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Seattle Chamber of Commerce Alaska-Yukon tour, 1913
Dateline: January 18, 2026.

Itinerary:

    Steamship Jefferson at Seattle, 1913
  • Seattle - depart June 22 on the steamship Jefferson
  • Prince Rupert
  • Ketchikan
  • Wrangell
  • Petersburg
  • Juneau and Douglas
  • Haines
  • Skagway
  • White Pass & Yukon Route railway
  • Whitehorse - June 30, July 1
  • Dawson
  • Eagle
  • Rampart
  • Circle City
  • Fairbanks
  • Ruby
  • Nulato
  • Iditarod
  • St. Michaels
  • Nome
  • Pribilof Islands
  • Kodiak
  • Seldovia
  • Seward
  • Valdez
  • Cordova
  • Katalla
  • Sitka
The Alaska Daily Empire (Juneau, Alaska) - Wednesday, March 19, 1913

Headline: Seattle Men Are Coming North, 1913

    Seattle, March 19. - The New Seattle Chamber of Commerce is completing plans for the business men's excursion to Alaska for next summer. It is the intention that an excursion of 150 business men of this city shall leave here early in June and visit all portions of the Territory, going up through the Southeastern inside passage to Ketchikan, Wrangell, Petersburg, Juneau, Douglas, Haines and Skagway, thence over the White Pass and down the Yukon with side trips to Fairbanks and Iditarod to St. Michael and Nome. Seward, Valdez, Cordova and other Western Alaska points will be visited on the return trip from Nome, where an ocean passenger ship will be awaiting the arrival of the excursionists upon their arrival from the Yukon River trip. The Alaska Bureau of the Chamber has charge of the plans of the excursion.
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer (Seattle, Washington) - Friday, June 20, 1913

Headline: Tourists In Seattle For 8,000-Mile Alaska Cruise, 1913

    With the arrival of Seth Mann, President Wilson's personal representative, appointed to accompany the Chamber of Commerce Alaska tour, from San Francisco this evening, practically the entire personnel of the party that will sail north on the Jefferson at 9 o'clock tomorrow night on the first lap of the 8,000-mile trip through the North will be found in Seattle. There are sixty-eight Seattle people enrolled for the excursion, five newspaper and magazine representatives from publications that cover the entire country, and thirty nine tourists coming from all parts of the United States, and some from from abroad.

    The tour, which will occupy frem thirty-five to forty days, will be the most comprehensive ever made by any large body that has ever visited Alaska. The first stop will be made at Prince Rupert, the western terminus of the G. T. P. railroad. Here the party will De taken inland for 100 milles over the new railroad up the beautiful Skeena river valley, and at Prince Rupert will have an opportunity to see the preparations being made to care for the halibut catch, the large cold storage plants and the fishing fleet.

Ketchikan First Alaska Stop.

    The next stop will be made at Ketchikan, where the party will be entertained by the townspeople, and will have their first opportunity to get a glimpse of some of the many salmon canneries of Alaska and all the details of the salmon fishing industry. At Ketchikan they will be introduced to their first Alaska town.

    Stops will be made at all the towns along the inside passage, Wrangell Petersburg, Haines and Juneau. At Juneau, the capital city of the North, the party will be met by Gov. Strong, who will probably accompany the excursion to Skagway, if not farther. The next stop will be at Skagway, where reminders of the great gold rush of '98 will be seen. From Skagway the party will proceed over the White pass & Yukon to Whitehorse, where two river steamers will be in waiting to take it down the Yukon river to Dawson. From Dawson the members of the party will proceed on down the Yukon, stopping at Eagle and Circle City, and on to the Tanana. They will go up the Tanana to Fairbanks, where they will learn something of not only placer and quartz mining possibilities of the country, but also of the great agricultural opportunities, and will get some idea of the wide range of farming possible in the country hitherto famed only for cold weather and cold in the minds of the average Easterner.

Yukon River Trip.

