Heading:
Author: Wells, E. Hazzard.
Title: Volume of Pasted Newspaper Clippings from the Cincinnati Post During the Alaska Gold Rush and the Oklahoma Land Rush
Place Published: Cincinnati
Publisher:Cincinnati Post
Date Published: 1889, 1897
Description:

24 unnumbered leaves. illustrated with woodcuts of native peoples, his gear, and scenes. (Small 4to) original half leather and marbled boards, leather spine perished.

Volume of pasted newspaper clippings containing the reporting of E. Hazard Wells, reporter for the Cincinnati Post. Wells' diaries and collected articles from the Gold Rush were published in 1984, but this volume would appear to have been compiled by someone with a contemporary connection to the author. An interesting artifact, full of detail about the period and events therein. The first few leaves are dedicated to Wells' reporting on the Oklahoma Land Rush of 1889. The later clippings record Wells' travels to the far north via Vancouver.The first few leaves are dedicated to Wells' reporting on the Oklahoma Land Rush of 1889, with similarly enchanting descriptions and illustrations. The opening headline reads, "Our Boomer Mounted: A Post Tenderfoot Ready with His Fleet Racer," prepared to take part in the action of the rush. A later headline notes that "Oklahoma and U.S. Doing as Well as Could Be Expected," followed by a subheadline that reads, "The New Territory Spotted All Over with Farms andNew Cities Within Twelve Hours of Her First Opening for Settlement -- There Never Was Anything Like It Before." A final article details a visit "With the Injuns: A Post Man Calls upon the Cheyennes and Arapahoes," featuring a banquet of dog stew. His final paragraph in the article discusses the damage wrought by cigarettes among the native populace, as well as consumption and their loss of land: "Consumption also appears to be working havoc, and is gradually settling the Indian question in this region. At present there are about 3000 Cheyennesand 2000 Arapahoes on the reservation, which is 90 miles square. Heretofore the Indians have made numerous deer hunting excursions into Oklahoma, but the opening up of that tract deprives them of their last hunting ground. There is little game to be found elsewhere." In the article, headlined "Off for Alaska," he outlines his proposed journey, writing,"Descriptive letters will be sent back to the Scripps papers -- The Post of Cincinnati, The News of Detroit, The Chronicle of St. Louis and The Press of Cleveland -- as regularly as circumstances will permit, although postal facilities are not first-class north of Sitka, Alaska. Among other places of interest, Mr. Wells expects to visit the newly-discovered placer gold mines in the Yukon country, and to secure and send back the first authentic information concerning them. Primitive Indian tribes will be visited, and possibly chiefs interviewed. Camera pictures will be taken everywhere, and sent back for reproduction in the League papers." Indeed, the articles here include descriptions of the voyage, images of Native Americans, and detailed depictions of local scenery and color. One such describing Fort Wrangel reads, "There is one main street running parallel with the shore of the harbor, at one end of which are a number of trading stores and at the other end T'linket abodes. No patent medicine signs are to be seen anywhere, and their absence plainly tells us that we are beyond civilization. The hundred or so unpainted one-story houses are mostly falling to decay...the listless inhabitants,who are mostly T'linket Indians, locally designated as the Stikeens, who number perhaps eight dozen, all told. Only about 12 of the half hundred white men are permanent residents, and there are six or seven lonesome white women...." Other headlines promise stories such as "Among the Chilkoots," "Arctic Circle Mines," "Bewitched T'Linkets," "On Lake Lindeman," "A Long Raft Voyage" and "The Yukon Rapids," "A Moose Hunt," "An Arctic Gold Camp, "A Gold-Paved Stream," "Devil Worshipers: Central Alaskan Indians and Their Medicine Man," and more, covering [37]pp. of the album.

Lacking spine but binding sound, corners and edges worn; light wear and soiling to contents; good.