--ARTGRAIN.ASC

           Profile of a Mason and the Klondike Gold Rush

                     JOHN HOWARD GRAINGER, 32
       Wise and Venerable Master, Valley of Ketchikan, 1989
              P.O. Box 5326, Ketchikan, Alaska  99901


     A ton of gold!  Golden nuggets from shining streams!  The end
of the rainbow!  These cliches excited the imagination and changed
the lives of thousands of families.

     Gold from the Canadian Klondike would make a new beginning, a
chance to recoup losses in the Panic of 1893, to make a new stake. 
Gold seekers rushed North from all parts of the country to find
their Eldorado.  Few succeeded, and many did not return.

     The daily activities of one of the prospectors, Per Edward
Larss, came to light when his notebooks and papers were found by
his sisters after 50 years of storage.  Larss was an accomplished
photographer, prospector and dedicated Mason.  He wrote a few lines
or a word or two in his pocket notebooks nearly every day from
1898-1904.  His notes and photographs provide a fascinating record
of the 1898 gold rush to the Klondike.{1}  

     Larss came to the United States from Sweden in May of 1881,
landing in New York City.  He eventually moved to Minneapolis. 
After working as a photographer, he established his own photography
business.  He left for the Pacific Northwest, working as a
photographer in Washington State where he met the Hegg family.  In
1891 Larss moved to the San Francisco Bay area of California where
he established a partnership with another photographer, W.C.
Pierce.  In 1892 he moved again to Vancouver, British Columbia.

     While living in Nanaimo, British Columbia, Larss became
     involved with the Masons.  In August 1894 both Larss and
     Pierce applied for membership in the Nanaimo Masons'
     Lodge (Ashler Lodge No. 3).  During the subsequent months
     the partners spent many evenings studying the required
     forms and procedures.  This culminated in Larss'
     acceptance into the Lodge and his attendance at a Free
     Masons' meeting for the first time on December 5, 1894. 
     Larss was very proud of his membership.  He had a special
     camera that made a series of postage-stamp-sized
     negatives.  A portrait of Larss dressed in his Masons'
     attire was made using the special camera.  The tiny
     prints were fixed to his business cards.  Larss also
     attended all of the Lodge functions, including the
     Masons' Ball at the end of the year.{2}

     The years following the financial panic of 1893 were not
prosperous for Nanaimo.  Larss left there for Colorado in 1896.  At
age 35 Larss gambled on the Yukon and joined the great stampede.
     He arrived in Skagway, Alaska, March 26, 1898.  Here he found
employment with his old friend E.A. Hegg, later to be recognized as
the master photographer of the Klondike and Alaska gold rush. 
Three days later he started for the steep and icy slope of the
Chilkoot Pass.  Here he and Hegg would photograph the historic
struggles of the men in that endless chain of climbers on the icy
trail to the top of the Chilkoot Pass.
                                   
     The Canadian government required a year's supply of provisions
(a ton of goods) before entering Canada.  For those who continued
on, this required as many as 40 trips to the top of the Chilkoot
Pass packing and storing their supplies at the top of the pass and
returning for more.

     Larss photographed prospectors on Chilkoot Pass and Lake
Lindemann and Lake Bennett in Canada.  He completed round trips
over both Chilkoot and White Pass and worked again in "Hegg's
Place," developing his negatives.  After two days of pleasant April
weather, he was back on the Chilkoot selling photos all the way
from Dyea to Lake Bennett.  He then returned to Skagway in one day
via the White Pass from Lake Lindemann.  A team of long-haired
goats pulling a sleigh was used by Hegg to carry photographic
equipment.

                      Lake Bennett to Dawson
     The Hegg party had already labored with their tons of freight
over the pass.  They were now hard at work cutting trees, sawing
lumber and boat building preparing for the 560-mile trip to Dawson.

     In a few days Larss was making photographs again, taking views
and making prints in Hegg's photo tent because they sold readily to
the men at Lake Bennett.  Larss noted "one month's work at Lake
Bennett, $80."  On May 25th Larss noted in his diary "A...F... and A...M...
meeting in the church."  On May 28th Larss photographed the group
of Masons at Lake Bennett.  May 29th the ice broke and the lakes
were transformed into marine highways. 

