Dawson City Views
One of Dawson's downtown streets. Businesses that are identified in the photograph are the Dominion Hotel, E.T. Wallace & Co., Chemists & Stationers, and Goetzman's tent photo studio. Caption on image: Goetzman Photo
Photograph of Joe Cook & Co. and Dome Road House. Goetzman's dog sled is decorated with advertisements for photographic suppliers and services in the foreground. Men in fur jackets are posing for the camera. Captions on image: by Goetzman Dawson#231, a typical Klondyke hotel
Bird's eye view of Dawson, Yukon Territory, and the Yukon River. Rows of stores, hotels, small businesses are in the photograph. The docks and warehouses border the shoreline of the Klondike River. Caption on images: Dawson City, June 30, 1901, By Goetzman, 2026
Photograph of a celebration welcoming the Governor-General of Canada. (At this time, Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, the 4th Earl of Minto.) The street is crowded with onlookers and at the far left of the photograph is an arch decorated with American and Canadian flags to welcome the Governor-General of Canada, Dawson, Yukon Territory. Caption on image: Awaiting the Arrival of the Governor-General in Dawson, Aug. 14, 1900, By Goetzman, 661
Photograph of a crowd gathered for Victoria Day celebration Dawson, Yukon Territory. People are sitting in the grandstands watching the parade. Signs along the parade route are for Ice Cream, Baths, Rock Creek Coal Mines, and 1898 Dawson Volunteers. Captions on image: Dawson May 24, 1899, Photo by Goetzman, 1899
Photograph of Dawson's first public school erected in 1901. The school was built by Thomas Fuller, one of six buildings in Dawson City
Territorial Administration Building built in 1899 was constructed in the neoclassical style. The imposing building was constructed as the legislative and administrative headquarters of the new Yukon Territory.
Photograph of a row of wooden lodging buildings and boardwalk on a street in Dawson. Captions on image: Goetzman Dawson 571 Klondike Dawson, Goetzman photo
Photograph of a group of men pose on the front porch of the log bank building. A shipment of crates loaded with gold dust is also on the porch. Title from the sign on the building: reads Capital paid up six million dollars. Captions on image: no. 122 Goetzman Dawson, shipment gold dust, Sep. 20 99 $750,000.00
Sepia-toned photograph of a Dawson hockey team. Individuals are identified as follows (back row l/r) Mardsen, London Eng; McLelland, Kingston; Tiffin, Stratford; Young, Ottawa; (front row l/r) Stevenson, Toronto; Calvert (manager), Montreal; Nourse, Winnipeg. Inscription recto: Dawson Hockey Team. Caption on image: Goetzman Dawson 334
Goetzman established a tent studio in Dawson City when he arrived in 1898. At the time there were simply not enough buildings of a suitable nature: no buildings that provided the quality of natural light which could be controlled with overhead curtains. He moved his studio to and from several locations within the growing city until 1904. Most of the ads Goetzman placed in the newspapers reflect his changes of address.
Goetzman labeled himself "Dawson's leading photographer". It was not unusual to see his "views of the Klondike Gold Fields" photographs in half-page ads of mass-market newspapers and magazines. His studio, which also served as his darkroom, was stocked with photographic equipment and supplies for sale to the public. He also advertised free mailing tubes to his customers.
Goetzman's Dawson City Views photographs capture townsfolk celebrating holidays, and individual Dawson buildings.
During Goetzman's time in Dawson City, he was commissioned by the Alaska/Northern Company to produce promotional photographs of its property, its staff, its stock, and its treasury. The store was significant since it was located at the corner of First and King Street - the middle of the downtown. Goetzman was also commissioned to photograph the upper Yukon River for the White Pass Company to use as advertising material.