Alice Josephine “Josie” Keys White was a Charter Member of Juneau Igloo No. 6.

She was born July 7, 1872, in Goldendale, Washington. Her parents were Calvin S. Keys and Jane Freelove Peck Keys.

She married Elmer J. “Stroller” White on December 30, 1891, in Tacoma, Washington. They had two sons, John McBurney White and Albert Hamilton White, and one daughter, Lenora White.

She came to Alaska with her husband, a well-known pioneer Alaska journalist.

The Whites arrived in Skagway when the town was still a tent city of gold-rush stampeders. Mr. White took a job with the Skagway News, a weekly newspaper, and the family remained in Skagway until the autumn of 1899.

They then traveled over the newly completed White Pass Railroad to Lake Bennett. Although they did not have the $500 required to cross the Canadian border, a barge owner told the Canadian officials that Mr. White was working as a cook on the barge. They boarded the barge in October, late in the season, and floated down the Yukon River toward Dawson. They came within fifteen miles of Dawson before the river froze.

“We went to Dawson for the mad excitement of it,” Mrs. White later recalled. “We didn’t know what we would do, but Mr. White got a job with the Dawson Nugget right away.”

The family remained in Dawson until 1905, when they moved to Whitehorse. Mr. White purchased the Whitehorse Star, and the family remained there until 1916. Their son, Albert H. White, was born in Whitehorse on August 7, 1907.

In 1916, they moved to Douglas, Alaska, where Mr. White purchased the Douglas Island News. “Douglas was the big town then,” she recalled. “The Treadwell Mine was going full swing.”

The Whites completed construction of a new newspaper plant in time for the Treadwell mine cave-in of 1917. The new plant included a cast-off press from the Juneau Empire. The press was moved back to Juneau from Douglas in 1920 when Stroller’s Weekly was established.

“I didn’t work much on the paper,” Mrs. White said. “I had two children to bring up and a little grouse-shooting to do. But when Stroller was sick, I would take over.”

Mrs. White was employed as assistant curator of the Territorial Museum in 1925 by the Rev. A. P. Kashevaroff, who had established the museum in 1920.

Her husband died in 1930. “I was the one who always talked about getting out of Alaska,” she later said.

She retired in 1950 and moved to Los Angeles, California, to live with her daughter. She died there on May 26, 1956.

Sources

1920 U.S. Federal Census, Juneau
Biographies of Alaska-Yukon Pioneers 1850-1950, Ed Ferrell, Vol. 2, pp. 344-345; Vol. 1, p. 337
Washington Marriage License
California Death Index

Roden, Henry

Association: Pioneers of Alaska, Juneau Men's Igloo

Role: President, Juneau Men's Igloo; Grand Igloo President

Year: 1943

Biography

Henry Roden served as President of the Juneau Men's Igloo of the Pioneers of Alaska and later as Grand Igloo President in 1943.

He was born on August 8, 1874, in Basel, Switzerland. Roden came north during the Klondike gold rush, reaching Dawson in 1898, where he joined the stampeders and worked as a prospector, miner, and wood cutter supplying riverboats.

In 1902, he began studying law independently. Over the next four years, he memorized two law books and successfully passed the Alaska Bar examination in 1906. As he later recalled, “Alaska, the land of opportunity, here I come. I learned later it was a do-it-yourself deal.”

Roden established a law practice in Fairbanks and later served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Fairbanks and Iditarod, and as City Attorney of Iditarod. He became widely known throughout Alaska and was affectionately called “our Heine.”

In 1913, he was elected to the First Alaska Territorial Legislature as a senator and was reelected three additional times.

He married Margaret Kaapcke in Tacoma, Washington, on January 22, 1917. The couple later lived in Juneau, where Roden practiced law and also became involved in the fishing industry. He served as manager of the Republic Fisheries Company, which operated floating fish traps in Chatham Strait, and owned the gas fishing vessel Jugoslav. He was also president of Pelican Cold Storage Company and a co-founder of the city of Pelican, Alaska.

In 1940, Roden was elected Attorney General of Alaska and served in that position for four years. In 1944, he was a candidate for the United States Congress as a territorial delegate.

