10 Rare Photos Taken In Alaska During The Great Depression
By Casea Peterson|Published December 20, 2015
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Casea Peterson
Author
Casea Peterson grew up archery hunting, fishing, and camping throughout the Pacific Northwest. Motivated by her love for the outdoors she moved to Alaska to attend school and to spend time exploring the last frontier. If she doesn’t have a pen in hand or her nose in a book, she can be found out on a lake or up in the woods around a fire with friends.
Alaska was still a territory during the Great Depression, but the crash of the stock market still strongly impacted the economy. Two of Alaska’s greatest commodities at the time, copper and fish, witnessed a price drop during the depression and greatly disabled the economy. Some might remember the Matanuska Colonist Project of 1935 to help offer a solution for the impact of the crash. Because of the over-dependence on the two major commodities, copper and fish, the project offered funding to 203 farming families in the Matanuska Valley to help provide aid.
These photos capture what life was like back in the early 1900’s and we are lucky to have them available to us today!
The commanding general, Dave V. Gaffney, of the Alaskan wing of the Air Transport Command shaking the hand of Colonel N.S. Vasin, the commander of the Russian detachment.
A snapshot of Vice President Henry A. Wallace on a return trip from China and Siberia dining at Ladd Field with Russian and American airmen who fly lend-lease planes to Russia through the Alaskan wing of the Air Transport Command.