    Leaving Fairbanks they will go back down the Tanana to the Yukon, on down the Yukon, stopping at Ruby, the new gold camp, Nulato, and thence to St. Michael, at the mouth of the Yukon and across to Nome. At Nome a steamer will be awaiting to take them south. They will visit the Diomedes and also the Pribilof islands.

    This is the first time that a passenger steamer has been permitted to land at the Pribilof islands, the summer breeding ground of countless thousands of seal, By a special permission from the government a limited number of photographs will also be permitted. This of itself will be a special feature of the trip that will distinguish in from all others hitherto undertaken.

    Proceeding on south to Dutch Harbor, the steamer will pass through Unimak pass, and then, instead of heading straight across the open Pacific, will proceed northwest along the edge of the Aleutian peninsula, past the Shumagin islands and the great codfish banks, past the hundreds of miles of volcanic islands and mainland mountains, to Kodiak, on Kodiak island.

Seldovia and Seward.

    From there they will go to Seldovia and Seward. At Seward a trip will be taken inland over the Alaska Central railway, and some idea gained of the great Matanuska coal fields that lie in back.

    From Seward they will go to Valdez, the western end of the "Fairbanks-to- the-coast" trail prior to the building of the Copper River railroad, and from there on to Cordova, the terminus of the Copper River road. The party will go inland over this road and visit the Child's glacier, gleaning some knowledge of the hardships and also possibilities of railroad building in Alaska. Katalla, where an opportunity to learn something of the oil fields will be had, will be next visited and then Sitka, with her historic associations, dating back to and beyond the days of Baranoff. From Sitka the return home will be made direct through the inside passage.

    Some idea of the widespread interest that has been aroused concerning Alaska may be had from reading over the correspondence of the Alaska bureau with a number of the Eastern publications who were prevented from sending representatives.

    The party that the Washington Post had selected to accompany the trip was taken ill at the last moment, and a substitute was not obtainable on Such short notice. Frank D. Noyes, of the Washington Star, had arranged to go to Europe for the summer and the invitation reached him too late to permit of his changing his plans. Numbers of other publishers who were invited attempted to arrange their affairs in such manner as to permit of their taking the six weeks' trip, and all expressed keen regret at being unable to take advantage of it. A thoroughly comprehensive book, containing in compact form all the present knowledge of the resources of Alaska and the resuit of their resources to date, has just been issued by the Alaska bureau and will be sent to every publication in the United States. Tn addition, a copy will also be mailed to all libraries in the country and to every member of congress. Coming on the heels of the interest that has been aroused in the publications throughout the country by the wideiy heralded trip just now being undertaken, this compendium of knowledge of the industrial North, will, no doubt, attract added interest.

List of Excursionists.