In 1949, he was called back from retirement to serve as the territory's Treasurer and was elected to another term. He later served on the Board of Directors of the Pioneers' Home in Sitka until Alaska achieved statehood.

Roden and his wife moved to Seattle in 1958 due to Margaret’s declining health. She died there in 1961. Even in his late eighties, Roden remained active in the legal profession while living at the Savoy Hotel in Seattle, where he continued to advise former Alaskans without charging them fees.

Henry Roden died in Seattle on June 5, 1966.

Sources

• Ed Ferrell, Biographies of Alaska-Yukon Pioneers 1850–1950, Vol. 3, pp. 244–246

Primary Name: Radonich, Edna Marion Sprague Haley

Filed as: Radonich, Edna Marion Sprague Haley

Also known as: Edna Marion Sprague; Edna Haley; Edna Radonich

Occupation / Association: Teacher; matron, federal jail on Courthouse Hill; Charter member and first president, Pioneers of Alaska Juneau Igloo Women’s Auxiliary No. 6

Associated places: Lyle, Minnesota; Perham, Minnesota; Juneau, Alaska; Dawson City, Yukon Territory; Douglas, Alaska

Keywords: Edna Marion Sprague Haley Radonich, Juneau Igloo Womens Auxiliary first president, Alaska Grill Juneau history, Carnation Tom Radonich, Pine Creek mining claims, Chilkoot Trail families, Courthouse Hill federal jail matron

Biography

Edna Marion Sprague Haley Radonich was a charter member of the Pioneers of Alaska, Juneau Igloo Women’s Auxiliary No. 6. She was elected the organization’s first president and also served additional terms in 1921, 1922, 1925, and 1927.

Edna Sprague was born in Lyle, Minnesota, in 1875 to Will and Mary Sprague. She was raised on a farm near Perham, Minnesota. In 1895, she moved to Juneau, Alaska, to teach school and to join her aunt and uncle, Matt and Alice Loughlin.

She married Ed Haley in Juneau on July 7, 1896. During the 1899 mining season, Edna accompanied her husband to his Pine Creek mining claims. Later that year, she returned to Juneau pregnant with their daughter, Dorothy. Travel to and from the mining camps was by steamer and on foot over the Chilkoot Trail. Edna and Ed Haley had two children, Dorothy and Donald.

After the birth of her children, Edna became a homemaker primarily, though in later years she worked as a matron at the federal jail on Courthouse Hill in Juneau.

Her second husband was Thomas G. “Carnation Tom” Radonich. Born September 19, 1869, in Dalmatia, Croatia, he came to the United States as a young man and arrived in Juneau around 1891. He was an early Klondike gold rush stampeder and operated a restaurant in Dawson City during the height of the gold rush. There, he became known as “Carnation Tom” because he arranged for regular shipments of fresh carnations and was rarely seen without one in his lapel.

After returning to Juneau in the early 1900s, Radonich operated several businesses along the Gastineau Channel, including restaurants, a meat market, and gaming houses in both Juneau and Douglas. The best known of these enterprises was the Alaska Grill, located on Front Street in the C.W. Young Building, which for many years was the largest restaurant in Alaska.

Edna maintained a large rooftop garden on the C.W. Young Building, adjacent to her home above the Alaska Grill. In later life she cultivated an extensive terraced garden on the hillside above her final home on Basin Road in Juneau.

Edna Marion Sprague Haley Radonich died on May 17, 1951. She is buried in Evergreen Cemetery in the Pioneers of Alaska Section.

