Friday, April 29, 2011

Gus Brown

I traveled to the village of St. Michael recently.  While I was there I borrowed a friends ATV and went out exploring.  Out on the tundra near the edge of town I spotted this marble monument. 


I don't know anything about Gus Brown but I do know a little bit about St Michael's history.  Back in the gold rush days (around 1900) St Michael Alaska was a busy town with as many as 10,000 people.  Prospectors coming up to Alaska to look for gold would take a sailing ship up from the west coast of the USA, then to travel into the interior of Alaska they would get on a paddle wheel type steamboat and head up the Yukon river.  St Michael was the place where everyone changed boats.   It has a natural harbour to provide protection from the ocean and it is close to the mouth of the Yukon.

C.O.

2 comments:

MinnesotaBrown said...

What an incredible piece of history and story. Almost seems like a great short story idea or something. Thanks for sharing!

Anonymous said...

Birches was a small community down river from Tanana, on the North bank of the Yukon R.
Gus must have been a resident of St. Michael at times.
Mike Quinn
Nome