Brooker Collections

CDHS Homepage     Collections Index

This is a restricted collection.

With the exception of photos 82-P-01-20, 82-P-01-21 and 86-P-06-01

which were given outright to the Circle District Historical Society

Only the thumbnails are available for uses other than for display at the Museum.

 

82-P-01-01
Sternwheeler, Yukon, at Circle City

 

82-P-01-02
Skookum Creek Road House on Chatanika-Circle winter trail. 1912.

 

82-P-01-03
Billy Burns boiler house on Little Eldorado Creek. Mark Burns at left, unknown, unknown, Hector Burns, Edgar Brooker (age 4), Louis Larson. The vertical pipe-like objects are steam points, a heavy-walled steel pipe with a larger diameter head and a nipple on he side. Steam was delivered to these via hoses attached to the nipples. Points were then driven into the frozen ground with sledge hammers and after hours of steaming, the gold-bearing gravel thawed and was dug with picks and shovels, then hoisted to the surface. “Shovel stiffs” were paid five dollars per day in some camps and ten dollars per day in this camp. 1910.

 

82-P-01-04
Dome City, Fairbanks District. Located on one slope of the Pedro Dome. Note the two dumps of gold-bearing gravel taken out in the winter to be washed the following summer to recover the placer gold. 1909.

From back of photo “ 1909. Getting in on the ground floor of the gold rush of the rich creeks in the Fairbanks area. The Brookers and McDonalds prospected and mined Dome Creek but did not locate any rich pockets of paystreaks - they just made a good liveing [sic]. Mrs. Mac made big money bakeing [sic] bread for which prospectors and miners were glad to pay $1.00 for every loaf she could bake. Possibly she earned more income that [sic] the miners who had to dig hours a day working cold or frozen earth

 

82-P-01-05
Eagle City, up river from Circle. The wood is for use in the stern-wheel river boats, generating steam to drive the engines. 1912.

 

82-P-01-06
The Jewell Restaurant, Chatanika Alaska. Mrs. Jewell, mother of Walter and Wilbur Jewell offered meals and lodging. The small boy (right) is Edgar Brooker Jr. The child on the Mule is not known. The man riding the mule was considered a cowboy type and well respected. I think. Just uphill from the Jewell restaurant was the Brooker restaurant run by Mrs. Ed Brooker and occupied one half of Shorty Smyser’s saloon. Shorty had rooms over the saloon. Walter and Wilbur often took their meals with Mrs. Brooker while Edgar Brooker Jr. liked breakfast at the Jewell restaurant because Mrs. Jewell had a waffel iron. We always had blueberry jam (with apple sauce) on our hotcakes or waffles. 1913.

 

82-P-01-07
“Getting Away with the Hot Cakes” Frank burns and Louis Larson at Brookers Mess House on Little Eldorado Creek. 1909.

 

82-P-01-08
Little Eldorado City on the TVRR (Tanana Valley Railroad). The sign, black and white, advertises a pool hall. The building next door might be Tom Davis’ grocery store. (printed in reverse). 1910.

 

82-P-01-09
Alfred Lytle feeding a captured bear cub in Chatanika. About 1913.

 

82-P-01-10
Little Eldorado City and the TVRR narrow-guage railroad. The sign on the store reads “Eldorado Trading Co. 1912.

 

82-P-01-11
Sternwheel Yukon-Tanana river boat, White Seal. 1912.

 

82-P-01-12
Mrs. Brooker’s mess house on Little Eldorado Creek about a mile up the creek from the TVRR tracks and station. This mess house fed miners who worked for Billy Burns. The pile of firewood (left) was used to generate stem in the boilers for thawing the frozen ground and also for use in winter for our cabins. 1911-1912.

 

82-P-01-13
Knut Koland hauling firewood. 1910.

 

82-P-01-14
Mark and Hector Burns skinnydipping in a pond on lower Little Eldorado Creek. 1910.

 

82-P-01-15
Edgar Brooker Sr., “Porcupine Boiler”, and windlass. Sinking a hole on the Chatanika flats. No paying amound of gold was found. The name “porcupine” was given this type of steam boiler because in its construction numerous pipe nipples with one end forged shut were screwed into a central casting heated by the wood fire. 1910.

 

82-P-01-16
Chatanika kids. Far right: Buddy Boyd, Edgar Brooker Jr. (tallest) and Richard (“Bus”) Boyd. At left with toque(?): Kenneth McLean and unknown. 1912.

 

82-P-01-17
Fort Yukon about 1910. Taken from Arch Deacon Hudson Stuck’s book “10,000 Miles with a Dog Sled.

 

82-P-01-18
Chatanika School. Back row: Alma Watson, Vivian Meyers, Mrs. Dave Fairburn (teacher), Wilbur Jewell, Walter Jewell and Edgar Brooker Jr. Front Row: Kenneth McLean, Catherine Welch, unknown, May Kelley, Jack Criag, ____Craig. 1915.

 

82-P-01-19
Chatanika Pets. Kenneth McLean, ______ Jensen, Bud Boyd, Bus Boyd, Edgar Brooker Jr. About 1914-15.

 

82-P-01-20
Chatanika Cronies. Carl Frederick and Chris ____. Carl had been trained for the ministry in Finland. He was a wood cutter on the Chatanika River. When he came to town and got drunk, he would sit at the counter of the Brooker Cafe and pray. The second man was “swamper” at Shorty Smyser’s saloon and was once caught lying under an open tap of a wine barrel.

 

82-P-01-21
Billy Burns boiler house on Little Eldorado Creek. Hector Burns left, Edgar Brooker Jr. (age 4), unknown, and Mark Burns at right. The vertical objects are steam points: heavy-wall steel tubing with a large-diameter head and a nipple on the side. Steam hoses were connected to the nipples and the points driven into the gold-bearing gravel using sledge hammers. After hours of steaming, men with picks and shovels got out the gold-bearing gravel, hoisted it to the surface for sluicing and recovery of the gold. 1910.

 

85-P-02-01
Pat Kinally and Edgar Brooker Sr. in Kantishna. Note by Al Cook: Pat Kinnaly and Jack Gregor filed the discovery claim on Mastadon Creek in 1894.

 

86-P-06-01
River Steamer Casca on the Yukon River