Primary Name: Ashby, Thomas Henly

Filed as: ashby_thomas_henly

Also known as: Thomas H. Ashby

Occupation / Association: Prospector; Miner; Merchant; Charter Member, Juneau Men’s Igloo; Topkuk Ditch Company partner

Born: 1865, Missouri

Died: 1951, Tacoma, Washington

Parents:

Spouse: Mary Andreafsky

Children: Charles Ashby; Inez Ashby

Associated places: Juneau, Alaska; Treadwell, Alaska; Glacier Bay, Alaska; Stewart River, Yukon; Forty Mile, Alaska; Dawson, Yukon Territory; Nome, Alaska; Tacoma, Washington

Property / Address: Ashby and Leek Building (later Missouri Saloon / Louvre Theater), Front Street, Juneau, Alaska

Keywords: Thomas Henly Ashby, Thomas H Ashby, Ashby brothers, Missouri Saloon Juneau, Louvre Theater Juneau, Topkuk Ditch Company, Dawson stampede 1897, early Juneau prospectors

Biography

Thomas Henly Ashby was a charter member of the Juneau Men’s Igloo of the Pioneers of Alaska.

Ashby was born in Missouri in 1865. In 1884, he and his brother Oscar left their pig farm in Missouri at the urging of Richard T. Harris. They arrived in Juneau on May 11 and worked in various enterprises, including employment at the Treadwell Mine.

One of Thomas’s first prospecting trips was with Joe Juneau to Glacier Bay. In 1886, he and his brother traveled north, built a pole boat, and mined in the Stewart River area. They returned to Juneau in October of that year.

In 1887, Thomas returned to the Forty Mile area to prospect. Back in Juneau in 1891, the Ashby brothers and William Leek built a two-story building on Front Street at the site of the present Imperial Bar. The establishment began as a saloon known as Ashby and Leek, and later the Missouri. It was later known as the Louvre Theater and Saloon.

Thomas was among the early stampeders to Dawson in 1897 during the Klondike Gold Rush, where he mined on Eldorado, Below Bonanza, and other creeks.

He met and married Mary Andreafsky at Holy Cross. In 1899, Mary joined her husband in Dawson and crossed the Chilkoot Pass, carrying their three-month-old baby, Charles, on her back while a friend carried their two-year-old, Inez.

The family later moved to Nome, where Thomas and his brother became partners in the well-known Topkuk Ditch Company. Mary died in 1913. Thomas continued prospecting afterward and staked claims in many locations north and south of Juneau.

He died in Tacoma, Washington, in 1951 from complications following surgery.

Sources

Gastineau Channel Memories 1880–1959, pp. 260–261.

Tags: Thomas Henly Ashby, Thomas H Ashby, Ashby brothers, Oscar Ashby, Juneau pioneers, Missouri Saloon Juneau, Louvre Theater Juneau, Topkuk Ditch Company, Klondike stampeders, Juneau Men’s Igloo charter member

Thomas Henly Ashby Thomas H Ashby T H Ashby Ashby Thomas Henly

Primary Name: Britt, William Engle

Filed as: britt_william_engle

Also known as: William E. Britt

Occupation / Association: Druggist; Business Owner; Member, Juneau City Council; President, Alaska Board of Pharmacy; Charter Member, Pioneers of Alaska

Born: September 12, 1868, Norway

Died: April 24, 1932, Juneau, Alaska

Parents:

Spouse:

Children:

Associated places: Norway; Chicago Illinois; San Francisco California; Skagway Alaska; Dawson Yukon; Atlin British Columbia; Juneau Alaska

Keywords: William Engle Britt Juneau, Britt's Pharmacy Alaska, Alaska Board of Pharmacy president

Biography

William Engle Britt was a charter member of the Pioneers of Alaska and a prominent pharmacist, businessman, and civic leader in Southeast Alaska.

Britt was born in Norway on September 12, 1868. He graduated from the University of Christiana with a degree in chemistry and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree.

He came to the United States in 1893 and settled in Chicago, Illinois. There, he passed the examination before the Illinois State Board of Pharmacy and worked as a druggist until 1898.

When the Klondike Gold Rush began, Britt set out for Alaska in a remarkable journey. He bicycled from Chicago to San Francisco, where he boarded a steamer to Skagway. From there, he attempted to reach Dawson on a scow and participated in the Big Salmon stampede. He later joined the rush to Atlin, operated a ferry across Taku Arm from Golden Gate, and worked as a freighter at Summit Lake.

In 1899, Britt returned to Skagway and established a drug store known as Britt’s Pharmacy. He soon became active in civic affairs, serving on the Skagway School Board and holding positions as a city councilman, school treasurer, and municipal magistrate.

