Exciting news for local history fans – we have just have just added two books to our expanding local history collection: R.N. “Bob” DeArmond’s definitive history The Founding of Juneau and a new very accurate and detailed historical novel The Treadwell Carpenter by Douglas resident and citizen historian William “Bill” Janes. DeArmond’s book is now available locally and Janes book will be out by the end of April.
The Founding of Juneau by premier local historian R.N. DeArmond is a reprint of the 
classic 1967 book written by DeArmond under commission of the Gastineau Channel Centennial Association in celebration of the Alaska Purchase Centennial. It was reprinted in 1980 celebrating the city of Juneau centennial and has been out of print since. The new “Commemorative Edition” is now available. It is a direct reprint with only modifications on the inner title page to recognize funding donors and identifying it as a new addition.
“A half-century has passed since the publication of Robert DeArmond’s Founding of Juneau (1967), and the book has stood the test of time. DeArmond produced a vivid portrait of the historical action in early Juneau and a detailed biographical dictionary profiling the key participants.” – from: A ROUGH AND TUMBLE COUNTRY: Juneau’s Origins as Alaska’s First Gold Mining Boomtown As Described by Eyewitnesses, 1880–1881. Published in 2020 by Mark Kirchoff and Chris Allan.
The 
second book is The Treadwell Carpenter by William Bryant Janes, reprinted from his limited first run print. Follow Sam Olafson, a fictional American Midwest carpenter of Norwegian descent, as he chronicles his years with the Treadwell Group gold mines located in Douglas, Alaska. Immerse yourself in hundreds of bits of history fused with imagination. The Treadwell Carpenter portrays life and death during the second decade of the twentieth century, the heyday of Alaska’s world-famous gold mines.
First-time author William “Bill” Janes has spent years poring over newspapers of the era, documents, books, and interviews with local historians to weave together a seamless story that transports the reader into a truly different time and place. Told with lyrical story-telling flair, it likewise is as true as the newspaper accounts that informed the setting and the times. This is historical fiction at its best!