The Lure of Alaska

Alaska in the second decade of the 20th century was the United States’ last real frontier. Explorer, scientist, and lecturer Dr. Leonard S. Sugden spent almost 20 years in Alaska’s wilds and brought back the footage that made up this film. Among the sites pictured are Fort Gibbon (which was the northernmost U.S. outpost), the former home of writer/outdoorsman Rex Beach, the birth of an iceberg, gold mines, and Sugden himself going down the White Horse rapids in a canoe. This may not sound all that impressive today, but in 1916, people were still awestruck by being able to see moving pictures of exotic and faraway places. Originally about 7,000 feet, the documentary’s first showing at New York’s Rialto featured a lecture by Sugden. Later, it was divided up into one-reel lengths to become the “scenic” shorts that were part of early silent cinema showings.