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| Title | Horses pulling sleds over mud and first rails laid for the Alaska Railroad at Ship Creek, April 29, 1915 |
| Photographer | Thwaites, John E. (John Edward), 1863-1940 |
| Date | 1915 |
| Notes | Caption on image: The Gov't Railroad at Ship Creek, Alaska. Showing the first rails laid. Photo taken same day, April 29, 1915.
PH Coll 247.466 |
| Contextual Notes | In 1915 President Woodrow Wilson authorized funds for the construction of the Alaska Railroad. Ship Creek Landing was selected as the headquarters of this effort, coordinated by the fledgling Alaskan Engineering Commission. A "Tent City" sprang up in the wilderness at the mouth of Ship Creek, and soon swelled to a population of over 2,000. On July 9, 1915, the Anchorage townsite auction was held, and over 600 lots in a fixed grid were sold for approximately $150,000. Although the area had been known by various names, in this same year the U.S. Post Office Department formalized the use of the name "Anchorage" and despite some protests the name stuck.
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| Subjects (LCTGM) | Horse teams--Alaska--Anchorage; Railroad tracks--Alaska--Anchorage; Dwellings--Alaska--Anchoarge; Men--Alaska--Anchorage; Alaska Railroad--People--Alaska--Anchorage; Alaska Railroad--Equipment & supplies--Alaska--Anchoarge; Ship Creek (Anchorage, Alaska) |
| Subjects (LCSH) | Sleds--Alaska--Anchorage |
| Location Depicted | United States--Alaska--Anchorage |
| Digital Collection | John E. Thwaites Photographs |
| Order Number | THW241 |
| Ordering Information | To order a reproduction, inquire about permissions, or for information about prices see: http://www.lib.washington.edu/specialcollections/services/reproduction-info
Please cite the Order Number when ordering. |
| Negative Number | THWAITES 247.466 |
| Repository | University of Washington Libraries. Special Collections Division |
| Repository Collection | John E. Thwaites Photograph Collection. PH Coll 247
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| Object Type | Photograph |
| Digital Reproduction Information | Scanned from a photographic print using a Microtek Scanmaker 9600XL at 100 dpi in JPEG format at compression rate 3 and resized to 768x512 ppi. 2003. |