    The following is the list in full of all those who will acconipany the excursion north:
    Seth Mann, San Francisco
    Mr. and Mrs. Scott C. Bone, Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
    Mr. and Mrs. William D. Boyce, Chicago Ledger.
    Mr. Edgar Allen Forbes, Leslie's Weekly.
    Mr: J. D. Gortatowsky, Atlanta Constitution.
    Mr. E. H. Hamilton. Hearst Publications.
    Mr. and Mrs. Arthur W. Eiting, Albany, N.Y.
    Mr. and Mrs. Walter Cowles, Boston, Mass.
    Mrs. Ida M. Graham. Boston, Mass.
    Mr. and Mrs. B. H. Morehead, Cincinnati, O.
    Miss Aline Morehead. Cincinnati, O.
    Mr. J. B. Andrews, Denver, Colo.
    Mr. and Mrs. D. G. Miller, Denver, Colo.
    Mr. and Mrs. H. C. House, Houston, Tex.
    Miss Minnie Bruce Robertson, Houston, Tex.
    Mr. and Mrs. P. A. Waller, Kewanee, Ill.
    Miss Ruby Waller, Kewanee, Ill.
    Miss Olga Waller, Kewanee, Ill.
    Mr. Harold Waller, Kewanee, Ill,
    Mr. Elds Waller, Kewanee, Ill.
    Mrs. Cora P. Hetherington. Los Angeles, Cal.
    Mrs. K. E. Law, Los Angeles, Cal.
    Mr. and Mrs. W. A. Meeker, Los Angeles, Cal.
    Miss Ruth Walker, Los Angeles, Cal.
    Mr. and Mrs. L. M. Davis, New York City.
    Mr. P. du Coudray, Paris, France.
    Mr. Arthur M. Collins, Philadelphia, Pa.
    Dr. Robert B. Haines; Philadelphia, Pa.
    Mr. Marshall Scull, Philadelphia, Pa.
    Mr. Kennedy T. Friend, Pittsburg, Pa.
    Mr. and Mrs. R. P. Van de Velde, Antwerp, Belgium.
    Mr. Ira G. Benton, Pacific Coast Biscuit Company.
    Mr. George A. Bettes, Olympia Brewing Company.
    Mr. and Mrs. J. E. Boyer.
    Mr. E. B. Burwell, Seattle Hardware Company.
    Mr. Fred W. Charles
    Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Clapp, Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York.
    Mr. Asahel Curtis, Romans Photographic Company.
    Dr. L. R. Dawson.
    Mr. A. H. Devers, Closset & Devers.
    Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Edwards, Seattle Clearing House Association.
    Mr. C. C. Filson.
    Mrs. Walter S. Fulton.
    Mr. and Mrs. Herman Goetz, Stirrat & Goetz.
    Mrs, A. J. Ghiglione.
    Mr. and Mrs. A. F. Ghiglione, A. F. Ghiglione & Sons.
    Mr. and Mrs. A. Hambach, The A. Hambach Company.
    Miss Minnie Hambach.
    Mr. and Mrs. William H. Hanna.
    Mr. H. H. Hartman.
    Mr. J. R. Irwin. Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of America.
    Mr. and Mrs. H. B. Kennedy, Kennedy Steamship Company.
    Mr. and Mrs. William W. Kilworth, Fischer Bros.
    Mr. and Mrs. C. H. Lane.
    Mr. Merl Le Voy.
    Judge and Mrs. Kenneth Mackintosh.
    Mr. and Mrs. Frank McDermott, the Bon Marche.
    Mr. Donald McDermott.
    Mr. Arthur Nordhoff.
    Mr. C. L. Morris, C. L. Morris Construction Company.
    Mr. and Mrs. W. B. Nettleton, Schwager & Nettleton, Inc.
    Mr. and Mrs. & Normile.
    Mr. P. S. Norton, Pacific Drug Company.
    Mr. and Mrs. L. B. Peeples, the Crane Company.
    Mr. Percy J. Perry, agent, London Assurance Corporation.
    Mrs. H. M. Ramey.
    Mr. H. M. Ramey, Jr.
    Mr. C. H. Reppert.
    Miss Nellie Russell.
    Mr. and Mrs. W. W. Sawyer.
    Mr. F. X. Schreiner.
    Miss Eleanor Schreiner.
    Miss Gertrude Schreiner.
    Mr. and Mrs. H. A. Schroeder.
    Mr. O. J. Smith.
    Mr. and Mrs. C. K. Sturtevant.
    Miss Georgia Tong.
    Mr. George T. S. White. Bank of California.
    Mr. and Mrs. J. J. Wittwer, J. J. Wittwer & Co., Inc.
    Mr. W. A. Yandell, Schwabacher Hardware Company,
    Mr. R. H. Stretch, assistant secretary Alaska bureau.
    Mr. J. L. McPherson, executive committee, Alaska bureau, Seattle Chamber of Commerce, in charge of Alaska tour, 1913.
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer (Seattle, Washington) - Saturday, June 21, 1913

Headline: Presidnet Wilson as Keen Interet In North, Says Seth Mann, 1913

    "President Wilson takes the keenest interest in Alaska and the problems which her development involves, and the present administration surely intends to deal with those problems intelligently and carefully, but the point is that they will be dealt with."

