The History of the Yakima Valley, Washington, Comprising Yakima, Kittitas and
Benton Counties, The S.J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1919, Volume II, page 599

ALFRED JOHNSON.

Many interesting and varied experiences figure in the life record of Alfred
Johnson, who has wintered several times in Alaska and who is now identified with
horticultural interests in the Selah valley, having resided in Yakima county
since 1908. He was born in Sweden, July 27, 1860, and came to Seattle,
Washington, in I889, when a young man of twenty-nine years. He was employed in
the  sawmills for a few years but in 1898 went to Alaska and in 1900 became a
resident of Nome. He spent eight summers and two winters in that country. He
left Nome one winter with two others, taking sleds and three hundred and fifty
pounds of provisions and equipments each. They started from Nome in January and
traveled four hundred miles north on foot, prospecting all winter and returning
to Nome the following May. Many hardships were met during the trip and they
never succeeded in locating a paying mine. On one occasion Mr. Johnson was
tipped out of a boat in a storm on Golwin bay and was in the icy water for an
hour before he could get ashore. At length he returned to Seattle, where he
resided for two years and in 1908 removed to Yakima county, where he purchased
ten acres of land in the Selah valley. This was a wild and undeveloped tract,
all covered with sagebrush, and today it is a fine apple and pear orchard. He
has built a home and warehouse and added many other modern improvements and
equipments to the place and now has a valuable and attractive property.

On February 6, 1892, Mr. Johnson was united in marriage to Miss Annie Engquist,
a native of Sweden. Their marriage was celebrated in Seattle and they have
become the parents of three children: Mauritz, who is now with the United States
army in France; Susana, at home; and Harold, who was also with the army and
received his honorable discharge December 31, 1918.

Since becoming a naturalized American citizen Mr. Johnson has given his
political allegiance to the republican party. He belongs to the Swedish Mission
church and is a man of many admirable traits of character and qualities. He has
ever been actuated by a spirit of progress and development and has bravely and
courageously faced hardships and difficulties in his efforts to attain success.
He came to the new world with limited financial resources and whatever he has
achieved and enjoyed it attributable entirely to his own labors. His course
illustrates what can be accomplished by persistent effort and indefatigable
energy and he now ranks among the well-to-do orchardists of the Selah valley.

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Submitted to the Washington Bios Project in December 2007 by Jeffrey L. Elmer.
Submitter has no additional information about the subject of this article.