Jafet Lindeberg (September 12, 1874 – November 5, 1962) was a
gold prospector
Gold prospecting is the act of searching for new gold deposits. Methods used vary with the type of deposit sought and the resources of the prospector. Although traditionally a commercial activity, in some developed countries placer gold prospe ...
and co-founder of the city of
Nome, Alaska
Nome (; ik, Sitŋasuaq, ) is a city in the Nome Census Area in the Unorganized Borough of Alaska, United States. The city is located on the southern Seward Peninsula coast on Norton Sound of the Bering Sea. It had a population of 3,699 recorded ...
.
Background
Jafet Isaksen Lindeberg was born in
Kvænangen
Kvænangen ( sme, Návuotna; fkv, Naavuono) is a municipality in Troms og Finnmark county, Norway. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Burfjord. The European route E6 highway goes through the municipality and ove ...
,
Troms
Troms (; se, Romsa; fkv, Tromssa; fi, Tromssa) is a former county in northern Norway. On 1 January 2020 it was merged with the neighboring Finnmark county to create the new Troms og Finnmark county. This merger is expected to be reversed by t ...
county, in
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
. In his youth, he tried prospecting for gold in northern Norway. Lindeberg's father, Isak, was a farmer and fisherman. He had come to the region from the valley of
Norrbotten
Norrbotten (), known in English as North Bothnia, is a Swedish province (''landskap'') in northernmost Sweden. It borders south to Västerbotten, west to Swedish Lapland, and east to Finland.
Administration
The traditional provinces of Swede ...
, an ancient iron mining region in
Norrbotten County
Norrbotten County ( sv, Norrbottens län; se, Norrbottena leatna, fi, Norrbottenin lääni) is the northernmost county or '' län'' of Sweden. It is also the largest county by land area, almost a quarter of Sweden's total area. It shares border ...
,
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
.
Nome Gold Rush
In the autumn of 1897, the
U.S. Congress
The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is Bicameralism, bicameral, composed of a lower body, the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives, and an upper body, ...
decided to send help to the gold miners in
Klondike. The
gold rush
A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, New Z ...
had escalated. Thousands of people rallied to the area, most of them completely unfamiliar with the harsh climate. The authorities feared a humanitarian disaster, with
famine
A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including war, natural disasters, crop failure, Demographic trap, population imbalance, widespread poverty, an Financial crisis, economic catastrophe or government policies. Th ...
,
epidemic
An epidemic (from Ancient Greek, Greek ἐπί ''epi'' "upon or above" and δῆμος ''demos'' "people") is the rapid spread of disease to a large number of patients among a given population within an area in a short period of time.
Epidemics ...
s and lawless conditions. It was difficult to send supplies.
It was therefore decided that
reindeer
Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subspe ...
and able keepers were to be shipped from Norway to Klondike. Reindeer were known as versatile animals, that could be used for food, clothing and transport. On February 4, 1898, Lindeberg left
Alta with the ship ''SS Manitoba'', heading for
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
. He had been hired as a reindeer keeper. There were 113 people, 535 reindeer, and 250 tons of
reindeer lichen
''Cladonia rangiferina'', also known as reindeer cup lichen, reindeer lichen (cf. Sw. ''renlav'') or grey reindeer lichen, is a light-colored fruticose, cup lichen species in the family Cladoniaceae. It grows in both hot and cold climates in we ...
on the ship. Upon arriving, he learned that the crisis was not as big as anticipated, and he was freed from his contract.
The Three Lucky Swedes
On the
Seward Peninsula
The Seward Peninsula is a large peninsula on the western coast of the U.S. state of Alaska whose westernmost point is Cape Prince of Wales. The peninsula projects about into the Bering Sea between Norton Sound, the Bering Strait, the Chukchi S ...
at the
Bering Strait he met the
Swedish immigrants Erik Lindblom
Erik Lindblom (1857-1928) was a Swedish-American gold prospector. He was one of the "Three Lucky Swedes" who founded and developed the Nome mining district.
Early life
Erik Olof Lindblom was born June 27, 1857 in Härjedalen, Sweden, the so ...
and
John Brynteson John Brynteson (August 13, 1871 in Ärtemark – 1959) was one of the "Three Lucky Swedes" who founded and developed the Nome mining district.
Johan Bryntesson was born in the parish of Ärtemark in the traditional province of Dalsland, Sweden. ...
. The three formed the mining firm, Pioneer Mining Company. Lindeberg was elected president of the new venture. The three partners also founded the city of Nome, where they later made a big find of gold. The rumors about "The Three Lucky Swedes" spread quickly. The following year, Nome experienced a gold rush similar to the
Klondike rush. In 1899, Lindeberg joined in the development of Moonlight Springs which was founded by James M. Davidson (1853-1928) to supply water to the City of Nome.
