| Summary: | On verso of image: Jafet Lindeberg; Bryntesson, John, Eric Lindblom. According to: Alaska Geographic, v. 11 (1), p. 21, these were the three lucky Swedes, first to arrive in Nome. Filed in Alaska--Cities--Nome Inupiaq Eskimos camped for centuries in the area around Nome before Russia claimed Alaska as its own. In the 18th century, Russians established a settlement at St. Michael, 125 miles to the southeast. Fur traders and whales from many countries also worked the area coastline. A few church missions were established beginning in the 1880s, and trainers from Lapland (Norway) introduced reindeer herding to the Eskimos through the U.S. Government and missionaries. Gold was discovered in the Nome area in 1898 by three Swedes, prompting formation of the Cape Nome Mining District. When gold was found on the beaches of Nome the following summer, word spread rapidly, and by August 1900 there were 20,000 people in Nome. There are still 44 gold dredges in the Nome area and gold mining continues today. The oldest first-class city in Alaska, Nome was incorporated in 1901. By the 1920s, the boom town had shrunk to about 820 people. A fire in September 1934 destroyed most of the business district. Nome boomed again during World War II, when the federal government built an air base and support facilities. Thousands of aircraft and supplies moved through Nome under the Lend Lease program, supplying the Soviet Union for the Eastern Front. During the war, a number of Eskimos and other civilians came to Nome to work. Jafet Lindeberg was born September 12, 1873, in Norway. He came to the United States in 1895. By 1910, he was living in San Francisco with his wife Josephine. His occupation was listed as president of a mining company. He died November 1962 in San Francisco. John Bryntesson was born August 13, 1875 in Sweden. Erik Lindblom was born ca. 1857 in Sweden. In 1900 he was living at Snow Gulch near Nome, working as a miner. By 1920 he was living in Turlock, California, married and working as a farmer.
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