Scoundrels, Con Artists
& Founding Fathers Of Alaska
During the Great Alaska Gold Rush, anonymity was pretty easy to come by. But, even if folks knew your name, it didn't mean you were particularly ethical, or moral.
NO MOTHER EVER NAMED HER LITTLE GIRL "DUTCH KATE"
The "Good Time Girls" of Alaska, including "Dutch Kate Wilson", and "The Oregon Mare" were not given those saucy names by their adoring mamas back home when they were cute little babies. These were protective pseudonyms for young ladies in a harsh profession that they might need to abandon someday.
DUMPING GROUND FOR SCOUNDRELS...
There were many doubtful people roaming the territory. But that didn't keep them from having towns honor them after their mayhem was over. Alaskans have always been willing to pardon transgressors.
Here's a brief rundown:
A CON ARTIST CALLED HOMER
Homer Pennock gave his relatively humble name to the scenic seaside town. But there's no mistaking that Homer, Alaska's, namesake was an outrageous scoundrel and con artist -- who left soon after arriving in 1896 on the Homer Spit for the more fertile goldfields in the Klondike.
A DEPRESSED YOUNG MAN NAMED ROBERT KENNICOTT...
For many years, people have wondered what killed Robert Kennicott, the man that Kennicott was named after. Kennicott died in May, 1866. He had led a fast, productive life as a prominent naturalist. When he died, he was only 30 years old. His last day was ominous. He was at Nulato, went for a walk -- and left behind a note for his men, telling them to come look for him if anything happened.When he didn't come back, they found him on the Yukon riverbank, lying on his back, dead. Robert Kennicott's little vial of strychnine was gone. And for at least a century, everyone thought that the ambitious, but clinically depressed, young explorer had killed himself. (Smithsonian scientists, who dug him up recently, though, appear to have vindicated the young man. They say their studies show he died of a heart attack.)
FAIRBANKS' FOUNDING FATHER, E.T. BARNETTE, WAS A KNOWN SCOUNDREL
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| MONUMENT TO E.T. BARNETTE |
During the Gold Rush, the town known as Fairbanks was Alaska's version of Dawson City, with plenty of partying and carrying-on. LIke the Klondike, Fairbanks had scam artists. One of these was E.T. Barnette, a horse-trading swindler who had already been sentenced to 4 years in prison in Oregon when he first arrived, and who is now considered the city's founding father. In 1901, Barnette left St. Michael, on the coast of Alaska, headed upriver with tons of merchandise, to start a trading post. The riverboat got stuck in the Chena River, at what was to become the town of Fairbanks. Barnette was the first mayor. Barnette went on to rip off his financial backers, and got sued by them. But he survived, and started a bank in Fairbanks, become its president, and then, when it went bankrupt in 1911, he stole the equivalent of millions of dollars, fled Fairbanks in the middle of the night, and was arrested in Los Angeles. Fairbanks is a forgiving town; the E.T. Barnette School and Barnette Street were both named after him.
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| E.T. BARNETTE |
GEORGE PALMER'S SCRAPPY LIFE
The town of Palmer is named after a Knik-area miner and trading post operator. During the 1890's, Knik was the primary "city" of the region. George Palmer (according to a new biography) came into Knik around 1894. The Russian Orthodox priest in Knik tried to shame Palmer into marrying the mother of his children. Annoyed, George Palmer punched the priest out. As time went on, Palmer began bootlegging huge quantities of liquor, running a saloon, getting drunk, and, eventually, committing suicide.
WHAT WAS YOUR NAME IN THE STATES?
AND, BY THE WAY… DID YOU MURDER YOUR WIFE?
There's a song about crime in the Gold Fields. Some of the time,
it wasn't too far afield.
It goes like this:
"Oh what was your name in the states?
Was it Thompson, or Johnson or Bates?
Did you murder your wife? And run for your life?
Tell me. What was your name in the states?
"REMITTANCE MEN" WERE PAID
BY THEIR RICH RELATIVES TO STAY IN ALASKA
During that era, distant places like Alaska, Australia, and Canada were commonly used by rich English families as dumping grounds for the black sheep in their midst. A rich British family kept their undesirable n'er do well far from home. Forever. By shipping him off to another country, and sending him a regular monthly check (a "remittance") to keep him in booze and food in his lonely Alaskan or Canadian log cabin. This type of person was known as a "remittance man," and for him, Alaska was his own personal Siberia. The dismal tales of well-educated neighbors who didn't have to work, and hung around their cabins drinking all day and reciting Shakespeare was a part of Alaska rural folklore.
Photos, from left: Homer Pennock, E.T. Barnette, and O.A. Nelson.
