Wells Fargo in Knik Anchorage

From a tent in 1915

Sometimes in my research I strike real gold, and this photo is certainly one of those. It ran in the October, 1915 issue of the official company newspaper, The Wells Fargo Messenger, and it’s one of the very few times I’ve seen the town referred to as Knik Anchorage in print of the era. This would have been part of the ‘city of tents’ along Ship Creek, made famous (to Alaskans, anyway) by this and similar photos:

I wrote about the history of the Wells Fargo Company in Alaska in January, 2021: “Wells Fargo’s history in Alaska began in the 1880’s, a dozen years before the Klondike Gold Rush.” Many more great photos and images there. I’ll be including an expanded history of Wells Fargo Co.’s use of sled dog teams in my book about the history of sled dogs in North America. ~•~