MORE ABOUT . . .
Story of Seward
(Continued from Page 1)
ber of good Seward men given
jobs by the Doctor! lit1 also
served a brief period as U. S.
Commissioner in 1913.
Maryett M. Romig, daughter
of the Doctor, was married to
John P. Hannon of Seward, who
served for a time as city clerk.
While the senior Romigs resided
here, a son, Howard G., was
born. January 23, .1911, who is
now a leading physician and sur
geon of Anchorage.
After the purchase of the Alas
ka Northern Railroad property
by the United States, and the de
cision to finish the Alaska Rail
road as a government project,
Dr. J. II. Romig was appointed
to the medical staff of the Alas
ka Engineering Commission, and
for a number of years travelled
up and down the railbelt, organ
izing both temporary and per
manent hospital facilities, while
at the same time maintaining Ids
home in Seward. lie served as
chief surgeon of The Alaska Rail
road for many years.
Strange as it may seem, he
was also engaged actively in the
real estate business in Seward.
His name appears on numerous
purchases and sales of lots be
tween the years 1909 and 1910;
and in 1915, at the height of the
local laiid boom which resulted
from the d cision of the govern
ment to finish the railroad from
Seward to Fairbanks. Dr. Romig
was one of the local real estate
men who held a meeting to agree
on pricing policy for townsite
lots, in order that the boom
should not get out of hand and
react favorably on the town.
Others attending the meeting
were Mr. Lane, Mr. Poindexter.
Mr. Whitehead, and Mr. Labaree.
The doctor also served on the
Seward School Board in 1915
and 1916. And in his spare time
he was an ardent outdoorsman,
a leader in the community hunt
ing expeditions which were once
so popular here, although they
aroused the ire of wealthy
sportsmen outside, and particu
larly vexed one Dr. Hornaday of
New York, an extremist on the
subject of wild game conserva
tion. Dr. Romig of Seward was
called upon many times during
his Alaska medical career to ren
der surgical aid to both young
sters and adults who had been
mauled and nearly killed by
bears, and he therefore had no
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scruples whatever m regard to
community hear hunts, which
not only ] r<>\ icU d sport and
meal, for the townsfolk, but
helped to rid this part of Alaska
of a menace to life and limb. The
idea of keeping the Kenai Pen
insula as a wild game preserve
for millionaire New Yorkers and
Philadelphians appealed to him
not at all. as it did likewise to
the general run of Seward folks
of the time.
Concluding lliis brii f descrip
tion of Doctor Rornig a,; a prom
inent Seward citizen, we cannot
avoid the cornrn.nl that few
medical men of today play a role
similar to his. The typical aid
lime Alaska doctor was a strong
force in his community, and his
community was usually an area
of thousands ot square miles.
Many o ther Alaska doctors
served also as U. S. Commission
ers; as recording clerks: as both
full and part-time, paid and un
paid officials in the early school
/sterns. Most of these . urly doc
tors also engaged in private
business, owning drug stores,
mine s, hotels, general stores, and
the like. Whether or not it is de
sirable for a doctor to engage in
such businesses on the side, it
can c( rtuinly be said that Alaska
medical men were community
leaders, respected for their abili
ties in many fields. We can only
regret that this is not character
istic of the modern Alaska doc
tors, with a Tow notable excep
tions (Governor Gruening, for
instance, holds an M.D. degree).
Seward, and all of Alaska for
that matter, sorely needs the
leadership of men like t.ne Jate
Dr. Joseph Ii. Romig, win* was
not only a “dog team doctor”
when the occasion demanded,
but a moving influence in the
economic, political and cultural
development of the Territory.
(Next week: Seward’s Part in
the Coal Fight.)
Those Were the Days
Deems
bv Art Beer#nn
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by Tom Oka
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DIFFERENCE BETWEENGOOD; SMOOT AT THAT QUAIL ON THE
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by Frank Thomas
Gruna West
Ji Peanut
Off Maisi Street
by Joe Benne
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SHESCOMlN'
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VOUPE ASLEEP
AND SAy WHAT
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