Late-comers tried to "jump" the claims of the Pioneer Mining Company by filing mining claims over the same ground. A federal judge ruled that the Pioneer Mining Company claims were valid, but some of the claim jumpers gave partial interests in their claims to Washington politicians, including
Alexander McKenzie, who engineered the naming of their own federal judge in the District of Alaska, Arthur Noyes (1854-1915). Noyes handed the Pioneer claims over to the claim jumpers.
William W. Morrow
William W. Morrow (July 15, 1843 – July 24, 1929) was a United States representative from California, a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California and a United States Circuit Judge ...
,
United States District Judge
The United States district courts are the trial courts of the United States federal judiciary, U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each United States federal judicial district, federal judicial district, which each cover o ...
for the
Northern District of California
The United States District Court for the Northern District of California (in case citations, N.D. Cal.) is the federal United States district court whose jurisdiction comprises the following counties of California: Alameda, Contra Costa, De ...
on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
, subsequently reversed Noyes' rulings, and ordered the gold mines restored to their rightful owners. After Noyes left Nome in disgrace, Lindeberg joined a group of masked vigilantes to seize their properties back from the claim jumpers.
The claim-jumping incident was the basis for
Rex Beach
Rex Ellingwood Beach (September 1, 1877 – December 7, 1949) was an American novelist, playwright, and Olympic water polo player.
Early life
Rex Beach was born in Atwood, Michigan, but moved to Tampa, Florida, with his family where his father ...
's best-selling novel ''
The Spoilers'' (1906), which was made into a stage play and five times into movies. Japhet Lindeberg lived long enough to see the character based on himself played on the big screen by
John Wayne
Marion Robert Morrison (May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), known professionally as John Wayne and nicknamed The Duke or Duke Wayne, was an American actor who became a popular icon through his starring roles in films made during Hollywood's Gol ...
, although Lindeberg modestly said that he didn't see much resemblance between himself and Wayne's character in ''
The Spoilers''.
Lindeberg sold out his share in the Pioneer Mining Company to Wendell P. Hammon (1854-1938) in the 1920s. During a subsequent visit to Norway, Lindeberg convinced his old friend
Leonhard Seppala
Leonhard "Sepp" Seppala (; September 14, 1877 – January 28, 1967) was a Norwegian-American sled dog breeder, trainer and musher who with his dogs played a pivotal role in the 1925 serum run to Nome, and participated in the 1932 Winter Olympi ...
to come work for him in America. Seppala later became a renowned
musher
Mushing is a sport or transport method powered by dogs. It includes carting, pulka, dog scootering, sled dog racing, skijoring, freighting, and weight pulling. More specifically, it implies the use of one or more dogs to pull a sled, most commonl ...
, a hero of the
1925 serum run to Nome
The 1925 serum run to Nome, also known as the Great Race of Mercy and The Serum Run, was a transport of diphtheria antitoxin by dog sled relay across the U.S. territory of Alaska by 20 mushers and about 150 sled dogs across in days, saving th ...
, and the foremost breeder of
Siberian Husky of his time. Lindeberg was married to Josephine Elizabeth Metson (1874-1965), sister of William Henry Metson, attorney for Pioneer Mining. Lindeberg died in San Francisco, California in 1962.
Legacy
*A statue of Jafet Lindeberg, together with Erik Lindblom and John Brynteson stands in Nome, Alaska.
*Jafet Lindeberg, Erik Lindblom and John Brynteson are all listed in the Alaskan Mining Hall of Fame
*
Norwegian County Road 362 Norwegian County Road 362 is the name of several county roads in Norway.
* Norwegian County Road 362 (Finnmark), a county road in Finnmark county, Norway
* Norwegian County Road 362 (Møre og Romsdal), a county road in Møre og Romsdal county, Norw ...
is named ''Jafet Lindebergs vei'' (Jafet Lindeberg Road)
after Lindeberg
See also
*
Nome mining district
The Nome mining district, also known as the Cape Nome mining district, is a gold mining district in the U.S. state of Alaska. It was discovered in 1898 when Erik Lindblom, Jafet Lindeberg and John Brynteson, the "Three Lucky Swedes", found pla ...
References
Additional Sources
*Plazak, Dan ''A Hole in the Ground with a Liar at the Top'' (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2006)
* Harrison, Edward Sanford ''Nome and Seward Peninsula'' ( E.S. Harrison. 1905)
External links
Photographs of Jafet Lindeberg and Nome, AlaskaDiscoverers of the Nome Gold Fields in 1898: John Brynteson, Jafet Lindeberg, and E.O. LindblomAlaska Mining Hall of Fame - Jafet Lindeberg
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lindeberg, Jafet
1873 births
1962 deaths
People from Kvænangen
Norwegian people of Swedish descent
American gold prospectors
Norwegian emigrants to the United States
People from Nome, Alaska