Elizabeth A. Tower Dr. Elizabeth A. Tower and her husband, John, both young physicians, moved to Anchorage in 1954. A 1951 graduate of Case-Western Reserve School of Medicine, Elizabeth worked 25 years for the Alaska Division of Public Health.
After retiring in 1986, Dr. Tower began researching and writing about prominent people in Alaska history. She was named Historian of the Year by the Alaska State Historical Society in 1996 for Icebound Empire, a history of the founders of the Alaska Syndicate and the Kennecott Copper Company. She has also written short biographies of Michael James Heney, Stephen Birch, Sheldon Jackson, Austin E. "Cap" Lathrop, and William A Egan; a guide to skiing in Alaska; a history of Anchorage; and several prize-winning articles for Alaska History magazine.
Frequently Asked Questions about Elizabeth Tower and her books
Q:
How long have you lived in Alaska?
A:
My husband, Dr. John C. Tower, and I arrived in Anchorage in July 1954 in the midst of Alaska's campaign for statehood. I had the opportunity to relive those exciting days while researching for and writing a biography of William A. Egan, the president of the Constitutional Convention and Alaska's first governor.
Q:
Have you always been interested in history?
A:
I was not particularly interested in history until I retired from the Alaska State Department of Public Health in 1986. While traveling in Tonga and Samoa, I read Rascals in Paradise by Michner, which included short biographies of historical figures in the history of the South Seas. This book so enriched the trip that, upon return, I decided to write about some intriguing people in the history of Alaska.
Q:
How did you chose the people to write about?
A:
The first people I decided to write about were men who had been the inspiration for characters in novels: Michael J. Heney, builder of the White Pass and Yukon Railway and the Copper River and Northwestern Railroad, the prototype for Murray O'Neil, the hero of Rex Beach"s Iron Trail; and Cap Lathrop upon whom Edna Ferber based Czar Kennedy, the villain in Ice Palace. The research on these men introduced me to others such as Stephen Birch, George Hazelet and Captain David Jarvis, the three founders of the Alaska Syndicate featured in my book, Icebound Empire.
Q:
How have you done your research?
A:
Much of my research has been done by scanning old Alaska newspapers available on microfilm. I have interviewed people that knew Bill Egan and Cap Lathrop and I have been fortunate to have contacted grandchildren of George Hazelet and Captain David Jarvis who supplied family records and pictures.
Q:
Have your books received any prizes or recognition?
A:
The Alaska Historical Society recognized me as Historian of the Year in 1996 for Icebound Empire and that book has been included in the Historical Society's list of the 67 best books on Alaska history.
Q:
Have you done any other type of writing?
A:
I edited Alaska Medicine for several years in the 1960s and wrote several articles on medical subjects. I did take a try at fiction and wrote Chain of Life, set in Unalaska during the crab boom in the 1970s, with flashbacks to World War II and the Aleut evacuation.
