the following spring. Using the profits of this mercantile venture, he became a mine operator, purchasing interests in various mines on the creeks north of Dawson. He returned briefly to Massachusetts in 1900 after which he took his third trip to the Klondike, this time accompanied by his wife and son. Howard remained in Dawson until 1905, after which he returned to Massachusetts permanently. In later years he became a public lecturer on the Klondike gold rush.

His son Louis, who was 14 at the time of his trip to the Klondike and who was later Dean Of Mining at Washington State University, saved his father's papers until his own death in 1944. His widow then preserved the papers until she deposited then with the WSU Library in 1958.

Container	Folder	CONTAINER LIST
1	1	Diaries of Mart Howard, 1897-1900. 4 items.
	2-3	Letters of Mart Howard to wife and son in Webster, Mass., 1897-1905. Approx. 120 items.
	4	Letters received by Mart Howard on business matters, 1902-1913. Approx. 30 items.
	5	Invoices and account book for purchases of supplies from Seattle and Klondike firms, 1897-1905. Approx. 50 items
	6	Financial records of mining operations including profit and loss statement, "balance sheets" time books, 1898-1905. Approx. 40 items
	7	Contracts, license, writs, deeds and other legal documents, 1898-1905. Approx. 25 items (included is 1860 permit to drive cattle through Dudley, Mass.
2	8	Souvenirs and mementos of southeast Alaska, Klondike region, including theater bills, boat menus and letterheads, 1897-1905. Approx. 20 items. Postcards 5x8.
	9	General information regarding the territory of Alaska. Interior Dept., 1914. Report on reduction of area of homesteads in Alaska to 160 acres, Interior Dept., 1915.
	10	Mounted Newspaper clippings, re: Mart Howard; trial of George O’Brien at Dawson, Y.T., 1899-1905. Approx. 40 items.
	11	Material for lectures on Klondike by Mart Howard, ca. 1910. Approx. 25 items.
		Photoprints of Klondike Gold Rush
	Oversize	1. Panorama of Fairbanks, June 13, 1905.
2	12	2-4. Dawson, Y.T., c.a. 1901 70-0200
		5. Episcopal Church and Hospital, Fairbanks
		6. Footbridge, Fairbanks
		7. Roll Call at the "N.C.C. Store" Fairbanks, April 9, 1905 (liquor Wholesale)
		8. (Log) Jam formed above Cushman St. Bridge, Fairbanks, July 1, 1905.
