290603 - Topic: Alaska, drama of Russian Trading Post

The whole purpose of the Empire Builders radio series was to provide an advertising campaign to generate more business for the Great Northern Railway. There were numerous reasons for travelers to ride the GN to see sights in the Pacific Northwest. One of these attractions was the territory of Alaska.

Known as “Seward’s Folly,” the purchase of Alaska in 1867 by the United States had many people questioning the sanity of the U.S. Secretary of State, William Seward. At the time, Alaska was seen by many as nothing more than a frozen wasteland. The Russians were concerned the British might try to elbow into the area and take Alaska from them, so they decided to try to sell the land before that could happen. Alaska was offered to the U.S. initially in 1859, but America was on the brink of civil war, so the deal failed. After the Civil War, Russia approached both the U.S. and Britain with an offer to sell, hoping perhaps for some sort of bidding war. Secretary Seward represented the U.S. in negotiations with Russia, and settled on a price of about 2 cents per acre – but there were a LOT of acres up there. The price tag came to a little over 7 million dollars.

 

The U.S. Treasury draft used to purchase Alaska from Russia in 1867, at a price of $7.2 million.

 

Many of those who publicly supported the American purchase of Alaska felt it might help leverage an acquisition of British Columbia, but of course this never happened. In August of 1896, a couple of prospectors discovered a golden reason to celebrate the acquisition of Alaska on Rabbit Creek, a tributary of the Klondike River. Another gold rush ensued, which went a long way to helping Seattle establish itself as a major west coast port.

Cover of a vintage 1898 Great Northern Railway publication meant to entice travelers to explore Alaska. Author's collection.

Newspaper comments on the Alaska program of Empire Builders stated the Old Timer would tell a tale of Alaska to some fellow passengers aboard an Alaskan steamship (one that no doubt began its journey in Seattle, after a lovely trip across the northwest on the GN’s Oriental Limited train).

Although some references to this episode suggest the story of a Russian trading post was featured, a Great Northern press release for this broadcast said a drama would be told of a mother who joined the gold rush to try to raise money to pay for her daughter to go to school. History shows about 100,000 made at least an abbreviated effort to jump into the Alaska gold rush of the 1890s, although only 30-40,000 of them actually did any prospecting. Of those, it’s been estimated just 4,000 or so actually found gold.

The GN presser also said the program would trumpet the remarkable growing season to be found in the land of the midnight sun. Here’s how they described the flowers to be found in Alaska:

The program, to be interspersed with music, points out the fact that Alaska is a remarkably fit place in which to spend the summer vacation. The Old Pioneer will tell how big dahlias in the Skagway valley grow to be 10 inches across. He will tell of asters he has picked six inches across and pansies that grow three inches high. He also will describe the scenic beauties of a boat trip from Seattle up along the coast.

In a Washington Post piece about the program (located by radio historian R.R. King), the episode is described like this:

The drama in the development and growth of Alaska will be the story of the Empire Builders. Actual incidents of '98 will be included. The theme story will be that of a middle-aged, sophisticated woman of the Yukon, accused of claim jumping when she asserted her right to a portion of a very rich claim held jointly by two brothers.

The program opens in a Yukon dance hall, where the claims are being discussed, and a half-dead Indian enters and says that the two brothers involved are trapped in the snow several miles away. The men are afraid to go to the rescue, but the woman leads the rescue party. ...  

 

 

In one week, the Empire Builders radio series broadcast will be all about the Empire Builder – the GN’s premier passenger train that began service on June 10, 1929.