Alaskan History Historians question why Harriman wanted to go to Alaska. Some think he was considering developing Alaskan resources. Some think he was considering building a railroad to the Alaskan territory. Some people at the time openly wondered if he was going to buy Alaska, or build a railroad bridge from Alaska to Siberia for a railroad around the world. Nothing seemed impossible for Edward H. Harriman
Polmoniums from Kadiak (Kodiak)
Title page of a private souvenir album created collectively by the members of the Harriman Alaska Expedition. Although the date on the cover proudly proclaims “May to August, 1899, the voyage began May 30 and ended July 30, 1899.
The 1899 Harriman Alaska Expedition ~ Exploring and Documenting the Coast of Alaska ~ A Stellar Voyage to a Great Land, Amongst Artists and Scientists In early 1899 Edward Henry Harriman of New York was one of the most powerful men in America, a wealthy railroad magnate with control of several railroads. His work had left him literally exhausted, and his doctor decreed that he needed a long vacation. Never a man to do anything in a small way, Harriman decided to go to Alaska to hunt Kodiak bears, but rather than go alone, he conceived the idea of taking with him an elite community of scientists, artists, photographers, and naturalists to explore and document the Alaskan coastline. And so, in cooperation with the Washington Academy of Sciences but entirely at his own expense, he organized an expedition to Alaska. He invited as his
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