     The remarkable photographs with the E.A. Hegg imprint are a
splendid record of a magnificent river, the Yukon, its serene
beauties and treacherous hazards of the white water canyons. 
Larss' diary recorded camping ashore for the nights and fighting
mosquitoes.  Larss was in awe of the great wonder of the Yukon and
enjoyed the pleasure of days of drifting down the river.  "A fine
day" was his brief and often repeated expression.

     The pilgrimage to Dawson was in contrast with the earlier
spectacle of the endless trail of men over the Chilkoot who fought
"the accursed trail."  

     The "A...F... and A...M... meeting" in the church at Lake
     Bennett, B.C. was not the first time that Masons far from
     home, in extreme circumstances, took steps to express
     their high esteem and devotion for the fraternity.  On
     January 1, 1867, members of the Telegraph Trail
     Expedition at Ft. Derabin, (Nulato) Russian-America
     erected "two poles . . . and the U.S. Telegraph, Masonic
     and Scientific flags were hoisted and a national salute
     fired." Journals and letters of Col. C.S. Bulkley, U.S.
     Army, Telegraph Trail Expedition, 1865-1867.

     Monday, June 20, 1898, Larss recorded the following in his
notebook:  "Arriving at Dawson City, N.W.T. at 8 pm.  Warm and
pleasant all day in this Klondyke Town."  Their goal had been
reached!  Within seven days of the arrival in Dawson City their
photographic studio had been built by the men of the Hegg party. 
With foresight they had stopped up river to cut timber and to get
lumber for this purpose.
     Hegg and Larss entered into a partnership in 1898 and had a
photograph studio and business in Dawson City until 1899.  In that
year they separated and Larss and J.E.N. Duclos became partners in
a new studio.
     In July 1904 Larss sold his interest in the studio to his
partner Duclos.  The Dawson story in the little notebooks ended as
he left the city on March 12, 1904, recording the temperature, "43
below zero."
     In 1904 Larss changed his name to Larson and married Hilda
Johnson in Denver, Colorado.  He established himself as a
photographer in Goldfield, Nevada, in 1905.  In 1908 he was
proprietor of a hotel and general store in Allegheny, Oregon.  From
1920 until his death in 1941, he was in business as P.E. Larson
Grocery in San Pedro, California.

***************(Photo captions)*******************************

The actual angle of the climb to the top of the Chilkoot Pass was
30 degrees.  The pass is 3,500 feet above Dyea--a four-mile climb. 
On April 3, 1898, a disastrous avalanche came from the east side of
the trail and covered about 150 yards.  Over 200 persons were
caught in the slide.  The depth of the snow was from 20 to 50 feet
deep, saturated with water.  Thousands of volunteers rushed to the
spot and frantically dug out victims.  Many lives were saved
through heroic efforts of the stampeders.  Approximately 63 persons
perished in the avalanche.
                              The Dyea Press, April 6, 1898
                              Photo by Per Edward Larss
(Photo: A...F... & A...M... Bennett, B.C.)
Larss & Duclos Photo, Wickersham Collection State Historical
Library, Juneau

"Gathering of A...F... & A...M... at the foot of a mountain near lake
Bennett, B.C. en route to Dawson, Yukon Territory, May 28, 1898."

(Photo: Church at Bennett)
     Photo Courtesy State Historical Library, Juneau

"A...F... & A...M... meeting in Church," Bennett, B.C., May 25, 1898


Biography:
Brother Grainger, a resident of Alaska since 1940, was associated
before his retirement with the Alaskan Sportsman Magazine, the
State of Alaska employment service, and Alaska's Department of
Education.  A member of the Ketchikan Scottish Rite and White Pass
Lodge No. 1, Skagway, he has held the office of Grand Historian of
the Grand Lodge of Alaska and presently is District Deputy of the
Grand Master of Alaska, District 4.


1 Both the papers of Per Edward Larss and his photographic
collection (PCA 41) were donated by his family to the Alaska State
Historical Library, Juneau, Alaska.
2 Letter, March 6, 1989, from Ronald T. Bailey (Great grand nephew
of P.E. Larss).
