Alaskan gold rush diary and sketchbook, 1899-1901 (bulk 1899).

Ogrissek's daily diary (212 pages) records his trip from Jersey City in February, 1899 to the Alaska gold fields and back in September, 1899. The sketchbook accompanies descriptions in the diary of the scenery he encounters. The 26 drawings, almost all of them in pencil, are highly detailed depictions of camps, mountains and inlets. There are also a few sketches at the beginning of the diary. Ogrissek, a careful chronicler, records every expense on his trip across the United States, describes the beauty of the country, the severity of the cold, the viciousness of the mosquitoes, and the loneliness and despair of the unsuccessful gold hunter. Accompanied by 8 loose sheets, one of them the cover of a drawing tablet of Alaska Sketches for 1900, indicating that Ogrissek went to the Aleutian Islands, Nome, and the Bering Sea. Included are 6 sketches of Nome, Prince of Wales Island, Valdes City, and Dutch Harbor, Unalaska Island