56 Friday, September 12, 1975
Bicentennial
Historicity
(Editor's Note: The fol-
lowing item by Philip Slo-
movitz, editor and pub-
lisher of The Jewish News,
was inserted into the Aug.
11, 1958, Congressional
Record Appendix by then
Representative Martha W.
Griffiths and is reprinted
here in honor of the Ameri-
can Bicentennial.)
BY PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
(Copyright 1975, JTA Inc.)
A new field for Jewish
social research has opened
with the admission of the
Territory of Alaska as the
49th State in our Nation.
While it is known that
Jews have lived in Alaska
for more than 100 years,
very little is known about
their continuous functions
as a community, or about
their organizational life as a
religious entity.
It has definitely been es-
tablished in several earlier
studies that individual Jews
have explored Alaska; that
they have participated in
the numerous gold rushes;
that there were Jewish trad-
ers there. But until very re-
cently there were no Jewish
roots in Alaska.
Alaska was discovered
by the two Russians, Ber-
ing and Chirikov, in 1741,
and was then declared a
Russian possession. The
Russian-American Fur
Co., formed in 1799, en-
couraged trade between
the newly discovered terri-
tory- and the United
States. Alaska was sold to
the United States for
$7,200,000 — 3 cents an
acre — in 1867. A dispute
over the Alaskan-Cana-
dian borders was adjusted
in 1903.
These dates may be very
vital to Jewish historians
and demographers in their
search for data about Jew-
ish experience in Alaska. In
the 125 years of Russian
control of the territory,
there had begun fur trading
and fishing. Jews are be-
lieved to have shared in both
activities. While govern-
ment restrictions and dis-
criminations may have cur-
tailed their participation in
fishing, fur trading cer-
tainly is believed to have at-
tracted Jewish skill.
It is not to be inferred
from this, however, that the
Jews who were active in this
trading in Russian-held
Alaska were Russian Jews.
In all probablility, they
were mainly from neighbor-
ing Canada, with a sprin-
kling of American Jews.
When the United States
acquired Alaska, Jewish in-
terest in the territory in-
creased, and adventurous
Jews came there by way of
the states of Washington
and California. The major
links for several decades
were with California, many
Jews from the Golden State
having established busi-
nesses in the chief Alaskan
centers — Juneau, Anchor-
age,. Fairbanks and Ketchi-
kan.
But there was an equal
'titerest among Jews in the
e of Washington. Sail-
hy boat from this
to Alaska having
'ged for many
4
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
The Jewish Role in Emergence of Alaska
years, during the latter
part of the last century,
and the early part of the
present, by way of Seattle.
Thus, with Seattle as the
final point of embarkation
from this country to Alaska
in the eighties and nineties,
the Klondike and Yukon
gold rushes were attractions
for Jews as they were for
non-Jews. In a sense, this
new attraction to the North-
west also was responsible
for Jewish migration move-
ments to the state of Wash-
ington.
A typical example of the
settlers in Alaska in the late
90s was a former Detroiter,
Herbert Robinson Green-
berg, who died in 1957 at
the age of 99. Greenberg left
Detroit for California in
1896. From there he went by
boat to Seattle, and from
Seattle he went to Alaska on
a summer boat. It took him
nine months to make the
trip to Alaska.
Greenberg joined the
Klondike gold rush and
staked three successful
old-producing mines. He
was in the habit, on his vis-
its to his great-grand-neph-
ews in Detroit, to present
them with gold nuggets, and
he was called Uncle Nugget.
One of his mines became
known as Bessie Mine and
was the subject of a feature
article in Time magazine 20
years ago.
Herbert Greenberg lived
in Alaska from 1897 to
1954. He built the first
Alaskan radio station and
it was later taken over by
the United States Army.
His children now live in
California — a typical re-
sult of Jewish wanderings
away from the small com-
munities where there is
danger of intermarriage
because of the limited
number of Jewish resi-
dents- and the limitations
in Jewish religious and
cultural activities.
The three major Jewish
personalities whose names
are associated with Alaska
are Ernest Gruening, the
former governor of Alaska;
and the two California pi-
oneers, Lewis Gerstle and
Louis Sloss.
Gerstle, who was born in
Bavaria. December 17, 1824,
worked his way on a boat to
the United States in 1847,
became a peddler in Louis-
ville, Ky., was attracted to
California during the gold
rush days of 1848, and trav-
eled by way of New Orleans
through Panama to the
Golden State. He opened a
fruit stand, labored in the
gold mines, later went into
the wholesale grocery busi-
ness in Sacramento, then
moved to San Francisco and
became a mining stock-
broker.
