My great great uncle Colonel Solomon 'Sol' Ripinsky, on the right, in the first photograph, standing in front of the Post Office he ran in Chilkat, Alaska. Sol is standing in the middle of the second image, and marked by an arrow in the third photograph. These photographs were taken sometime before 1893.

The 100 plus year old shots are dramatic images of a time long ago, but hold up well with our fictional sense of history. These times did exist, and the photographs clearly bare out an era that is often left for our imagination. One thinks of Jack London, and here we have folk that London very likely came upon in his days in Alaska.

With a considerable amount of help and guidance from my cousin Eric Juda, the story below of Sol Ripinsky can be enjoyed. Sol's tale of an immigrant’s life coming to America at a very young age, is compelling and extraordinary. Eric is the great great nephew of Sol Ripinsky. Sol’s father Hirsch Ripinsky who never left Poland, had other sons, Sol's brother, Robert Barnett Ripinsky did venture across the Atlantic to make a life in the states. Robert's son Seymour Ripin, Eric's grandfather, changed the family name from Ripinsky to Ripin, in the early part of the 1920s after he graduated from college.

Solomon Ripinsky was born on April 15, 1859 in the county of Rypin, Poland. The surname 'Ripinsky' was chosen or assigned to the family in the early 1800s as most European Jews did not have family names. To avoid eventual military conscription nine year old Ripinsky along with several of his brothers emigrated to the states. He settled in Shreveport, Louisiana in 1870. Sol worked in his brother’s clothing store until 1873, when a yellow fever epidemic hit the city resulting in the deaths of a niece and nephew.

By 1876, Sol moved onto Sacramento, California, where he became a Civil Engineer, and he also owned an art gallery which featured his own paintings. In 1879 he relocated to Salem, Oregon, where he ran a grocery store named Webfoot. Newspaper ads featured Russian caviar and sardines as well as cigars. Governor W.W. Thayer appointed him an aide-de-camp on August 21, 1881, which carried the rank of colonel in the State Militia. Sol continued the use of the title for the rest of his life.

In July of 1884, Sol moved to Sitka, Alaska and worked for U.S. Attorney Edward W. Haskett for a year. This led to his becoming a notary and gave him some legal background. In August of 1885 he was hired by the Commissioner of Education, Sheldon Jackson, and taught 45 native students of Unalaska, both in English and Russian, from October 1885 through June 1886.

The City and Borough of Sitka, formerly New Arkhangelsk, or New Archangel under the former Russian rule, is a unified city-borough located on Baranof Island and the southern half of Chichagof Island in the Alexander Archipelago of the Pacific Ocean (part of the Alaska Panhandle), in the state of Alaska.

In 1890, what the local indigenous people, the Tlingits called Gei’Sun Hill was renamed Mount Ripinsky in honor of Solomon for his teaching of the native students. Sol later owned and operated several businesses, and served as a postmaster of the Chilkat Village, a cannery village that no longer exists. Sol was appointed as the School Director of Haines, was elected Mayor of Haines, and also served as a U.S. Commissioner on several occasions.

In the later part of 1886, Sol found his way to Haines and ran the local school from January 1887 until June 1887. It was reported that his former students were easily recognizable because they spoke English, with a Polish accent! As a final note to his career in education, Sol was elected School Director of Haines in 1908.

After the school year finished, Sol took the job as storekeeper for the Alaska Packers Association cannery in Pyramid Harbor. He moved to Chilkat Village (located at the cannery), and in 1890 worked for the Chilkat Canning Company. Sol served as the Chilkat Village’s postmaster from March 6, 1894 until Oct. 23, 1899. The post office was located in his general store and he earned close to $100 yearly from this endeavor. After the site was closed, he stayed on as a caretaker. The photographs below show that period of Sol's life.

In December of 1897, Sol bought a small plot of land (about an acre) from Sarah Dickinson, a former school teacher and wife of a local trader. He homesteaded a large tract of land which comprised much of present day Haines. There ensued a number of lawsuits which began in 1898 and ended in 1914, with an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

In the end, Sol proved homestead rights for the land which he had purchased from Sarah and maintained fences around. Transcripts of most of the trials are available at the Washington D.C. National Archives.

U.S. Commissioners were minor judges and in Alaska it was a highly sought position with former governors from throughout the U.S. applying for any openings. Sol was appointed in July of 1899. He re-applied for a second term in 1905, but wasn’t chosen, though on November 21, 1921 he was again appointed to the post.

In addition, Sol served as a delegate to the 1899 convention which petitioned the U.S. Government for territorial status for Alaska. On April 9, 1916 he was elected mayor of Haines. He also owned a general store in Haines from around 1897 until his death on March 21, 1927.

It has been noted that Sol had the 'gift of gab' and rarely corrected any statement about himself if it made a good story. This has made ferreting out the real facts very difficult. However, the information here has been painstakingly researched and corroborated with actual records, rather than articles taken from interviews or other possibly embellished sources.

The Sheldon Museum in Haines, Alaska exhibits a permanent exhibition of a collection of Sol’s memorabilia including his desk, artwork, letters and journals, as well as newspaper and magazine articles which detail his life.