		9. Pack Train Arriving with Gold Dust, Washington and Alaska Bank, Fairbanks.
		10. Removing Jam from above Cushman St. Bridge
		11. Removing Jam from above Cushman St. Bridge.
		12. Below Bonanza (diggings) of Howard, Magaw and Collins
		13. Sluicing on Checaco Hill, May 11, 1901
		14. Below Bonanza, Howard, Magaw, and Collins Diggings
		15. Below Bonanza, Howard, Magaw, and Collins
		16. Panorama of Dawson City
		17. No. 4 El Dorado, looking up Gold Hill
		18. No. 6 Below on Bonanza
		19. Midnight Scenic of Dawson, June 21, 1899 Arial
		20. Hoisting Gold 1000 ft. to surface-winching machinery.
		21. Group of men on porch of building
		22. Stores in Fairbanks (with M.A. Howard in scene)
		23. Top of tramway or ore chute
		24. Our Klondike home, July 12, 1901.
		25. T.M. RR Train at the Junction between Fairbanks and Chema
		26. Seattle waterfront, March 4, 1901.
		27. 1000 Ft. Underground Cripple Creek, Colorado
		28. Mining Gold in Cripple Creek District
		29. The Elkton Mine, Cripple Creek, 1908
		30. National Hotel, Cripple Creek
		31. Bennett Ave., Cripple Creek
		32. Mary McKinney Mine Cripple Creek District
		33. Portland Mine
		34. Economic Mill, Cripple Creek District
		35. Victor, Colorado
		36. The Center of the Great Mining District, Cripple Creek Colorado.
		37. Adams Gulch
		38. The Portland, Colorado’s Greatest Gold Mine
		39. The Center of Cripple Creek Mining District
		40. (Old Dominion?) Alaska or Yukon Mine Head, Sluice Box
		41. Below Bonanza (Howard, Magaw, and Collins)
		42. Ice in Yukon River at Dawson, may 19, 1901.
		43. Ice Cakes at Forty-Mile, Yukon Territory, 15 feet thick, May 19, 1901
		44. Log Jam-Fairbanks
		45. Mart Howard en route to Klondike Gold Fields
		46. Mart Howard en route to Klondike Gold Fields (Chilkoot Pass)
		47. Mart Howard en route to Klondike Gold Fields
		48. Flood at Fairbanks, July 6, 1908
		49. No. 7 Below Bonanza—(Sluice Box and people)
		50. Below Bonanza, Howard, Magaw and Collins
		51. Howard, Magaw and Collins Mine (?)
		52. El Dorado
		53. Midnight Street Scene—Dawson
		54. Mining Scene on (Gold Sun?)
		55. Below Bonanza—Howard, Magaw, and Collins Mine
		56. Fairbanks, Alaska, from across Chena river, June 13, 1905 oversize 70-0203, 70-0204.
		57. Military Post
		58. General Store
		59. Steamer Clifford Siftor in Miles Canyon
		60. Enroute to Klondike Gold Fields (Chilkoot Pass)
		61. Shooting White Horse Rapids
Container	Folder	62. S.S. Cutch in Port at Skagway
2	13	Lantern Slides: Copy Negatives
		#3 Enlarged Map of Chilkoot, Chilkat, and White Pass Routes, 70- 0207
		#4 Map of Klondike Mining District
		#6 Map of Klondike Gold Rush Area
		#10 Steamers Colombian and El Dorado racing 70-0208
		#11 Steamer El Dorado in ice 70-0209
		#13 Steamer Canadian 70-0210
		#14 Steamer John C. Barr 70-0211
		#15 Steamer White Horse 70-0212
		#26 Steamer
		#98 Second Avenue, dawson 70-0214
		#99 Front Street, Dawson, July 5, 1901 70-0215
		#101 Street in Dawson 70-0216
		#108 Administrative Building, Dawson 70-0217
		#127 Canadian Bank of Commerce (Dawson?) 70-218
		#143 (Front Street, Dawson?) Crowd scene 70-219
		#144 (Front Street, Dawson?) Crowd scene 70-220
		#185 Rocker Box 70-222
		#309 Scow dealers 70-0233
		#313 A Yukon stove 70-224
Container	Slide #	LANTERN SLIDES
3		MAPS
	1-2	Northwest North America
	3	Chilkoot, Chilkat and White Pass Routes
	4-5	Klondike Mining District
	6	Klondike Gold Rush Area
	7	Utah, Colorado Area
		TRANSPORT
		STEAMBOATS
	8-9	Victorian
	10	Colombian and Eldorado racing
	11	Eldorado in ice
	12-13	Canadian
	14	John C. Barr at Hootalinqua, Y.T.
	15	White Horse
	16	Cutch in ice
	17	Susie
	18	Dolphin
	19	Alki
	20-21	Wharves
	22	Steamboats and barges
	23	Coastal steamer in ice
	24	Crowd awaiting 2 steamers
	25	(Steamboats) in winter quarters
	26-27	Steamers
	28	Roping a steamer through 5-finger rapids
	29	Miners leaving Seattle on Ohio
	30-32	On board steamer to Alaska
		BOATS
	33	Boat landing at Dawson, Y.T.
	34	Small Boats, some in sails
	35	Canoes
		RAILROADS
	36	Train in deep snow
	37	Locomotive with Snowplow
	38	TMRR train
	39-43	Track, trestlings, grades, bridges
		WAGONS
	44-47	Teams and freight wagons
		SLEDS
	48-52	Dog teams and sleds
	53-59	Horse drawn sleds
	60	Hand sled
		TRAILS, PACKING-IN
	61	Trail Depot
	62-65	Packing over Chilkoot Pass
	66-71	Trails
		PACK ANIMALS
	72	Pack Mules
	73	Pack Train with Shipment of gold
		CITIES, SETTLEMENTS
		PANORAMAS
4	74	Cordova
	75	Dyea
	76-77	Fairbanks
	78	Forty-Mile
	79-80	Grand Forks of Bonanza and Eldorado
	81	Juneau
	82	Ketchikan
	83	Log Cabin, B.C.
	84	Moosehide, Y.T.
	85	Port Townsend, WA
	86	Seattle
	87	Skagway
	88	Stewart, Y.T.
	89	Vancouver, B.C.
	90	Victoria, B.C.
	91	Wrangel
	92-97	Unidentified cities
		STREETS
	98-101	Dawson, Y.T.
