Bruce's Map Of Alaska

M. W. BRUCE

Publication: Lowman & Hanford Stationery and Printing Company, 1895, Seattle;

First pocket map edition of Bruce's popular 24" x 36" color map of Alaska that folds into a 4 1/4" x 7" blue cloth binder with titles in dark blue ink on the front cover. There is also a 7 1/2" x 10 1/2" inset map titled "Tourist Route From Puget Sound to Alaska." The blue cloth binder contains the label of "Bernice Pauahi Museum Library on the front pastedown sheet as well as the inked name of former Klondike Gold Rush miner hopeful Arthur A.Searle. First pocket map edition of Bruce’s popular Alaska map which was also issued with his 1895 Alaskan Travel Book, "Alaska: Its History and Resources, Gold Fields, Routes and Scenery," which was a popular guide and map issued by Bruce after 10 years traveling through Alaska and the Klondike prior to the Gold Rush. Of particular interest on this map is the tracing of the route in ink by young Arthur Searle, son Joseph Searle (1834-1913), noted Santa Clara County saddle maker, and later a Stanford University student who in Summer, 1896 tried his hand at gold mining. Manuscript ink markings in this pocket map document stops at the Teller Reindeer Station, a stop-over in Siberia, notes ice flows July 29, 1896, off the coast between the mouth of the Kupouruk River and Point Belcher, the ship disabled August 1, 1896, stop at the Pt. Barrow Presbyterian Mission by August 6, 1896, and finally reaching the mouth of the Mackenzie River in the Yukon before the end of August, 1896. By 1909, he had returned to Santa Clara where he married Minnie Bradshaw Searle, and later became a restaurant owner, and service station owner/operator by 1930. Covers are soiled with old water stain to back cover, library label of Museum Library, still a good reference copy and from the libraries of former Klondike Gold Rush miner hopeful, Arthur A Seale (1875-1936) and former California State Librarian, Gary Kurutz.

Inventory Number: 53141