The Esquimeaux (AK, 1866-1867)

Publication History:

Place of Publication:  Libbysville, Port Clarence, Russian America (Nos. 1-10, 1866-1867), and Camp Libby, Plover Bay, East Siberia (Nos. 11 and 12, 1867)

Frequency:  Monthly

Volume and Issue Data:  Vol. 1, Nos. 1-12; Sunday, Oct. 14, 1866; 12 issues

Size and Format:  52 pages; manuscript and printed editions

Editor/Publisher:  John J. Harrington, editor; Turnbull and Smith (San Francisco), publisher of printed numbers

Title Changes and Continuation:  None

General Description & Notes:

The Esquimeaux (AK, 1866-1867)

According to Wickersham, this monthly publication, of which Nos. 1 to 10 inclusive were published in Libbysville, Port Clarence, Russian America, and Nos. 11 and 12 in Camp Libby, Plover Bay, Eastern Siberia, appeared in both manuscript and later print.

The paper provided information of the workers building the Western Union Telegraph Expedition line planned from the United States in Seattle on Puget Sound, via the Fraser and Yukon rivers, to Port Clarence and then across the Bering Strait to Plover Bay and on to points in Asia and Europe.

After the abandonment of the project, because of the success of the Trans-Atlantic cable in 1866, and the U.S. purchase of Russian Alaska in March 1867 for $7 million, the manuscript was taken to San Francisco and printed there by the editor.  The editor’s preface is dated Oct. 31, 1867.

The Esquimeaux (AK, 1866-1867)

Information Sources:

Bibliography:  James Wickersham, A Bibliography of Alaska Literature, 1724-1924 (Cordova, Ak.:  Cordova Daily Times Print, 1927), 258

Citations: Daily Evening Bulletin (San Francisco, California), Monday, December 02, 1867; Issue [47]  

Locations:  Alaska State Libraries:  Alaska Historical Library, AkAAR, AkAU, AkK, AkNNC; CU-B?