Featured Antique Alaskana Photographs

Turns out "A Texas Steer" was a play of the same period. See this article regarding a performance in 1904 in San Francisco.

http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=SFC19041015.2.99

The spelling of Bosse (a major character) on the photo seems to be incorrect.

 

That play must have had "legs" as they say in show biz. It was made into a movie in 1927.

 

Thank you for taking up the research Bakersgma. So we have A Texas Steer and An American Citizen. In both photos, they misspelled the name of her character.

I cannot wait to call up those Canadians in Dawson and educate them a little. Someone up there needs to get busy doing acquisitions, research, and documentation. I'm getting too old for this stuff.

Thanks again, bakersgma and fig tree. I am going to print all of these out nicely, grab the the good time girls book, and gather some history on Little Egypt. I think all of the provenance will be a perfect side gift for mom.

 

I do have a correction about the McGee Airways plane you posted. McGee Airways was purchased by Star Air Service, who started just prior to McGee Airways in Anchorage 1932. Many thought it was a merger but it was a purchased. Star went on to become Star Air Lines (1937) and then Alaska Airlines (1942) but flew under the name Alaska Star Airlines for several years before switching to their legal name....Alaska Airlines. McGee Airways ceased to exist in 1935 and L. "Mac" McGee turned to mining as a career. McGee is not the founder of Alaska Airlines nor was McGee Airways the first Airline. Steve Mills, with his partners Waterworth and Ruttan were the founders.

 

You have a photo of several men standing in front of an old plane (It think it's NC259M). Anyway, the man who started Star Air Service was my grandfather. Steve Mills - far right in photo. Star Purchased McGee Airways but the man who founded McGee is not in the photo. If you need the names of the other men, I can supply that (or most of them). Can I ask where you got that photo. It's a colorized version of a black and white and I've never seen it before. THANKS

 

Welcome to Antiquers, KMR -- Good information!

Since this is an old thread, one way to try to call the attention of a member is like this: @Vern -- This member has still been active here but looks like he hasn't posted anything since December 2016.

 

Thank you for the information!

I have a few others from Merrill Field that you may be interested in, as well. One, in particular, shows some much earlier aircraft.

They are part of a collection that was discarded during a remodel. I believe a lot of early Alaskan aviation photos were lost in a fire at a photography place on Spenard many years ago, too.