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Captain Endre Martin
Cederbergh
CAPTAIN E. M. CEDERBERGH has been identified with Northwestern Alaska
ever since the great rush in the spring of 1900. The favorable reports that
reached the states from this region in the fall of 1899 caused Captain Cederbergh
to go to Alaska. In addition to these encouraging reports, he was induced by Eastern
capitalists to take charge and manage some investments in this part of the country, of
which they thought favorably. He acquired the property of the Arctic Trading &
Mining Co. for the people he represented, and subsequently reorganized this company,
naming it the New York Metal and Reduction Co. The capital stock was subscribed
by citizens of New York. The holdings of this company are on Glacier, Oregon and
Buster Creeks and on Cripple River. All of this property is situated in a desirable
part of the country, and on streams where profitable mining operations have been, and
are, conducted. In 1902 Captain Cederbergh was solicited by friends in Chicago to
obtain some property in the Nome country for them. As a result of the overtures of
these friends, he made purchases of mining claims on Dick and Reindeer Creeks, in
what was then known as the Good Hope Mining District. In January, 1904, he
was asked to go to Chicago and assist in the organization of the Good Hope Bay
Mining Co., and was elected president of this corporation. Adequate funds were
subscribed for the preliminary work of prospecting, and Captain Cederbergh came to
Nome in the summer of 1904 with a large outfit and equipment to begin work on the
Dick Creek mining claims. He was seriously handicapped in his endeavors this season
by a severe illness, and suffered an operation for appendicitis, which brought him near
to the door of death. As soon as he was convalescent he sent to the base of his proposed
work twenty tons of supplies, steam thawers and several men to conduct the work of
prospecting during the following winter.
During the winter of 1904 and 1905 Captain Cederbergh was appointed to the
position of Vice-Consul of Sweden and Norway for the State of Oregon. His office
is in Portland. This position came to his as a testimonial of his worth as a citizen and
his high standing in the community, and as a result of the strong support and endorsement
that he received from the business men of Portland, Seattle and New York who had
known him for many years.
E. M. Cederbergh was born in Stavangar, Norway, November II, 1853. His
early education was received in the schools of his native land. When twelve years old
he was sent to Germany and received three years' schooling in that country. In 1870
the spirit of the old Norse Vikings awoke within him, and he went to sea, shipping
as a sailor before the mast. He followed the sea for a period of twelve years. In seven
years he had attained to the position of captain, and during the last five years of his
life on the sea he was master of the vessels in which he sailed.
The history of his family is a part of the annals of Norway. His grandfather
was a member of the Norwegian Parliament. His father was a manufacturer, and the
subject of this sketch received his early business training in a mercantile house and was
associated with the mercantile business at the time of the death of his father, just prior
to the time when he became a sailor. He immigrated to America in 1883, and after
a brief stay in Chicago went to Portland, where he has resided ever since. During his
residence in Portland he has engaged in the mercantile and real estate business, and at one
time was employed in the tax department of the sheriff's office.
April 25, 1880, Captain Cederbergh and Miss Marie Nyman were married in
Stavangar, Norway. Mrs. Cederbergh has accompanied her husband on all of his
ocean voyages. She has shared with him his experiences in the Northland and has been
helpful to him in all his work. She is a woman of culture, rare intelligence
and genial qualities. Captain Cederbergh is a good citizen: he is a man of uncompromising integrity, loyal to his friends and just to everybody. He is brim full of energy
and carries with him the sunshine of a happy nature, which brings light and hope into
the lives of all who have the good fortune to know him. It was in recognition of his
estimable traits of character that he received the distinguished honor from his native
country of the appointment to a position in its consular service.
Source: Nome and Seward Peninsula by R. S.
Harrison. Seattle: The Metropolitan Press, 1905.
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