    In these words Seth Mann, attorney and railroad expert of San Francisco and President Wilson's personal representative appointed to accompany the New Chamber of Commerce excursion on its 8,000-mile tour of Alaska and report on conditions as he finds them, expressed his opinion of the attitude of the president and the present administration toward the great Northern territory. Mr. Mann arrived from San Francisco last night on the Shasta Limited and is stopping at the New Washington.

President Vitally Interested.

    "The fact that President Wilson can find time, pressed as he is with so many important matters, the tariff revision and currency reform, to consider questions concerning Alaska and exhibit the keen interest that he does in all matters pertaining to the North, is proof in itself that he is vitally interested In Alaska and its development," Mr. Mann said.

    "That cannot be emphasized too strongly. Alaska, as I understand it, needs, first of all, development through the construction of railways, to solve the transportation problem, and, secondly, a land policy that will do justice to all, a land policy that will not bar capital needed for the development of resources, nor work an injustice to the individual prospector or miner of small means, one that will protect Alaska's vast resources without prohibiting their development."

Goes With an Open Mind.

    Mr. Mann has never been in Alaska. "I go with an absolutely open mind, having no bias one way or the other," he said, "and with no object save to see and learn. I have been asked to render a fuller report on things as I find them on my return. I am, so to speak, a sort of 'cub' reporter for the administration. I received the invitation to act as President Wilson's representative through Secretary Lane on Tuesday. It seemed an impossible thing for me to arrange to leave for so long a time in such short order, but an invitation from that source was in the nature of a command. I accomplished the impossible, and on Wednesday telegraphed my acceptance. I am delighted with the opportunity to make the trip,-and am certain that the results accruing to Alaska will be of value."

    Mr. Mann and E. H. Hamilton, the Hearst representative on the excursion, were classmates at the University of California.

Lane Is Interested, Too.

    Further evidence of the real interest in Alaska taken by President Wilson and shared by members of his cabinet was had tn the statement made yesterday by Allan Forbes, managing editor of Leslie's Weekly. who will accompany the excursion, to the effect that he had stopped in Washington on his way to Seattle and talked with Secretary Franklin K. Lane, who evinced the keenest interest in Alaska and in the present trip being undertaken by the Chamber of Commerce, asserting the belief that much good would come of it and much useful information be obtained.

Constitution Representative Here.

    D. Gortatowsky, managing editor of the Atlanta Constitution, arrived in the city yesterday. He expressed himself as being delighted with the opportunity to learn at first hand of the possibilities and problems of the North, and said that a great deal of interest had been aroused throughout the South over the present trip.

    "You have a city with a reputation here," he said of Seattle. "A number of people took occasion to tell me, when they learned that I was coming to Seattle en route to Alaska, that I was going to visit the finest city on the Pacific coast."

Visitor to See City.

    The excursion on the steamship Jefferson will really begin at 10 o'clock this morning, when the out-of-town members of the party will be taken for a drive around the boulevards as the guests of the officers of the Alaska bureau of the Chamber of Commerce. The party will proceed to Volunteer park and salute the statue of William H. Seward. This ceremeny will be reproduced by the cineomatograph and preserved as a record by the Alaska bureau, as will all the most important events of the trip.

    R. Merle La Voy, a moving picture free lance and long-time resident of the North, will accompany the excursion, taking 15,000 feet of film. After the ride about the boulevards the party will be entertained at lunch at the Arctic Club. Addresses will be made by J. E. Chilberg, president of the Chamber of Commerce; Seth Mann, the president's representative, and Col. W. T. Perkins.

