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| Title | Aviator Carl B. Eielson with a group of men on docks, Seattle, 1929 |
| Photographer | Staff Photographer
Seattle Post-Intelligencer |
| Date | 1929 |
| Caption | Carl Ben Eielson, originally from North Dakota, received pilot training through his service with the Army and later became known as "The Father of Alaskan Aviation." Abandoning flying for law school on the advice of his father, he made an Alaskan acquaintance and soon realized the possibilities that aviation could have in that remote state. He purchased a plane and began flying passengers and supplies before establishing the first airmail route in 1924. From 1926 to 1928, Eielson and George Wilkins attempted three times to fly across the arctic from Point Barrow, Alaska to Svalbard (Spitzbergen), Norway. The successful third attempt in 1928 was the first transarctic flight. Eielson was killed in November 1929 during a rescue attempt in the Bering Strait when his plane crashed in Siberia.
This photograph from 1929 of Eielson (in the center with the lighter-colored coat) posing with a group of men on the Seattle docks is from the last year of his life. It has been speculated that it could have been prior to the rescue expedition in which he lost his life. |
| Notes | Handwritten on image: [Eielson relief expedition?].
A Fabulous Kingdom: The Exploration of the Arctic; State of North Dakota, Office of the Governor, May 14, 1994 article in the Grand Forks Herald.
Date photograph was filed at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (date of photograph and file date may differ by a month or more): February 23, 1930. |
| Subjects | Air pilots--Washington (State)--Seattle; Waterfronts--Washington (State)--Seattle; Piers & wharves--Washington (State)--Seattle; Boats--Washington (State)--Seattle; Photographers--Washington (State)--Seattle; Cameras--Washington (State)--Seattle |
| Personal Names | Eielson, Carl Benjamin, 1897-1929 |
| Places | United States--Washington (State)--Seattle |
| Digital Collection | Museum of History & Industry Photograph Collection |
| Image Number | 1986.5G.610.2 |
| Ordering Information | To order a reproduction or to inquire about permissions contact photos@mohai.org or phone us at 206-324-1126. Please refer to the Image Number and provide a brief description of the photograph. |
| Credit Line | Seattle Post-Intelligencer Collection, Museum of History & Industry, Seattle; All Rights Reserved |
| Repository | Museum of History & Industry, Seattle (MOHAI) |
| Repository Collection | Seattle Post-Intelligencer Collection |
| Type | Image |
| Physical Description | 1 glass negative: b&w; 4 x 5 in. |
| Digital Reproduction Information | Scanned from original negative as a 3000 pixel TIFF image in 8-bit grayscale, resized to 640 pixels in the longest dimension and compressed into JPEG format using Photoshop 6.0 and its JPEG quality measurement 3. |
