An Alaskan Gold Mine

Description: An Alaskan Gold Mine: The Story of No. 9 Above is a notable and tragic story of the discovery of Alaska gold in 1898. The mine had so many implications for leaders and institutions of the Evangelical Covenant Church, a tangled and contested case of ownership extending over two decades that went to the Supreme Court of the United States on four occasions. Visiting Alaska three times doing meticulous research into legal proceedings and conducting oral interviews, Carlson succeeded in crafting a compelling narrative of gold, grief, and greed. An Alaskan Gold Mine: The Story of No. 9 Above remains a classic case study of the Alaska gold rush as a whole, as well as the particular context of issues and personalities unique to the bonanza claim staked by a Covenant missionary on Anvil Creek above the boomtown Nome. About the Contributor(s): Leland H. Carlson (1908-1995) was born in Rockford, Illinois, and educated at Beloit College (BA), Chicago Theological Seminary (BD), and the University of Chicago (PhD). He began his teaching career at North Park College (1932-1942), before joining the history department at Northwestern University, where he won several awards for teaching European and British history. From 1955 to 1959 Carlson was president of Rockford College, then returning once again to teaching and the academic life at the Claremont Graduate School and Southern California School of Theology. In 1970 he was chosen the first Colin Rhys Lovell Professor of English History at the University of Southern California, retiring in 1973. From 1984 until his death, Carlson was a research scholar at the Henry E. Huntingdon Library in San Marino, California.