Part 1 of 5

The history of Marshall can be divided into four phases. First a place on a Slough of the lower Yukon River known to the Yup´ik Eskimo and identified as Massercullermiut. In Yup´ik Eskimo it means the place to catch spawning Chum Salmon. The second phase would be the gold rush town it became. Thirdly, Fortuna Hunter Odell indicated it became almost a ghost town. Now it has gone full circle back to the Yup´ik place it had been but with almost 90 years of development.

The Marshall High School Journalism Class of 1984 spelled the Yup´ik word Maserculiq. They also found the Yup´ik Eskimo word Uglouaia meaning "little bow" designated the spot where Marshall, Alaska is located. It is to be found in southwestern Alaska on the Lower Yukon River between two now abandoned villages of Ohogamiut and Takshak. From Ohogamiut, at the big bend where the river heads north, it is twenty-five miles down river. Previous names for Ohogamiut are Ikuagmyut and Sabotnisky. From Takshak, on Poltes Slough, it is five miles up river. Takshak is also spelled Tukchuk and historically was named Takchigmyut. By the late 1940's both villages had moved their people permanently to Marshall because of the Territorial laws regarding the schooling of the children.

To see a large, very detailed map of the Lower Yukon River region, click here.

Noel Polty, 71 in 1990, lived in Pilot Station on the lower Yukon River. He is well known in the region as an authority of Native history. Noel explained that Massercullermiut is located on Poltes Slough. The Slough takes its name from steamboat skipper Otto Polte.

At the advent of a 1913 gold stampede Massercullermiut became known as Marshall and then Fortuna Ledge. That July the patriotic gold miners may have named their discovery creek Wilson Creek for the newly elected President, Woodrow Wilson and their new camp for the then Vice President, Thomas R. Marshall.

Marshall is eight miles downriver from Marshall Landing, sometimes just called The Landing. Here is where sternwheelers found it easier to land and transfer merchandise and equipment. The Alaska Commercial Company and later the Northern Commercial Company would deliver freight and passengers to Marshall Landing from ocean steamships that had traveled from Seattle to Nome some 2,500 miles. From Nome all were transferred to smaller boats that went to St. Michael totaling 2,620 miles. The freight and passengers would again transfer to shallow draft boats that would travel the coast to the mouth and up the Yukon River to Marshall Landing. After 1923 a second route opened for transportation of goods to the Interior and Lower Yukon. The Alaska Railroad like the White Pass and Yukon Railroad purchased sternwheelers to continue movement of freight and passengers. The town of Nenana's connection to the ocean was the train from Seward, some 400 miles to the south. The connection in Nenana would be with the “Gen. Jeff C. Davis”, the “Gen. J. W. Jacobs”, the “Nenana”, the “Kenny B,” the “Alice II” or the “Yukon” which would deliver along the Tanana and Yukon Rivers. When freight came from either direction the freight could be stored near Marshall Landing for the pick up of the other Transportation Company.

Willow Creek is four miles inland from Marshall Landing. It was probably named for the type of trees found there. Willows may have been prevalent but Alders were the only trees up stream from about 1,500 feet below the Discovery claim. Wilson Creek is down river from the Marshall Landing with its mouth at Wilson Creek Slough. The headwaters of Willow Creek and Disappointment Creek, which flows into Wilson Creek, are near each other on the south and north side respectively behind Mt. Okumiat´s 1,565 feet peak between two approximately 1,700 feet peaks.

These Creeks became the impetus for the last gold stampede on the Yukon River. Marshall became the 25th in 58 identified camps in Alaska's historical gold and silver production. The production figures at that time included an area that was called Anvik-Andreafsky. It included the Russian Mission creeks of Kako, Buster, Montezuma and Stuyahok along with the Marshall area creeks. The total production to 1990 was approximately 125,000 ounces. In terms of the discovery of gold, there were only three more stampedes in Alaskan gold rush history which followed the Marshall strike, Tolovana/Livengood in 1914, Koyuk in 1915 and Tolstoi/Cripple in 1916,

