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Chronicling America
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Newspaper The Chitina Leader (Chitina, Alaska) 1910-1928

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About The Chitina Leader (Chitina, Alaska) 1910-1928

The Chitina leader was started on September 24, 1910 by Harry and Will Steel, who were owners of the Cordova Daily Alaskan. The first issue of the Leader was released to coincide with the completion of the railroad from Cordova to Chitina. Harry Steel was one the first to take the train to Chitina. To produce the Leader, Steeland his brother would commute from their printing shop in Cordova to Chitina. In a special edition on November 12, 1910, the paper trumpeted the completion of a trail from Chitina to Willow Creek that connected with the Valdez to Fairbanks trail. The Leader argued that the new trail connecting with Chitina was far superior to the old and “in the face of all opposition, the travel will be directed this way, as there isn’t a better road in the North.” The Leader sent 1,000 copies of this special edition to every camp in Alaska and coastal towns along the West Coast.

O. E. Bennett was listed as the city editor for The Chitina Leader until 1911 and was relentlessly optimistic about Chitina, writing in a December 10, 1910 editorial that with the increasing population Chitina would soon “blossom forth into a full-fledged city of substantial importance.” Bennett predicted that the coming summer would herald the start of Chitina’s major growth and that the Copper River Valley, once developed, would be “uneclipsable” [sic]. The same editorial vehemently denounced territorial delegate James Wickersham for his opposition to private development of railroads in the Copper River Valley, claiming that the “salvation of Alaska” lay in Wickersham’s defeat.

Bennett left in 1911 and was replaced by Sydney Charles who helped push for the creation of a school in Chitina. Bennett’s departure was supposed to be temporary, but his name never reappeared in the paper, and after Charles left in September of 1911, the only names appearing in the publisher’s block were those of Harry and Will Steel. The Leader slowly began to borrow content from the Cordova Daily Alaskan, as articles from the past week of Cordova’s daily would make appearances in the Chitina weekly. This accelerated during World War I when much of the content was through wire service. Because so much content was reused from the Alaskan without changing the dates, many publication dates for the Leader are speculative due to the mismatching printed dates and the dates of the content. The Leader‘s final issue was published on November 24, 1928.

Provided By: Alaska State Library Historical Collections

About this Newspaper

Title

  • The Chitina Leader (Chitina, Alaska) 1910-1928

Dates of Publication

  • 1910-1928

Created / Published

  • Chitina, Alaska : W.A. Steel, H.G. Steel, 1910-

Headings

  • -  Chitina (Alaska)--Newspapers
  • -  Alaska--Chitina
  • -  United States--Alaska--Chitina

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Weekly
  • -  Vol. 1, no. 1 (Sept. 24, 1910)-
  • -  Ceased in 1928?
  • -  Vol. and issue numbers irregular.
  • -  Archived issues are available in digital format from the Library of Congress Chronicling America online collection.

Medium

  • volumes

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn95060001

OCLC Number

  • 32223239

ISSN Number

  • 2995-276x

Additional Metadata Formats

Availability

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress believes that the newspapers in Chronicling America are in the public domain or have no known copyright restrictions. Newspapers published in the United States more than 95 years ago are in the public domain in their entirety. Any newspapers in Chronicling America that were published less than 95 years ago are also believed to be in the public domain, but may contain some copyrighted third party materials. Researchers using newspapers published less than 95 years ago should be alert for modern content (for example, registered and renewed for copyright and published with notice) that may be copyrighted. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item.

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

The Chitina Leader Chitina, Alaska -1928. (Chitina, AK), Jan. 1 1910. https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn95060001/.

APA citation style:

(1910, January 1) The Chitina Leader Chitina, Alaska -1928. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn95060001/.

MLA citation style:

The Chitina Leader Chitina, Alaska -1928. (Chitina, AK) 1 Jan. 1910. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, aj.sunback.homes/item/sn95060001/.