Alaska Books: Fifty Miles from Tomorrow

I have not posted in over a week, but during that time I read a book dealing with a crucial turning point in recent Alaska history.  The book is Fifty miles from Tomorrow, by Willie Hensley.  For those who don't, Hensley is an Alaska Native former state legislator from Kotzebue who was instrumental in building the foundation for native political and land rights.  His book, which is a year or two old, is an excellent look at the story of his life. 

Cover of the book

Hensley was born in Kotzebue in 1941, during the territorial days.  He speaks of not knowing his biological father, and was taken away from his mother by relatives when he was still a toddler.  His uncle's family takes him in, and he spent much of his youth living a subsistence lifestyle.  His family traveled around from camp to camp, living of what the could hunted and fished.  At 15, he takes up a job with a local Kotzebue white man, who helps to send him down to a boarding school in Tennessee.  From there, he is able to attend college and returns to Kotzebue an educated man, but with no job.

Hensley as a state legislator

The real turning point for Hensley's life happens in 1966, when as graduate student at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks, he takes a course on Alaska Law taught by the Chief Justice of the Alaska Supreme Court, Jay Rabinowitz.  Over writing his paper about Alaska Native Land Rights, he has an epiphany.  In the statehood act, the state of Alaska will be able to pick millions of acres of federal land to become state land.  He knows that the state will pick the spots with the best chance of natural resource development, and that Alaska Natives would be shut out if the status quo continues.  The nomadic peoples of arctic Alaska had never had a real concept of doling out parcels of land, and miners and newcomers had taken advantage of this to shut natives out. 

Jay Rabinowitz

Hensley leaves school to make Native land claims his life, writing letters to the editor, speaking with groups, and making everyone aware that the land swap must not go through without settling native claims.  Long story short, once oil is discovered on the north slope, claims must be settled before the pipeline could be built.  Ultimately, this effort by Hensley and others results in the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, ANCSA, which lays the foundation for the modern Native Corporations that own the land and send out stock dividends to their native shareholders. 

Anchorage Daily News announcing the ANCSA up for Congressional Votes

All in all, this book is an excellent read, highly recommended.  A real important look at the growth of Alaska native political power and the life of an extraordinary individual.

Willie Hensley

Alaska Books: Treadwell Gold

In Juneau, drive across the bridge to Douglas Island.  Turn south down the Gastineau Channel and follow the road through the former town of Douglas.  After passing the Douglas Boat Harbor, you come across a large sand beach that looks completely out of place with the rest of the local area.  Today, it is a popular dog walking spot.  But starting 130 years ago, it was Alaska's first major economic site.  It is the former company town of Treadwell.  Nowadays most of what remains is the pilings of the docks, a shell of an old office building, and various "Mayan-like" ruins gathering moss.  Back then it was a thriving community based around the mining of gold.  A new book out last year has brought this community back to life.  

Cover of the book

Treadwell Gold, by Sheila Kelly, follows the town from creation through its heyday and ultimate demise.  Kelly, whose father was born in Treadwell, crafts her narrative around her family.  She tracks the founding of the town, built by a San Francisco businessmen led by John Treadwell.  In an era where most Alaska mining was placer mining on the surface, Treadwell was the site of capital intensive hard rock mining where workers tunneled deep into the ground.  Rock brought to the surface would be crushed in the giant stamps, and gold extracted from the rubble through chemical processes.  In its time, Treadwell was the largest mining operation of its kind in the world.  But in 1917, sea water from the Gastineau Channel flooded in the mine shaft, effectively destroying the site.  Slowly the towns people, including the Kellys, left Treadwell.  In 1926, what remained of the town was destroyed by the a fire which swept through the town of Douglas.

Treadwell in 1908

Kelly's book brings this lost town back to life.  We see how the people of Treadwell lived, spending their days down in the mines, working in the machine shop on the docks, or spending some leisure time at the Treadwell Club swimming pool.  The book is filled with fantastic photos documenting every aspect of town life.  We get to know the miners and foremen, the issues such union rights, and how Treadwell fits in Alaska history.  I highly recommend this book.

The area of the mine collapse