Preliminary Guide to the Ben Smith / Alaska Yukon Gold Rush Collection

Processed by D. Tambo

Department of Special Collections

Davidson Library

University of California, Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara, CA 93106

Phone: (805) 893-3062

Fax: (805) 893-5749

Email: special@library.ucsb.edu

URL: http://www.library.ucsb.edu/speccoll/speccoll.html

Preliminary Guide to the Ben Smith / Alaska Yukon Gold Rush Collection, ca. 1882-1915

Collection number: Wyles Mss 1

Department of Special Collections, Davidson Library, University of California, Santa Barbara

Contact Information:

Department of Special Collections
Davidson Library
University of California, Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, CA 93106
Phone: (805) 893-3062
Fax: (805) 893-5749
Email: special@library.ucsb.edu
URL: http://www.library.ucsb.edu/speccoll/speccoll.html

Processed by:

D. Tambo

Date Completed:

31 October 2002

Encoded by:

David C. Gartrell

Descriptive Summary

Title: Ben Smith / Alaska Yukon Gold Rush Collection,

Date (inclusive): ca. 1882-1915

Date (bulk): (bulk 1898-1901)

Collection Number: Wyles Mss 1

Creator: Smith, Ben

Extent: .4 linear feet (1document box)

Repository: University of California, Santa Barbara. Library. Department of Special Collections

Santa Barbara, California 93106-9010

Physical Location: Del Sur

Language: English.

Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

None.

Publication Rights

Copyright has not been assigned to the Department of Special Collections, UCSB. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Department of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which also must be obtained.

Preferred Citation

Ben Smith / Alaska Yukon Gold Rush Collection. Wyles Mss 1. Department of Special Collections, Davidson Library, University of California, Santa Barbara.

Acquisition Information

Purchase, 1980.

History

Information about the Alaskan Gold Rush may be found in works such as:

Becker, Ethel Anderson. Kondike '98: Hegg's Album of the 1898 Alaska Gold Rush (1958).
DeGraf, Anna. Pioneering on the Yukon, 1892-1917 (1992).
Landru, H. C. The Blue Parka Man: Alaskan Gold Rush Bandit (1980).
Littlepage, Dean. Gold Fever in the North (1997).
Lung, Edward Burchall. Black Sand and Gold (1967).
Lung, Velma D. Trail to North Star Gold (1969).

Scope and Content of Collection

Papers of Ben Smith, from Redwood City, California, who went to the Alaska Yukon goldfields ca. 1898-1900, and then apparently returned to California. The collection contains correspondence, diaries/journals, documents, financial records, maps, and other ephemera, much of it relating to Smith's stay in Alaska.

Series 1. Correspondence

Box 1: 1

To Ben Smith (addressed to Star City, Alaska, many relating to seeking employment), 1899-1900

Box 1: 2

To/from sister, Jessie Smith, 1899

Series 2. Diaries/Journals

Box 1: 3

Diaries/Journals (including entries for Alaska), ca. 1894, 1898-1900

Series 3. Documents

Box 1: 4

Notice of Location of Quartz Claim (bearing gold), City and County of San Francisco, 13 June 1882

Series 4. Financial

Box 1: 5

Bills and Receipts, 1884

Box 1: 6

Bills and Receipts (Smith and Glennan, San Francisco - equipment and supplies for Alaska trip?), 1898

Box 1: 7 - 8

Bills and Receipts (Mr. and Mrs. Ben Smith, Redwood City, CA), ca. 1897-1901

Series 5. Maps

Box 1: 9

Klondike Gold Outside the Arctic Circle (Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway), fragments, ca. 1898

Box 1: 10

Map of the Yukon Gold Belt, ca. 1897

Box 1: 11

Newhall's Guide to the Gold Fields of Alaska and Northwest Territory (with extensive advertising and mining information), ca. late 1890s

Box 1: 12

Pocket Map of Alaska, 1915

Box 1: 13

Sketch map of Alaska gold country river system, n.d.

Series 6. Ephemera

Box 1: 14

Ephemera (includes handwritten death notice for Ed Cullen, Sheep Creek Alaska, Oct. 6, 1898)