Eric A. Hegg

Eric A. Hegg (September 17, 1867 – December 13, 1947) was a Swedish-American photographer who portrayed the people in Skagway, Bennett and Dawson City during the Klondike Gold Rush from 1897 to 1901. Hegg himself participated in prospecting expeditions with his brother and fellow Swedes while documenting the daily life and hardships of the gold diggers.

The most iconic photograph taken by Hegg is of the Chilkoot Pass where miners and prospectors are climbing the ice stairs upwards to the top and the awaiting Canada–US border. He also captured the scenery through which the White Pass and Yukon Route was awesomely situated. Hegg has been featured in books and films in Sweden depicting his life as an example of The American Dream since he was able to leave his humble situation in Sweden behind and become a self-made man and photographer.

Life and career Chilkoot Trail by Eric A. Hegg, 1898. Miners and prospectors at The Scales climbing the mountainside using the steps cut in the ice Early life Hegg was born as Erik Jonsson in 1867 in Bollnäs socken, Hälsingland, Sweden, as the second eldest son to the crofter Jon Persson and his wife Brita Ersdotter in a family of eight (four sons and two daughters). Due to repeated displacement to smaller outfields deeper into the forest land, the whole family left for United States in April 1881.

Tlingit and Aleut baskets and beadwork ca. 1898 (Webber & Stevens reprint) In 1888, Eric Hegg settled in the Swedish community outside Bellingham, Washington and together with his brother Peter he opened a new studio.

In 1899, after a year in Yukon, Hegg returned to Skagway leaving his studio in Dawson to his business companion Larss and another famous Klondike photographer, Joseph E.N. Duclos (Larss & Duclos). Hegg travelled to New York the same year to show his pictures at a gallery, while his brother returned to Bellingham to manage their old studio. When returning to Alaska, Eric Hegg travelled to Nome visiting other Swedes working in the area and took pictures of the social life and the town. Among the customers were the "Three Lucky Swedes" who were first in Nome to become rich by mining. Their portraits were taken by Hegg and he opened his largest studio so far.

Legacy His work has been collected by the daughter of the friend from Skagway, Peter Andersson, and later donated to Archive of University of Washington.

The 1957 National Film Board of Canada documentary City of Gold made extensive use of photographs of the Gold Rush by Hegg, from his University of Washington archives. Dawson City: Frozen Time also uses his images.

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