Anchorage 1910 - 1940 Legends & Legacies

Berg, Charles A.

1871-1959 | Sawmill Owner

Charles Albert Berg was born in Dalarna Province, Sweden, on December 5, 1871, the son Johan Emanuel "John" Berg and Emma Gustava Kahlberg (Carlberg).[1] He came to the United States in 1882 with his parents, who settled in Lake Park, Minnesota.

Berg arrived in Valdez, Alaska in 1906, and then traveled over the Valdez Trail to Fairbanks. He left Fairbanks for Nome in 1908, where he spent two years. In 1910, he set out again arriving long after the 1900 gold rush there. In 1910 he landed at Iditarod and Flat after stopping at most of the major gold camps.

In 1915, Berg moved to Susitna Station, where he bought a small sawmill from Oscar Gill, who later served as mayor of Anchorage. In addition to the sawmill, Susitna Station included a trading post, owned by Horace W. “H.W.” Nagley, which served the Cache Creek Mines area.  Nagley was the U.S. postmaster at Susitna Station from 1906 to 1908.[2]

Berg met Phoebe Jane Nagley in Susitna Station. They were married by the Reverend T. P. Howard on December 19, 1915, in Knik, where they had traveled by dog sled from Susitna Station. Phoebe Berg was born in Anacortes, Washington on September 12, 1884, the seventh of thirteen children of Jefferson Jackson and Louisa Jane Nagley. In 1889, her family moved to Marysville, Washington and, in 1899, to Cashmere, Washington. She attended the Washington State Normal School at Ellensburg and New Whatcom Normal School at Bellingham (now Central and Western Washington Universities). She was a teacher in Issaquah, Sultan, and Cashmere before going to Susitna Station in May 1915, to assist her brother, Horace “H.W.” Nagley, in the operation of his trading post. Phoebe also became the teacher at the Susitna School in place of Orah Dee Clark, who was on contract there with the U.S. Bureau of Education. Subsequently, Clark received permission to accept an offer to become the first principal and superintendent of the Anchorage school and to organize the public school system there. In 1916, Berg moved his sawmill to Talkeetna where he took on a contract to cut ties for the Alaska Railroad.[3]

In 1920, the family moved to Anchorage and built their home at 647 L Street. There were three children: Virginia Lucile (born February 9, 1917, at Curry, Alaska), Charles Albert (born June 22, 1919, in Anchorage), and Frances Mary Berg (born August 6, 1921, in Anchorage).[4]

Berg operated sawmills at Caswell, Indian, and Portage during trail road construction days. In later years, the Bergs moved to Platinum before moving back to Washington in 1955, where they lived at Manchester, Washington, to be near their three grown children.[5]

Berg was a member of Anchorage Lodge No. 221, Free and Accepted Masons (F & A.M.), Anchorage Royal Arch Masons, and the Commandry, Knights Templar. He was also a member of the Alaska-Yukon Pioneers.[6]

Phoebe Jane Nagley Berg was a life member of the Order of the Eastern Star, Anchorage Chapter No. 8, and the Pioneers of Alaska. She enjoyed reading, reciting poetry, gardening, and family activities.

Charles Albert Berg died on November 10, 1959, in Seattle, Washington.[7] Phoebe Jane Nagley Berg died in Renton, Washington, on October 25, 1993, at one hundred and nine years of age. She was survived by two daughters, Virginia Berg Lagergren of Port Orchard, Washington, and Frances Berg Snow of Renton, a son, Carl, of Belfair, Washington; and twelve great-grandchildren, two great-great grandchildren, and many nieces and nephews. One grandchild preceded her in death.[8]

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