The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1922-06-01
ALASKAN PIONEER
BACK IN MONTANA
II. A.. THELIN HAS REMARKABLE
COLLECTION OF PHOTOS FROM
EARLY GOLD RUSH DAYS
Best Perturbation of Real Alaska
Ever Gathered by Man Who Was
In KIOndike Rush and Has Mushed
Trails of Far North Since 1898;
Is True Sour Dough Type.

ped with nearly five miles of motion
picture film and dozens of coloret
Photographic stills which portray
the history of Alaska from the GOLD
rush of '98 up to the present time
T. A. Thelin of Fairbanks, who has
watched 'the ice go out" on the Ia.
mana river % springs in succession
arrived in Great Falls last week to
visit old friends.
Thelin has mushed the Alaska
trails for % years, from Ketchikan
to the Arctic circle. He went north
IN '98 when he joined the Klondike
rush. He spent several years in
Dawson, Yukon territory, and later
mushed with a dog team over Good
Pastor pass to Fairbanks. He has fol-
lowed the mining game into every
camp in Alaska, has been a musher,
contractor, and big game hunter, but
with him always has been his cam
era. Before going to Alaska he was
an artist and photographer in Los
Angeles. In 1913 he made a trip
around the world and when he got
back into the Alaskan interior he
carried with him a motion picture
camera.
To Show Pictures to Cabinet
He has pictures that depict every
phase of the Alaskan frontier, from
a still" of the first five women to
arrive in Alaska, taken at Dyea, to
a motion picture history of the build
ing of the government railroad which
stretches from Seward, at the head
of Recommendation how IN LTofrha Ire On
the Tanana river, in the heart of
the interior, which was completed
last winter. His pictures, which have
the written endorsement of Governor
Scott c. Boone of the Alaskan terri
tory, Colonel F. Mears, superintend-
ent of the Commission railroad, the
Pioneers of Alaska organization, and
the territorial legislature, will be
shown before the cabinet members at
Washington, D. c., June Is, accord
ing to a tentative date arranged for
him by Governor Boone.
Thelin is now embarked on his
third trip around the world. He ar
rived in Seattle three weeks ago, his
first trip "tO the outside" since 1913.
He has with him probably the most
unique collection of curios of Alaska
and garments from the choicest furs
of the northland brought to the states
in recent years. He has enough bag
gage to equip a whole vaudeville
and in his collection relics of
all the trails and mining camps of
the north country.
No HOkum to Collection
There is no "hokum'' to his col
lection of pictures and Alaskan re-
gala. He has some Arctic seal par
kas, caribou jackets and various fur
garments made from almost every
in the great north country
hat would make many an old sour !
Tough e%nvious,
There are no movie love scenes, /
settings or improyised action
n my show to put it rel with the
,rowd," Thelin said. GAS you re-
say, my stuff is not alleged
It's real and / honestly believe that
t is the truest perturbation of the
real Alaska that has ever been
hown."
Thelin has Photographic slides that
how the wonderful coloring of the
lorthern lights and their reflection
n Lake Bennett, proclaimed by the
Alaskan press to be the finest pic
Tres of their kind ever exhibited.
lie has pictures in color of the mid
light sun celebrations of Fairbanks
nd motion pictures of the All-Alaska
weepstakes race, the greatest dog
ace of the north country. s
Treasure House of North
Alaska is called "Uncle Sans
house of the north in his {
lotion picture portrayal of the north |
nd the pictures are intended to ex- {
lott the territory chiefly from a s
ummer viewpoint. The Alaskan 6
vers that the north country is the t
reatest homeland" of the world. '
ontrary to the popular belief that
laska is a bleak and ice-clad coun- a
y, the home of seals and producer i
gold, obtained only under the a
'uelest of hardships, Alaska has a t
innate as varied as that of Califor- o
a, harbors on the Pacific ocean that t
e free the year round, said Thelin. f
tka, he says, has a more equitable C
innate than Washington, d. G. a
AS proof of the agricultural quality A
the land in the interior of Alaska, Is
helm has with him samples of Is C;
nds of grain grown in the Alaskan S
terror, which he carries for exhibit 81
IN purposes on behalf of the ter h
sorial government. In the great
ribou herds, Alaska has a corner il
the meat market of the world, he W
i'd. tC
Like all true Alaskan s~ourdoughs, NJ
lelin is so imbued with the spirit pl
Alaska that to him all else is a
tty. AS Alaska is vast, so are the G.
of Alaskans great. 1t is al al
Lys the future with them, and The OF
is 'of the north" Handicapped in
d isolated for years by a monopoly ps
transportation facilities that has il
de Alaska a goal for the adven- in
rather than a home for the th
i%ustrious, the territory now faces sh
, surest advancement and steady tr
,sperity that has been its lot since
has been a territory of the United
ties, he said. II
Interior Distance Shortened m
The cOmpletiOn of the