James Wickersham was a district judge for Alaska, appointed by U.S. President William McKinley to the Third Judicial District in 1900. He resigned his post in 1908 and was subsequently elected as Alaska's delegate to Congress, serving until 1917 and then being re-elected in 1930. He was instrumental in the passage of the Organic Act of 1912, which granted Alaska territorial status, introduced the Alaska Railroad Bill, legislation to establish McKinley Park, and the first Alaska Statehood Bill in 1916. He was among those responsible for the creation of the Alaska Agricultural College and School of Mines, which later became the University of Alaska. A residence hall on the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus is named in his honor. Wickersham was born near Patoka, Illinois and moved in 1883 with his wife, Deborah, to Tacoma, Washington Territory, where he became a judge. While in Tacoma he helped lead a mob which forced the city's Chinese population out of town, and was later arrested as one of the Tacoma Twenty-Seven, though he was never convicted. He was a member of the Tacoma Academy of Science and was President of that organization in 1893. He presented a paper to the Academy on 6 Feb, 1893, entitled, Is it Mount Tacoma, or Rainier? During the presentation the following prominent Indians representing the Puyallup, Nesqually and Klickitat tribes were seated on the platform: George Leschi, son of Quiemuth, a leader in the Indian war of 1855; Jack Simmons; John Hiaton, one of the patriarchs of the reservation, 80 years of age, and a signer of the treaty of 1854; Mrs. John Hiaton and John Powers. The presentation has been reproduced by a digital file created at the Library of Congress.
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