Andrews, Clarence Leroy, 1862-1948

Clarence L. Andrews was born in 1862 in Ohio. The family moved to Oregon where he graduated form United Brethren College in Philomath. Andrews worked as a clerk and auditor in several county offices. In 1892, he visited Alaska for the first time and returned with the gold rush in 1898. For the next ten years he worked as a customs official in Sitka, Skagway and Eagle. Self-taught in Russian, Andrews was appointed head of the Information Bureau at the Alaska Yukon Pacific Exposition in Seattle. After traveling with the exhibit he returned to Alaska in 1915, and worked as a journalist for the "Alaska Yukon Magazine" and the "Alaska Daily Empire." In 1923-1930 Andrews traveled from Nome to Point Barrow, AK in the employ of the U.S. Bureau of Education's School and Reindeer Service. He was especially concerned with corporations that exploited reindeer herds. In his later years Andrews wrote to publicize the problems of Alaskan native people and to defend their rights. Andrews wrote several books about Alaskan natives and Alaska. He died in 1948.