| Summary: | In a letter to John Newman, a famous Gold Rush packer, John Leonard describes how he performed Alaska's first balloon ascents and parachute jumps in 1899. He comments on balloon ascenscions on July 4 and July 16, how much the city of Juneau paid him, and how well the newspapers reported his work. He also recounts a parachute jump on August 29 where he landed in the Yukon River and another jump on Labor Day where he fell on a corrugated roof and sustained injuries. He mentions his art work and includes a poem about the crew of a boat on Lake St. Pierre. He refers to other poems he's sent to Newman and also draws a picture of a setting sun at the top of the first page in the letter. This letter is part of the sources upon which John Emmett Berns drew in order to write a news article about Skaguay Alaska during the Gold Rush period of 1898. Jack Newman (1863-1931) was a major figure in Skagway, Alaska in the 1890s. Employed by the Brooks Packing Company, his work became so well-known that he became its chief operator. While a packer, he fell in love with Mollie Walsh, a famed road house owner, and in 1930 commissioned a bust of her to memorialize her service during the Gold Rush. "Professor" John Leonard (1879-1914?) was Alaska's first balloonist and parachute jumper. Little biographical information is available on his origins, but he came to Alaska in 1899 in order to perform his stunts. After his first work in 1899, he does not appear in any news accounts until 1903, when he performed 2 more exhibitions. He died in Point Defiance Park, Tacoma in 1914.
|
|---|