Judge John Randolph Tucker, in honor of then Vice President Thomas R. Marshall, may have named the new camp, Marshall. Woodrow Wilson appointed Judge Tucker in November of1913. After arriving in Nome some of his first few official acts dealt with the large St. Michael mining district south of Nome. He divided the district in half. The new recording precinct was named for his wife's father, Wade Hampton. Wade Hampton had been a lieutenant general in the Civil War, governor of South Carolina and U.S. Senator from South Carolina. Mr. Hampton had passed away in 1902. Judge Tucker made Marshall the headquarters of the recording precinct and appointed Frank H. Waskey as the U. S. Commissioner. Frank Waskey was from Nome and in 1906 had been elected with Thomas Cale of Fairbanks as Alaska's first delegates to the U. S. Congress. Judge Tucker served exactly four years on the bench at Nome but his father-in-law's name has lasted to present day as the area´s election district name. Judge Tucker returned to Virginia where he died on December 18, 1926.

Fortuna Hunter Odell related that the new tent town of Marshall applied for post office in 1913. The United States Post Office indicated there was a town called Marshall in Alabama. Since people were likely to abbreviate both Alaska and Alabama as Ala the Federal Post Office asked the towns people to either rename the town or the post office. A miners' meeting was held. At the time a majority of the citizens at Marshall were either gold miners or workers at the gold mines. Consequently the name Fortuna Ledge was picked for Marshall's new post office. Fortuna in the Spanish or Latin language means fortune. There was no doubt that the miners felt this area would be the strike they had been pursuing. In the back of their minds possibly they were also thinking of a pioneer named James Wilson Marshall who had caused the great excitement of the January 1848 discovery of gold at Sutter´s Mill, California. Hoping that their new Fortuna Ledge and Marshall would be similar in its quantity of gold.

George Pilcher, who had been on the Lower Yukon since 1898, saw the new strike in 1913 as an opportunity to quit his life as a trader and at age 49 become a full-time miner. With several others he worked claims on Elephant Creek which is up stream from Disappointment Creek and is a tributary to Wilson Creek. Until the Wade Hampton precinct was formed St. Michael was the place to record claims. That summer of 1913 many claims went unrecorded and many titles were lost. The respect of Pilcher´s fellow miners is seen in his election to the office of Recorder on October 25, 1913. The 1916 United States Geological Survey done by George L. Harrington showed a sketch map of the area, which included a 1,948 feet high mountain north and east of Marshall, named for Pilcher. Today there is a creek flowing into Poltes Slough north of Marshall also named for Pilcher. Another accolade given to George Pilcher was his Yup´ik Eskimo name, Chu-yu-lak. It means the one who wants to be first. Alex Evan thought it could describe “Grandpa” Pilcher as being the first white man to live among them.

The postal address for Marshall was accepted by the United States Post Office as Fortuna Ledge. The Post Office was established there two years later in 1915. There is no doubt the miners received mail at their camp previous to this date but the Federal designation did not come until H. Roy Hunter was appointed the first Postmaster on December 9, 1915. Mr. and Mrs. Hunter were also the proud parents of the first child born in Marshall, August of 1916. They named her Fortuna. She was the fifth child of Roy and Anna Hunter. Fortuna's siblings are Norman, Clyde, Rose, Donald, Bruce, Emory, Norma and Vernon. H. Roy Hunter held the job as Postmaster until September of 1944 when he retired. No one applied for the job so mail was destined to go to Pilot Station. However, Mr. Hunter reapplied in August and was reappointed in October of 1944. By March 31, 1945 his son, Donald, Sr., replaced Mr. Hunter. He then held the Postmaster job until December 31, 1977 when Adele Cooper took over.

George L. Harrington a surveyor for the United States Geological Survey visited the Anvik-Andreafsky Region of Alaska in 1916. This 2,000 square mile region included the Marshall area. Mr. Harrington spent sixteen days of August in the vicinity of Marshall during his summer work. While he investigated the area he also recorded the history of the mining development. His findings at the time showed that Wilson Creek had some prospectors searching for sufficient amounts of gold previous to 1913. However, it was not until July 15, 1913 that E. L. Mack and Joe Mills discovered enough gold on Wilson Creek to call it a strike. Andrew “Shorty” Edgar and Al C. Rhodes staked claims within a few days. A stampede followed and as in many other areas of Alaska all the streams nearby were claimed by the influx of miners.

To Part 2

This series of community histories was a partnership between YukonAlaska.com, the Yukon Anniversaries Commission, the City of Whitehorse and several local historians.