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David M. Goodrich is pleased to hear that President Roosevelt had already planned to give Henry K. Love the next open appointment to United States marshal in Alaska. He will ask Love if he knows any senators that will support his appointment.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-01-28
Former Rough Rider David M. Goodrich writes to President Roosevelt about the possibility of fellow Rough Rider Henry K. Love being made marshal of the new Fourth Division of the Judicial District of Alaska should it be created. Goodrich believes Love’s record during and after the Spanish-American War proves that he would make a good marshal.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1908-01-23
A. J. Halford asks that his son, Lieutenant Dean Halford, be reassigned a detail as an aid in the White House. Lieutenant Halford has spent the last several years stationed in the Philippines and expects to be stationed in Alaska soon, and A. J. Halford would like his son to be closer to him.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-11-20
Governor Hoggatt forwards Secretary of the Interior Garfield a letter for President Roosevelt expressing Alaska’s current legislative needs. He will send his report in a few days, followed by drafts for legislation.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-09-24
Governor Hoggatt sends President Roosevelt a report of Alaska’s administrative and legislative needs. Hoggatt believes the territory has multiple pressing needs, including more lighthouses, a new judicial division, and regulation of the growing railroad industry. He wishes to reduce the number of saloons and dance halls, believing these are centers for agitation against the government. The territory remains rich in natural resources but sparsely populated, and its mines are not producing because mining interest has largely shifted to other parts of the country. Hoggatt doesn’t feel that the territory has a large enough population or tax base to maintain its own standards of law and order, so he believes Alaska’s government not be reorganized until its future is more stable.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-09-24
The writer asserts that Max Pracht and W. Scott Smith are “working together” and offers evidence. Pracht was suspended from the Land Office for insubordination and sought help from Senator John H. Mitchell; but when Mitchell was unable to help, Pracht turned to Smith and Secretary of the Interior Ethan Allen Hitchcock to obtain his current post at the War Department. Events discussed since then by Pracht could only be known through a source close to the Secretary of the Interior such as Smith.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907
Senator Foraker informs President Roosevelt that while Alaska is not in his committee’s jurisdiction, Hawaii is. Foraker updates Roosevelt on several matters concerning legislation regarding Hawaii and Puerto Rico.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-11-28
Arthur Hamilton Lee recently returned from Canada where he was on a mission to gather opinions related to the Alaskan Arbitration land dispute. Locals seems to be glad the matter is over, although there is resentment towards Newfoundland’s “modus vivendi.” Self-described “King of Newfoundland” Robert Gillespie Reid thinks only the basest politicians are against it.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-10-30
Max Pracht reports on corruption in the land office that he witnessed while a special agent in Colorado. Pracht details the misuse of government funds by William A. Richards, Commissioner of the General Land Office, and his report of it to Secretary of the Interior Hitchcock and Hitchcock’s private secretary W. Scott Smith. The final two pages detail Pracht and Smith’s relationship.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-10-22
President Roosevelt asks Secretary of War Taft to pass along his thanks to the United States Army on behalf of the nation. Roosevelt compliments the Army’s swift actions during the recent earthquakes and fires in San Francisco. He also states that the Army was instrumental in responding to the Mississippi River floods, the Galveston hurricane, and the crisis in Alaska, and that the best men compose its ranks.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-04-28
William Henry Hunt describes the land cases he has been following in Portland. Hunt also says that J. H. Causten would like to be considered for governor of Alaska and recommends him.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-10-09
Edward L. Hamilton writes to William Loeb to discuss Alaskan railroad matters.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-09-12
Albert Shaw writes to President Roosevelt, relaying a message from a respected friend, N. F. Hawley of Minneapolis. Hawley states that Ray W. Jones who is hoping for an appointment as governor of Alaska lacks integrity and would not be a good choice.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-07-14
Assistant Secretary of State Adee informs British Ambassador Durand that the United States agrees to the boundary between Alaska and Canada proposed by the Commission which was charged by the London Tribunal of 1903 to delineate the details. If the British agree, a similar communication from them will conclude the matter.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-03-25
Edward Henry Harriman asks President Roosevelt to write something to be included in a catalog for photographer Edward S. Curtis’s exhibit of Indian photographs. Curtis had accompanied Harriman to Alaska a few years earlier.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-03-01
Senator Mitchell of Oregon tells George B. Cortelyou, Chairman of the National Republican Committee, of the work that Henry Waldo Coe has done in the organization of the Roosevelt League of Oregon, in addition to his professional work in Portland, Oregon. Mitchell relays some details of a contract that Coe is interested in with the government, and would like to assist him if at all possible, and asks Cortelyou to speak with Secretary of the Interior Ethan Allen Hitchcock or President Roosevelt on the matter.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-10-17
St. George Littledale writes to President Roosevelt to describe a hunting trip to Alaska where he saw moose and bears and camped with Indians.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-10-05
Baron von Sternburg will send a letter to Littledale so that Littledale can take the next train to Washington. Sternburg expresses Littledale’s appreciation for Roosevelt’s help, especially since Littledale had just been informed “that all killing had been prohibited in Alaska during this season.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-07-22
Baron Sternburg relates details of the arrangements for Mr. Littledale’s Alaskan trip. He encloses an article about Russia and speculates on Japanese military ventures, including their actions at Port Arthur. Sternburg also mentions his trip to the South and that he found a map of Manchuria that he made during the “war of 94.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1904-07-17
David G. Haglund notes that American presidents are often not popular in Canada, and he asserts that Theodore Roosevelt is especially disliked because of the perception of him as a unilateralist and because of the outcome of the Alaska boundary dispute in 1903. Haglund argues that Roosevelt’s bad reputation in Canada is undeserved because for the first time in American history the United States actually grew smaller as a result of its concessions in the boundary dispute. Haglund says Canada feels aggrieved because of Great Britain’s desire to draw closer to the United States at Canada’s expense. Haglund writes that Canada’s embrace of Franklin D. Roosevelt while scorning his distant cousin is the result of a “fundamental misperception.”
A map of the Alaska-Canada boundary dispute and two photographs supplement the text.