    After the luncheon the out-of-town guests will be taken aboard the Jefferson. The ship will sail at 9 o'clock sharp.
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer (Seattle, Washington) - Sunday, June 22, 1913

Headline: Throng at Pier When Excursion Sails For North, 1913

    Gay with flags and streamers and decorated with flowers, the steamship Jefferson, of the Alaska Steamship Company, sailed at 9 o'clock last night, bearing the New Chamber of Commerce excursionists on the first lap of their 8,000-mile journey through the northern wonderland of Alaska.

    Fully 500 people were gathered on the pier to cheer the party on its way. When the Jefferson cast off, other vessels in the slip turned loose their whistles in a strident salute to the gayly-decked ship and its brilliant party. Steamers at other docks along the water front took the cue and the Jefferson backed slowly out of the slip to the accompaniment of a deafening din of steam whistles and clanging ship bells.

Excursionists Wave Farewell.

    Her upper and lower decks were lined with the departing excursionists, who waved and called farewells to the cheering crowd on the pier as long as the vessel was in sight. It was decided at the last minute that the party should not miss the opportunity of seeing Vancouver, B. C. Accordingly the Jefferson will put in at Vancouver this morning and the entire party will be taken on an automobile tour of the Canadian city and, it is probable, will be informally entertained by some of the commercial bodies of that city. It had been intended to make the first stop at Prince Rupert. Otherwise the original schedule remains unchanged.

    The Jefferson had on board a more truly representative body of newspaper and commerciai men than was ever before taken on a similar excursion. At the last moment Mrs. Alice Harriman, a New York publisher and magazine writer, was added to the number of journalists on the trip, as a representative of the San Francisco Call. In all there are six publishers and newspaper men with the party, representing publications which reach all parts of the United States.

Beneficial Results of Tour.

    The Chamber of Commerce and business men generally all over the city are confident that the present trip will prove to be of inestimable value to Alaska through widespread representation of the truth of the present conditions by means of the writing of the journalists aboard, and the influence on the administration of the report to be made to the president by Seth Mann, as well as to Seattle by virtue of a firmer bond of sympathy between Alaska and this city that will be formed by the personal visit of so many local business men.

    All the out-of-town members of the party were taken on a three-hour automobile tour of the city yesterday as guests of the officers of the Alaska bureau of the chamber. "Seattle is the one city on the American continent where I do not object to a trip of this sort," E. H. Hamilton, the Hearst representative declared. "It has been my misfortune to tag after presidents and other notables most of my life, and a ride like this is the thing old trippers like myself most abhor. In Seattle it is a pleasure, for there is no dust, and the view is worth while wherever you go."

Visit Canal and Rose Show.

    The party was taken over all the boulevards and inspected the Lake Washington canal. On their way back to the city they visited the Mount Baker rose show. A number of moving pictures of the party passing different points on the boulevards were taken by Merl La Voy, the cinemetographer who accompanied the excursion north. One scene was made of the procession of automobiles circling the statue of Willlam H. Seward in Volunteer park.

Useful Souvenirs Presented.

    On their return from the excursion about the boulevards the members of the party were the guests of the Alaska bureau at a luncheon served at the Arctic Club. Here they were presented with a little souvenir booklet that was both beautiful and useful. It was the gift of the O.-W. Raliway Company's leather bound book, each stamped individually with the name of the recipient in gilt letters, containing a full set of maps, dates and distances. Each place to be visited is briefly described under the date of the arrival, and beneath that is a blank space for comment.

    After the luncheon the party went aboard the Jefferson, lying at pier 2, where they were plentifully photographed. Ralph Earle, the Pathe Weekly representative of the Coast, took moving pictures of the party going aboard, led by Seth Mann, the president's representative, and later took pictures from across the slip of the party lined up along the rail waving goodby.

    The Jefferson was decorated with a great streamer hung along one side, bearing the words, "Seattle Chamber of Commerce." Another streamer bore the admonition, "Develop Alaska," and another, "Alaska Bureau." The railing and deckhouses were hung with the blue and gold pennants of the chamber and the vari-colored flags of the different local business houses represented on the excursion.