Alaska and Seattle newspapers on Capt. Richard B. Holbrook's Alaska seasons, 1915-1918

Gathered from the Library of Congress’s free newspaper pages, first for the Collins-Reed research (research/collins-reed/Molata-Addendum-Laws-Riddle-Bruner.md, Part Five) and then in a sweep of every Alaska paper there for 1915-1920 (8 Oct 2026). Read from the pages’ text; quotations are checked against it. In date order:

1915: the Tyconda

• Wrangell Sentinel, 13 May 1915, p. 1 (page): the stern-wheeler Tyconda, “to be operated this season on the Stikine River between here and Telegraph Creek,” is owned by Capt. J. W. Mangan and Capt. R. B. Holbrook, who bought her from the Lawrence Brothers of Tacoma and had her rebuilt at Seattle; they have incorporated the H. and M. Transportation Company. “Capt. Holbrook for some time has been master of the steamer Potlatch on the Hood Canal Run, and he was at one time master of the ‘State of Washington.’” He is president of the company and her master; Mangan, general manager.
• Wrangell Sentinel, 20 May 1915, p. 1 (page): the Tyconda, “in charge of Capt. Holbrook,” leaves on her first trip up the Stikine. Also 10 June 1915 (as cited in the research notes).
• Valdez Daily Prospector, 1 Oct 1915, p. 1 (page): the Tyconda, brought to Cook Inlet in the spring, “was burned to the water’s edge last night” at Anchorage, “valued at $27,000 and … partly covered by insurance,” owned by “R. V. Holbrook” and J. W. Mangan, who had run her on the Stikine “before entering the Cook Inlet trade.” The Seward Gateway (5 Oct 1915, p. 6, as cited in the research notes) has “In charge of Capt. R. B. Holbrook. No insurance. Valued at $8,000”; the Alaska Daily Empire (Juneau, 7 Oct 1915, p. 2, page), “fully insured.” The accounts differ.
• Valdez Daily Prospector, 25 Oct 1915, p. 2 (page): “Capt. A. E. Holbrook, of the Alaskan Engineering commission staff at Anchorage,” leaves Valdez for Seattle. Perhaps him, misprinted [?].
• Seattle Star, 8 Dec 1915, p. 3, “Loses His Steamer” (as cited in the research notes): back in Seattle.
• Douglas Island News, 29 Mar 1916, p. 1 (page): Capt. Mangan “last summer operated the Tyconda, a stern wheeler, in partnership with Captain Richard Holbrook, until the vessel was destroyed by fire.”

1916: the Alaskan Engineering Commission’s boats

• Cook Inlet Pioneer, 5 May 1916, p. 1 (page): “The Commission’s tug Roscoe, Captain Richard Holbrook in command, will sail for Anchorage next week”; also the Nome Daily Nugget, 5 May 1916, p. 4 (page), “Richard Holbrook a well known steamboatman.”
• Valdez Daily Prospector, 16 May 1916, p. 3 (page): “Capt. Richard Holbrook will be master of the B. B. No. 2. He is one of the best known navigators on Puget Sound and in Alaska waters, having commanded vessels here for 26 years.”
• Cook Inlet Pioneer, 20 May 1916, p. 6 (page): “R. B. Holbrook” in a list of passengers, with no wife or children beside him.
• Anchorage Daily Times, 29 July 1916, p. 3 (page), and the Anchorage Weekly Times, 5 Aug 1916, p. 3: “the B. and B. No. 3, Captain Dick Holbrook, running between Talkeetna and Croto,” on the Susitna River.

1917: Anchorage

• Anchorage Daily Times, 16 May 1917, p. 9 (page): “Capt. Richard Holbrook” among the Commission’s marine employees arriving from Seattle on the Crook, to serve on the Omineca and the river boats; also the Seward Gateway, 1 June 1917, p. 5 (page).
• Anchorage Weekly Times, 12 Sept 1917, p. 5: elected to Igloo No. 15, Pioneers of Alaska (newspaper-anchorage-weekly-times-1917-09-12).
• Anchorage Weekly Times, 18 Oct 1917, p. 7 (page): he took the Pioneers’ obligation at the igloo, “rode the Pioneer goat,” and “left on the last steamer for the states where he will spend the winter.”

1918: Seattle

• Anchorage Weekly Times, 17 Jan 1918, p. 9 (page): among Anchorage people met in Seattle, “Captain R. H. [sic] Holbrook, now skipper on the steamer Tourist, which plies between Seattle and Bremerton.”

Not him: a Capt. Holbrook of the schooner Hattie Dunn, sunk by a German submarine in May 1918; “Holbrook, Alaska,” a saltery near Wrangell (1915); a Holbrook of the forestry service at Cordova (1920). Every passenger list has him travelling alone, and no Mrs. R. B. Holbrook appears in any Alaska paper of 1915-1920.