In 1913, Britt moved to Juneau, where he opened another Britt’s Pharmacy while retaining ownership of his Skagway store. The following year, he was elected to the Juneau City Council and served on several important committees.

Governor John F. A. Strong appointed Britt to the first Alaska Board of Pharmacy after the board was created by the Alaska Legislature. He was later chosen by fellow members to serve as the board's president.

William Engle Britt died in a tragic accident in Juneau on April 24, 1932. While attempting to start a car with a dead battery by pushing it and jumping onto the running board, the vehicle went out of control and struck a utility pole near the top of Gold Street.

Sources

Daily Alaska Dispatch, October 18, 1914; Daily Alaska Empire, April 25, 1932

Ferrell, Ed. Biographies of Alaska-Yukon Pioneers 1850–1950, Volume 2, pp. 32–33; Volume 3, p. 37

Atwood, Evangeline and Robert N. DeArmond, Who's Who in Alaskan Politics: Biographical Dictionary of Alaskan Political Personalities, 1884–1974, p. 10

William Engle Britt William E Britt Britt's Pharmacy Juneau Skagway Alaska Board of Pharmacy

Tags: William Engle Britt, Britt's Pharmacy, Pioneers of Alaska, Juneau City Council members, Alaska Board of Pharmacy, Skagway business leaders, Alaska gold rush pioneers

Primary Name: Clark, Walter Eli

Filed as: clark_walter_eli

Also known as: Walter E. Clark

Occupation / Association: Seventh Governor of Alaska (1909–1913); journalist; charter member, Juneau Men’s Igloo

Born: January 7, 1869, Ashford, Connecticut

Died: February 4, 1950, Charleston, West Virginia

Parents:

Spouse:

Children:

Associated places: Ashford, Connecticut; Juneau, Alaska; Nome, Alaska; Whitehorse, Yukon; Dawson, Yukon; Fairbanks, Alaska; Charleston, West Virginia

Keywords: Walter Eli Clark, Walter E Clark, Alaska territorial governor, Juneau Men’s Igloo charter member

Biography

Walter Eli Clark was a charter member of the Juneau Men’s Igloo and served as the seventh Governor of Alaska Territory from 1909 to 1913.

Clark, a Republican from Connecticut, was born in Ashford, Connecticut, on January 7, 1869. He graduated from the Connecticut State Normal School at New Britain in 1887 and, during the following year, served as principal of the grammar school in Manchester, Connecticut. He later attended Williston Seminary in East Hampton, Massachusetts, and Wesleyan University in Connecticut, from which he graduated with a Ph.D. degree in 1895.

Following graduation, he pursued a career in journalism, which he continued for most of his life, except for the time he spent in Alaska. His journalistic positions included reporter for the Hartford, Connecticut Post in 1895; telegraph editor for the Washington Times in 1895–1896; Washington correspondent for the New York Commercial Advertiser in 1897; assistant to the Washington correspondent for the New York Sun from 1897 to 1909; Washington correspondent for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer from 1900 to 1909; and correspondent for the New York Commercial and the Toronto Globe from 1904 to 1909. Beginning in 1914, he served as editor and proprietor of the Charleston Daily Mail in Charleston, West Virginia.

Clark joined the stampede to Nome in 1900 and spent the season there engaged in mining. He made three visits to Alaska prior to his appointment as governor. During the summer of 1903, he visited southeastern Alaska, and in 1906, he undertook a four-month journey through Alaska by way of Whitehorse, Dawson, and the Yukon River. From Tanana, he traveled up the Tanana River to Fairbanks and returned again to the Yukon River, following it to its mouth and then on to Nome.

Clark was appointed Governor of Alaska by President William Howard Taft in May 1909 and took the oath of office at Juneau on October 1 of that year. He served until 1913, after which he returned to the United States and resumed his career as editor and proprietor of the Charleston Daily Mail.

Walter Eli Clark died in Charleston, West Virginia, on February 4, 1950.

Sources

Biographies of Alaska-Yukon Pioneers 1850-1950, Volume 3, pp. 62–63, by Ed Ferrell (May 1, 2009).