	102-103	Skagway
	104	Sitka
	105	Flooded village
	106	Unidentified
		BUILDINGS
	107-108	Administrative Building, Dawson
	109	Fire Station, Dawson
	110-111	Church and Hospital
	112	Parliament, Victoria
	113	Parliament, Ottawa
	114	Empress Hotel, Victoria
	115	San Francisco Post Office
	116	GAR post, Worcester, Mass.
	117	The Royal Fuel Factory
	118	Fort Selkirk buildings
	119	White Horse Depot (?)
	120	Stores
	121	Canadian Pacific RR Offices, Victoria
	122	Canadian Development Company Trading Post
	123	Nugget Lunch House
	124	Interior of Russian Orthodox Church
	125	Cabin Fever
	126	Canneries at Petersburg, Alaska
	127	Canadian Bank of Commerce
	128-132	Unidentified public buildings and dwellings
	133-135	Encampments on Lakes Bennett and Lindeman
	136-140	Camps
	141	Tennis Courts at Valdez
		ENCAMPMENT AND CITY SCENES
5	142-144	Scenes around Dawson
	145-147	Crowds in Streets
	148-150	Log Jam behind footbridge in Fairbanks
		MINING
		PANORAMAS
	151-152	Adams Gulch
	153-157	Bonanza
	158-159	Chechaco Hill
	160-161	Eldorado
	162-168	Unidentified
		DREDGING
	169-171	On Bonanza
	172	On Lower Hunker Creek
	173-174	On Klondike River
		TRAMWWAY
	175-180	The Fassbender and May Tramway
6	181-183	The Fassbender and May Tramway
		HAND TOOLS AND SIMPLE MINING OPERATIONS
	184	Group with rocker and pans
	185-188	Rockers
	189	A Long Tom
	190	Panning
	191-193	Hand winches or windlasses
	194-195	Hydraulic mining
	196-202	Sluices
		MINE INTERIORS
	203	Cage
	204	Driving steam points
	205	Digging by Hand
	206-207	Timberwork
		STEAM EQUIPMENT
	208-210	Steam pipes
	211-215	Steam hoists at mine heads
	216-218	Ore Cars
	219-220	Ore Stackers
	221-225	Miscellaneous
	226-227	Assay Labs
	228-239	Surface Mining, probably in Southwest United States
		LANDSCAPES
7	240-251	Rivers or Inlets
	252-254	5-Finger Rapids
	255-256	Glaciers
	257-259	Waterfalls
	260-261	Forest
	262-263	Desert
	264	Gold Hill
		PORTRAITS
		Individual and dual
	265	Robert Henderson
	266	George Carmack
	267-278	Unidentified, including miners, Indians, laborers
		GROUPS
	279	Violet Basketball Team
	280	Group at Rapids
	281	Midnight Dome, June 21
	282	School Children
	283	Border Officials
	284-291	Groups and crowds
	292-295	Novelty Portraits, including women panning, miner doing laundry, etc.
		MISCELLANEOUS
	296	Building a road
	297	Totem Poles
	298	Shooting a rapid
	299	Firewood pile
	300	On a sandbar
	301	Log Pile
	302	A saw pit
	303-306	Color photos of vegetation, mostly flowers
	307	1 ½ Million Dollars worth of gold
	308	A typical Malumute dog
	309	Scow dealers (peddlers)
	310	Milk Stand
	311	Milk Cows
	312	Shipment of Gold
	313	A Yukon Stove
	314	25,000 Salmon at Anacortes, WA
	315	Ice Cakes from Yukon River
	316	United States Flag
	317	United States and Imperial Flags
	318-326	Machinery Fairbanks, Morse, and Company stamp and amalgamation mill
	327-366	Steel Crystallography
	367	X-Ray of a key and coin
Oversize		Newspapers: Dawson, Yukon Yerritory; Skagway, Alaska. 1899-1905. 7 items.