Benjamin Wesley Booher photograph collection, 1900-1904.
Title:
Benjamin Wesley Booher photograph collection, 1900-1904.
Personal Author:
Physical Description:
26 photographs : black and white.
General Note:
Papers form a separate collection, MS 13-06.
In the Alaska State Library, Historical Collections, P.O. Box 110571, Juneau, AK 99811-0571.
Abstract:
The photographs in this collection record some of Booher's experiences on the trail, in the mining camps and Valdez while traveling with Hazelet and Meals for a time during their expedition from Nebraska to the Copper River Basin in Alaska over the Valdez Glacier 1898. Few of the individuals in the photographs are identified.
Corporate Subject:
Biographical/Historical Data:
In 1900, Ben Booher, of Guthrie Center, Iowa, joined George Cheever Hazelet and A. Jack Meals of Nebraska on a prospecting expedition to Alaska. Booher's diary (MS 13-06) lists fourteen additional men in the party that departed Seattle, Feb. 1, 1900, on the vessel, EXCELSIOR, arriving in Valdez Bay, Feb. 13. They prospected in Copper Center, Valdez, Chisna, Chitna, Gulkana and Gakona. Booher came back to Alaska in 1904 then returned to Iowa and worked as a farmer and carpenter. He also lived in Montana, Oregon and Washington State. Booher died in Kent, Washington in April 1975, at age 102. Booher died in Kent, Washington, April, 1975, at age 102. George C. Hazelet and Jack Meals stayed in Alaska and were active in community affairs at Valdez. Mr. Hazelet later served as Mayor of Cordova.
Restrictions on Access:
Collection is open to research.