Henry Roden

Born in Basel in 1874 Roden arrived in Alaska as part of the Klondike Gold Rush, arriving in Rampart in the summer of 1898.{{cite web | url = https://dggs.alaska.gov/webpubs/outside/text/blm_ofr_061.pdf | title = Prospecting and Mining Activity in the Rampart, Manley Hot Springs and Fort Gibbon Mining Districts of Alaska, 1894 to the Present Era | website = U. S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management | date = February 1997 | access-date = May 6, 2025 | language = | pages= 20 |quote =}}

In 1902 he began independently studying law, eventually passing the Alaska Bar exam in 1906 and served as assistant US Attorney in Fairbanks, assistant US Attorney in Iditarod and as City Attorney of Iditarod.{{cite web | url = https://poajuneau.nationbuilder.com/roden_henry | title = Roden, Henry | website = U. S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management | date = February 1997 | access-date = May 6, 2025 | language = | pages= 20 |quote =}}

He was elected to the first Alaska territorial legislature in 1913{{cite web | url = https://akleg.gov/100years/legislature.php?id=-1 | title = 100 Years of Alaska's Legislature "From Territorial Days to Today", 1st Territorial Legislature | website = The Alaska State Legislature | date = 2013 | access-date = May 6, 2025 | language = | pages= |quote =}} and was subsequently re-elected as part of the 12th legislature in 1935 {{cite web | url = https://akleg.gov/100years/legislature.php?id=-12 | title = 100 Years of Alaska's Legislature "From Territorial Days to Today", 12th Territorial Legislature | website = The Alaska State Legislature | date = 2013 | access-date = May 6, 2025 | language = | pages= |quote =}} and remained a Senator until the 15th legislature in 1941 when he served as Senate President.{{cite web | url = https://akleg.gov/100years/legislature.php?id=-15 | title = 100 Years of Alaska's Legislature "From Territorial Days to Today", 15th Territorial Legislature | website = The Alaska State Legislature | date = 2013 | access-date = May 6, 2025 | language = | pages= |quote =}} In 1941 he became Attorney general for the state of Alaska, a position which he held until 1944, when he stood unsuccessfully as the Democratic candidate for the Alaskan representative to the US Congress.{{cite news | title = Henry Roden on air here at 7 tonight| url= https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045499/1944-04-24/ed-1/seq-2/#date1=1944&index=6&rows=20&words=Henry+HENRY+RODEN+Roden&searchType=basic&sequence=0&state=&date2=1944&proxtext=henry+roden&y=11&x=20&dateFilterType=yearRange&page=1|newspaper = The Daily Alaska Empire | pages = 8 | date = April 24, 1944 | language = }}

Throughout this time Roden maintained interests in mining. In 1919 he and others incorporated the Admiralty Alaska Gold Mining Company with himself as president, which controlled a mine in Funter Bay; in 1942 he was still an officer of the mining company,{{Cite book |last=Kohlhoff |first=Dean |date=1995 |title=When the Wind Was a River: Aleut Evacuation in World War II|url=https://archive.org/details/whenwindwasriver0000kohl |url-access=registration |location=Seattle |pages = 116 |publisher=Seattle: University of Washington Press in association with Aleutian/Pribilof Islands Association, Anchorage |isbn=0295974036}} and following the start of the Aleutian Islands campaign and the evacuation of the Aleutian and Pribilof Islands the mine was leased to the US government to house some of the evacuees. As Attorney general in 1943 he inspected the mine and wrote a letter to Governor Ernest Gruening expressing concern about the situation.{{cite web | url = https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-09-04-mn-3897-story.html | title = Forgotten Victims : Twilight of the Aleuts: A War Story | website = Los Angeles Times | date = 4 September 1987 | access-date = May 6, 2025 | language = | quote =“I have seen tough places during my days in Alaska but nothing to equal the situation at Funter,” the state’s attorney general, Henry Roden, wrote acting Gov. Ernest Gruening on Sept. 20, 1943.}}{{cite web | url = https://www.nps.gov/articles/aleu-mobley-ch-3-pt-1.htm | title = World War II Aleut Relocation Camps in Southeast Alaska - Chapter 3: Funter Bay Mine, pt. 1 | website = National Park Service| access-date = May 6, 2025 | language = | pages= |quote =I have no language at my command which can adequately describe what I saw; if I had I am confident you would not believe my statements....in short, the situation is shocking. I have seen some tough places in my days in Alaska, but nothing to equal the situation at Funter.}}

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Category:1874 births

Category:1966 deaths

Category:Members of the Alaska Territorial Legislature

Category:Presidents of the Alaska Senate

Category:Alaska lawyers

Category:People from pre-statehood Alaska

Category:People from the Territory of Alaska

Category:Alaska attorneys general

Category:Alaska Democrats