source: Omie Writes Home.pdf
provider: openrouter
model: google/gemini-2.5-flash
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[document body mixed]
JOHN E. COCHRAN
FAMILY ASSOCIATION
Family Only
[handwritten: Home | Sibling's Stories | 1st Cousins | Ancestor's Stories | Reunion History | Next Reunion | JECMEF]
OMIE WRITES HOME
Ed. Note: The following letter was written by Omie Cochran in Nome, Alaska and sent to her
sister, Ethel Shinn, in Canfield, Idaho in 1923. It has been stored away these 63 years in the
original envelope with its 2 cent stamp. The letter has a number of references to the Shinn
children. Peter was Louis; Polly was Edith; and the 'little black rascal' referred to Maurice.
Miss Saville was the nurse at the Nome Hospital that was mentioned in the article by Inez in
the family newsletter two years ago.

Nome Alaska August 26, 1923
My Dear Ethel et al.
I don't know when I did write or when you did
but I am going to write now however and never
the less. But I wish I could talk (I can yet but I
mean to tell you all) instead and see ole Unc Pete
and Polly sit up and listen and that little black
rascal of yours would fairly sparkle with
listening. Can't I see him listening now to all the
yarns we told last summer?

[photo: Five people, appearing to be native Alaskan, in winter clothing, standing on a beach with a dog sled in front of them and a boat in the background]

You see, we-Miss Saville and I, took a trip north
on the Buford and it was very interesting. We
went north thru the Bering Strait into the Arctic and as far as the Ice Pack. There the captain
of our craft and some other mighty hunters went out first in kayaks and later in row boats and
shot seven walrus. When they also took a movie man and camera, so you will likely see all
this in the movies before I get to tell you. They came back on board and the ship went up
along the icebergs and the walrus were 'heisted' on board by the use of the crane which loads
tons of freight and the beasts were