Talk:Alaska Steamship Company

The article (not to mention other articles describing the period) fails to make the distinction that the Alaska Syndicate was a syndicate of the Guggenheim and J. P. Morgan interests. This conglomeration is better known in Alaska for the Kennicott mine and CRNW. Their growing influence in Alaska at the time was also a point of political contention, similar to the Alaska Railroad decades later under the leadership of Otto Ohlson.RadioKAOS (talk) 02:51, 25 February 2012 (UTC)

Ownership

A concern (stated above) regarding ownership is a source of confusion from the beginning of the article and throughout. In the lead it states The company was purchased by the Alaska Syndicate and merged with the Northwestern Steamship Company in 1909, but retained its name. Under the "Merger" section it also discusses this. The second paragraph of that section has an incomplete (and incoherent) sentence "Charles Peabody retired in 1912 and S.W. Eccles of the Guggenheim Company.", did something like took over maybe? The last paragraph in that section states In the 1930s the company bought its long-time rival, the Pacific Steamship Company., and "away we go" with the rest of the article that includes a DYK mention.

What we have here is confusion leading to an inability to tie most of the companies and ships together. They (both) either get lost in Mergers, two World Wars, or disposition after each war. Add to this the renaming of ships before the wars, during the wars (when traded between services), and after the wars, and things get really confusing. An article that does not delve deep enough into the history just worsens this.

• This company was "purchased and merged" with the the Northwestern Steamship Company but somehow retained the name. This brings in the need for ownership and a need to mention that the Alaska Syndicate was a syndicate of the Guggenheim (Meyer Guggenheim and the Guggenheim family) and J. P. Morgan interests. James J. Hill (J.J.), owner of "Northwestern Steamship Company" as well as the Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railway and Morgan were friends and associates. Old MR. Morgan was probably both men's best friend when money was concerned. Meyer and J.J. were rivals in railroad as well as shipping.

The point is that a company was sold and merged yet that company continued to exist (in a vacuum?) until circa 1930 when it was found to be doing business again, after buying its long-time rival the Pacific Steamship Company, and continued until 1971.

• Surely Two editors expressing concern has reasoning? There needs to be some "tying in" of the history of this article, as well as others, that will help solve Wikipedia article linking fragmentation problems. Otr500 (talk) 18:02, 3 January 2015 (UTC)

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