AUTHOR’S NOTE: In 1897, Brooklynite Mary L. Penney became entranced by the idea of joining the Klondike gold rush. When a local group, the Kings County Mining Company, began planning an expedition to the far north, she joined the effort and departed New York in mid-February 1898. By October, the company’s goals had shifted to the placer diggings at Hope and Sunrise on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula, and the company was closing in on its target.
Weather report
At nearly the same time the Kings County Mining Company was sailing into Cook Inlet on its way to the gold fields at Hope and Sunrise, another expedition, which had been exploring the inlet for several months, was preparing to head home to the States for the winter.
In addition to his other reporting duties, Capt. Edwin Forbes Glenn, commanding officer of the U.S. Army Expedition to Cook Inlet, was keeping track of the weather. Starting Oct. 8, 1898, he began noting a string of beautiful days. At Tyonek that day, skies were clear, except for a brief evening shower. On Oct. 9, it was clear all day, and the expedition steamed easily across the inlet to Homer. They cruised around a bit and then returned to Homer on Oct. 10 after “a most tranquil and pleasant passage.” Glenn noted again in his journal that the weather had been clear.
He wrote from Homer again Oct. 11. The weather was cooler but “very pleasant.” Clear skies persisted. Oct. 12 in Seldovia: “The weather remains perfect.” Oct. 13 in Homer: “The weather continues clear and beautiful, altho’ we found it very cold during the night.” Oct. 14 aboard the S.S. Perry on the way to Tyonek: “Our beautiful weather continues, and we all hope for about ten days more of it.”
Oct. 15 in Kenai (via Tyonek): The weather was excellent early, but Glenn noted a shift. “Although the weather was clear and cold when we arrived at this Port at 3 a.m.,” he said, “when we were ready to proceed on our journey it was evident that it was not wise to do so, as there was a strong Northeaster blowing down the Inlet.” The falling mercury in the ship’s barometer indicated the approach of a strong low-pressure system.
On Oct. 16, Glenn wrote that “the spell has been broken.” The gorgeous days had passed. “Weather cloudy & windy, p.m. raining.” The weather, he said, “now looks as though it will keep us in this place for some time. At 11 a.m. we tried to steer out into the Inlet and get up but it proved to be too rough, so we steered back and cast anchor at the Salt house at Kenai.”
It was on this same day, Oct. 16, that the three-masted bark Agate sailed into Kachemak Bay, rounded the tip of the Homer Spit and anchored in the relative shelter of Coal Bay (Mud Bay today). The goal was still to sail on to Hope and Sunrise, drop off the mining company and all its gear, and then beat winter out of Alaska and head south.
It is unknown how long the Agate lay at anchor before Capt. Thomas Suttis and members of the mining company decided what to do. It seems logical that, while sheltering from the storm, they might have gone ashore to consult with a camp of coal miners working in the bay, but there exists no known record of any such conversation.
On Oct. 17, it was less stormy but still cloudy and raining. On the 18th, the clouds remained and, according to U.S. Army Capt. Glenn, it was “blowing very hard” from what appeared to be the direction of Turnagain Arm.
The weather at last began to clear on Oct. 20, but the wind was still blowing hard from the north. The next day, Glenn wrote, finally: “Clear … promising a beautiful day.”
Despite the improving weather a few days after the Agate’s arrival at Homer, the record shows that the Kings County Mining Company never sailed any farther north. In fact, whether it was by mutual decision or by Capt. Suttis steadfastly refusing to risk his ship and crew in stormy weather and the inlet’s massive tides, the miners and their supplies — whether all or some or most is unclear — were deposited at or near the base of the Spit and left to their own devices.
Once again, stories about what happened next vary, depending upon the source and the passage of time. In some reports, the miners were encouraged to camp where they were until the following spring, at which time, it was believed, they could travel overland to the gold fields at Hope and Sunrise.
Nothing in the record discovered so far indicates that they considered trying to hike up the inlet beaches — not even as far as the villages of Ninilchik, Kasilof or Kenai. Perhaps they were scared off by the sight of high bluffs and the descriptions of river crossings along the way.
Once they decided to keep moving — to attempt the overland route — they likely sought to ascertain the best means to proceed: when to get started, how best to travel, the most efficient way to move their gear, how to know whether they were moving in the right direction, how to camp safely along the way, and whether or not to stash any of their provisions en route.
Clearly, there would be no escape from approaching winter.
Other than their Oct. 16 arrival in Kachemak Bay, only two other specific dates are certain concerning their attempt to reach the gold fields that winter. On Nov. 10, at the McNeil Creek canyon, along the north shore of Kachemak Bay, they halted at another active coal mine to hold a business meeting. There, they amended their company charter and by-laws. They probably also met with miners there and made additional inquiries.
Then, on Nov. 11, they held a second meeting to elect new company officers and trustees to serve the balance of the fiscal year, expiring “on the second Wednesday in January 1899,” according to the actual documents — the only known papers created by the company in Alaska, except for a journal that was later destroyed.
They elected Alexander Campbell as president, Thomas P. Weatherell as vice president, Nathan A. Turner as secretary, Henry W. Rozell as treasurer and Joseph R. Deen as assistant treasurer.
The new board of trustees consisted of: Solomon Blog, C.F. Carroll, L.S. Card, Marcus A. Downing, William B. Hurd, Emile About and Oscar Feinier.
After the election, it was time to get moving again.
Heading toward the lake
When company member Mary L. Penney’s granddaughters, Audrey and Ella Joyce Oliver, included the 1898 expedition in their historical writings about their grandmother, they mentioned that she had come prepared for difficult weather and that she, like the others, had put sweat equity into her journey.
Among Mary Penney’s belongings, in addition to about $400 in emergency cash, she had departed the Brooklyn harbor with a sleeping bag made of canvas and lined with fur, a khaki blanket, and cold-weather clothing packed into heavy khaki canvas bags. On the snowy portions of the trek from Kachemak Bay, she used the “necking” method to pull her own sledge, mounded with her gear and supplies, up mountain passes.
Reports over the years also indicated that the miners wore full backpacks and, when they could, used homemade wheelbarrows to haul their gear.
It is generally believed that they hiked up the north-shore beach of Kachemak Bay to reach the Fox River drainage, which they ascended to a high pass leading down to Tustumena Lake. They crossed the glacial outwash at the head of the lake and then continued around its northern shoreline.
Some sources indicate that they likely continued along the shore, passing the Indian Creek area where trapper Andrew Berg spent his winters. Perhaps they met up with Berg, who instructed them to take the trail at Birch Creek into the benchlands between Tustumena and Skilak lakes.
Gary Titus, who, with coauthor Catherine Cassidy, has researched and written about Berg extensively, believes it is more likely that they traveled up Indian Creek into the benchlands.
Berg, no doubt, could have given them other helpful instructions, as he had been guiding and trapping in the area for about a decade. He could have explained the best route over or around the headwaters of Funny River and the safest points to cross the Killey River.
If they could reach Skilak Lake, he might have informed them, they would have to cross either the lake itself or its Kenai River inlet or outlet. Once they were across, the most direct route to Hope and Sunrise involved ascending all or some portion of the Juneau Creek drainage to the pass above Swan Lake and then descending the Resurrection Creek drainage right into Hope.
Easier said than done.
Image courtesy of the Pratt Museum On Nov. 11, 1898, at McNeil Canyon on Kachemak Bay, the members of the Kings County Mining Company elected new officers and trustees.
Public photo from ancestry.com Marcus Albert Downing was elected as one of the new trustees for the Kings County Mining Company.
