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| Charles
H. Anway
1857-1949 |
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News
of gold in Alaska began to circulate through the country, so Anway and
a friend decided to go. They departed in late June 1898 on the Topeka
and arrived in Skagway on 2 July 1898. His friend was having second
thoughts, as he missed his wife and child. He finally decided he could
not go any further. He and Anway sold all of their packhorses, food,
and mining equipment. His friend had enough money to return to his family
in Colorado, while Anway, who decided to stay, had no equipment and
could not go to Dawson.
Charlie
decided to go down to Pyramid Harbor, near Haines. There he met Jack
Dalton, who offered Charlie a job taking a packtrain of horses to the
Yukon River where the goods could be trans-shipped to Dawson. This was
a great opportunity for Anway to see the country so he would have a
better idea where he would like to prospect. As he passed through the
Porcupine mining district, he was very impressed. After delivering the
goods to a ship on the Yukon, Anway returned with the horses to Pyramid
Harbor. He then returned to the Porcupine district and began prospecting.
All the good sites on the lower river were already staked, so he went
up to the headwaters of Porcupine Creek and staked a few claims. He
then crossed over the mountain and explored Nugget Creek, staking out
several more claims. These seemed to be his better claims, so he built
a cabin on Nugget Creek as home base for all his claims.
During
the winter months, he and other miners moved into Haines since they
were unable to work their claims. Anway explored the country and eventually
found a place he decided would make a good homestead. On Dec 17, 1901,
he walked about a mile out of town to this area and staked out his homestead.
He immediately began clearing land and getting logs for his cabin. In
March, he once again loaded his Yukon Sled and began the long trip to
Nugget Creek. |
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 Anway Fruit. |
The apple orchard he started soon began to produce apples, but did not really produce large crops until he imported honeybees. They not only pollinated the apples, but supplied him with honey. He sold apples and apple cider. In the 1915 September Skagway Horticulture Fair, he won an award for "the exhibit of the first mature apple in Alaska." He certainly had the first commercial apple orchard in Alaska. Many of his trees lived long after he was gone, although the last ones appear to be dying (1998). Strawberry
farming is very intensive so by 1930 Charlie was looking for easier
farming and settled on a sweet cherry orchard. For the next 25 years,
Charlie supplied all the sweet cherries the community could consume.
To my knowledge, this is the first and only sweet cherry orchard in
Alaska. In the late '50s the whole orchard died from a fungus.
Charlie did other farming as well. He raised milk goats, mink, and rabbits. He grew potatoes commercially. He tried raspberries. He continued to experiment to make a better product. He developed an early pink skinned potato which he called the Early Anway. He also did a lot of work trying to develop an early corn that could be raised here, although in this project he failed. Anway was an excellent craftsman. He could make anything with his hands, and his building, furniture, and tools were always done with excellence. He was well liked by everyone and was said to have had no enemies. Some of his admirers have said "they don’t make them like that anymore." Charlie became sick in December of 1949, and was air lifted to the hospital in Juneau where he died on 14 December 1949. He was interred in Juneau’s Evergreen Cemetery. His obituaries called him Alaska’s "Johnny Appleseed" and the "Strawberry King of Alaska". The community of Haines held an annual "Strawberry Festival" in his honor for many years. |
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 Charles Anway's cabin in the early 1900s. |
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| DONATIONS
Anway Cabin Restoration & Preservation |
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invite you to become a partner in this exciting project.
Please take a moment to view this donor form. Donations will be used in the restoration of the Charlie Anway Cabin, property and grounds.
We accept all major credit cards via Paypal. All Donations are Tax Deductible!
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For
further information on Historical Individuals of Haines please
view the following links:
Dalton Trail • Francina E. Haines • Solomon Ripinsky • Steve Sheldon (c)
Sheldon Museum & Cultural Center, Inc. Box 269 Haines, AK
99827 1(907) 766-2366
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