Sept. 1928 Dad climbing glacier & Dad's
writing on neg.
[Notes by Luella G. Smith on her father, James H. Gilpatrick, who
had been to Glacier Bay for pictures in August 1928. Apparently same trip
also to Mendenhall in Juneau and perhaps Skagway. Jim has reproduced a few
of these notes on the envelopes, for each negative with a picture, for a
few of them from his postcard size collection. JHG’s notes and picture on
next page.]
Margaret Louise Claire (later Dangel) with her Grandfather,
James Henry Gilpatrick, "Gil", at about the time of his trip to Glacier
Bay and this writing. Building is the first Photo Shop in a rented building
where the Sitka Lutheran Church is in its second building on the same site.
"It may be interesting to know how we get the pictures
we do it is not all pleasure, but hard work and some times very dangerous,
not only climbing glaciers but high up in the mountains getting up steep
and dangerous clifs with a heavy pack of cameras and equippment,
The inclose shows the writer about five miles up and near the center of the
Mendenhall Glacier, my camera equippment consists of three cameras 1- 7x11
tripod filters film holders and galvanized water tight case, 1, graflex and
1, panorama camera, total weight 75 pounds, a light pack for an all day jaunt,
the wroter is chown with the help of one of Father Hubbards ice picks getting
up on a ledge of ice that is trying to block our progress, note the two dranage
holes at the back that are hundreds of feet deep and a beautiful shading
of blue as it dissapears to a black hole, a slip may be fatal, yet we take
these chances for pictures, fascinating, yes for a lover of pictures, this
is only one of many such trips, at one time I climbed a clif with my pack
for 45 minutes only to find I was trapped and could go no further, a slip
ment a drop of three or four hundred feet and would mean no more picture taking
for me, but holding on with my finger nails and toes I managed to descend
to where I had started, being miles from another soul one gets a bit nervous,
an attempt to another place also failed, but the third place tried brought
me to the top of Arrow Head on Mount Verstovia,"
I just found a pile of Grandmother's negatives and prints where she had gone to Glacier Bay herself. Luella G. Smith’s number 529 in her postcard size wooden file number 2, photographed Aug. 7-9/53. ASL will need to share them with NPS also.
