The Best of the Review: Favorite Posts from the First Half Year (Volume IX)

Anchorage, Alaska: Tent City in the run up to Christmas 1916~~Lisl

(From the Great Land series)

Simon Stirling writes ...Where do you start?  There have been so many great posts, and such a variety, that I needed to narrow down my criteria if I was going to make a choice. I'm naturally drawn to nonfiction, and so one of Lisl's fascinating pieces about Alaska and its history was a must.  After plenty of umming and ahhing, I settled on her brilliantly illustrated post about Tent City (Anchorage) in the run up to Christmas 1916.

"No other part of the earth known to man surpasses
Alaska in imposing and beautiful scenery."--John Muir

The city of Anchorage, located in the Southcentral region of Alaska, lies within a bowl along the Cook Inlet and is overlooked by the Chugach mountains to the east. Although Russians had an established presence in the 19th century, Alaska Geographic notes settlements of the Dena'ina people, possibly as early as 500 AD (Volume 23, Number 1).

 The late Dena'ina elder Shem Pete remembered seeing the tents of Anchorage for the first time in 1914 (AG). The white tents had begun to spring up in response to talk--and later confirmation--of a western route selected for construction of a federal railroad from Seward, south of Anchorage on the Kenai (KEE-nigh) Peninsula, to the region of Alaska known as the Interior. This tent city was located under a bluff now known as Government Hill, and rested on land subject to siltation and vulnerable during earthquakes. By June of 1915, according to Michael Carberry quoted in AG, "more than 2,000 souls packed the short-lived settlement."

Though it was 1920 before Anchorage became incorporated, men looking for work didn't wait around to establish lives in their new location. After a short time it was determined that more women and families were needed and indeed they came. Conditions were harsh but life was conducted and the people of Anchorage wasted little time isolating themselves. The Pioneer-News (later Anchorage Daily Times) published its first issue in May of 1915. Perusals of the ADT's archives by late 1916 show a people who remembered their origins, but looked forward to the future and where they were then, which included living life as typically as they would anywhere else. Adverts are seen in the issues of the day for bowling alleys, pool parlors, cafes, hotels, barber shops, photo studios, furniture, sweets, banking, cigars, candies and fruits, auto service, lumber, druggists, packing companies, toys, books, periodicals, glassware and more. 

They also wished to keep up with goings-on in the world, especially as by this time the Great War was raging around the world. As Christmas 1916 approached the people of Anchorage lived a sort of dual life: attempting to maintain standards and create satisfying lives whilst simultaneously coping with hardship and bad news.

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The Strange Case of Mr Brodie and Mr Hyde~~Stuart Laing

(From the Edinburgh History series)

Edinburgh is a city which lends itself to notorious characters both real and fictional. From the body snatchers Burke and Hare to Inspector Rebus, all have trod on the cobbled streets of the Old Town, but one criminal from the 18th Century has been remembered with a pub, a play, a close (alley), a song and a film all named after him. His name? William Brodie.

Born the son of a well respected and much admired cabinet-maker young William followed in his father's footsteps and became a skilled cabinet-maker in his own right. With the death of his father William inherited not only the business but also a huge sum of money.

This sudden wealth allowed William to experience all those finer things in life which had previously eluded him and he quickly became firmly hooked on gambling, boozing and whoring his way through the best brothels, gambling clubs and pubs on the dark and dangerous streets of Edinburgh. All of this was unknown to those who continued to seek his services as both cabinet-maker and locksmith, and through the good name of his father he was eventually invited to become a member of Edinburgh Town Council which earned him the title of Deacon Brodie: the title by which he is best known today.

Unfortunately for the now Deacon Brodie, the inherited wealth was rapidly running out and with a string of mistresses and several illegitimate children to care for he was placed in a quandary of his own making. He could forego the High Life, knuckle down and make the best of a bad situation through hard work and frugality with the little money he had left, or he could seek an alternative means to maintain his wild lifestyle.

Unfortunately for the now Deacon Brodie, the inherited wealth was rapidly running out and with a string of mistresses and several illegitimate children to care for he was placed in a quandary of his own making. He could forego the High Life, knuckle down and make the best of a bad situation through hard work and frugality with the little money he had left, or he could seek an alternative means to maintain his wild lifestyle.

His skill at cabinet-making meant he was never short of work and added to his skill was his position and title which meant that the Great and Good of the town were only too happy to employ him in their own homes. Unknowingly they were inviting the devil in with their smiles and kind words. Brodie took full advantage of their trust to make copies of their house keys and spy out what was valuable and where it was to be found at a later date.

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