Tags: Walter Eli Clark, Walter E Clark, Alaska territorial governors, Juneau Men’s Igloo, Alaska pioneers

Walter Eli Clark Walter E Clark Clark Walter Eli

Primary Name: Cosgrove, Charles H.

Filed as: cosgrove_charles_h

Also known as: Charles H. Cosgrove

Occupation / Association: Attorney; City Attorney; City Clerk; Magistrate; Charter Member, Juneau Men's Igloo

Born: ca. 1871, Lowell, Massachusetts

Died: May 15, 1923, Ketchikan, Alaska

Parents:

Spouse: Margaret Whalen (m. 1904, Seattle, Washington)

Children: Three sons; one daughter

Associated places: Lowell, Massachusetts; Worcester, Massachusetts; Seattle, Washington; Nome, Alaska; Ketchikan, Alaska

Keywords: Charles H Cosgrove, Cosgrove Charles H, Ketchikan attorney, Juneau Men's Igloo

Biography

Charles H. Cosgrove was a charter member of the Juneau Men's Igloo.

Cosgrove was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, about 1871. He attended the public schools of that city and, after graduation, entered Holy Cross College in Worcester, Massachusetts, completing his collegiate course in 1893. That same year, he entered Boston University Law School and graduated in 1897.

He practiced law in Massachusetts for a short time before moving west, drawn by the pioneer spirit. After a brief residence in Seattle, he joined the stampede to Nome in 1899, where he remained for one season. He then came to Southeastern Alaska, settling in Ketchikan in 1901.

In 1904, Cosgrove married Miss Margaret Whalen of Seattle. They had three sons and one daughter.

During his years in Ketchikan, he served several terms as City Attorney, City Clerk, and Magistrate.

Cosgrove was a Catholic, a Democrat, a member of the Elks, and a member of the Arctic Club of Seattle.

Charles H. Cosgrove died in Ketchikan on May 15, 1923.

Sources

Ketchikan Alaska Chronicle, May 15–17, 1923; Alaska Daily Empire, Juneau, May 16–17, 1923

Charles H Cosgrove Cosgrove Charles H

Tags: Charles H Cosgrove, Cosgrove Charles H, Juneau Men's Igloo, Ketchikan Alaska pioneers, Alaska attorneys

Primary Name: Schnabel, William

Filed as: Schnabel, William

Also known as: William Schnabel

Occupation / Association: Deputy U.S. Marshal; cowboy; charter member, Pioneers of Alaska Juneau Men’s Igloo

Associated places: Germany; California; Jordan Valley, Oregon; Dawson, Yukon Territory; Fairbanks, Alaska; Wrangell, Alaska; Rockville, Idaho; Caldwell, Idaho

Keywords: William Schnabel, Juneau Men’s Igloo charter member, deputy U.S. marshal Alaska, Fairbanks Alaska law enforcement, Wrangell Alaska deputy marshal, Buffalo Bill Wild West Show riders, early Alaska lawmen

Biography

William Schnabel was a charter member of the Pioneers of Alaska Juneau Men’s Igloo.

He was born on July 2, 1860, in Germany. His parents had immigrated to the United States in 1847 and settled in California, but returned temporarily to Germany in 1860, where William was born. He spent his boyhood and early adulthood in Jordan Valley, Oregon, working as a cowboy.

Schnabel later joined the rush north during the early gold rush years, traveling to Dawson during the Klondike era. In 1904, he went to Fairbanks, Alaska, where he was appointed a Deputy United States Marshal. After leaving Fairbanks, he was again appointed deputy marshal for the First Division at Wrangell, Alaska, serving until the term of the marshal under whom he worked expired in 1909.

For a short time, Schnabel reportedly rode with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, where he met Velma P., who later became his second wife. His first marriage had been to Hattie L. Ridenbaugh in 1893.

After leaving Alaska, Schnabel returned to Idaho, settling near Rockville. He died in Caldwell, Idaho, on September 28, 1932.

Sources

The Caldwell News-Tribune, September 29, 1932