Digital Bob Archive

William Langmead Distin was Alaska's first Surveyor General, an office that no longer exists, at least in Alaska. He was also the man who brought the capital from Sitka to Juneau in 1906. At least partly because of that action, his name is on a Juneau street.

Distin was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on Feburary 9, 1843, but his family moved to Quincy, Illinois, when he was a youngster. He joined the Illinois National Guard as soon as he became eligible and held the rank of colonel when the Civil War broke out, although he had just passed his 18th birthday.

He enlisted at once in the Illinois Volunteers and fought in some of the major engagements of the war. In the fall of 1864 he was captured by Confederate troops and spent the winter of 1864-65 in the infamous prison at Andersonville, Georgia. When he was exchanged he joined the Iowa Volunteers. Soon after the war ended he married, at Keokuk, Iowa, a young woman whose name we know only as Laura. They returned to Quincy, Illinois, to make their home.

Distin served in various capacities in the Illinois state government and was aide-decamp to three governors. He was active in the Grand Army of the Republic, the veterans' organization of the Union Army, and in 1868 was Illinois Department Commander.

On August 7, 1897, President William McKinley appointed Distin Surveyor General for Alaska, a position in the General Land Office. He was not only the head of all Land Office work in Alaska but was ex-officio Secretary of Alaska. In that capacity he served as acting Governor of Alaska whenever the Governor was out of the District.

Distin arrived in Sitka on November 5, 1897. Mrs. Distin and their son, W.L., Jr., joined him a month later. A married daughter did not come to Alaska. Distin was reappointed Surveyor General in 1900, 1904, 1908 and 1912.

In September 1906, as authorized by Congress in 1900, Distin loaded the files and furniture of the Governor's Office and the Land office aboard the mail boat Georgia and brought them to Juneau. He served here with Governors Wilford Hoggatt and Walter Clark and, briefly, with Governor John Strong. In 1912 he saw Alaska become a territory and in March 1913 he convened the First Territorial Legislature.

Frank Bach and Angus McKay may have been the first to recognize Distin with a place name. In a mining claim, they named the creek that flows from Taku Lake at Taku Harbor, Distin Creek. That was in 1899 but the name was inscribed only in the mining records and is not on the map today. Distin Lake on Admiralty Island was named for General Distin at a later date and it may be that Mount Distin on the Seward Peninsula was named for him. And on September 5, 1913, the Juneau City Council voted to change the name of Farnum Street in Juneau to Distin Avenue in honor of the Surveyor General who was about to retire.

The retirement became effective on Alaska Day, October 18, 1913. General Distin announced his intention to live in Alaska after a visit to his former home, but he died while in Chicago on November 20, 1914.