Books & Manuscripts, including Americana

1) Photo album with approximately 150 black and white or sepia-toned photographs ca. 1900-1904 depicting Indigenous populations, sled dogs, gold, early images of Nome, Alaska, various shipwrecks including the Catherine Sutter, the Skookum, and the Alexander, early settlers such as Carrie Beaton, one of the first female settlers in Nome, various wildlife, and ocean views. Contemporary brown cloth (soiling, many leaves partially or entirely disbound, soiling, fraying with minor losses to spine ends).

2) 11 black and white photographs, many mounted, ca. 1898-1904, depicting early settlers, a boxing match, various ships including the P.J. Abler and the San Blas, Indigenous peoples, and the Beau Mercantile Company, one of the first general stores to open in Nome. Largest, 12 1/2 x 10 1/2 in.

3) 7 partially engraved stock certificates from the Solomon River Mining Company and the Beau Mercantile Company issued to H.T. Harding and John L. Beau (namesake of the Beau Mercantile Company), ca 1900-1909.

4) HARRISON, Edward Sanford (1857-ca. 1930s). Nome and Seward Peninsula: History, Description, Biography, and Stories. Seattle: E.S. Harrison, 1905. 4to. (Spotting throughout.) Original limp dark brown leather (rubbing).

5) HEGG, Eric A. (1867-1947), photographer. Souvenir of Nome, Alaska. Seattle: [E.A. Hegg], 1900. Long 4to. Original pictorial wrappers (minor chipping along extremities, toning).

Provenance: John Lewis Beau (1863-1927), owner and operator of the Beau Mercantile Company of Nome, Alaska.

The Nome Gold Rush began in September 1898 with the discovery of gold on Anvil Creek by the "Three Lucky Swedes", Jafet Lindeburg, Erik Lindblom, and John Brynteson, who then established the Nome mining district to protect their claims. By this time the Klondike Gold Rush was winding down, but upon news of their discovery reaching the outside world in the winter of 1898-1899 Nome became inundated with prospectors seeking to make their fortunes. Within a decade Nome was considered to be exhausted, with the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) publishing a notice in the May 1910 issue of the Industrial Worker to unemployed miners that "All the rich mines are practically worked out."

Among those who traveled north to seek their fortune was John Lewis Beau of Calvary, Wisconsin. Following the death of his wife Della while giving birth to their son in October 1895, Beau left his children in the care of his sisters. For the next thirteen years, Beau operated the Beau Mercantile Company in Nome, one of the first general stores established in the city, and, over time, expanded his business interests into shipping. Among the ships operated by Beau's company during this time were the Alcade, the Lizzie Colby, and the P.J. Abler, the last of which was part of Frank Kleinschmidt's 1912 Arctic-Siberian Expedition. Beau eventually returned to Wisconsin, where he died in 1927.