[Alaska]. [Minnesota]. [Suicide]. Lindberg, Albert William

[Manuscript Letter Archive of Correspondence Written to Fred Lindberg of Minnesota, Most Notably Four Letters from His Brother Albert William Lindberg, a Doomed Alaskan Gold Miner Who Later Committed Suicide in Nome, Along with Significant Correspondence from Individuals in Nome Regarding the Suicide]

[Various locations, including Sprague, Wa.; Vancouver, British Columbia; and Nome, Ak. mainly 1897-1910]. Thirteen autograph letters, signed, totaling thirty-nine pages, and a few original transmittal envelopes. Original mailing folds, occasional short fold separations, otherwise minor wear. Overall a well-preserved group stored in an antique wooden box from the St. Paul Rubber Company. Very good. Item #4010

An interesting collection of manuscript letters written to Fred Lindberg of Hallock, Minnesota by his brother and other individuals participating in the Alaskan and Yukon gold rushes betwen 1897 and 1910. The preponderance of the correspondence relates to the ill-fated experiences of Fred's brother, Albert William Lindberg, who writes four letters while on his way to the Alaskan gold fields before apparently committing suicide in Nome in 1909. Albert William "Willie" Lindberg was a Swedish-American gold prospector from Minnesota who spent significant time in Washington State before trying his luck, albeit unsuccessfully, in Alaska.

The four letters from Willie begin with his February 20, 1897 letter to his brother Fred in Hallock, Minnesota. With unbridled enthusiasm, Willie writes from Sprague, Washington that he has "heard so much about Alaska that I made up my mind to go." Willie encourages Fred to join him to work in the mines, where he expects to "pick gold nuggets." Willie informs Fred that he has sold his horses and saddle and has collected about $400, with which he intends to "make a raise or go broke" in Alaska. He extolls Fred to raise his own money and come to Alaska where he intends to "make a fortchen [sic, fortune]." Willie concludes: "And when we get there you will see one of the luckiest Swedes that ever struck Alaska."

Lindberg next writes from Vancouver on March 20, 1898, again to his brother Fred, informing him that he is on the way to Alaska. He promises to "stake out a clame" for Fred once he gets there, though he now believes that going to Alaska might be "a foolish trip." Still, he intends to stay "as long as I can" in the Alaskan gold fields in the company of "an old miner he has mined for the last 35 years." Willie writes another letter on March 20 after he arrives in Juneau, which he describes as "quite a town and everything is just as cheap here as in Seattle or Vancouver and food and lodging is $1.00 a day." Here, Willie informs Fred that he intends to go further north to Dyea (north of Skagway) because "I want to go where the big strikes is made." Willie's last letter emanates from Seattle, where he has apparently returned (perhaps for the winter from the previous year), but now informs Fred that he intends to start on his "wild goose chase again." Instead of "Cape Nome," Willie intends to go to Skagway, then "down the Youkon River it is mining camps all along the Youkon River and I think it will be better up there than down at Cape Nome it is bound to be over down at Cape Nome this summer when all these people get there." Willie's letters are accompanied by a pocket-sized notebook in which he recorded a small amount of financial information for the Nome Bank in 1908-09, as well as listings of food and other goods he purchases there, and a five-page diary-style entry dated February 15, 1907. In the latter, Willie writes introspectively about his state of mind and habits, at one point noting that "at times you are liable to become blue and depressed really there is no cause to be that way."

Lindberg's single diary entry in the notebook is especially intriguing considering he apparently committed suicide in Nome in 1909, according to five letters present here dated in the summer and fall of 1909. This includes two letters sent from Wentworth Brothers, the undertakers in charge of Willie's remains. The first of these letters, dated May 24, 1909 begins: "On May 11th, 1909, Mr. Lindberg W. was found in cabin on Belmount Point dead. Cause, gun shot wound, and the Coroners Jury brought in verdict of suicide. Two of his friends Mr. Godfry Johnson and John Olson furnished the funeral arrangements - as he was without money." In each of the two letters, the undertakers ask that Fred Lindberg respond to them whether he wishes Willie to be buried in Alaska or have the body shipped to Minnesota. The other three letters were written from two of the men who found Willie's body; the authors were responding to Fred Lindberg's wife, who sent letters to Nome inquiring about Willie's death. Two of the letters were written by Phillip Corrigan of the Nome Mine Workers Union in August, and the third by Gotfred Johnson in September. Corrigan details finding the body, wondering if "may be he was fooling with the gun and accidentally shot himself." He then writes that he has known of Willie prospecting in the area since 1907, but that he "did not find pay at any time" and had no money at the time of his death" though "he may have some claims here." In the next letter, Corrigan details both a quartz and placer claim in which Willie had an interest, then provides further detail on the claims and what must be done to maintain them. Johnson writes a highly-detailed, five-page letter conveying his background and experiences with Willie, providing important biographical material and informing Fred that Willie seemed in "good spirits" when he last saw him "3 or 4 days" before his suicide. Another letter from Nome in August 1909 is present here, written on the same Nome Mine Workers Union stationery as Corrigan's letters, by Carl de la Motte; the two-page letter seems to relate information on Willie, but is written in Swedish.

The present archive also includes four letters written to Fred Lindberg from his friend Edward A. Johnson in Circle City, Alaska. Written between July 5, 1905 and June 10, 1906, Johnson's letters indicate he was tasked by Fred to find his brother Willie. In his first letter, Johnson writes from Mastodon Creek that he has been unable to find anything "about Will." In his subsequent three letters, Johnson details his search for Willie, often mentioning that he expects to locate him in Fairbanks or Nome, but never does. In the process, Johnson relates other interesting details about Alaska and his experiences there, including a report on weather patterns as they relate to the seasonal nature of the mining industry, informative descriptions of the Alaskan country he visits in "the Tanana districts at Fairbanks," his decision to acquire claims near Mastodon Creek, and the unreliable nature of the Alaskan postal schedule. The archive also includes several unrelated Lindberg family letters, mostly written to Willard Lindberg of Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota in the mid-1920s, but these are not included in the letter and page counts above.

An unusual collection of manuscript letters of particular interest to the study of suicide in American history, documenting both the optimism of a young Minnesota man on his way to find fortune in the Alaskan gold fields, and his tragic end by his own hand in Nome a little over a decade later.

Price: $1,750.00