When Alaska was pur-
chased by the United States
in 1867, he joined two other
firms in acquiring the Rus-
sian-American Alaska Co.,
and acquired seal fishing
rights. He also established a
steamship line between San
Francisco and Alaska. Gers-
tle was active in California
Jewish affairs — congrega-
tional and philanthropic —
and served as treasurer of
the University of California.
He died Nov. 19, 1902.
Louis Sloss, who also
was born in Bavaria, was
several months older than
Gerstle, having been born
July 13, 1824. Upon his
arrival in the United
States in 1845, he, too, be-
came a peddler, in Mocks-
ville, Ky., and later also
went to California where
he met Gerstle and they
became partners, their
business association last-
ing 50 years. He was active
in philanthropies and was
treasurer of the University
of California for 17 years.
He died June 4, 1903.
Gerstle and Sloss were
married to two sisters, Han-
nah and Sarah Greenbaum.
The career of Gruening is
now a matter of record. It
was due mainly to his val-
iant and untiring efforts
that the campaign for Alas-
kan statehood materialized.
DR. RUTH GRUBER
her department in Alaska.
She prepared voluminous
reports on the Territory and
she envisioned' Alaska as a
The language of a nation
is its tongue. The press is its
voice.
In no country in the world
can the press exist without
the service of a news agency.
The largest newspapers in
the United States, Britain,
France, Germany and other
countries maintain their
own correspondents in lands
abroad. Nevertheless, they
must subscribe to the serv-
ice of news agencies.
A great interest was
taken in Alaskan possibili-
ties as an immigration
center for Jewish refugees
by Miss Ruth Gruber (then
Mrs. Philip Michaels, of
New York and now Dr.
Ruth Gruber Rosner), the
well-known writer, traveler,
and lecturer.
Miss Gruber, as a mem-
ber of the staff of the late
Secretary of Interior Harold
L. Ickes, in the Franklin D.
Roosevelt administration,
did most of the research for
Among the early Ameri-
can Jews who came to
Alaska was the fur-trad-
ing merchant, Jack Gold-
stone, who was believed to
have inspired the purchase
of Alaska by the Uni 4
States.
There are no known
ures of the number of Jews
in Alaska. It is believed that
there are less than a thou-
sand Jews there. There is no
organized Jewish commu-
nity but with the formation
of servicemen's groups
there, the Jewish Welfare.
Board established its serv-
ices and organized congre-
gations for the men in uni-
form as well as for the
residents in the major cities.
'Between You . . . and Me'
BY BORIS SMOLAR
Ernest Gruening, like his
father, Dr. Emil Gruening,
earned a medical degree
from Harvard College. But,
upon receiving his doctor of
medicine degree in 1912, he
turned instead to journal-
ism and held numerous im-
portant editorial posts in
Boston, Mass., and Port-
land, Maine. He served as
editor of the New York Tri-
bune and the Nation. Then
he was given major federal
appointments.
As governor of Alaska,
Gruening formed the first
Alaska National Guard in
1940, and during the last
war was the organizer and
commander of the Alaskan
Territorial Guard. He was a
member of the commission
that supervised the con-
struction of the great high-
way connecting Alaska to
the United States. Gruening
died in July 1974.
family still continues the
Juneau mercantile business
and may be known for a
long time among the great
pioneering families in
Alaska.
Boris Smolar's
(Editor-in-chief emeritus, J.T.A.)
(Copyright 1975, JTA, Inc.)
LATE ERNEST GRUENINg
place of settlement for may
thousands of Jews who were
compelled to escape from
Nazism. But her idea never
materialized.
Only about 35 years ago, a
Jewish merchant was one of
the leading citizens of the
Alaskan city of Juneau. Isa-
dore Goldstein was a popu-
lar merchant there and was
highly -honored for his hon-
esty and integrity. He was
elected mayor of Juneau six
times.
His parents, Robert and
Anna Goldstein, came from
California and established a
mercantile business in Ju-
neau. Their son, Isadore,
acquired that business. Isa-
dore vas married to Miss
Carol Kahn, of San Fran-
cisco. He enlisted in the
United States Army in
World War II and temporar-
ily left "Uncle Sam's Attic"
to serve overseas. But his
„ou
For the Jewish press
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existing worldwide Jewish
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The JTA issues daily
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Some of the weekly news-
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During the 58 years of
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In the Jewish world, the
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It has been described
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The JTA daily news
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The JTA is thus not just a
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Israel, - in the welfare of
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Utmost attention is also
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One of the most impor-
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The head of this bureau,
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JTA news from Washing-
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In addition, the JTA has
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BORIS SMOLAR
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Heading the Jewish Tele-
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Chairman of the JTA
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The editorial direction of
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