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President Harding arrives to drive railroad’s golden spike
Sylvia Sexton Collection | Seward Community Library
President Warren G. Harding is escorted up Fourth at Washington when he arrived at Seward on July 13, 1923 on the USS Henderson.
President Warren G. Harding is escorted up Fourth at Washington when he arrived at Seward on July 13, 1923 on the USS Henderson. He came to Alaska to drive the Golden Spike celebrating the completion of the Alaska Railroad. After a tour of the town, a reception was held at the Odd Fellows Hall, where all the children of the town had a chance to meet the President and his wife. The next day the presidential party took the railroad north. The Golden Spike Ceremony was held on July 15 at North Nenana. Harding returned to Seward on the July 17. He spent the morning of the July 18 strolling around Seward, visiting with the townspeople and the afternoon fishing. He left for California on the July 19. On Aug. 3 he died suddenly in San Francisco. The attending doctors gave the cause of death as apoplexy. (Send your “Back when...” photo to the LOG for publication, editor@TheSewardPhoenixLOG.com.)