William Howard Case


Famous for the photographs that he and his partner Draper took of the gold rush, Case was born on this day, April 19, 1868 in Marshalltown, Iowa. He came to Skagway in February 1898 and stayed until September 1907.Case and Draper photography studios opened in 1898, in a small tent in Skagway, Alaska. The partners later moved their business to a two-story building on Broadway near 4th Avenue, where they also sold curios, photographic supplies, Alaska Native handicrafts and game specimens. By 1907, the partnership between Case and Draper had been mutually dissolved; Draper kept the Skagway shop while Case opened a new store in Juneau.

Case and Draper were best known for their portraits and photographs of the Tlingit Indians, early Skagway and the Gold Rush of 1898. Their views were reproduced in a variety of Alaskan books, including THE SOAPY SMITH TRAGEDY, and on postcards and White Pass & Yukon Railway souvenir playing cards.

Case was a member of the Arctic Brotherhood, the Masons and later a Shriner. He married Alice J. Lindahl in 1898 in Skagway and had three children here. They all moved to Juneau in 1907 where Mr. Case passed away suddenly in 1920 at the age of 52.

Seen above is a typical staged photo taken in the gallery.