PREVIEW OF VOLUME TWO

Aunt Phil’s Trunk Volume Two, released in 2007, features entertaining stories that include the birth of Fairbanks, the lawless years following the Klondike Gold Rush and how the Iditarod Trail was blazed. This volume, also filled with more than 350 historical photographs that showcase life in Alaska from 1900 to 1912, will keep you spellbound!

Fairbanks springs up on the tundra

After Felix Pedro discovered gold in the Interior in 1902, hordes of prospectors rushed into Alaska’s interior. One savvy merchant, who set up his trading store along the banks of the Chena River, helped put the town of Fairbanks – pictured above – on the map.

And all the gold that came out of the region was just too tempting for outlaws to resist. One in particular, the Blue Parka bandit, proved daring and bold – until he robbed an Episcopal preacher.

Alaska’s first law officer

Alaska’s first law officer in the Interior knew a thing or two about the criminal element. Frank Canton, appointed deputy marshal for Circle in February 1898, had served with distinction as a peace officer in Wyoming and Oklahoma Territory. He’d also escaped from prison while serving time for a litany of offenses, including murder.

Many of those hardy gunslingers and prospectors who made Tombstone a household word in the late 1800s, landed in Alaska and the Yukon after the demise of the Arizona city. Among them were lawman and gunslinger Wyatt Earp, pictured on the left, and John Clum, right, who set up Alaska’s postal system in the late 1890s.

Gold discovered in the Iditarod region

On Christmas Day 1908, two men discovered gold along the Haiditarod River, a tributary of the Innoko. Soon a new settlement called Iditarod became the largest town in Alaska, boasting more than 4,000 people and sporting newspapers, hotels, electricity and telephone service. Soon teams of men and dogs had blazed a trail from Seward to Nome to haul gold and supplies.

Cordova’s sourdough preacher-painter

Paul Eustace Ziegler’s work aptly captures the epic struggle of sourdough days, portraying that historic period when pioneer men and women conquered a rugged wilderness and opened the Alaska Frontier.

Massive volcanic eruption 1912

June 6, 1912, the earth exploded. People living within several hundred miles in Southwest Alaska were given a taste of what hellfire and brimstone of Biblical teachings might be like when a volcano erupted.