The Alaska citizen., 1914-04-27
CX)


talk in Fairbanks. the story of how
one OF Alaska's pioneers. who Is
veteran of the Civil war. continued
to fight the Confederates for some
time after peace was declared may
be of considerable general interest
Almost everybody in Fairbanks
knows John Solen. the bailiff of the
district court. who is the subject
| of this sketch. Mr. Solen was born
just within the Canadian line in
the town of Huntington. in the Pro
vince of Quebec. September l, 1912.
and he spent the first IS years Of
his life at that place Then he
went to Holyoke, Massachusetts,
where he was living when the Civil
war broke out. He enlisted at
Springfield. short distance from
Holyoke, in the First Massachu-
sets Cavalry in the spring of 1861,
and served until after the war end
ed
To follow Mr.. Solen through his
war adventures would require more
space than is available for this
article. but when the war was nearly
closed We find him serving as
special scout in the Shenandoah val
ley, where he patroled large sec
ton OF country and made occasional
reports to what was known as the
| ''dismounted camp" near at hand.
After having been doing his lonely
duty at one time for several weeks
without having visited the camp to
make report, he rode to the spot
where he supposed the camp to be.
and found that it had disappeared.
Whether the enemy had driven the
troops from the camp or if the
soldiers had sudden orders to leave,
was a problem to the scout, but
after riding for some distance he
saw some retreating soldiers, and
it later developed that the war
had ended and that his own regi-
lnent had gone home to be muster
ed cut of service. Thus Scout
Solen found that he had been con
tinuing in active service for some
time after peace had been declared
1t was not long after he received
his final discharge from the army,
that Mr. Solen went to California
arriving in San Francisco April l,
1866. He settled near San Francis
co, in San Mateo, where he served
later in responsible positions, such
as assessor and sheriff, at different
times
In 1899 Mr.. Solen removed his
family to San Francisco, where they
have since remained. 1t vas in San
Francisco, early in 1900 that he
heard through Captain Healey of
the L. S. s. Bear. that there was
wonderfully rich quartz ledge on
Hall island, off the western coast
of Alaska, and he and Is others
chartered the steam schooner Elk
No !, and started in search of
the supposed wealth,
When the vessel arrived off Hall
island, some Of the men who had
chartered the boat, wanted to go to
sion, for the others wanted to land
on the island II was finally de-
cided by vote, with the result
that they went to Nome instead Of
Hall island Whether the wonder
fully rich quartz that had been ex-
hibted by Captain Healey really
came from Hall island, Mr. Solen
does not konw
The party arrived at Nome in
July, 1900, and Mr.. Solen and some
OF the others went to mining. In
the fall Of that year, Mr.. Solen and
his partner concluded to outfit them.
selves for a prospecting trip in the
vicinity of Bonanza, on the east
shore Of Norton bay. Accordingly
they obtained fishing sloop and
dory which they loaded with pro-
visions and started for Bonanza,
Arriving at Bonanza, they found
that the people there We're suffer
ing for supplies. as the vessel that
was expected to bring them food had
not returned. They divided their
food with the people Of Bonanza and
started on a return trip to Nome
for more supplies, but in storm off
Isaacs Point they were wrecked.
though they managed to get to
shore in safety,
From this place they walked to
Golovin, where they caught beat
back to Nome Not being discourag-
ed, they arranged with the captain
Of steam schooner to take them
and a new set of supplies back to
Bonanza.
On the way to Bonanza they en-
countered storm in almost the |
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